right now on "andrea mitchell reports," tony blinken at the last minute postponing tonight's critical trip to china. the first by a u.s. secretary in six years if he had gone in response to china's sending a spy balloon to hover over the u.s., increasing tensions between the two world powers. we expect a pentagon briefing momentarily. we have former cia director john brennan and republican house china committee chair mike gallagher as the speaker demands president biden take strong action for what mccarthy is calling china's brazen disregard for u.s. sovereignty. a massive january jobs report, a big boost for the white house. a sign the fed will not stop raising interest rates any time soon.

good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. we go directly to the pentagon and the briefing on the china spy balloon. >> because we do not have internet or phone capability in this area of the pentagon for a variety of reasons, our normal call-in options will not be available. for those who have had to call in, we apologize for the inconvenience. however, we will aim to get our briefing transcripts and the audio up as quickly as possible. we will aim to answer your questions through our dod press desk when you send them to us. moving forward, we will look at ways to improve our briefing operations and the facilitation and expect that our regular press briefings will resume in the press briefing room in middle to late may. again, we appreciate your patience and flexibility and extend our thanks to the department of the air force for

allowing us to use airman's hall as our temporary briefing home. secretary austin returned yesterday from a very productive series of meetings in the republic of korea and philippines. the secretary and his korean counterpart reaffirmed measures to extend deterrence. >> we will give you big headlines here while they get organized. secretary of state tony blinken postponing his trip to china this weekend because of the spy balloon over the u.s. it was to be the first trip to china by a secretary of state in six years. a senior official telling nbc news president biden decided two days ago not to shoot the balloon down because it might have injured people and property on the ground. after secretary of defense lloyd austin held a meeting with senior military leaders while

traveling in the philippines. today chinese foreign ministry officials say they regret it and it's civilian in nature and used for scientific research, something the u.s. does not accept. joining me now courtney kubie. we will jump into the pentagon. you have all the reporting. you broke the story. take us through the latest. >> reporter: as you said, they have been monitoring this balloon for several days. it hit a point where there was a high level of concern that led to this meeting. they went through the options. what's important to note here is that one of the options did include taking this balloon out. that was a very real

consideration throughout these talks. as you mentioned, the recommendation out of the senior military leaders was it would be a potential danger to civilians and infrastructure. they recommended against it. president biden concurred. they monitor it. there are other things they took into account. one was according to a senior defense official it doesn't present a threat to civilian air or a threat to people on the ground. that was factored into the decision. >> as you understand, we're going to interrupt and go to the pentagon for the latest on the balloon. >> we will continue to review -- excuse me, monitor and review options. finally, secretary austin will hold a bilateral meeting today here in the pentagon with the australian prime minister. the secretary looks forward to discussing cooperation and our mutual security efforts within the indo-pacific region and beyond. a full readout will post later

today. we will move to your questions. we will start with ap. >> thank you for doing this. china has said this is just a weather balloon that has veered off course. why is the pentagon convinced this is a surveillance balloon? can you give us a little more on the status of the balloon? you said it's in the central u.s. what state? do you have any guidance for people as they see this balloon or trying to photograph it or maybe trying to interfere with it? >> sure. thanks. first of all, we are aware of the prc's statement. however, the fact is, we know that it's a surveillance balloon. i'm not going to be able to be more specific than that. we know that the balloon has violated u.s. airspace and international law, which is unacceptable. we conveyed this to the prc at multiple levels. in terms of specific locations, i'm not going go into specific locations other than to say it's

moving eastward at this time. you had a follow-up? >> a quick follow-up on -- as people start to see the balloon, do you have guidance? should they not photograph, not interfere? >> it's assessed to be at 60,000 feet. well above the range of civilian air traffic or civilian air traffic would normally fly. there are cameras -- civilian cameras that could spot this balloon. in terms of guidance, this is something that norad is monitoring. we do assess at this time that it's not posing a physical threat, as i mentioned, to people on the ground. leave it at that. jennifer. >> who is controlling this balloon right now? >> again, we know this is a chinese balloon. beyond that, i'm not going to

have specifics. >> you say it's moving eastward and it's over the continental u.s. is the chinese government controlling the movement of the balloon or is it just floating with air streams? >> i'm not going to go into any specific intelligence we may have. we know this is a chinese balloon and that it has the ability to maneuver. i will leave it at that. >> once it's over a body of water, will you shoot it down? >> again, right now, we're monitoring the situation closely. reviewing options. beyond that, i'm not going to have any additional information. tony. >> on the balloon, can you confirm the photos that are out there, that this is not the man in the moon and that is the actual balloon? >> thanks. certainly, aware of photos being posted online. i'm not going to get into the business of confirming whether or not those are -- where those come from.

