good morning. 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. we start with an nbc news exclusive, the colorado supreme court justices now facing a

stream of threats after ruling former president trump should be taken off the state's primary ballot. we're following breaking news overseas, in prague, authorities say an unspecified number of people are dead after a shooting at prague university. at the border, we're live in eagle pass, texas, where agents are trying to process thousands of migrants at the bridge crossing. plus, why the governor of texas chartered a plane to fly migrants to chicago. breaking overnight, ten americans jailed in venezuela are now back on u.s. soil after the u.s. frees a major maduro ally. we begin this very busyour with the aftermath of the colorado supreme court's bombshell decision to bar former president trump from the state's primy ballot next year. afr the ruling, threats aimed at colorado's justices flooded social media, according to a

report nbc news obtained exclusively from a nonprofit organization that conducts public interest research. it says some of the threats came directly in response to trump's own social posts. the trump campaign official did not immediately respond to a request for comment. joining us now, nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard, anna nawaz, msnbc contributor, matthew dowd, chief strategist, and msnbc political analyst, and mary mccord for the national security division, also an msnbc legal analyst. and the co-host of the prosecuting donald trump podcast. vaughn, what kind of threats have these justices been receiving? >> right this group has tracked what they describe as explicit, graphic threats on the lives of the colorado supreme court

justices. of course, it was a 4-3 decision. what they have tracked on fringe sites online are specific calls for the death of these justices that ruled for the disqualification of donald trump from the presidential ballot in the state of colorado. one of those threats, quote, kill judges, behead judges, round house kick a judge into the concrete. another, what do you call seven justices from the colorado supreme court at the bottom of the ocean? a good start. this follows a year of severe threats made against prosecutors, who have investigated donald trump, an attack on an fbi field office in cincinnati after the fbi executed a search warrant at mar-a-lago, there have been threats on public officials like maricopa county supervisor, a man was arrested and convicted and sentenced to jail time for threatening to hang him. of course, the paul pelosi attack, this follows a string and a repetition of these types of threats that have been made, particularly on individuals who have overseen investigations or trials related to donald trump.

that includes the likes of alvin bragg, district attorney in new york, judge chutkan overseeing the election interference case in d.c. and now this -- these threats that have been made against these supreme court justices in colorado that ruled against donald trump and now, of course, there is concerns about other judges and other justices, even those on the u.s. supreme court as they await to determine whether they will take up the appeal, stemming from the colorado supreme court's decision, jose. >> yeah, look, what vaughn is outlining so brilliantly, this is a part of a familiar pattern when trump faces a legal setback, officials face threats. what do you make of the new reporting? >> i'm sorry, did you direct that to me, jose? >> yes. >> thank you. i wasn't sure i heard that. so, this is exactly as you said this is the pattern we have seen now for years, and this is the reason that judge chutkan in the d.c. case involving january 6th and the election interference

scheme, that's exactly why she issued what has been called a gag order, which was recently affirmed in large part by the d.c. circuit, that restricts trump's ability to directly target potential witnesses, families of court staff, families of the prosecutors, because what the court, both courts, both levels, judge chutkan and the district court and the d.c. circuit, they recounted in great detail all of these examples of when mr. trump tweets out or posts to social media post attacking someone, whether it is a judge, whether it is a prosecutor, whether it is potential witnesses against him, immediately his base responds with violence, very often violent as the examples you just showed -- you just illustrated where very violent attacks, in some cases resulting in criminal arrests and prosecutions with threats. same reason we saw the gag order in the new york case involving

the civil case against mr. trump and involving fraudulent business records, same thing. court staff and others, witnesses et cetera, being threatened by those who listen to mr. trump. it is a call and response, he calls out his supporters respond. that's how january 6th happened, right? mr. trump asked his supporters to come, told them you have to fight like hell and if you don't, you won't have a country anymore and they came and they fought like hell. >> and we also heard from president biden about the decision on wednesday. take a listen. >> is trump an insurrectionist, sir? >> well, i think it is self-evident, you saw it all and we'll let the court make the decision. he certainly supported an insurrection, no question about it, none, zero, and he seems to be doubling down on about everything. >> this as nbc news reporting tells us, quote, some democrats

