be really historic for all of those reasons and then just the fact that former first lady melania trump did not accompany her husband is interesting to us as well. we know the white house extended an invitation to her to attend, which she has declined for today. >> monica alba, you'll be watching. we'll all be watching. thank you for your reporting as we anticipate this meeting any moment now between president-elect trump and president biden at the white house. that will do it for me today. i'll be back tomorrow same time, same place, thank you for being here. i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. i'll hand it off to jose diaz-balart picking up our breaking news coverage right now. now. president-elect trump and president bide reason n are set face to face for the first time, signaling peaceful transfer of power, president biden will host his soon to be successor in the

oval office. trump prepares for his second term now just 67 days away. today also marks trump's first return to the white house since 2021. joining us this morning, nbc news senior white house correspondent gabe gutierrez, vaughn hillyard, live near mar-a-lago, jen psaki, former white house press secretary and now the host of "inside with jen psaki" on msnbc and mark short, former chief of staff to vice president mike pence. so, gabe, what are the white house objectives going into this meeting? >> reporter: hi there, jose, good morning. this is highly anticipated as you said. i'm standing in front of the west wing right now. this is where the president-elect and president biden are expected to meet inside the oval office in just a short time. reporters here anxiously awaiting the meeting. and as we have been discussing, a lot of attention will be paid as to the president-elect's tone during this meeting. he, of course, met with former president obama back in 2016.

that meeting went longer than expected, around 90 minutes. we have no indication how long this meeting will take place, but as to your question, the biden administration is really trying to highlight this meeting and signifying the peaceful transfer of power. that's something we heard over and over again from president biden since the election. he talked about it last week in the rose garden, highlighting the importance that americans see this peaceful transition of power and you can't just ove your country only when you win. the question, one of the questions will be what will the two leaders discuss during this meeting. we know from national security adviser jake sullivan that a priority of this administration, and the remaining time they have left is to try and make the case for aid to ukraine and how important it is to keep assisting ukraine in the new administration. there are many questions about how the incoming trump administration will handle that. but, again, we are waiting this meeting, set to get under way, any moment now. one person who will not be here

is vice president kamala harris. we do not have any indication whether she will meet with jd vance at any point in the future. but, again, we will be watching for just what tone the president-elect takes coming here, and this, of course, the first time the two leaders have been meeting since that debate that was so pivotal in this campaign. again, we're awaiting this meeting to happen at any moment. jose? >> and the camera is carrying president-elect trump, who is already heading over toward the white house, so this arrival could happen any minute now. vaughn, this comes after such a deeply coentious campaign between the two men, before the president exited the race. here's some of what we heard from both of them just during this campaign. >> kamala harris and crooked joe have driven our economy off a cliff. >> i mean this from the bottom

of my heart, trump say is a thr to the nation. >> i call him crooked joe. i call him sleepy joe. the fact is, this man is terrible. >> donald trump isn't just a convicted criminal, he's a one-man crime wave. >> we talk about biden like he's a feeble old guy and he is. >> there is one more thing trump's republican friends want him to do, a giant tax cut for the wealthy. these are the kind of guys you like to smack in the ass. >> and we know that trump did not extend the invitation to biden back in 2020. what does trump want out of this meeting? >> reporter: of course, four years ago donald trump was still trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat and he didn't even end up going to the inauguration of joe biden on january 20th, 2021. for this meeting, so much of this is about imagery for donald trump. but let's be clear, the president-elect has been

dismissive of joe biden's capacity to be serving in the white house and he consistently has made the case that he already has his own diplomatic relations with foreign leaders. of course, he's had more than 20 phone calls so far with various leaders. and for him, he chose to not go and receive the daily intelligence briefings during the course of his last several months as a general election nominee, despite them being made available to him, he said he did not want to be accused of leaking any information. so, i think the question here is to what extent does the president-elect actually show deference to the exiting president, joe biden, about serious national security measures. of course, when donald trump took the oval office eight years ago from president obama at the time, they had conversations about north korea and the threats that face the united states, not only foreign threats, but also domestic threats. and so from the trump side of this, it is a question as to what extent does he have

