your local xfinity store today. beginning for kevin mccarthy, trying to hold his supporters together. the question now, will they refuse to approve the major concessions he made to win over the republican rebels who

delayed his election as speaker. in brazil hundreds of arrests an insurrectionists stormed the capitol over the weekend, including the presidential palace, parliament and the supreme court. fueled by false claims by trump allies in the u.s. and others over the country's election results. imitating what happened here on january 6th. also this hour, i will be speaking to arms services committee chairman jack reed and former u.s. ambassador to russia john sullivan about the u.s. support for ukraine as house republicans threaten to cut aid to ukraine. and nbc news can chief white house correspondent kristen welker is at the border as president biden makes his first trip to mexico since inauguration. ♪♪ good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. kevin mccarthy's long list of concessions to that faction of

far-right lawmakers who put him through the public humiliation of 14 failed speaker votes last week could cause problems for his conference today and the next two years and put mccarthy's speakership in jeopardy as difficult votes like tonight's rule package hit the house floor. joining me now, garrett haake. charlie sykes, "usa today" washington bureau chief susan paige, donna edwards and former u.s. attorney joyce vance. welcome all. happy monday. garrett, there is no honeymoon period for kevin mccarthy. 5:00 tonight they reconvene another difficult vote for some of the more moderate republican house members. are they going to go along with the deals he made? >> reporter: andrea, i think in the 118th congress there will be difficult votes. kevin mccarthy is a narrow majority to begin with.

they have proven to be an unruly bunch and members are going to speak out. moderates almost by definition of less likely to rock the boat on key votes than some of those folks on the far right. but mccarthy could see some defections on the rules package which doesn't actually include some of the biggest giveaways that he made to get the speaker's gavel in hand. he could see defections and frustration around this issue of the fact that these giveaways exist. one of those folks who seems to be upset is tony gonzalez of texas who voiced his frustration on fox news just this morning about what mccarthy had to do to secure the gavel. take a listen. i'm against the rules for a couple of different reasons. one is the defense -- the cut in defense. i think that's a terrible idea. the other is to vacate the kir that. i don't want to see us every two months via lockdown, this isn't the parliament. i mean, the american public are

counting on house republicans to be the one savior. if we can't get it right, it will be nightmare after nightmare. >> the idea of that motion to vacate the chair being a threshold of one vote is in the rules package. i talked to scott perry, one of the architects of that deal late friday, who said he doesn't think republicans will misuse it. he can't to speak to how democrats will use it. mr. gonzalez's concerns about cutting military spending is not in the rules package per se, in fact, chip roy, another of those architects, says he thinks that the republicans can achieve their goals of cutting spending without touching military spending when they try to pare things back to fiscal year 2022 levels. there is only so much domestic non-military spending to go around. previous promises have not always been kept. it will be another battle the

house republicans have to fight amongst themselves in the months ahead. >> how can the 200 republican house members who stuck by kevin mccarthy as he gave up so many concessions support this rules package and promote an agenda that may include those defense cuts? >> you are asking how can moderate republicans cave into all of this? we have seen this over and over again the last six years. i think they will be tired of the chaos. you ask a great question about what this means for the house. this rule package makes the house of representatives under kevin mccarthy dysfunctional by design. we have to separate what's going to happen in two different buckets. there will be a lot of show votes, messaging votes that are basically going to be noise, but then we get to the real substantive issues. the question is how far they are willing to take their demands for spending cuts into the raising of the debt ceiling. if this congress refuses to raise the debt ceiling, i don't think it's possible to overstate

how disastrous that will be for domestic markets, international financial markets, people's 401(k)s. right now we don't know, you know, how far they are willing to go. but as garrett says, republicans have talked a good game about cutting spending for decades and yet they come up against the realities of mathematics and they are going to be again. by the way, going after social security, medicare in the defense budget, do not seem to be political winners even for the republican base. >> that's a very good point. i want to focus on a piece of the house republican agenda, that's the committee on, quote, the weaponization of the federal government, which is a way for former president trump's allies to try to discredit the work being done at the justice department, other agencies, the fbi, of course, also part of justice, but also the irs and all of the subpoenas that they are going to be flooding the white house with.