i can tell you the u.s. government is monitoring this closely and we will continue to review options. >> how close was the u.s. to ordering -- was the president to ordering a shoot down of the balloon? >> i'm not going to get into discussions within the white house. right now, we assess there's no threat -- physical or military threat to people on the ground. we're continuing to monitor. we will leave it at that. thank you. jane. >> thanks. i have two questions. in response to secretary austin's recent remarks that more u.s. strategic accesses will come to south korea, north korea was stronger provocation in the near future. what is your comment on this? >> it's not surprising given

north korea's track record of making these statements. what we are focused on is on preserving peace, security and stability in the indo-pacific region. it was an opportunity to reaffirm our strong and close alliance with the republic of korea. that will remain our focus is on working with south korea and other nations in the region to deter aggression and ensure a free and open indo-pacific. >> south korea has announced that it will be test high powered monster ballistic missile with nuclear warhead later. this is defense against north korea's nuclear warhead. how do you greet this? >> i missed the first part of your question. >> south korea has announced that it will be test high

powered monster ballistic missile with nuclear warhead. this is -- >> i don't have anything on that. i would refer you to the government of south korea. >> thank you very much. two questions on the chinese balloon. there's speculation that this balloon flew over japanese airspace before reaching the u.s. can you confirm that? >> i have seen those press reports. as we acknowledged in our statement that we posted last night, we have seen this type of balloon activity elsewhere before. again, i'm not going to get into intelligence and i'm not going to have any further information to provide. >> secondly, how will this incident affect the secretary's future engagement counterpart to maintain open lines of communication? >> i think we have been very

clear we are open to maintaining an open line of communication with the prc. in that regard, nothing changed. let me go to phil. >> is the position of the balloon classified? >> right now, what we're not going to do is get into an hour by hour location of the balloon. we are monitoring it closely. as i mentioned, right now it's over the center of the continental united states. that's as specific as i'm going to get. >> i understand. does the public not have a right to know? >> the public has the ability to look up in the sky and see where the balloon is. >> you said balloon is maneuverable. does that mean it's not drifting? >> the balloon is maneuverable. clearly, it has violated u.s. airspace. we have communicated that fact to the prc. >> if possible, can you tell us

if the balloon, when it entered the u.s. airspace, has it changed its course? >> the balloon has changed its course, which is why we're monitoring it. that's about as specific as i can get. >> matt. >> you said at this point the balloon doesn't pose risks to citizens. how is it the u.s. can assess that given the balloon is at such an altitude without getting eyes on it up close and assessing the equipment that's on board? secondly, are there alternatives considered to shooting it down? is there any action to take it out of the sky intact to maybe get a better look at that equipment? >> again, this is a surveillance balloon operating at about 60,000 feet. clearly, we did a very close assessment in terms of what it's doing and as i mentioned,

military commanders have assessed that there is no physical or military threat to people on the ground. in that regard, we will continue to monitor. in terms of way ahead, we will continue to review options. i'm not going to have anything further to provide on that. thank you. >> thank you. you said that this is violating our airspace. why not take it down? >> clearly, as we assess options and considering the size of the payload on this, looking at the potential for debris and the impact on civilians on the ground or property damage, again, running through the various factors and looking at in terms of, does it pose a potential risk to people while in the air and right now as i mentioned, we assessed that it

does not pose a risk to people on the ground as it currently is traversing the continental united states. out of caution, cognizant of the potential impact to civilians on the ground, from a debris field, right now we will monitor and review options. >> if i may, you mentioned that we have seen this activity before. why are we sharing this one and why last night if you were following it for a few days? is this a sign we should take from china ahead of blinken's visit or from the activity in the philippines? >> in terms of any hypotheticals about messaging from prc, i would refer you to them on that front. i think what makes this different is the duration and the length of which it has been over u.s. territory. beyond that, i'm not going to go into any more specifics. mike. >> thanks, pat. yesterday a senior defense official said that the

intelligence gathering capability of this balloon would be no better than any chinese satellite in low earth orbit. if that's the case, why would beijing go through the trouble and expense to send this balloon on such a journey? >> i would refer you back to prc. >> any opinion -- >> we're monitoring this, as i mentioned. it has violated u.s. airspace. it's violated international law. we communicated that back to the government of china. again, i would refer you back to china in terms of -- >> i assume the pentagon is trying to figure this out itself, why they're bothering to do this if it's offering no better intelligence gathering than from a satellite. >> yeah. that's a statement, not a question. >> put a question mark at the end. >> i'm not going to have anything other to provide.