close to the president feel that knocking trump from the ballot will flip that script or blunt biden's message. how does the biden campaign handle this? >> well, it is fraught in every sense of the word here, jose. the stakes could not be higher. you're talking about if the supreme court is now faced with taking this up, the highest court in the land having to deal with an issue that potentially impacts the election for the highest office in the land. and there will be a legal process that unfolds here for the supreme court wing and on this from many legal experts, it will be the only way there is some kind of resolution because colorado is not the only place that was looking into this question. there are legal challenges about mr. trump's eligibility to be on the republican primary ballot in more than a dozen states and litigation still pending appeal, still pending and some crucial swing states as well, michigan among them. and one of the things legal experts want to see happen, if the supreme court is going to take this up, is to have some kind of ruling so it is not left

up to states to decide where state law differs, where authorities of secretaries of state differ, so there is not a patchwork of rulings and that chaos for next year's election, but there is also what happens in the court of public opinion. and you know who mr. trump is messaging to, and we see among republican primary voters there is still a strong and significant portion that stayed with him regardless of what happens in those courts, who continue to believe that 2020 election was stolen, continue to believe that january 6th and the violent insurrection was justified, and it is a reflection of the times we live in, you saw that with the threats vaughn was reporting on earlier as well, limited time of rising political violence, even though it is online, there is a connection between what is said online and what happens in the real world, and that's what we're going to wait to see unfold right now. >> there are such odd times, matthew, that we're all living through. here's what trump's former attorney general bill barr said about this. listen to this.

>> i think this case is legally wrong and untenable. and i think this kind of action of stretching the law, taking these hyperaggressive positions to try to knock trump out of the race are counterproductive. they backfire. as you know, he feeds on grievance just like a fire feeds on oxygen, and this is going to end up as a grievance that helps him. >> matthew, is there anything -- any other candidate, contenders for the republican primary, battle, is there anything they could do or say to change what is clearly all of the oxygen in the room? >> no. that's why i think the people most -- should be most upset about this are people like nikki haley and ron desantis because any opportunity they had to sort of close the gap, which is huge between them and donald trump heading into iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, is diipating very, very fast.

this, and i said this right afrhe ruling, this is only gog to solidify support as mentioned before about his grievances and all that, only going to solidify his support among republicans. and i actually fear, unless the court steps in quickly, and i would hope somewhat unanimously and makes a decision, either confirming the decision in colorado or throwing out the decision in colorado, which i hope happens quickly, and as i said, in a nonpartisan way, so people can't use that, then that decision to fight over that, donald trump, this is his -- this is his -- this is like a softball over the plate that he is just going to knock out among republican primary voters and you're seeing the candidates' reaction. i thought the only one that had probably the best reaction of it was chris christie, when he said, we shouldn't defeat donald trump by taking him off the ballot, we should defeat donald trump because he's not fit to hold office, that's what we should do. i thought that was the best

reaction in this, but all the candidates now are riding in trump's wake and this is only going to help them even more solidify the gop nomination. >> and, mary, the former president urges the supreme court to put off a decision related to his federal elections case, and whether he has the immunity in that. jack smith just filed a reply, saying that supreme court should not delay and trump is expected to appeal the colorado ruling as well. with all of these trump-related cases in front of the court, how do they handle all of this? >> well, you know, in each one of them too they are going to be urged by one side to rush and expedite and the other side not to. as you just indicated in the appeal of the d.c. district court's decision that mr. trump does not have absolute immunity from criminal prosecution, we have jack smith urging the court to take this up on an expedited briefing and argument schedule, because he's trying to preserve the march 4th trial date or be

as close to march 4th as possible. he certainly wants to go to trial before the republican convention, and absolutely before the election in november. you'll have mr. trump, i think, any moment now filing his petition seeking to have the supreme court review the colorado supreme court decision and he will be urging the court, i think, to rush this decision. on the other hand -- and not jack smith, but the plaintiffs, of course, in the colorado case, will also in this case probably want the court to rush it because the colorado supreme court put a stay on the impact of its ruling because the colorado supreme court i think recognizing how significant this is, this is how we're ruling, that he's disqualified from being on the ballot in colorado, but we're going to stay our decision at least until january 4th, which is the day before the colorado secretary of state has to certify the names that will be on that ballot. and if the supreme court hasn't done anything by january 4th, it will remainstayed.