>> so the resolution which is actually attached, it's part of this rules resolution that we're all talking about and will presumably be passed along with it, it will give the subcommittee broad investigative powers. it will be a creation of a subcommittee that could interfere or attempt to interfere with ongoing federal criminal investigations. but doj has longstanding policies dating back to the early 1900s that are against turning over any material involved in ongoing investigations. so i would look for them to fight back, to resist any sort of subpoenas that ask for information that could impair an ongoing investigation. that means we will be in more long battles in court to determine the nature of executive privilege. >> and susan paige, i want to talk about the democrats because they have got a new leader.

they showed remarkable unity for all of those votes in 15 votes plus the votes on german, everything else. on "meet the press" hakim jeffries talked about the relationship with speaker mccarthy, his relationship, and his caucus's strategy going forward. let me play that. >> kevin mccarthy and i have had some positive forward looking conversations over the last few weeks and i'm hopeful that we'll be able to build upon those conversations to do the right thing for the american people. dealing right now with the republican majority that is narrow, a house that is evenly divided, and that is going to require bipartisan cooperation. it doesn't mean unconditional surrender. democrats are always going to stand behind our principles, but we are willing to find common ground to fight for the things that the american people care about. >> so democrats, susan, as you know, are usually fractious.

nancy pelosi used a lot of her skills, as you have recounted, of course, in your book about her, your great biography on her, her skills to get aoc, the squad, others in line to manage her caucus. does hakim jeffries have those skills? >> you know, i think hakim jeffries has shown considerable political skill starting with getting elected in this way, moving to a new generation of leadership in the house without a shot fired. that was, i think, quite impressive. also, it's easier to be in the minority than the majority because you are not trying to pass things with narrow margin as speaker pelosi was often trying to do. you are trying to be the loyal opposition to the republican side. and i think his relationship with mccarthy can't be worse than the one pelosi had with mccarthy. they were openly contentious with one another. i would not to see a big move for bipartisan in the house. i don't think that's the table that has been laid the next two

years. >> donna, as a former member, what are some of the pitfalls hakim jeffries has to avoid? >> i think i agree with susan. i think one of the big things is making sure to continue to keep the democratic caucus unified. i think that that is easier to do, frankly, in a minority. i think that there are going to come times when the republican majority and mccarthy are going to need some democrats, on key issues moves forward. that was the experience of john boehner and paul ryan, which actually was what ended up dissolving their tenure as speaker. but mccarthy is going to need that. whether he can keep his team together in order to work with democrats i think is a complete unknown. i will say that i think for democrats, making sure that they are effectively messaging in a minority because they are

laying the groundwork for 2024. >> and, garrett, there was some notable reporting, i think this was in "the washington post," correct me if i'm wrong here, about the relationship between jim jordan and mark meadows, which really broke apart probably well in advance of what happened last week, but they have been so closely tied together in the freedom caucus' earlier years and reporting that mark meadows was working with the rebellious group with the 20 and coaching them from the outside at a townhouse on capitol hill where they have been headquartered for a while. can you shed any light on that? you know, fascinating reporting. >> the division between these two men has become really interesting. of course, they were the closest of idealogical allies during their time in congress. now meadows out of congress, out of power, out of politics, really, after leaving the trump

administration. we have not seen much of him. these conservative hard liners were working out of the up to house that this conservative non-profit that employs meadows has been using. meanwhile, jordan has become perhaps the single most critical ally of speaker mccarthy, to whom he used to be foil. he will be the judiciary committee chairman and expected to chair a subcommittee to investigate the government, sort of government abuses that we were just discussing or alleged government abuses of power that were just discussed. jordan is going to become one of the single most important figures in this new republican conference while meadows, kind of a bomb thrower during his time in the chamber, continues to have that role on the outside as a symbol, if you will, of how to do that bomb-throwing when you are in the majority. a fascinating divide between two figures really at the heart of the modern conservative movement. >> and mark meadows, of course,

at the heart of so much of the january 6th insurrection, cooperating for a while, then refusing the subpoena and a controversial figure going forward as we await, you know, further legal action. >> very much so. >> against the instigatorsers including the former president. thank you all so much. joyce, stay with us for a moment. we are going down to georgia. i want to turn to the breaking news in georgia. fulton county where that grand jury, the special grand jury has completed its investigation into former president trump's election interference and submitted its final report. blayne alexander now with the latest. where do we go from here? when the special grand jury was created, they have to report to a regular indicting grand jury? >> reporter: it's important to remind our viewers exactly what the purpose of this special purpose grand jury is. this is an investigative body. they have the power to issue subpoenas, to call in a number