go to her and come back to nancy. >> i was wondering, is there any way that the pentagon is able to gauge how long it could potentially loiter comparing to balloons that have been in the past? how long do you anticipate that it could loiter? >> as i mentioned, we will continue to monitor it. we assess that it will probably be over the united states for a few days. we will continue to monitor, review our options and keep you updated as we can. nancy here. >> i want to go back to a couple things you said. you said several times the u.s. is reviewing its options. i would like clarity, is the option of shooting down the balloon, particularly as it's going over more populated areas, off the table? is that amongst options that the u.s. military is considering?

if so, under what circumstances? >> at this stage what i can tell you is we're reviewing options. i'm not going into more specifics. we're monitoring it. we're reviewing options. leave it there. >> a senior defense official said similar incidents happened under the previous administration and some of those officials have come forward and said they are not familiar with it. is there any way you could give us details on when it's happened over -- whether over the continental u.s. or over u.s. territories, is that something you could provide the public more details about the extent that these happen? >> what i would tell you is, that information is classified. i'm not able to provide it other than i can confirm that there have been other incidents where balloons did come close to or cross over u.s. territory. >> i want to reiterate something

phil said earlier. given it's not classified and the public can see it, i ask you take the question that we have more specifics on where it is given there's no clear security reason by your own estimation in terms of keeping that information from the public. >> absolutely. we're just not going to get into hour by hour where the balloon is. we kill keep you and the public informed in general terms on where the balloon is. try to be helpful in that regard. >> i think some -- >> a key point to make and po -- to belabor the point, we assess that it currently does not pose a physical or military risk. we will monitor and review our options and provide information and updates as we are able to.

>> if it approaches washington, d.c., will you shoot it down? >> i will not speculate on future actions. to the back of the room. >> thank you. thinking about the route of the balloon, was it impossible for dod to deal with balloon before it reach to the airspace of the united states? >> we have been monitoring the balloon. we are aware. as i mentioned, it is a maneuverable craft. we continue to assess and make appropriate decisions based on how we're going to address what we perceive as a potential threat or not. the safety and security of the american people is paramount. again, at this time, we assess it does not pose a physical threat to people on the ground. we will continue to monitor it

and we will continue to review options. thank you. let me go to joe here and then back to this side of the room. >> you said this is the first time we have -- this isn't the first time we have seen a balloon fly over the continental u.s. in the past, has it flown over other sensitive areas such as military bases? you haven't been very specific. it's just the continental u.s. >> because that information is classified. i'm not going to be able to talk about it. thank you. >> the canadian defense ministry said they were tracking a second potential spy balloon. are you tracking a second potential incident? when the balloon was coming -- i guess what i'm confused about is, when were there discussions to shoot down the balloon? were there discussions when it was not over the united states, when it was potentially over international waters, or only when it entered u.s. airspace? >> on your first question, we

are tracking one balloon. in regards to statements by canada, i would refer you back to them on that. in terms of the discussions about whether or not to shoot down this balloon, that was an option, right? so that was something that was taken into consideration. again, because we assess that currently it does not pose a fis fisic -- physical or military risk, for now we are continuing to monitor and review options. >> how big is the balloon? is it -- have you picked up -- is it leaving anything in its wake like sensors? >> on your latter question, i'm not going to get into intelligence. we do continue to monitor the balloon. we know that it is a surveillance balloon. in terms of the size, i'm not

able to get into the specifics other than to say that it is big enough that, again, in reviewing our approach, we do recognize that any potential debris field would be significant and potentially cause civilian injuries or deaths or significant property damage. this is part of the calculus in terms of our overall assessment. we will continue to monitor it. we will continue to review our options and keep you updated as able. let me go here and then over here. >> thank you. following up on the balloon question, during your conversation with the chinese, have they indicated to you what is inside the balloon to prove the point it's a civilian balloon? does that assessment differ from u.s. assessment of what is inside the balloon, what it's trying to do? secondly, india and u.s. launched an initiative in emerging technology.