interest in what president biden may seek to share about intelligence that it is perhaps ied and not made publicly available and classified information that has not made its way to donald trump yet because he has chosen to not have intelligence briefings, he would seek to fire the top military generals under the biden administration, and as well as potentially career doj officials. overwhelmingly publicly donald trump has been very dismiss of the leadership -- the existing leadership that would at least be slated to stay on in their capacities come january 20th, 2025. yet it will be bearing out today the extent to which he actually seeks the advice of president biden on top of issues of concern, but also personnel who may -- he may seek to keep on in certain capacities. >> and, gabe, i understand that even though the white house on a regular day is filled with

journalists, today there is a number of cameras that normally we don't see there. >> reporter: that is quite the understatement. to set the scene for you, i'm standing here in front of the west wing. if you can pan the camera over here and see just how many reporters have assembled for this, really the press corps from all around the world. this is in addition to the cameras that are normally here on the white house north lawn. anticipating the president-elect here at the white house. again, we do not have any indication that he would speak after this oval office meeting, but this is something that many reporters from around the world, from different countries, to see, you know, what the president-elect, you know, anything he could say about incoming policy, again, with so much going on around the world and the middle east and in ukraine. there is such high interest here. this, of course, the first meaning between president-elect trump and the outgoing president biden, jose. >> jen, you served in this white

house and others. how important is this? what are you thinking today as we're going to be witnessing something that is so important for the -- for the message of what the united states is and what the democracy -- the democratic process in the united states really is. >> well, look, i think today is an important moment. i warn everyone not to overread into anyone's vibes coming out of this meeting because i would be surprised if there are fireworks out of this. eight years ago, i was the communications director for president obama. when then president-elect trump came. he actually came two days after the election last time. or eight years ago because that was the plan that we had, had hillary clinton won. they had a meeting as you noted that was 90 minutes where they discussed everything from -- and vaughn talked about this a little bit, the affordable care act and president obama made the case for why to continue it, the

iran nuclear deal, also made the case. he came out of the meeting feeling it went well. we know what happened to the affordable care act and the iran nuclear deal. it is very important because through every single presidency for hundreds of years, from democrats to republicans, from republicans to democrats, this meeting, the transition of power, the extension of an olive branch, even to rivals, is what has happened. and the reason president obama handled it then, even though he did not want trump to be elected, is because of how the bush team handled it when president obama came in. with grace, they extended an olive branch to all of us, to inform us and teach us things like what do you do when marine one lands, what do you do in all sorts of protocols of the white house, you don't know unless you worked there. so important, but i think we learned a lot since eight years ago, it is important to watch, important to see the continuity

of this. but i also think we should take everything with a skeptical eye in terms of what is said coming out of this meeting in terms of what policies will continue or not. because we'll see when he's president. >> yeah, jen, just -- i was just thinking of the many times that then president obama and off the records that he would have with many of us would talk about the biggest concerns that the united states was facing, and i remember over and over again, among the many issues that he brought up and this is just because you've mentioned it and others have mentioned it, president obama was very keenly aware of the threats of the north korean dictatorship. and how unstable that regime is in so many ways. and so, the opportunity to sit with the president-elect and tell him about the real dangers that only the president of the united states has a complete grasp on, it is, like, if this

isn't part of their conversation of those 90 minutes that obama had with trump, if this isn't part of the conversation, it just seems like it would be a waste. >> i'm sure -- i assume it would be and i assume it would be on the agenda as any national security issue would be. i also note that this is typically not the only time that sitting presidents talk to their predecessors. it is significant because it is in person, and it shows a transfer of power, whether it is with the same party or not the same party. and that's important. even with obama and bush, because it was during the financial crisis, they had been talking and meeting and there had been lots of discussions on a staff level. that's what tells you more than anything else. and four years ago, when i was working for president biden, actually eight years ago, working for president obama, there was not a lot of follow-up or desire for additional information for all of the briefing books that were prepared, for all of the, you