of people to testify under oath. they do not have the power, however, to issue indictments. and that's what's really crucial. so really if there are to be any charges filed, that is in the hands of the district attorney to then have to present evidence before a separate grand jury or a regular grand jury if there are to be any indictments. what we see now from the special grand jury that has been in session for more than eight months, andrea, is we are going to see a lengthy report and that is going to have a summary of its findings. we know there have been dozens of people who have been called forward to testify under oath very close members of the former president's inner circle. people like rudy giuliani, people like michael flynn, senator lindsey graham in addition to high-ranking georgia officials, including the sitting governor. that will be summarized in this report coming forth from the sprej and it could possibly include recommendations as well. whether there are recommendations of who or if there should be any charges to come forward from this.

so that's where that goes for now, all in the d.a.'s hands. the d.a., we reached out to her on this today, they are not commenting on this, but a source tells me that this report is going to be in the d.a.'s hands today and she is going to make that decision as to what happens next in terms of charges. >> and, joyce, we understand that regular grand jury would not be convened until january 24th. the conventional wisdom, if you will, early on in all of this was that key phone call with brad raffensperger meant that there was a lot of evidence, if there were any case that was more easily prosecutable, if you could say, against the former president, that the fulton county grand jury. do you agree with that? >> i do. that phone call is compelling evidence for fani willis to

have. when they hold the hearing on january 24th, that is the hearing where the judge will determine whether or not the report will be released publicly. it's likely whichever side loses will appeal that and that will take some time to resolve. as you point out, fani willis has a grand jury that's convened that morning. she could begin to present evidence to them to determine whether indictments will be returned. i think that there is a little bit of time involved in presenting this evidence. she can use a summary witness, an agent to recall for the grand jury that's charged with making decisions about indictment what evidence the investigative grand jury unearthed. that will take a little bit more than a minute. she also has the possibility of going to her regular grand jury in advance of the 24th to seek indictments if that's where she is headed. she could seal those and announce them at a later date. >> and just this little footnote, joyce.

let me just read you something that has just broken. there is an order to unseal previously sealed redacted portions of donald trump's deposition in the case of e gene carol, the lawsuit, the civil case, involving her allegations that he attacked her i believe in a department store dressing room before he -- well before he was president. so that's another issue. completely unrelated facing the former president. >> andrea, there is -- >> go ahead. sorry, joyce. >> i was going stay there is argument this morning in the district of columbia circuit to determine whether that case goes to trial in april. there will be motions filed later this week where i expect the parties will cite to donald trump's deposition. so it's not a surprise that it was unsealed this morning. but i'm eager to read it. >> as always, you are way ahead of me. thank you very much for all of

that. the assault against democracy, echoes of january 6th, as supporters of brazil's fch storm the capitol. this is andrea mitchell reports. we will have that next on msnbc. . we will have that nextn omsnbc. there's always a fresh deal on the subway app. like this one! 50% off?! that deal's so good we don't even need an eight-time all-star to tell you about it. wait what? get it before it's gone on the subway app! ♪3, 4♪ wait what? ♪ ♪hey♪ ♪ ♪are you ready for me♪ ♪are you ready♪ ♪are you ready♪ business can happen anytime, anywhere. so help yours thrive and stay connected with the comcast business complete connectivity solution. it's the largest, fastest, reliable network. advanced gig speed wifi. and cyberthreat protection. starting at just $49.99 a month. plus, you can save up to 60% a year

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. pressure is growing today for the u.s. to invoke the visa of former far right brazilian president bolsonaro who has reportedly been living in florida in orlando, in fact, since his october defeat. after bolsonaro supporters staged a january 6th-style insurrection in brasilia, the capitol, on sunday. hundreds of rioters were detained after storming the capitol. the presidential palace and supreme court. the current president lul la blaming bolsonaro for encouraging by pushing baseless claims of election fraud. sound familiar? donald trump and his allies have met with bolsonaro's son, including steve bannon, who

helped spread the false allegations of a stolen election and is calling sunday's rioters freedom fighters. bannon at -- in mexico, rather, in november a video bolsonaro posted online. >> walking the streets of brazil, look the great patriots in brazil that have a lot of danger to themselves come forward in the streets of brazil. this was a people saying no, you didn't follow the constitution, you used machines, used the judiciary to shut us down in the media and we are not gonna tolerate it. it's gonna be very interesting to see how that plays out. >> nbc's guad venegas. trump and bolsonaro were close allies in office. there were a lot of similarities to january 6th, the mob, steve bannon. out on bail pending his appeal and his conviction. so all of these parallels.