this has quite a bit of defense component in it. can you give us details and how it's going to strengthen buildup relationship with india? >> on the second question, i will take that. i don't have that information on me. the first question, i appreciate it. as i mentioned, we have contacted the prc. i'm not going to get into their reaction. i would refer you to them for that. we have clearly communicated that this balloon is violating u.s. airspace and international law and that this is unacceptable. thank you. over here and over here. >> thank you, sir. is the pentagon looking at any possibility of maybe altering the course of the balloon, take it where they can shoot it down in a rural area? >> monitoring. reviewing options. i'm not going to go into further specifics. sir. >> considering that this is a surveillance balloon, does it have ability to collect very sensitive data given it flies

over nuclear sites in the state of montana? >> again, i'm not going to get into intelligence. as we mentioned in our statement last night, once the balloon was detected, we acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information. i will leave it at that. thank you. bill? >> is there any possibility there's nuclear or radioactive aboard the balloon? is there anything aboard the balloon that makes you believe that it could pose a risk if it were shot down? >> short answer is no. again, right now we do not assess that the balloon in its current configuration at approximately 60,000 feet poses a physical or military threat to people on the ground. thank you. joe? >> ukraine question. the small diameter bomb in the latest ukraine aid package has the potential to target crimea. is that the intent behind providing it now?

>> thanks for the question, joe. yes, as part of the usai package, we will provide ground launch small diameter bombs to ukraine. >> we have been listening to the briefing at the pentagon. the general explaining why they have not taken down the balloon. let's go through your latest reporting as well as what we heard, first of all, that it has been maneuvered. it's maneuverable. the chinese are in control of it. that's why they made the conclusions they made. it's not just drifting into u.s. airspace. they are obviously pushing back against the chinese claim that this is a weather balloon and also that they got close enough to make an assessment. give me your guidance on what happened. were they sending up jets? how were they getting close enough? it's 60,000 feet, which is not that high. but it's still above most civilian flights. >> reporter: that's right.

they sent aircraft near the balloon when it was over montana on wednesday, including civilian -- they have the ability to collect information and f-22s, a fighter jet. they are sophisticated and advanced surveillance aircraft. the f-22 had a dual purpose in this case. it was able to gather information and look at the balloon. but it theoretically has the ability to take action, to take out the balloon if that was decided. we don't know for sure that that's the way they would have brought down this balloon. it would have that capability. one thing that the general said that i think is critical, one of the questions we have been asking since we learned about this, and that is that -- its track. it's moving east across the continental u.s. that opens up more questions. what is it going over? is it going over strategic locations? when it was in billings, the last known location that we know of and that the defense department is acknowledging, it was a couple hundred miles from

a u.s. air force base where ballistic missiles are housed. it's a critical strategic base for the u.s. as far as we know, it didn't get much closer than that. it was several hundred miles away. the fact that it's moving east across the country opens up the potential it could be moving near other strategic locations. it opens up questions of, the u.s. is tracking it, they leave open the possibility to use action to take it down. if it gets closer to some of the locations, is that when we see that happen? we didn't get an answer to that. >> i want to bring in michael crowley, chief diplomatic correspondent for "the new york times." one other question. do we know how wide the vision is, how wide they are scanning? are you still there?

>> reporter: i'm here. we don't know a lot about the specific ways it's gathering information other than the fact that it could be cameras, other types of sensors on there. the defense department has been specific about not giving those details. i would point out, the chinese have satellites that are able to see a lot of things. this asset is lower than a satellite, obviously. there's the potential it may give a clearer picture if we are talking about cameras than some of the satellites would. that's just a question we have been asking. the dod doesn't want to give that detail. >> i know you have to go to more reporting. there are details he is announcing of a new defense package for ukraine. i want to bring in michael crowley. thanks for your reporting. michael, it's a big decision to cancel -- postpone, i should say, a trip, the first in six years. we know how badly the u.s. -- this administration and china got off on a bad foot with the

dreadful meeting in alaska where they were speaking past each other and really arguing against each other in public. the decision to postpone and what this means for the secretary of state and for the u.s. with its most important -- the most important power that we face economically and militarily. >> absolutely. really unusual to cancel a trip like this. very surprising development. we have spent so much time, including you and i personally in the last year plus talking about ukraine. it has been a virtually all consuming subject. in the big long-term picture, the biden administration sees china as america's greatest challenge over the longer term. this trip was significant because there was some hope that after president biden met with president xi of china in bali a few months ago and arranged this

trip that there had been a little bit of a thaw in relations between washington and beijing, which had gotten to be really quite terrible. there was hope they could build on that meeting, have constructive dialogue. then this balloon shows up. you had this dramatic cancellation. it's not clear where there goes from here. the fact that this balloon is still in the air and moving east, there's still the possibility this thing escalates, if the u.s. has to shoot it down. that's very dramatic, the idea we use military force against a chinese asset would be dramatic. it's an unpredictable situation even after this cancellation. this story is not finished at all. >> michael crowley, thanks so much for all of your insight. joining us now, former cia director john brennan.