know, institutional knowledge, and knowledge about policy issues and where things stood that we anticipated. maybe now will be different. we will see. at the same time, four years ago, there wasn't a sharing of that information. so that's important recent history to also digest and be aware of as we go into this moment. maybe it will be different. hopefully it will be different, but we have to be clear eyed about that and talk about that in the context of what we're seeing today. >> and indeed, so, mark, how do you see this point in time? >> i actually see it very similar to jen. i think that whether or not there is as much substantive conversation, i think the optics are incredibly important that there won't be the same antics of to ur four years ago, there will be a peaceful transfer of power. i think joe biden is an institutionalist, whether we as republicans disagree with his policies, he's a institutionalist who wants to ensure that. i doubt it is 90 minutes. eight years ago, this was all new for the trump team.

where as they now have been in the white house for four years, previously, and so there is probably less of an introduction. i would imagine that there is probably going to be some conversation about ukraine and that the president biden wants to share whatever the latest intelligence is. i think at the same time, there is a lot of skepticism on the trump team about intelligence because of the way things went eight years ago, that transition with jim comey coming to the president and promising he was not a subject of investigation that he was. i'm not sure how many substantive will come out of it. but i think the optics are incredibly important, not just for the american people, but for the world to see. >> and right now the president is meeting with the president-elect. apparently they just had their spray moment, the moment when the media is brought in. they spoke for a minute and we'll now turn that around for you and bring it to you as soon as we get it. but they are currently meeting.

the president and the president-elect spoke publicly for about 60 -- for about a minute, and so, gabe, that is now being turned around. >> yeah, jose. this is for those watching at home, it is the pool spray, the pool of reporters is brought into the oval office and, you know, takes video of the event, and it doesn't happen live, we have to play it out now. however, we are getting notes from some of the reporters inside the oval office. we're told president biden spoke first and called for a smooth transition of power. president-elect trump then spoke saying politics is tough, and said that transition will be smooth. did not take questions and as you said, jose, was very quick pool spray and we're waiting for that video to be played out. i'm standing right here in front of the west wing, still no indication of how long this meeting with the president-elect and president biden will last. but we'll be watching along with

you. jose? >> yeah, and as we await that, again, as soon as we get it, we'll bring it to you. i want to bring up something to mark. musk is accompanying trump on his plane flight to d.c. this morning. nbc news has new reporting that musk may be overstaying his welcome. what does this tell you about how different trump's second administration will be than his first? >> well, i think there is kind of two questions there. i think that elon musk was incredibly helpful to the election, this cycle, not just for donald trump, but for republicans up and down the ballot as far as funding much of the get out the vote effort that i think the rnc was incapable of doing. i think he deserves a lot of credit for that and probably is welcome by both house and senate as well. as far as the second trump administration, i do think that there has been a change in policy.

i think the first administration had a lot of conservative victories. but there is no doubt that the rhetoric and tone of where the administration or the campaign went was far more a populist direction, whether or not that is related to ukraine or on trade or on social issues. and so there has been a very large turn away from conservatism throughout this campaign. and i think question will be as he staffs it up, the initial picks have been comforting to conservatives. wale see we'll see if that continues. >> we're learning this morning and we're just commenting on that, former first lady melania trump will not join president-elect trump at the white house meeting with first lady jill biden. do we know why? >> it is not clear exactly why melania trump is somebody who has been very private over the course of the last several years since leaving the white house, about the role that she would not only play during his campaign. we saw her on very few occasions, they went to go vote at the republican national convention, on election night we