>> andrea -- >> talk about that. >> reporter: right. the parallels. it's undeniable to see what happened on january 6th and what's happening in brazil. these are two unrelated events other than the fact that the far right chats online reports say were used in brazil. there is reports of misinformation being used by a lot of protesters to spread the message. but of course this is a different country and it's sort of ironic that in fact reports say that bolsonaro left the country to come to the u.s. when he was still president. what we know now is that this happened yesterday on sunday. the military had to intervene to restore the order after the protesters went into the presidential palace, congressional buildings, as well as the supreme court building. now the supreme court in brazil has taken harsh action, andrea, by making all protesters supporting bolsonaro essentially illegal at the moment. so the military has been ordered to detain anyone protesting in

the streets of brazil. that's why we have reports of hundreds being arrested as they have restored order. meanwhile, lula indicated on twitter yesterday that bolsonaro shared some of the responsibility for what's happened. we know that bolsonaro was not there for the transition of power. he left the country and reports say he came to the united states, andrea. >> and there is expected to be some sort of extradition request, but one of the issues that the state department has to adjudicate is his visa a, as we understand it, to the u.s. came to him because he was a leader. so he is on a specific visa as a leader, but now he is no longer the leader. what is the implication of that? that's something that the u.s. has to deal with, the state department, i understand jake sullivan was briefing reporters in mexico city this morning, white house reporters and is referring everything to the state department, which is not commenting yet on exactly how they are going to figure this out.

>> reporter: right. andrea, i had this conversation yesterday with a political expert about brazil. one of the things we discussed was his visa and his legal stat nis the u.s. you point out he entered the country when he was still president, right. so we would have to know exactly what his current status is. but an important point made in the discussion yesterday was that in order for someone to be essentially kicked out of the country they have to violate a u.s. law. if another country wants them to be extradited, that's a different legal battle. they have to submit some type of extradition request. so it's difficult to know if any action would be taken in the united states. first off, learning what type of visa is being used for him to currently be in the country, andrea. >> guad venegas, thank you. and the pressure campaign, a new wave of russia's attacks adding new urgency to the military assistance that the u.s. and other allies are now sending ukraine. senator jack reed is just back

from ukraine, the armed services chair joining me next. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. msnc (einstein) not so smart. (cecily) well, there is a smarter way to save. (einstein) oh?! (cecily) switch to verizon! (vo) that's right. for a limited time get verizon unlimited for just $25 a line, guaranteed for 3 years. (einstein) brilliant! (vo) only on verizon. age is just a number, and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health versus 16 grams in ensure® high protein. boost® high protein. now available in cinnabon® bakery-inspired flavor. learn more at boost.com/tv

sending $3.75 billion worth of military equipment, weapons and other aid to ukraine and its neighbors impacted by russia's invasion. for the first time they are provided bradley infantry

fighting vehicles. it is known as a tank killer because of the anti-tank missile it can fire. our next guest is back from kyiv where he met with president zelenskyy. senator jack reed, welcome. happy new year. i haven't seen you, good to see you. >> thank you. >> u.n. senator angus king met with president zelenskyy. what is he telling you about the needs, about what he is getting from nato and the other -- well, u.s. primarily and other nato allies and how he stands right now given this -- what you could call a frozen conflict? >> well, president zelenskyy was extremely complementary to the american people and the president for their latest transfer of military equipment, which provides some very important capabilities. first, patriot missile systems which could protect the

infrastructure, the russians trying to destroy the electrical grid and force the population into horrendous conditions. also, the bradley fighting vehicles which give them mobility on the battlefield and there are other supports that are essential. but president zelenskyy was extremely grateful to the american people and the administration for what he received. they have a very ambitious plan to continue to remain on the offensive throughout the winter and then to move, they hope, decisively during the spring. i think that's the way to go. time is not on their side in terms of the destruction that's being rent in ukraine and also the fact that the international coalition will eventually feel tensions. right now we're all together and we're supporting the people of ukraine. >> there is a "washington post" op-ed yesterday, former