the general made it clear that the duration of this balloon hovering over the u.s. is why they made it public. why do you -- what do you think is the intelligence significance of this? do you accept their argument that they believe, without having hands on, that this is not a military or intelligence threat more so than the average chinese satellite? >> i think there's been an intensive intelligence collection. i think that the intelligence community is trying to assess what the capabilities are. what the general said is significant. first of all, he refuted the chinese allegation it's a civilian meteorological or weather balloon that strayed off course. it's clear he said that this is a surveillance balloon, which

means it's visual as well as technical collection capabilities that are over the continental united states, including over sensitive military sites. we know that the chinese have decided recently to increase their strategic nuclear forces. might this be the opportunity for them to have this relatively low altitude surveillance capability much lower than satellites they have over areas of the united states where they can dwell and collect intelligence and try to make the excuse it strayed off course? i do think it's critically important to the united states to send a clear message to china. i think the postponement of secretary blinken's travel to beijing is a clear signal. at some point they may decide to take it out of the sky. we have the right to do that. it's our sovereign airspace. i think as the general alluded this, this payload is significant. probably several hundred pounds. if it is shot down, it's not going to burn up like a

satellite as it comes out of an orbit. i think what they're trying to do is make sure they deal with this very thoroughly but also do it in a manner that's not going to cause any type of unnecessary harm or damage to people and to facilities here in the united states. >> as long as i've been covering our missile deployment, we have a number of missile bases in the central part of the united states and out west. this balloon could be collecting a lot of intelligence. >> indeed. by the way, not just intercontinental ballistic missiles in north dakota, as you know. you have probably flown in one of them, the long-range strategic bomber. two legs of the triad up there. there's a "saturday night live" quality to this. particularly the line when pressed on where is this, which is an answerable question. he said, the american public can look up in the sky and see it.

that will be on "saturday night live" i guarantee it. here is what's important and getting lost in the traffic a bit is i think this is a signal from china. they are very displeased with two things. one is the u.s. being granted access to bases in the northern philippines on the islands effectively closing a string of basing that runs from japan through south korea through the philippines down to australia. they are upset about it. number two, they saw the u.s. marine corps stand up the first new marine corps base in 70 years. it's in guam, camp blaze. it's going to provide the hub of logistics to the spokes of all these other bases. i for one -- i certainly will learn a lot more in the next few days as director brennan has said. this looks like a signal to me.

for tony blinken to say, this isn't a good time to do toasts in beijing. i think it's a smart move to indicate our displeasure. final thought, we have to continue collecting on it before we shoot it down. eventually, i think we will have to shoot this down. i know the pentagon is working those options and will present them with the president. we will have to do that, i would guess, rather than let this thing drift in the skies over the united states. >> john, the decision to postpone this trip, as the admiral said, there's no way he could be in china and out of pocket in terms of visuals in the air for long stretches going to and from. but in china on the ground and doing anything diplomatic and visual while we potentially might have to shoot it down, might have to take action and while there's going to be a

split screen with that balloon hovering, if it's up there. this is perhaps china seeing the moves in the philippines. general austin was there last week. of course, dial back to what we saw a couple of years ago with our decision on the submarine for australia. the administration has been moving aggressively to try to create deterrents and protect taiwan long term, correct? >> yes. as the admiral said, there are multiple dimensions to this relationship. whether you talk about taiwan or the philippines or guam, cyber issues, trade. so, therefore, we to look at this surveillance balloon in the context of this broader relationship that is going through quite a bit of tension. i think it's appropriate that secretary blinken postpone this trip. i think we have to send a clear signal to china that this is unacceptable sending this surveillance balloon into our airspace.

i think the administration right now is weighing the options that they have in addition to shooting down the balloon but also they might decide to do to send a signal back to china that we're not just going to turn the other cheek on some of these things. i think this is the complex relationship. i think the administration is dealing with this as effectively as they can at this point. >> thank you all so very much. thanks to both of you. >> one last point. there will be more balloons. get used to it. it's an emerging significant technology. director brennan knows that very well. this won't be the last time you and i are talking about balloons. thanks. >> perhaps the value is that it is seen by the american public out in plain sight. thank you for that as well, admiral. joining me now is republican congressman mike gallagher.