so, in many ways that is a big benefit to the former president because his name will go on that ballot if the supreme court doesn't act by january 4th. i see almost no world in which the supreme court acts that quickly. >> yeah, and i'm thinking back on your comments about just the polarizing time that we live in, in our nation. threats and attacks against judges have almost become commonplace, from judge salas in new jersey whose son was killed at their home, an armed man being arrested last year outside justice kavanaugh's home, charged with the intent to kill, meanwhile, nearly 6 in 10 people disapprove of how the supreme court is doing its job. i'm thinking, what does it say about americans' trust or support of the judicial system? >> jose, it is a great question. the issue of politization of our american institutions is one we have talked about several times. unfortunately the supreme court is not immune from that trend that we have seen. and this is not necessarily just

a result of the last few years. you can go all the way back to the decision in bush v. gore and see how public trust started to decline in some of these institutions. but it accelerated much faster in recent years, the supreme court is part of that. the justices themselves have seen when people are unhappy with their decisions how they're willing to show up and protest in person, they have been the subject of death threats, but i'll also say so many other people who are essential to the fabric of our democracy and to our elections systems have been under those threats as well. that's another big part of this that unfortunately will probably see a rise in, that is the election workers, people who actually put together the systems of democracy here have been facing rising threats, leaving those posts. it is a sad re-election of the times we live in. and it is going to be important to cover in the year ahead. >> indeed. vaughn hillyard, amna, matthew, mary, thank you for being with us this morning. a deadly shooting in

downtown producing, the czech republic. we're getting new information about the number of people killed. a live report on the breaking developments in just 60 seconds. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. r diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. but this is my story. ( ♪♪ ) and with once-daily trelegy, it can still be beautiful. because with 3 medicines in 1 inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open for a full 24 hours and prevents future flare-ups. trelegy also improves lung function, so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ [laughing] ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy for copd

because breathing should be beautiful, all day and night. 15 past the hour. we're following breaking news out of the czech republic, where police say a gunman opened fire in downtown prague, and killed ten people. dozens of others are injured. new video shows people desperately fleeing the scene on the charles bridge. joining us now, nbc news foreign correspondent molly hunter. good morning. what do we know about this incident? >> good morning to you. and details are still coming in. this is absolutely an ongoing situation, according to police. i think we do have some live pictures of this scene. police say they are still evacuating students. so what we know from police is that this was a single shooter incident at charles university

at the faculty of arts. charles university, one of the oldest, biggest in the czech republic, jose, smack dab in the midle of prague. we have been trying to get a real number the week before christmas how many students would have been on campus or in classes. but we do have new numbers as you just mentioned from the emergency service just in the last five minutes. we understand at least ten people have been killed, emergency services say, and nine seriously injured, five to six moderately injured and ten slightly injured. those numbers may still change, because we still understand that people may be hiding inside the university, they still need to evacuate some people. and the czech police have been cautious in their information. they say the shooter has been eliminated about an hour ago, so we do know the shooter is dead. that's in addition to the ten victims. we do know the entire building is currently being evacuated. and we also have actually some statements now from the prime minister, from the foreign minister, there is universal

shock at this incident, four days before christmas, the czech prime minister canceled his plans due to tragic events, jose. the czech foreign minister sends his condolences to the families of the victims. and just minutes ago, the czech president says he is shocked by the events at the faculty of arts charles university. but, jose, we're trying to get in touch with anyone who may be still on the scene, and certainly emergency services are updating at this point we do not know who the shooter was, what the motive was and we have very little information about what kind of kicked off this incident earlier today. >> yeah, molly, i know information is still coming in. but it seems as though this happened inside charles university, right? so far it doesn't look like it was a shooting that began outside. i'm thinking because this is smack dab in the middle of prague, right by the charles bridge, a place where on, you know in the afternoon, over the last week of december, and right before christmas, you know,