secretary of state, condoleezza rice says any negotiated ceasefire would leave russian forces in a strong position to resume their invasion whenever they are ready. that is unacceptable. to avoid it, the u.s. and allies to urgently provide ukraine with the dramatic increase in military supplies and capability sufficient to deter a renewed russian offensive and enable ukraine to push back russian forces in the east and in the south. is it realistic to get an increase through the congress now with republicans taking over the house and saying that one of their fundamental planks, if you will, going forward of their agenda is to cut the defense budget in particular to ukraine? >> well, that would be extremely shortsighted. in reality, the ukrainians are fighting our fight because if they fail, if the russians succeed, they won't stop at ukraine and they will endanger nato allies, which could pull us

into a conflict, a direct conflict with russia. that would be a disaster. so i think the advice that secretary gates and secretary rice gave is absolutely right on target. we have to continue to support the ukrainian military forces with the equipment they need, but importantly, the equipment they can use. many of these systems require training. many of these systems require additional supports and we have to do it in a way that we just simply don't deliver equipment, we deliver capabilities, and that's what we are doing. i think the president's decision a few days ago was exactly on target, and i think it will inspire other countries to open up their support for ukraine even further. >> senator jack reed, thank you so much. >> thank you. take care. and joining me now is the former u.s. ambassador to russia, john sullivan. also former deputy secretary of state before that. first of all, you are out of the

state department, you are out of the government, and that's got to feel, you know, a great relief. you had a tough tenure. thank you for your service. i want to ask you to follow up on all of this because in that op-ed the former secretary said that germany should start providing abrams tanks, that there should be from nato allies, you know, long-range artillery, something the u.s. has resisted, more ammunition, a whole laundry list of things that ukraine needs to push back russia and get them out of what they -- the territory they've obtained. do you agree with that? >> absolutely. it's a recognition of the challenge that the world faces, not just the united states, not just nato, in russia's aggression. the aggressive war that putin has wageled on ukraine. this by a permanent member of the u.n. security council charged with keeping world peace has created an enormous

festering sewer in the continent of europe. 15 million refugees, thousands upon thousands of innocent people killed. the effect on the world economy. we have got to resist this, absolutely. >> have we become, we, i should say, the american public, become used to the fact that zelenskyy forces have been so resilient, they have pushed back, they are, you know, resisting the devastation, the war crimes, everything that they have suffered, are we overconfident here because can't russia outlast ukraine in terms of resources? >> well, i think it's the case. it was certainly, from my perspective, i think the u.s. government underestimated the ukrainians, underestimated president zelenskyy in february and march of this year. we could make the same mistakes in underestimating president putin and russia. it is still a very dangerous country led by a leader who has

these messianic imperialist ambitions. we should not underestimate russia's ability to crush ukraine, which is ultimately president putin's goal, which he never disavowed. >> how isolated and detached from the military realities is he or is it his ability to withstand any number of privations because of his complete control over the russian people, over the media? >> i think that's another area where we may overestimate putin's detachment. i think his public, the public perception of him was carefully curated by the kremlin at the start of the war to say this is a special military operation. we've got this under control. not a big deal. and, therefore, putin is not seen engaging with his military, meeting with soldiers. this is a special military operation that is going

according to plan. of course, the battlefield reverses the fact that they had their black sea flagship ship sunk. they have had, you know, over 100,000 casualties. putin's now had to change tack in his public -- the public's perception of his leadership. he is now more engaged. you see him meeting with being seen meeting with soldiers and it's very careful messaging to the russian people that he is in charge and trying to regain and retain their confidence in this, what he still calls a special military operation. >> you were ambassador, deputy secretary then ambassador during the period of the conviction of paul whelan. >> yes. >> and incarceration, of course. and the arrest and incarceration of brittney griner. the russians refused to lease paul whelan. they say falsely that he is a spy and the u.s. says that they

don't have a spy to trade for him. is this a dead end? where do you see negotiations for paul whelan? >> we could add other americans to the list, andrea. trevor reed, of course, who was released last year. the russians play a dreadful -- have a dreadful program of arresting americans and the more high-profile they are, like brittney griner, the better, because we, in the united states, care about, we in the u.s. government care about getting our u.s. citizens home. the russians, president putin, the kremlin, don't have a similar concern about russians who are arrested in the united states or get convicted of crimes in the united states. so it's an asymmetric advantage for them. pick up an american, create some -- fabricate charges, sentence them. in the case of trevor reed or brittney griner, to nine years in prison. paul whelan, phony espionage case, 16 years in a labor camp. >> is there any way to get him