the chair of the select committee on china. he serves on the intelligence and armed services committee. he is a former marine. thank you so much. i can't think of a better guest right now from the hill. your colleague is demanding an intelligence briefing how it happened. we are hearing calls from the speaker for a gang of eight, the top eight members, bipartisan members of house and senate. we under the gang of eight staff was briefed last night, i've been told that, according to nbc news' reporting. have you been briefed? how quickly do you think the hill has to be briefed on this? >> as soon as possible. the la gis -- logistical problem is i landed in wisconsin here. it's important for us in the intelligence community to dig into this on monday evening in a bipartisan fashion. the ranking member of the select committee on china and i put out

a statement last night saying this is an infringement on american sovereignty. we need to push back. i have unanswered questions about why we chose not to shoot it down. i'm not sure i'm persuaded with them saying debris is the problem. ideally, we would be able to get control of it and look under the hood, analyze it to ascertain what the chinese are using this to do. there's unanswered questions. calls for briefing with the gang of eight i think are entirely appropriate. we need to do it as soon as possible. >> china is saying that it regrets that a civilian airship, which it claims was used for weather search, strayed into u.s. airspace. the general said it's maneuverable. it didn't drift in. it's not commercial. it's clearly not a weather balloon, correct?

>> yeah. i don't think we should trust the official narrative from the chinese communist party. there's evidence that goes back just to the early parts of the pandemic to suggest why we shouldn't trust what they say publically. i believe multiple early indications are that this is something more like an intelligence collection asset. i think -- it would surprise me if it were a coincidence this happened at the same time secretary blinken was preparing to go to beijing. i think he made the right call in postponing his visit. grip and grin would have looked odd after this insult to our sovereignty. i think americans want to sequences for blatant violation of our sovereignty. this is part of a pattern of aggression. this is not isolated. we see the proliferation of chinese police stations in major u.s. cities. we have ccp connected individuals buying land adjacent to key u.s. national security facilities.

infiltrating american universities. we need to understand the pattern of aggression here and find a way to push back in a bipartisan, strong and smart manner. >> do you think the u.s. should have shot down the balloon or taken action in the last couple of days? >> i do. i do think we could have done that with -- there was question what altitude. if it was super high, it make it more difficult. it was 60,000 feet. if there's a way to lower the altitude, partially disable it and collect it or gain control in order to analyze it without destroying it completely, that would be the best action as a technical matter. i don't know if that's possible. we can't allow this to continue transiting across the united states. i don't understand the initial indications from the pentagon that, this wasn't that valuable of a intelligence collection

asset. even if that's the case, even if this thing were actually a civilian weather device, we are talking about defending our sovereign airspace. i don't think the chinese communist party would hesitate to shoot down an american asset that was in their airspace. indeed, they have shot down planes in the past as well. we have to do something about it. doing nothing is not an option. >> are you concerned it could drop sensors or drones to gather more sensitive information that we couldn't track? >> i do. it's why i don't think we should be sanguine with the intelligence collection capability of this asset. all the more reason in my opinion why we should seek to understand what we're dealing with. are we confident we know what this asset is capable? particularly since it is near sensitive nuke nuclear faciliti. we have intercontinental

ballistic missiles. we have to understand what this is. if the admiral is right, that we will see more of these types of things in the future, we really need to get an understanding what we're dealing with. >> very briefly, apparently about to also approve a new $2 billion package, military package for ukraine. reaching the point where republicans are going to be complaining about not having more money for ukraine given what speaker mccarthy and others have said already. >> i think in the national defense authorization act, we got sensible oversight provisions. we have an inspector general for aid to ukraine. we have a quarterly reporting requirement for the stockpile of our munition systems. we can go to our republican colleagues that might be skeptical and say, we're doing

responsible oversight. i think one thing we need to do on the select committee on china is to better tease out the connection between vladimir putin and russia and xi. i think we are seeing an alliance. we have only recently woken up to it. by enhancing our support to the ukrainians, we can bolster deterrents when it comes to taiwan and an invasion. >> thank you so much. i do appreciate it. the final jobs report ahead of the state of the union, far better than anyone expected. job gains blew past predictions with 517,000 jobs added. that's nearly tripling expectations. the unemployment rate fell to 3.4%, the lowest in half a century when nixon was president. president biden today calling it a big victory. >> here is where we stand. the strongest job growth in

history. the lowest unemployment rate in 54 years. manufacturing rebounding at a faster rate than in the last 40 years. inflation coming down. real wages going up, but moderately, not going through the roof. the economy growing at a solid clip. i would argue the biden economic plan is working. >> a positive jobs growth report makes the fed's job fighting inflation harder with core inflation not coming down. let's get to cnbc economics reporter steve leisman and the president of the action committee as well as former director of the congressional budget office. these job gains are across the board. the labor market a key to how much further the fed needs to lift rates. that was signals on wednesday that they're not done, contrary to what some people may have