saw her as well. she has been very close with barron trump, who is now attending college. it is not clear the extent to which she intends to play a role in this second administration. she obfuscated multiple times when asked about what type of presence she would have in a second trump white house. in a social media post this morning, she wished her husband, quote, great success with his visit here to the white house and in the administration ahead. it is not clear exactly based off that social media post the extent to which she intends to actually be involved in the affairs or have her own sort of -- she had her be best campaign she went forward with through 2017 to 2021. it is going to be an outstanding question as to just how much we see the former first lady here during -- by her husband's side. >> and so, gabe, and i understand we have about 30 seconds before we have access to

that pool spray that we are referring to, it was only about a minute, the two spoke, and gabe, you were saying first the president spoke and then the president-elect spoke. so, we're going to have this for you and as soon as we do, this is it. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, jose. this meeting is now under way. we don't know exactly how long it will last. but we're about to get those remarks any moment now. lasted about a minute. we send it back to you, jose. >> do everything we can to make sure you're accommodated with what you need and we'll get a chance to talk about some of that today. so, welcome, welcome back. >> thank you. thank you very much. and politics is tough. and it's in many cases not a very nice world, but it is a nice world told and i appreciate it very much. a transition that is so smooth, it will be as smooth as it can get, and i very much appreciate that, joe. >> you're welcome. thank you, all.

>> thank you, guys. thank you. let's go. thank you. >> this is a little bit of a window into how these meetings at the oval office, at the white house are carried out when they bring in a group of journalists to document what the meeting is all about. gabe gutierrez, how many times have you been in the oval office when something -- a dignitary, a foreign leader comes to visit, but this one in many ways short, but with a lot of smiles and

handshake. >> reporter:. >> vaughn, i don't know if you can hear me? i think we lost gabe temporarily. >> reporter: let's be -- let's be clear, that is quite a sight. the last time we saw those two men together was in june in atlanta, georgia, at a debate that donald trump is credited with ending the political career of joe biden. it was mere weeks later that joe biden ended his 2024 campaign for re-election. and those two men there, you see them shaking hands here, and donald trump referring it to a smooth transition, but two times saying that politics is tough. politics is really tough. and, of course, as you see that fire burning bright, it is hard to ignore also the bust of bobby kennedy over the shoulder there of joe biden, of course, it was bobby kennedy's one of his sons robert f. kennedy jr. who played

a key role in leading the ousting of this democratic administration and getting donald trump back in here. of course, it is a question over whether we will hear donald trump answer any questions today. he's not taken any press questions since the presidency. you heard reporters there from multiple seconds shouting. it is a question whether donald trump was open to taking questions there in that moment himself. but those two men keeping their remarks very brief amongst themselves. this is donald trump, you know, we were talking about contrasting this eight years ago who moved at a rapid pace to build out his administration. key former cabinet officials and administrators, staffers that left the white house in 2021. set up multiple different organizations that began running a shadow transition four years in the making to get ready for this moment, that would be ready to fill out in administration and the 4,000 political appointees. and this is where mark was suggesting that it was really a

campaign that turned into a transition that turned into an administration back in 2021 or i should say 2017 which was ill equipped at the time to actually run a federal government. this go around, you know, you can make the case, you can question the policies and the way in which they intend to use the executive branch. but nobody is questioning the preparedness of the trump administration to execute on their game plan. of course, that was the premise of project 2025, that 900 page document that prepared not only how the departments and the agencies would be able to effectively run. i know one of the organizations, the american first policy institute had more than 200 draft executive orders ready to turn over to donald trump. donald trump knows foreign leaders this go around, he has a standing relationship with not only the likes of kim jong-un and vladimir putin, volodymyr zelenskyy and the likes of the president of canada, and the chancellor of germany. that is where in this meeting

here that is still taking place as we speak, it is a question of just how open is donald trump at this present moment to the advice and the concerns of president biden and to what extent does he order his individuals who are prepared to take on these departments and these agencies to actually work with the outgoing administration to not only ensure a smooth transition, but also the extent to which they intend to keep or fire civil workers that are currently or have been in these positions for -- in the case of many of these workers, years or even decades. >> and just thinking, jen, what you were talking about, how there are so many things that need to be talked about and discussed in a transition, you know, from the most minuscule to huge issues. on day one, when the biden administration got to the white