out? >> sure. >> are there talks now? >> you know, i have been out of the discussions for several months, andrea, but i was up to my eyeballs in them until i left moscow in september. there are constant discussions within the u.s. government about what we can do to try to convince the russians to release paul. >> do we have russian counterparts at some level? >> it's a very careful review that has been going on for a long time, both within the u.s. government and outside the u.s. government, of what could be offered for someone like paul, who is falsely accused of being a spy. from the russians' perspective, he is worth a lot. from their perspective. because they claim he is a spy. they falsely convicted him in a secret trial of being a spy and now they want something extremely valuable in return and they are prepared to wait for that. >> well over a year ago you lost the use of 182 russian local

employees at the embassy. what was it like? because i was told that it hampered your ability to get around town. >> yeah. >> your driver maybe? >> yep. >> i mean, how it did you do business without 182? this was putin's tit-for-tat with us. >> more seriously, there were 182 russian nationals that we were forced to separate. we aren't able to get visas for u.s. officers to come into the country. there are inconveniences, as you mentioned, andrea, and restrictions on my act to travel around moscow. there are more significant things. for example, our fire suppression system, the water pumps in the basement failed because they hadn't been serviced as was needed because we didn't have the techs to do it. if there was a fire, our fire sprinklers wouldn't have worked. it's more than just inconvenience or affecting diplomacy. there are serious health and safety risks.

fortunately we were able to get the water pumps fixed. >> this is a serious problems. i as deputy secretary and as ambassador, we have been edge gauged almost six years trying to solve this problem. the bottom line is, the russians have more diplomats in the united states. we have many fewer in russia. if it's a race to the bottom, we will get to zero before they do. >> i have so many more questions to ask you. will you come back soon? >> love you. thank you, great being with you. >> thank you very much. you had some hard duty there, and the worst possible conditions and you stayed longer than anyone could have expected. >> you are very kind, thank you. >> to you and your family, thank you. and president biden makes his first trip to the southern border as president and is now in mexico meeting with mexican and canadian officials. you're watching "andrea mitchell

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president biden is in mexico today after visiting the southern border for the first time as president on sunday. in el paso, texas, the epicenter of the migrant crisis the president met with border officials, toured services support center but did not meet with the migrants. it comes amid a surge in migrants nationwide. border patrol says it stopped a record 2.6 million migrants crossing illegally last year. the president's getting hammered on the border on both sides of the aisle a in congress, including humanitarian groups who are criticizing his plan to expel 30,000 migrants a month. governor abbott handing the president a letter blasting his policies as weak. one venezuelan migrant was arrested yesterday as nbc's gabe gutierrez was on the air from el

paso. >> reporter: he says he got here yesterday. [ speaking non-english ] he says that he is a -- he is venezuelan, got here yesterday. he doesn't know why he is being arrested. as you can see, there are active arrests going on by local officials here in el paso right outside of the sacred heart church. >> nbc news chief white house correspondent kristen welker joins us from el paso. kristen, you have been speaking to the migrants yourself. what are they telling you? why didn't the president meet with any of them? >> reporter: first, why the president didn't meet with anyone, i spoke with two senior administration officials who says he was at that migrant aid center and the migrants had been processed earlier in the day, he would have met with them if they had not yet been processed. the timing didn't work out. it's worth noting and

underscoring the fact that there were migrants lining the street just a short distance where the president was at that church why gabe was reporting from. we spoke to a number of them. their stories harrowing, saying they wanted to make the life-threatening journey here for a better life for their families, including a migrant, maria rodriguez, who traveled from venezuela over four months, including hiding in a garbage truck for five days. listen. >> reporter: five days hiding in trash? and she traveled here with her children, with her nephew. again, she says it was worth it for the prospects of a better life. we spoke to so many migrants who had, frankly, the same story.

we spoke with el paso residents, including joe, who said that while they feel for the migrants, many of them come from migrant communities themselves, they also do not feel as though el paso's community resources, economy can really shoulder this surge in migrants. here is what joe told me. what do you want to hear from president biden topped? >> i want him to do something about it foim finally for sure. not empty promises. i want him to actually do something. >> kristen, let's follow up on what the president can do. >> reporter: andrea, just to put this into context, there were so many tensions at the root of this visit. and i want to go back to that live shot by gabe where he was reporting on one migrant being arrested. there were six migrants who were arrested before president biden even arrived outside of that

church, opening up law enforcement to all sorts of allegations that they were trying to sanitize this crisis for the presidential visit. it's an allegation that law enforcement fiercely denies. but it just underscores the breadth of this challenge for the president. he has said the key is immigration reform. of course, he is dealing with divided government. andrea, all of this on display front and center in mexico during those critical talks over the next two days. andrea. >> kristen, i think i interrupted you for a moment. thank you so much. great to have you down there covering the president's tripe. house republicans planning to ramp up their investigations into the biden administration and the president's family. what we can expect in the new session of congress next with congresswoman abigail spanberger. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. birt. so we have a lot of questions about medicare plans. we've got a lot of answers! how can i help?