thought. >> yeah. the market thinks the fed should back off and has rate cuts built in by the end of the year. the fed chair told them, don't get too married to that forecast. he doesn't see it happening in part because he wanted to see -- this is before the number came out. this was wednesday. he wanted to see the job market get a little weaker, create slack in the job market. so we didn't have strongly rising wages impacting inflation. what's happened, you said it well, this is a broad-based gain in jobs. i can't seem to find anything particularly that juiced it up. sometimes we get a quirky number and it's a seasonal adjustment. but it's across the board. one other thing, we were kind of confident the job market was weakening. temporary help, a leading indicator, had gone down. almost all those things reversed this month. we are back in the race for a

strong hiring. >> they did a quarter point. you worked in a republican white house as well as the bipartisan congressional budget committee. how do you get core inflation down when the jobs market is this strong? jerome powell is aiming for 2% inflation. >> he is not going to get there this year. this is a long struggle. first thing i would say, steve is right. there's a lot of quirkiness in the numbers. i would take this seriously but not literally. these numbers are -- >> they could be readjusted. >> the most important characteristic is we got very strong jobs growth in both reports and we didn't see a big acceleration in wages. wage growth continued to moderate. powell linked wages to inflation in the service sector, which is our problem right now. that's a good news story from the fed's point of view. strong growth, not strong inflation pressures. the proof will be in the

pudding. valentine's day we get the consumer price index. we can see whether the pressure is easing. >> steve, we will see on valentine's day whether this is something we can love and whether we can send a valentine to powell. what is the next step? the soft landing was always going to be hard to achieve. how few have there been in history? now what does he do? >> not many. first of all, i take my friend doug seriously and literally. i would like to point out that right now what we have is we have a mismatch of a problem in the fed's idea. doug just said it. we have wage growth coming down even amid this strong job market. it may be that the fed's idea that there's this link between the job market being tight and inflation could be wrong. the answer might be that we have to just undo those supply chain

problems we had, put people actually back to work so that they can provide the supply that was out there, maybe even china coming back online could help a little bit. it may not be so linked to the wages. the other thing worth pointing out is a lot of the job growth is coming from some of those sectors that are below their pre-pandemic levels, like leisure and hospitality, it was responsible for 128,000. 74,000 from government education. 79,000 from nurses. you can't say we have too many nurses in this country. there's some legitimate job growth that's needed here to get back to where they were. i don't think it's right for the fed to stand in front of that. >> doug, you ran the cbo and know these relationships better than anyone. you have got a debt ceiling crisis looming. there are things that can screw up any soft landing. china is one. we have seen that today. whatever vladimir putin does. a debt ceiling crisis, if it

goes off the cliff. a downgrading of the u.s. credit. >> yes. to be clear, there's no disagreement. i haven't heard anyone say we shouldn't raise or suspend the debt limit. >> i have heard some congress members say that. >> there's a disagreement about the future of the spending -- patterns. somebody will have to change the direction at some point. the question is whether this is the moment to make that deal. >> whether there's normal reaction where the president says, let's do it in parallel, you have a budget process. process. but does speaker mccarthy have the flexibility given the people in his coalition to make those kinds of compromises? >> we're going to find out. there's no question about it. the vote put everybody on notice that the margins are tight and this has to get done. so stay tuned. >> thank you so much, steve liesman and doug, thanks to both

of you. and the state of the union, not just the economy but mass shootings, police reform, just some of the issues the president is expected to tackle on tuesday night. we look ahead to the big address. that's next on "andrea mitchell reports." you're watching msnbc. otezla is a pill, not a cream or injection that can help people with plaque psoriasis achieve clearer skin. and no routine blood tests required. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. otezla can cause serious allergic reactions. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines and if you're pregnant or planning to be. doctors have been prescribing otezla for over 8 years. don't hesitate. ask your doctor about otezla today.