there is -- it is packed with tourists, it is an area that is just always filled, but it seems, molly that the shooting started or happened mostly inside the university? >> that's what we have gleaned from the minimal police statements we have been given. we have not been given an exact location, but from the prime minister, from the foreign minister, also from the president, they referenced the faculty of arts at charles university and so that is where we understand the shooting happened. again, police have not pinpointed exactly where, and they do say, i think this is important, they do say there is no imminent danger for anyone in the area, but they are locking everyone down and the u.s. embassy and the british embassy did send alerts to their citizens earlier today, jose, just telling people to heed the local authorities' advice. >> molly hunter, thank you so very much. really appreciate it. up next, border politics. how the humanitarian crisis at

the u.s./mexico border may be having a political impact on 2024. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. 2024 you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc.

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24 past the hour. there is new information on the humanitarian crisis at the southern border. three dhs officials tell nbc news that yesterday was the third consecutive day that a record of more than 12,000

migrants crossed the southern border daily. officials also say cvp is holding a record 27,000 migrants at its processing facilities. this comes as texas governor greg abbott chartered a flight with 100 asylum seekers texas to ago. and moments ago, the white house issued a statement on the mov sang in part, governor abbott showing how little regard or respect he has for human beings. his latest political stunt just adds to his tally of extreme policies which seek to demonize and dehumanize people. meantime, senators have left washington for the holidays, but the bipartisan group negotiating border policy changes will, we're told, meet virtually today. republicans want those changes in exchange for approving more money for ukraine, israel and taiwan. senate majority leader chuck schumer says he hopes to take up a bill as soon as senators

return in january. nbc's guad venegas joins us from eagle pass, texas. good morning. what is going on there today? >> reporter: jose, good morning. you mentioned the numbers that we have, 12,000 apprehensions every single day this week, record numbers. well, thousands are arriving right here in eagle pass, right next to the international bridge number two. between that bridge and the railroad bridge that has been halted, that railroad not operating to the last few days, you see the crowds of migrants, the ones over on the right side, these migrants, these are the ones that just arrived. many of them lining up on the border down at the end, you can't see from this camera angle, after they lined up, they are brought to this field, and this is where they begin a wait that could be a few hours or it could be a day, it could be more than a day. overnight, more arriving, you can see them with the mylar

aluminum blankets that keep them warm. at the far end, we see some that just stood up so the process here is for them to wait, at some point they are identified, who came in before, who came in after, they're also separated, jose, families, there is areas that have a lot of children, other areas where it is only men. other areas where we have been able to see what looks like only women. this is what customs and border protection is doing to organize the field as best they can. thousands of people here throughout the last few days. and then over on the other side, under the bridge, jose, is where they do the final processing here before they put them on buses or on vans and then they go to these processing centers that we note are overwhelmed. yesterday u.s. congressman tony gonzalez arrived and told us 10,000 migrants were in processing centers here, that was also at capacity. we now know that the processing centers are three times capacity in eagle pass. so this is the surge that we're

seeing just here in eagle pass, with reports indicating that there are also overwhelming surges happening in arizona, california, and other parts of the u.s./mexico border, jose. >> and, guad, if and -- or just general, you know, throwing out a general number, if there are 10,000 plus encounters a day, this month would bring about 300,000 plus people. guad, you have the longest experience covering these stories, is this something -- how do you categorize what you're seeing? >> well, jose, two things to keep in mind, one is that we saw large groups in mexico, about a month to two months ago, making their way to the u.s. a lot of us knew this would happen because immigration isn't enforcing the laws inside of mexico. so that's one thing. another thing is these crowds here in eagle pass have never been this large during my

reporting this is most people i've ever seen in eagle pass. other reporters, colleagues working other parts of the border, in arizona, near san diego, tell me the same thing, we have these conversations and the conversation is always, well, i've never seen this number of migrants arriving. we know the reports with these numbers, we have the number of apprehensions, the numbers of encounters, everything spiking, so we don't know what this will mean moving forward. we just know that the numbers are much larger. as the resources are spread thin. i'll give you an example of what can happen, when we have these surges. yesterday we saw maybe four to five of these migrants carried out on stretchers by some of the first responders that are part of border patrol. they then got taken to a medical tent and then the congressman, when u.s. congressman visited this area, tony gonzalez said that the hospitals are also overwhelmed. so, if someone calls 911 and needs to go to the hospital, that hospital might be overwhelmed because they're helping a lot of these migrants.