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house republicans are promising to flex their investigative powers now that they are in charge. and it appears they are going to be going after president biden's son hunter. the top republican on the house oversight committee speaking to chuck todd. >> there are emails and text message that show hunter biden complaining about spending so much money keeping his dad up. that's his only source of north carolina, adversaries in china. we should look into this. >> joining us now is democratic congresswoman abigail spanberger, virginia, battleground representative for the democratic caucus. so, congresswoman, welcome back. congratulations on finally getting sworn in at very much. >> 1:45 in the morning saturday morning. at least you didn't have that far to travel home or your family if they were there for the swearing in ceremonies. but what a week you guys had.

let's talk about your reaction to his comments, in the context of saying that is not about hunter, this is about president biden. so they are trying to say that they are got after the president for supposedly chinese pedal ing oig and not talking about the foreign bank accounts including some in china that we know about from the tax returns that were finally released on former president trump. >> and i have multiple reactions to this, first and foremost, when i was campaigning for re-election across virginia's seventh district, not once did anyone mention their curiosity to the president's son's k350u9er. they parked about the economy, the hardships facing their kids, their communities. and ability to provide for their

family and ensure stability. so what i find so shocking is that is this a major departure from so much of at rhetoric that we heard on the campaign trail from our counterpart, what they said that they want to work on is different from what it appears to be their primary concern. and we know that president trump has foreign entankments with the chinese and so it is stunning that they are so committed to whatever this is in terms of these efforts. and notably there are many challenges, i'm a former cia officer, i am first among those to be saying that we need to be looking at for our own national security prioritizing it, foreign entankments of anyone in leadership is an issue, certainly we need to be looking

at how the united states is long term competitive with the rising china, in face of a rising china, but this is not what it is about. this is at the same time that we see intended cut of $75 billion to defense spending which is just an extraordinary departure from what has been known that we need to invest in our own defense. and so i find the comments totally out of step with what pers to the american people but not surprising given the rhetoric. >> and how concerning are you about the new committee with the false claims that there are 8

87,000 new irs agents, false claims about the intelligence community and the efforts to cut spending on ukraine? >> well, the question is what is the circumstance we already have oversight committees. we already have the judiciary committee over the fbi and over the department of justice. we already have the house foreign affairs that has oversight over the state department. we already have the house intelligence committee that has oversight over the intelligence committee. so the idea that they are creating this new entity 34e7b9 meant to look at how agencies are politicized is an effort in politicizing them. as those who represent many services, to me the fact that we continue to have lawmakers that are lil have i guying the fbi, 8 the same people who fight terrorism, who go after foreign nationals who may be spying here in the united states, the list

goes on and on, the fact that we have members of congress who are willing to vilify them is stunning to me and offensive as someone who spent my career in national security. >> and to say nothing of the other issues on your plate. and you've had a tough re-election and tough district and again congratulations. >> bills want food win one for almost own and boy did this dough it. from the very first play scoring on the opening kickoff return all the way -- first game since the start -- of the safety's cardiac arrest during monday night football. damar hamlin cheering on the team tweeting a photo of himself making a heart symbol and writing game day, nothing i want more than be running out of that

tunnel with my brothers. god using me in a different way. tell someone that you love them. and it launched a line of did we win t-shirts. and he will dedicate all proceeds to the cincinnati trauma center and first responders credited with saving his life. just remarkable everything that he accomplished. and by the way, they also had a 96 -- they had 101 yard return and a 96 yard return in that opening play of that game. buffalo winning it over the patriots. big football weekend. commanders also winning their last game over dallas with their third string quarterback. just saying. and that does it for this edition of andrea mitchell reports. remember to follow the show online, on facebook and on twitter at mitchell reports. tcs

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i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. house republicans finally get their chance to be in charge, but the majority and new speaker kevin mccarthy will be tested right out of the gate. the latest on the rules package and the secret deals that could derail the new majority before it even gets started. plus fulton county grand jury investigating former pnt