thing in el salvador. >> you have donald trump coming into office having a total about face to crypto currency. he once called it a scam, now he is looking to launch a u.s. crypto stockpile where the u.s. would hold bitcoin on its balance sheet. we are seeing shifting tides here. >> great seeing you, i thank you so very much. appreciate it. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose. thank you for the privilege of your time. you can watch clips of our show on youtube on msnbc.com. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. >> and right now, president- elect trump is expected to name florida senator marco rubio, a trump 2016 rival now ally and leading china hawk to be secretary of state. and another china hawk, florida

congressman and green beret mike walz to be national security adviser. and south dakota's governor kristi nome talked about to head homeland security. none of this is official until he names them. democrats getting good news as arizona's ruben gallego defeats kari lake. and today is the deadline president biden set for israel to get more food and water to palestine. israel's president is meeting at this hour with mr. biden as they face a critical moment of u.s. aide. good day everyone, i'm andrea mitchell. the new trump administration is taking place with marco rubio set to be secretary of state. while nothing is official until

the president-elect announces it, that would be a china hawk in the center of u.s. foreign policymaking the 14 year senate veteran a more orthodox choice than several more other controversial picks. he is well known in foreign policy circles as vice chair of the committee. gaining praise from republicans and democrats alike. and long time trump supporter congressman mike walz expected to join the trump administration as national security adviser. that position does not require confirmation from the senate. he and rubio are known for their positions on china. but also, as lawmakers who worked across the aisle. they are strong supporters of israel. both voting against the

supplemental budget. lee zeldin will lead the epa. in the running for homeland security, south dakota governor kristi nome. we begin with nbc's vaughn hillyard in west palm beach at mar-a-lago. so vaughn, tell us how well these picks are coming together. >> they are coming in quickly. over the course of several weeks, he not only at trump tower, but in his bedminister club rolled a lot of these individuals in and out. he has more long standing relationships with. and so far, you are seeing a mix of folks that i think are not perhaps surprising selections but when you are looking at the likes of the

stephen miller coming in as deputy chief of staff expected. but then, marco rubio being the secretary of state pick was a big indicater donald trump is not looking for a fight on capitol hill. that marco rubio is by and large expected to pass easily through the confirmation process. the other individual talked about was rick ranel who is much more of the maga isolationist wing of trump's republican party. someone who in contrast to marco rubio has been on the front line several years aligning himself with kash patel and tucker carlson. others took marco rubio a few more years to get to a place with donald trump's type of foreign policy. that was coming off being much more hawkish toward china,

cuba, iran. he voted against $85 billion in military aid to ukraine and suggested the last month that the potential way to end the war in ukraine would be to come up with the settlement with russia as a way to avoid further war and death in the region. this means he is comfortable, has confidence he would be able to fulfill his view of foreign policy but i think michael walz is someone else who is a respected veteran, a green beret who served in afghanistan and africa. of course as someone who is also out on the campaign trail the last several months with donald trump. also hit the tv airways as a chief defender of his. when you look at his selections, those who have their work focused on international relations, donald trump is turning to people that are not only more respected among the establishment figures up on capitol hill in

washington but also somebody who he clearly is signaling that he feels like are going to be able to fulfill what he believes is the trump foreign policy agenda in 2025. >> vaughn hillyard, thank you so much. joining us now is richard hass. senior counselor at center view partners. richard, thanks very much. this is a lot to go through here. what is your first impression knowing plenty of these players, marco rubio. what do these choices mean in terms of looking forward to donald trump's policy and what might change? >> a couple of initial reactions. one, these are people, him and mike walz with independent reputations and backgrounds. figures in washington before donald trump. they are not isolationists by any means. they are very tough in terms of china. they have a long record there.

fourthly, how the united states will proceed them. ukraine. >> one thing that causes a lot of relief to a lot of people in the state department is that rick panel, not an elected official, but someone who was at the u.n. as a spokesman for many years as you know. and during the biden years was a election denier and led the election denying challenges in nevada and has been a real fighter. not someone you would think of as a diplomat. so that was causing a lot of concerns. when the word came and we confirmed it was rubio.