you have that humanitarian crisis happening as well. that's aside from everything that customs and border protection has to do to process the migrants that are here seeking asylum, jose. >> guad venegas in eagle pass, thank you very much, appreciate it. el paso, texas, often has been the epicenter of the humanitarian crisis at the southern border. the city has always been welcoming to new arrivals, but city officials say the increasing numbers of migrants that have come in in recent months are straining resources. politico's david siders travelled to el paso to talk with people about the humanitarian crisis and how it is affecting their views on immigration, president biden and the 2024 campaign. david siders joins us now. great seeing you. thank you for being with us. you spoke with just all kinds of people there. what did you learn? >> well, i think, you know, just to think about the images you just showed there, i mean, el

paso is a very democratic city. if you talk to democrats in el paso, the concern is that, well, we might talk about or they might talk about, you know, those images, people under mylar blankers, being taken away on stretchers as a humanitarian crisis. you see stark political realities and, you know, a concern that those images look to some people like something different than what they see. so they -- their fear is that this hurts biden politically, i think. >> as you pointed out in your piece, the growing appeal of a pro trump hard-line immigration mentality has even been shown here, in a city of more than 80% of the population, hispanic or latino, in a county where biden pummeled trump by 35 percentage points three years ago. what is that trump appeal? >> it is interesting, right? you can talk to people who are immigrants themselves, who i think see -- they look back at the border and seeing some -- disorder and they think that trump can bring it back. it is rather -- it is striking

because you look at the rhetoric, just the last few days, the poisoning the blood rhetoric of stuff that democrats used to think would work pretty well for them with immigrant communities and latino voters at large. and it is just not so much anymore. texas polling shows something like 40% of hispanics in texas agreeing with the idea that people in the country should be deported immediately. so, i do think that there is this -- it gets built into this broader sense of frustration with order disorder at the border. >> so what do you think people you spoke with feel that they need, that they're missing to deal with their reality going forward? >> yeah, you know, democrats do have -- including in el paso, real concerns about the border, right? it is the way they talk about it, it is much different than in this culture war kind of way that it is framed, i think, so much in, you know, the national conversation.

and that is, you may talk to somebody who is a biden supporter who is a democrat in el paso, who still says, you know, we need more agents at the border, crossings need to be quicker, commerce needs to move more quickly. el paso is a -- the sister city of this massive city, juarez, that a lot of people's lives, families and businesses depend on. they talk about the border situation not as a cultural flashpoint, but as a logistical concern, right? that's much different than how we often talk about it national. >> and indeed, thank you so much for being with us. really comprehensive and interesting article you brought us. i very much appreciate it. >> thank you. up next, ten americans back on u.s. soil, details on the prisoner swap with venezuela. we'll take a look at the high profile prisoner the u.s. released in return.

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38 past the hour. new reaction today after ten americans who were jailed in venezuela are now back in the u.s. after the biden administration struck a deal with the maduro regime in a prisoner swap. in texas, the plane carrying six of those americans wrongly detained landed in san antonio, where those now freed shared their relief to be finally back

home. >> i'm incredibly grateful to my family, to my friends, president biden for getting me home, for getting all of us home. >> in exchange for those americans, the u.s. released a top maduro ally, you see him on the left. this was the hero's welcome he received in caracas. the u.s. accused saab of a $350 million bribery scheme of low income housing in venezuela. joining us now is nbc's aaron gilchrist. good morning. what can you tell us about this decision to go through with a deal at the white house? >> reporter: good morning to you. the biden administration says this was a difficult decision for the president to make, but that ultimately the idea of getting ten americans who were jailed in venezuela freed along with a fugitive that the u.s. wanted in exchange for one person that venezuela had been trying to get freed from here in the u.s. was a deal that the president felt comfortable making. this was a deal that was months