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nbc news white house correspondent mike memoli joins us if philly as well as jonathan capehart host of the sunday show here on msnbc and associate editor of "the washington post." mike, first to you, the president today is expected to push the democrats for a big change in the party's presidential nominating process. iowa's out as the first caucus and then new hampshire, and let me tell you my family in new hampshire and friends up there and members of congress and the governor not happy about that. >> reporter: you got that right, andrea, and new hampshire democrats who are here are also unhappy about it, but it's going to be a significant change to the calendar. it was three years ago today, andrea, if you'd believe it that the iowa caucuses created something of a muddle for democrats. if this new calendar is adopted by the dnc tomorrow as we expect, it will be a year from today that it's south carolina as the first primary in the country. now, this is obviously going to be something those early states continue to battle. you talk about the preview of the state of the union message

as well as the campaign, frankly. the president's going to be speaking to dnc members here, his first political speech since just after the midterm elections. he's going to be saying that the biggest threat to the progress that has been made as a country under his presidency so far is the extreme maga republican agenda. before he comes here to the dnc, andrea, we will get a sense as we heard on tuesday when you and i were together in new york of the promises made and promises kept aspect of the state of the union that's expected to be a big theme. talking about $500 million both from the infrastructure, federal backed loans from the city of philadelphia to replace the lead pipes, to improve the water infrastructure. an important part as a senior official is telling me looking ahead to the speech, of really connecting the president back to the three promises he made to voters three years ago as he kicked off that campaign. which is to rebuild the middle class economy, to restore the soul of the nation, and also to unite the country. the president himself saying uniting the country has been the hardest part, but he's going to be using his state of the yun

address to hit some unifying themes as well. >> of course regarding new hampshire, he left new hampshire after he clearly was going to lose new hampshire in that primary and was in south carolina of course already on election night when we were all up in new hampshire. jonathan capehart, the president is expected to address policing, police policy, police abuses in the state of the union speech. a new "washington post" abc news poll showing that american confidence in police officers not using excessive force has dropped after the death of tyre nichols. in memphis, another man monetary yus harris telling nbc news that days before the assault on tyre he was assaulted by the same five police officers charged in tyre's death. a police report says those same officers were part of the team that arrested harris. not saying that they were involved in assaulting him. and the family of a double amputee is demanding answers after 36-year-old anthony lowe

was shot and killed by police. anthony lowe who was black had lost his legs at the knee, got out of his wheelchair, quote, ran to the victim and stabbed him. the police statement said that lowe fled the scene in his wheelchair. it later said lowe ignored police commands, two attempts to subdue him with tasers were not effective. lowe continued to threaten officers with a butcher knife. the officers are on paid leave pending investigation. all of this, the combined impact the cbo led by congressman hosford were in with the president just yesterday. what can be done when there's no action because the senate killed the legislation that would change qualified immunity last time, and there's been no action on voting rights, and there's, frankly a lot of criticism that the biden white house did not push this early on when they had more power. >> and that's criticism that's

been leveled at the white house and is in a lot of ways justified. but when it comes to this, all of those cases you just mentioned in addition to tyre nichols, in addition to george floyd, in addition to, in addition to, in addition to only highlights why the george floyd justice in policing act needs to be passed, why the if the senate and the house can actually have a real conversation about the need for the elimination of qualified immunity, so at a minimum police officers can be held accountable for when they do things under the color of law, when they have the ability of literally taking someone's life, that if they do so in a way that is egregious to the community, that they are held accountable. >> tim scott now says it's a nonstart e. he was the point person with cory booker and he is possible running for president. he's going to iowa. >> right. which means that nothing is going to happen on george floyd justice in policing act,

especially given that and republicans in control of the house of representatives. what it means is the american people, reverend sharpton's speech, his eulogy at tyre nichols' funeral was at. got to keep out there and putting on the public pressure. >> jonathan capehart and i guess we're going to be watching you tonight and on sunday. tonight on pbs. >> yes, tonight on pbs. it's are friday. thanks so much to mike memoli. before you go, i'm wearing red. you're going to see a lot of red today. we're trying to bring teengs women's heart health. the cdc found cardiovascular disease claims more women's lives than all forms of cancer combined. the american heart association and the go red for women initiative every february reminding us of the critical importance of mfsing in and improving research awareness and equity in women's heart health. get your checkups, ladies, that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow us online and facebook

and twitter at mitchell reports. up next, chris jansing will be here with the chairman of the democratic national committee, jamie harrison. chris jansing is up right now. ♪♪ good day. i am chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. what looked like imminent diplomatic progress between the two most powerful nations in the world suddenly thrown off course by of all things a surveillance balloon. we'll get the latest on that and the briefing from the pentagon that we just watched live in the last hour. plus, the bitter, brutal deep freeze that could shatter records all over new england. in one spot windchills expected to drop so low they could cause frostbite in ten seconds. and a potentially huge shift in the presidential primary calendar sparking an intraparty battle ahead of the dnc's big meeting in philadelphia. i'll talk to the head of the

dnc,