>> that's a separate issue. these are serious people with independent reputations. they have been part of the foreign policy conversation. as insiders, not outsiders for years. so i take this as a good sign. president trump has a lot of things he could control. the one thing he can't control is the inbox. he has a lot more far more daunting international inbox. you have an active war in europe. china is considerably stronger than it was. so the idea he would equip himself with some seasoned experienced people, everybody ought to feel very good about that. >> what does it mean for china

which is arguably the biggest challenge in the future for the united states. it is not russia, it is china that will be the economic power and the military power. >> russia is the immediate challenge giving what is going on. china is the strategic longer term competitor. i don't know what it means. the idea we will be forceful about china tells you only so much. using largely economic incidents. whether we are also prepared to introduce a healthy dimension of military assets into it. do we threaten them with tariffs or do we position u.s. military assets in the region, work more closely with japan, taiwan, australia, and others. the biggest thing is how we go about pushing back against the

potential expansion of chinese power. >> the philippines are saying they want some missiles from us which china says would be a provocative act. >> that would be the first crisis there. everyone is focused on taiwan. the immediate challenge with china could be that in the south china sea. it is militarized various islands. it has been acting quite aggressively against the philippines, we have a tight security relationship with the philippines that could be in the first six months or year of the new administration, that along with what we do in ukraine could be the immediate foreign policy test. >> and ukraine is going to be pressured to negotiate no matter who ends up in these cabinet positions. there will be pressure on ukraine and the europeans to do

more. is the united states willing to support ukraine as it should be? what pressures do we put on russia? how supportive of ukraine they are. how much pressure they put on putin. and russia to compromise some of their territorial ambitions.

if they did not ramp up their aid. the u.n. says they did not. >> i would have trouble imagining united states cutting off all aid with what's going on in lebanon. and iran. what i could see is selective penalties against israel. hopefully, israel will move to make it easier. he is someone unaccountable there. that leaves me a little bit uneasy. it leaves me a little bit

uneasy. >> thank you. i'm sorry for pushes the limits on your voice. thank you so much for your wisdom and knowledge. it is invaluable. and in 90 seconds, how the political panel is shaping up. you are watching andrea mitchell on msnbc. n msnbc. with dynamic charting and a futures ladder that lets you place, flatten, or reverse orders so you won't miss an opportunity. e*trade from morgan stanley

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administration. joining me now is republican national committee communications director and republican strategist doug. and democratic senator from alabama, doug jones. thank you very much for being with us. so national security adviser secretary of state, they are both powerful roles obviously. what do we expect from this new administration from them in top positions, what do you think of these early picks as border czar and secretary? what does all this say? >> the pick of marco rubio for my standpoint is a little reassuring. even though i think that there was such conflict between rubio and trump in the early days of their relationship. i have known senator rubio. he has a great experience in

the intelligence community. and seems to be someone i think democrats could work with this administration. i'm very concerned with congressman walz. a trump loyalist. and kristi nome with no experience with homeland security. it is very disturbing i think for everyone who believes that the system ought to be actually fixed. rather than simply a draconian round them up and throw them out the way that steve miller seems to want to control the immigration system in this country. >> and the president will be walking with several more senators. there is some consternation with capitol hill about the narrow majority he is named two house republicans from safe

seats. it takes a while to hold special elections. so they are reducing by two which could be a majority in single numbers. >> sure. as donald trump meets with house republicans tomorrow, i'm sure they will be jocular about this. but they will say stop poaching from us. we fled to hear from you here in the house chamber. part of the challenge is if you look at stefonic, her race would probably be safe for republicans but the appointment that would happen in the meantime would potentially be a democrat by a democratic governor. so there are issues of concern there. >> apparently, they talked to michael to the speaker. let's see what he had to say. it is just a numbers game. you know.

we believe we will have a larger majority than we had last time. it is too early to candy cap it but we are optimistic it. he and the administration are well tuned to that. i don't expect that we will have more members leaving. but i'll leave that up to him. >> so right now, it is very narrow. looks like they will keep the majority. nbc has not called it yet. we want to count the votes and california still has some that are still out there. but now they are fairly confident about keeping the majority. the osseter and so forth. having a president of your own party in the white house, that enforces discipline right there. there will be a whole lot less tolerance for rogue actors within the republican conference to act up as they

have the past couple of years because donald trump will tell them to stop it. >> and mike johnson is expected to go to mar-a-lago this weekend. let's talk about what you are seeing there, doug. because, schumer changed his mind and did invite dave mccormick, the republican who has claimed victory. but nbc has not declared it yet. because there are still vote to be counted. provisional ballot to be counted in the bob casey versus dave mccormick. schumer did after saying he wasn't going to invite him to the organizing meetings, he did. so he is putting his finger a little bit on the scale. the assumption is that mccormick is ahead? >> yeah. i think that is the assumption. i mean look. i think history will judge, recounts very often, very few times will it change the