in the making. we understand secretary of state tony blinken as well as the national security adviser and others worked for several months, since may, to try to get this deal to come to fruition. as we saw last night, six americans, who the administration described as wrongfully detained, were flown back to san antonio to the military base there, where we understand they would likely get some medical treatment, if needed, some debriefing if you will, and some psychological treatment to be honest after having been detained, some of them for more than a year, before they're able to fully reunite with their families. we also learned a little bit more about the fugitive that the biden administration wanted. this was a man, leonard francis, fat leonard, as he's been known, who pled guilty to a scheme, a bribery scheme, here in the u.s., involving the u.s. navy. but had cut off his ankle bracelet before he could be sentenced and managed to get to venezuela before trying to get on a flight to russia as we

understand it. but he was detained in venezuela last year and then ultimately returned as part of this deal. the man that you spoke about earlier, jose, alex saab, was a close ally of nicolas maduro, the president of venezuela, someone who also was accused of laundering money and someone that the venezuelans had been pushing, trying really hard to get back and we saw the video of him returning to the presidential palace alongside maduro yesterday in a sort of triumphant moment for the maduro regime. this was something that they, as i said, had been pushing for, and despite the concerns here in the u.s., both inside the administration and outside, this was an exchange the president said he was willing to make, one person, in exchange for ten americans who the u.s. says now will be able to spend the holidays with their families. >> aaron gilchrist in washington, thank you very much. and joining us now is an opposition leader, who was

jailed by the maduro regime after pro democracy protests in 2014. he was able to escape, he is now in exile and a public policy fellow at the wilson center. thank you for being with us today. i was thinking, why do you think this exchange occurred? >> well, as it was said it part of a negotiation that the united states and the dictatorship of nicolas maduro had been engaging for months now, for more than a year, actually. and, of course, from the perspective of the venezuelan people that want to be free, we hope that this is part of opening the possibility for our free and fair election in 2024. and that was the commitment in the negotiation and that's what's being expressed by the biden administration. however, the release of alex saab is something very heavy for the venezuelan people. this is not just a prisoner. this is not just one of the many

or thousands of corrupt individuals around maduro. this is a person that according to many of the reports that have been published over months now, manage billions of dollars. this is a person that built the architecture of the money laundering and the scheme with russia, with iran, he was caught in cape verde on his way to tehran. it was a very big giveaway on the parts of the united states. and we only hope that this is something that can open the gates for the venezuelan people to have a free and fair election in 2024. >> how do you think a gate could be opened by the release of someone who you say is very critical to the maduro regime, but also to the maduro family. >> well, i think that there needs to be more pressure and there has been an ongoing negotiation and really the facts

are that maduro has gotten everything. he got licenses, sanctions were lifted, in the oil sector, so now maduro is sending the oil to the united states, the sanctions to the gulf sector were listed, the sanctions to the finance sector were lifted. the nephews of maduro who are also in prison in the united states were released and sent to venezuela. so, so far maduro has gotten a big deal in terms of what he's gotten from the united states, and what we hope is that the pressure continues, there is some way to lift maduro to have a free and fair election, which needs something very important, the qualification of our candidate who has been wrongfully disqualified to run for the elections. i was listening to --

>> go ahead, very quickly, if you would, sorry, go ahead. >> i was listening to your reporting on the border an the immigration crisis. many venezuelans are coming through, many of the people coming through the border are from venezuela. i can tell you with no doubt that the best policy that the united states could have in order to attend the migration crisis regarding venezuela is to promote democracy and have a transition to democracy. people are fleeing nicolas maduro, he's a disaster in terms of the economy and in terms of humanitarian. so if the united states, the government, and the people in the united states, venezuelans going to the united states to stop at some time, the best way to do that is to promote a transition to democracy, through an election next year. >> and, you know, i don't need to remind you that more than 7

million venezuelans have been forced to leave their country in the last 20 years because of the regime that is in venezuela. and that regime shows no signs of changing anything so that the conditions in that country could change and the people of venezuela could live in their country with dignity and with freedom. thank you very much for being with us. appreciate your time. >> thank you very much. we'll have an update on the debt ly deadly shooting in downtown prague that left ten people dead. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. dead you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. using our technology to power different ways of learning. ♪ harnessing ai to plant new beginnings. ♪ so when minds grow, opportunities follow. the subway series is taking your favorite

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foreign correspondent molly hunter and frank figliuzzi, an msnbc national security analyst. so, molly what do we know at this hour? >> in that press conference authorities have just started speaking to reporters. we have a reporter, a local producer who is there feeding us updates. if i look down at my notes, i'm hopefully going to get some breaking updates from that press conference right now. what we do know as you mentioned, ten people dead, police said when they first announced this attack just a couple of hours ago, it was a single shooter. so we should learn hopefully about the identity, possibly the motive. any details at all about this shooter. we have updated numbers from the emergency services. 11 seriously injured, eight moderately, five slightly. they do say this is an ongoing operation, evacuations of students from charles university are happening. those numbers may change. we have an update. the czech government will hold an emergency meeting tonight. few details about how exactly

this kicked off. what we know from police is a couple of hours ago there was an active shooter at charles university. the police have not said exactly where it took place. when you look at official statements from the czech prime minister, the foreign minister, even from the president, they reference the faculty of arts. i know you know prague. it's in the middle of the old city. a week before christmas. it would have been packed in that area. we have video of people fleeing from charles university over the bridge. a very busy area. our understanding at this hour is the shooting did take place at that university. one of the oldest, largest universities in the czech republic. 46,000 students. the week before christmas -- we tried the university. they are very busy. trying to figure out exactly how many students might have been on campus, might have been in classes at this time. >> this area has got to be packed, else early afternoon. frank, what are your initial

questions as we learn new details? >> of course, from my fbi lens, i want to quickly, if possible, determine if there's a terrorist motive here. it's all about the motive once the shooter is contained. of course, he is contained at this point and reportedly deceased. i will tell you this also. this is a very unusually high number of casualties when we are talking about europe. in fact, many viewers may be sitting here saying, wait a minute, i thought there were strict gun restrictions throughout europe. they would be right. except for the czech republic, the only country in europe that actually recognizes the right to keep and bear arms. they restrict the possession of weapons more than we do here in the united states. there's licensing, training, permits required for different categories of weapons.noteworth country in europe that does recognize the right to carry a

weapon now has experienced extreme gun violence. the other thing that comes to mind is the possibility of copycat crimes. we were covering a couple of weeks ago the shooting agent the university of las vegas. the motive was apparently an upset applicant for a professor position. it appears to be. we can't rule out the possibility that this might be a copycat situation. >> there's more to be learned from the suspect who is passed. i'm sure we will be able to determine a lot going forward. molly and frank, thank you both so very much. we will be right back. ht back.

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expected to be among the busiest travel days of the year. aaa estimating near record holiday travel with over 115 million travelers expected to be heading 50 miles or more from home. marissa para is at miami international airport. >> reporter: good morning. i can tell you, i've been covering the holiday travel beat. we have seen records broken over thanksgiving. we expect the same for the christmas holiday season. of the roughly 115 million travelers expected to travel throughout the season, 103 million expected to take to the roads. that is the majority of how people will be traveling. we will tell you the worst times for you to hit the road. that's saturday, 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., also next thursday. better times to travel, outside of those hours and those days. in terms of the air, miami international is good. they just broke a single day

record this past sunday. when we talk about what we are expecting this season, if that's not a sign of what's to come, i don't know what is. the misery map is actually not looking so miserable. nothing like the southwest meltdown we saw this time last year. there's been a lot of flight staffing changes that have been made. i will add one last thing, remember as you are flying, make sure to not wrap those presents. no grinches here. >> that's wonderful news and wonderful advice. thank you. i'm convinced maybe 115 million people was the amount you see in the palmeto or 836 on a normal drive time. thank you. now we have some good news to finish the hour. a little girl from texas and her mom helping others heal this holiday season. earlier this year, the 4-year-old was hospitalized with second and third degree burns

after an accident with an iron. during treatment, they found comfort through her excruciating pain when she was given a mermaid doll. now that she's on the mend, she's paying it forward by collecting dolls to give to other pediatric burn patients. >> we had a lot of little kitds come in recently. to be able to hand them a doll and to see their little faces light up, it's been a wonderful holiday season so far. >> this month, just this month, they donated nearly 70 dolls. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. thank you for the privilege of your time. up next, andrea mitchell speaks with the senior advisor to israeli prime minister