outcome of what the initial count was going to be. so i think it is more realistic. i did think it is just realistic to go ahead and bring someone in, bob casey is already there. he knows the ropes. so he doesn't have to do that. one thing andrea, i want to mention with what drug said about the house, because he is absolutely right about the numbers and safe districts. this would be a special election. the seat from alabama was a safe republican seat in 2017 when there was a special election. you can't really tell what is going to happen in these special elections. democrats have had incredible success in special elections over the last four years. so it is really a roll of the dice i believe. >> and i ask in the senate. the possibility that schumer can push through some more judicial confirmations. for supreme court justice. you know how hard that can be

in this closely divided senate. and, right now, he is trying to get some more judges confirmed. district court and appellate judges before the time, the clock runs out. there is also a lot of pressure on chris wray to give up though he has three years more in the fbi. but to step aside so that donald trump can appoint someone new. it is a ten year term. he is lining up people who could take over in the fbi. >> on the senate side, he has his work cut out for him. that said, it is also going to require not going home as much. the republicans will and no one can blame them in this to make every step they can to stall

those. use every role they can to get as much debate time as possible. that's what you would expect. it would be the same if democrats were in the same boat. i expect there would be some judicial nominations that go through. maybe not as much as democrats would like. he's going to try. that's an important piece of this. >> and what do you think about chris wray stepping down for the end of his term to clear the way? >> frankly i hope that doesn't happen. he has been a very good fbi director. there is a perception with donald trump that he has not been affected. i think he has been very effective. there is something to be said for staying the course, doing your job, keeping your head down, doing your job.

if the president want to fire you, let him fire you and let the recriminations go after that. i think chris has done a fine job. >> thanks so both of you. appreciate it. and breaking news from new york. a decision on whether to throw out donald trump's hush money criminal conviction is now delayed at least a week with prosecutors saying they need more time. judge juan merchan could uphold the guilty verdict or order a new trial after he was granted broad immunity by the supreme court. and next, will president biden cut off weapons to israel after israel misses today's deadline to get aid into gaza? you're watching andrea mitchell reports on msnbc. reports on msnbc. never “who's waldo?” sometimes it takes someone who really knows you to make you feel seen. gifts that say i get you. etsy has it.

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>> i know you are working very hard to ensure this war will end and there will be security for the people of israel. as well as for the people of lebanon. and in gaza, we have 101 hostages. over 400 days i know mr. president that you know, your day in day out actively seeking the safe return home. >> that was the president of israel today isaac herzog meeting with the president. this marks the day the u.s. had

imposed this 30-year deadline. it ran out today. to improve humanitarian aid. food, water, fuel, medicine into gaza. secretary of state antony blinken and defense secretary lloyd austin had written a strongly worded letter to israel listing concrete measures they wanted israel to take within 30 days to improve this. u.s. really under the act of the command of congress, a u.n. backed report this week warns that northern gaza was facing imminent famine. joining us now from tel aviv, raf sanchez. so raf, we have just gotten a read-out of a meeting between prime minister netanyahu's close political adviser and aid, counselor ron here late yesterday. it indicates they are not cutting the aid. there will be no policy change. it says secretary of state antony blinken urged the importance of making concrete changes and ensuring that these

changes lead to actual improvement on the ground. clearly from your reporting and all the other reporting the u.n.'s reporting, it has not so far and the secretary stressed the importance of ending the war in gaza and bringing home the hostages and working on a future for gaza. this is what they have been saying and it isn't new, but new in the context of this deadline is coming and passing today. and they are not going to cut off weapons. >> thaw are not going to cut off weapons. it was pretty clear, the biden administration more than a year into this war having supported israel at almost every stage was not going to cut off weapons. the biden administration did want to see an improvement in gaza. i can tell you over the last sort of 72 hours or so, the israeli military has put out this flurry of announcements saying they are opening new crossings into gaza. allowing certain small number of trucks into northern gaza

where there has been basically no food going in for weeks now. so the israelis clearly determined to do something even if it is superficial to make it appear there is improvement. but there has been perilously little aid getting into gaza the last month or so according to almost any metric you look at. eight humanitarian organizations went through the criteria the biden administration sat out in that letter last month. israel has clearly failed by those criteria. they say israel not only failed to meet the u.s. criteria, but took actions that dramatically worsened the situation on the ground. and we are hearing from the united nations that there is severe risk of famine in northern gaza where israeli military forces are operating. once again as they have many, many times in the past throughout this war, they say that they are rooting out hamas

fighters who are regrouped in the area around the refugee camp. many palestinians fear that basically the goal of this operation is to permanently displace the palestinians of northern gaza. force them to head south and potentially pave the way for israeli settlements in the north of the strip. something the israeli government denies is its policy but a lot of people on the far right in this country believe that with the trump administration, that might be something they can revisit. >> thank you raf sanchez and time is running out. if they had won the election, if harris had won the election, it might be a different posture right now. there might be a way to ramp up pressure. and president isaac herzog is not in the netanyahu camp and is considered a strong ally for ending war in gaza and bringing the hostages out as you heard

him repeat. raf sanchez, thank you as always for all your reporting. >> thank you. >> and joining us now is democratic senator jeff merckley of oregon. senator, first, we have a lot to get to, today. but let me ask you about the lack of progress on getting the food in. from all that i'm reading with the u.n., food aid people, the relief organizations are just not seeing it on the ground. >> has been a year in which israel has put up so many obstacles to nutritional aid, food aid. and put the united states into a position of complies it is suffering.

i had hoped the 30-day notice president biden put out might have dramatically changed that it has now been three weeks. virtually no aid has gotten into northern gaza. so a horrific situation. made that much worse. and unfortunately, doesn't look like there will be much change in that approach. we will continue to see very little humanitarian assistance make it to several million people who are there in gaza. >> and of course, if this becomes marco rubio's state department and his confirmation would be relatively easy compared to some of the choices that have been floated. a lot of the career people at state department and others are relieved that a senator who is the vice chair, you worked with him. what is your take on marco rubio as the next secretary of

state? >> i think he is a very good nominee. i have worked close with him. taiwan relations. we have worked together on issues related to hong kong and blocking the provision of tools that the police use in hong kong to suppress dissent. so there has been human rights element to his work that has been significant. he has been cochair of the china commission that i am also cochair o. we have worked closely on this issues. he is well informed on foreign affairs. >> what do you think of mike walz from florida? former green beret. as national security adviser? >> i do not have any background working with him. so i'm going to be obviously, as you point out, it is not

confirmational. i won't be spending a lot of time looking into that. but i am interested to see what his background is. what he will bring to the conversation. >> something i know you know well, is the environment. and lee zeldin who has in the past wanted to pull out of the paris accords will be head of the epa. >> this is a significant concern. but i will say his record is not as extreme as many. he was part of the bipartisan climate solutions caucus in the house. what really matters is the guidance of the trump administration is sending him. we saw the friction between say trump and attorney general sessions. and how they fell out. trump is going to be trump's

vision that drives us. so whatever recognition there might be, it will be the trump team saying crank up the fossil fuels and tear down any advancement ongoing to renewable energy economy. this is probably the biggest issue humanity faces. seven generations from now, people will say what did you do to stop this run away warming of the plan it. we cannot expect other countries to act if we are not acting and i'm afraid that has been profoundly set back. >> we have comments zeldin has made about climate change. >> i'm not sold yet on the whole argument that we have as

serious a problem with climate change as other people are. >> that was in 2013, i'm told. >> that is before he joined i believe the climate solutions caucus and we saw a lot of additional evidence about climate. but on the other hand, those seeking to curry trump's favor have been very reluctant. we used to have many republicans climate champions. there was a time if we go back to when ducakis ran for president, he ran on coal and bush ran on climate. so we have seen a change and that comes from corruption from citizens united and the fossil fuel money. there is science that so many members understand on both sides of the aisle and there is the politics and the politics on the republican side of the aisle don't speak up too loudly on climate. >> and we can remind people

that the environmental protection agency was created by richard nixon, a republican president. and the first head of it was william ruckleshouse from your part of the country i believe as well. >> and the clean air act and the clean water act. all nixon administration. >> thank you senator for all of your insights, i appreciate it. >> thank you andrea. take care. up next, who will be the next senate majority leader? who will win the three way race to become the senate leader? you're watching andrea mitchell reports on msnbc. rts on msnbc. giving. [♪ you've got to give a little ♪] [♪ take a little ♪] giving without expecting something in return. ♪ giving that's possible through the power of dell ai with intel. so those who receive can find the joy of giving back.

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members of congress are back in washington today for the start of their lame duck session. joining them, members elect in town for new member orientation this week. among them, democrat ruben gallego. republican david mccormick. nbc news has not called the pennsylvania senate race yet. but democratic incumbent bob casey is trailing but very closely and that could go into an automatic recount. this has republican senators prepare to cast a secret ballot vote tomorrow morning for a new majority leader to replace mitch mcconnell. with more than a dozen house races, still not called.

control of the house remains up in the air. but house republicans are moving forward with their leadership elections now with a new opening for republican conference chair thanks to elias stefonic. a lot of musical chairs up there. ryan nobles, ryan? how likely are we to know about the republican leadership? it is a three way fight. a secret ballot that starts at 9:30? >> it is very likely we will know the outcome of this. the new president-elect already has plans to meet with whom that new majority leader is along with the current house speaker mike johnson based on the outcome of that election. and you're right. it is a three-way race. it is difficult to predict at this point who will emerge but we do see all three of the candidates jockeying and trying to find a way to win over their colleagues in what will be a

secret ballot tomorrow morning. now rick scott, he is the one who has been most public and most aggressive about his efforts. he has tied himself directly to the president-elect donald trump. claiming he has demonstrated the most loyalty to donald trump and would carry out his ayenta. but they totally agree with donald trump and will do whatever they can to help him get his nominations to help enact whatever budget provisions he is hoping to implement. this could take multiple rounds of voting before we know who the ultimate winner will be. but it will definitely tell us about the direction of the republican conference going forward. the wild card in all of this,

andrea, is if donald trump decides to publicly weigh in on this fight, at this point, he has left himself out of this conversation. he has not endorsed any of the candidates either publicly or privately. if one of these candidates would most assuredly glide to the senate majority leader post. donald trump appears content to let the senators make decisions for themselves when they have the vote in the morning. >> and ryan, they each have introduced. so this is like a high school popularity contest in a way. it is a very close knit group of senators and there are some people they like a lot and some people they like less. is that true? >> yeah. you are not wrong to compare it to a high school popularity contest and the stakes are much higher but the point you are driving at, an important one, the interpersonal dynamics of this conference are very important. and yes. there's a lot about the policy

positions of each one of these men that are important. there's a lot about their ability to manage the conference that are also very important. but the individual relationships that each one of these candidates have with the other members goes a long way to determining who the next leader of the republican majority will be. they have a lot of work to do and it is a period of time they will have to make difficult decisions together. so yeah, just how much you like the individual goes a long way into determining who you will vote for. >> yeah. what some of the biggest decisions may be when they feel they need to, whether they can stand up to a very powerful president of the united states asserting a lot of authority. some that is not even constitutionally his to assert. like the recess appointments. we'll have to see. thanks so much ryan. it will be interesting.

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get yours at kardia.com or amazon. ♪♪ the changing of the guard will begin tomorrow here in washington with president biden welcoming president-elect trump back to the white house. a courtesy that mr. trump did not extend to mr. biden four years ago. when their situations were reversed. with both still being counted, are inching closer to holding onto the house. joining us now is charlie psychs. good to see you. i wanted to update all of us on the latest reporting on kristi noem. nbc news has been reporting that she has been informed by

the president that she is his chase for dhs secretary. it is according to two sources familiar with the situation. she has no significant experience at all in homeland security. which is one of the biggest agencies. it is not just immigration. and there is an immigration czar. this is a new position that as you know has been created supposedly by the new president- elect for the new administration. it is also secret service. it is intelligence. it is major events. homeland is an enormous organization with a lot of different agencies inside it. what do you think of the choice? well look. let's go back to last summer when kristi noem was in the headlines because she was bragging about killing a puppy. and the reason she was telling that story was as an example of

her willingness to do anything. that she will do anything uvalde and i think that was and i think that was part of her job resume. policy will be set by stephen miller. there is an immigration czar, but what she has done, and we are seeing this over and over again. not merely loyalty to donald trump. but a willingness to say whatever it takes, i will do anything. and especially as we are getting, inching closer to the possibility of mass deportation. how cruel are they willing to be? are they willing to separate family, grandmothers from grandchildren and mothers and fathers from their kids? this is the litmus test. it is the willingness to do anything and kristi noem passes that test.

>> now, another big name is of course senator marco rubio as secretary of state. this was a relief to a lot of people. >> i was listening with a great deal of interest to all of this and i guess i will have a contrarian take here. i think marco rubio is going to be more of a figure head. they will be the ones i think will be pushing the agenda. look, marco rubio is somebody else who has been humiliated by donald trump and i think one of the things we need to understand is this is not an appointment based on principle but the fact that donald trump knows he has squashed marco rubio like a bug and he can do

so any time he wishes. >> he is a 14 year veteran of the senate and worked across the aisle and other choices were considered far more controversial of people who would never work with anyone. going to have to leave it there for today. thanks for being with us. that does it for this edition of andrea mitchell reports. follow the show on social media at mitchell reports. you can rewatch the best parts of our show any time on youtube. chris reports after a short break. youtube. chris reports after a short break.

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