house, you know, they presented already a comprehensive immigration bill to the house. on day one, president biden struck out maybe 90 plus trump executive orders, having to do with remaining in mexico, with border policy. in other words, that's on day one. they're able to do a whole lot. and undo a whole lot. and so, jen, what is the process now, not between these two gentlemen, but between the organizations that each one of them are going to have to transfer to the -- one to the other? >> i think what you just raised in terms of executive actions is obviously not a process that would be worked through the transition, because that -- those are policy decisions. would you like me to stop? will they talk? you want me to keep talking? >> no, no, yes, this is -- this is -- >> i didn't want to talk over them, jose. all right.

i didn't want to talk over them. okay. i would say in terms of just to pick up from what vaughn said, this is really important for people, i think to understand how it normally works in a transition, when it is from republican to democrat, democrat to republican, or just same party, is that the teams, the incoming team and the outgoing team work in lockstep to address everything that we have mentioned, from issues like threats from north korea, homeland security threats, to prepare if there was -- as there was a financial crisis in 2008, that's what the teams would do. so, beyond this meeting, with a will be interesting to see, is whether or not there is the teams are working together. where there is an alignment over trying to address some of the challenges the country is facing. that has happened many times in the past. it did not -- it has not happened in the times where trump has been involved in a transition. so, this would be a shift from what has happened historically with his leadership.

>> and, gabe gutierrez, as the president is still meeting with the president-elect, you have some reporting on where, for example, first lady is. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, jose. we just heard from the first lady's office and we're told that she joined her husband, president biden, in greeting the president-elect at the white house. and also passed along a handwritten note for ma melani trump, who is not at the meeting today, but the first lady's office making clear they are available to assist in the transition. and back to that video that we just saw of the president-elect and president biden, jose, this is the image that the white house wanted out there. they wanted to emphasize this peaceful transfer of power. and we did hear, did see from that video, president-elect trump in a very somber tone, did not choose to answer questions. what struck me is the brevity of that pool spray, jose.

that is pool sprays can be very short, but that is particularly short, given the huge amount of attention that is trained on the white house right now. so, what we're watching for next here is just how long this meeting lasts. back in 2016, when the president -- when donald trump met with barack obama here at the white house, that meeting went for much longer than expected expected, for 90 minutes. it will be interesting to see how long this meeting takes and a readout of the meeting. as we just heard from the president-elect, he says politics is tough, but it was a very welcoming message from president biden here at the white house. again, just days after a stinging defeat, after democrats suffered a stinging defeat in these elections. we're just hearing from the first lady's office, we're hearing that reporting that she did give a handwritten note to donald trump, that is meant for

his wife melania trump, offering to assist in this transition in any way they can. and offering a congratulations, jose. >> and, mark, just thinking about four years ago, when so many things did not occur that traditionally needed to occur. but thinking about what do you think that -- or when do you think meeting between harris and vance will occur or will it? >> i would imagine it does. i would imagine it probably occurs subsequent to this one, which obviously is appropriate. you wouldn't want that to happen before the two presidents get a chance to talk. so, i would imagine probably before christmas would be an opportune time for them to talk about that transition as well. >> everyone stay with us, if you would, as we watch the white house where president biden is still meeting with president-elect trump. we'll bring you any details as we get them. coming up, we'll break down the biggest names and the surprises as trump announces his picks for

his next administration. plus, new reporting about what special counsel jack smith is planning to do before trump takes office. and later, what we know about who will succeed mitch mcconnell as the next senate republican leader. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. why use 10 buckets of water when you can use 1 fire extinguisher. and to fight heartburn, why take 10 antacids throughout the day when you can take 1 prilosec. for easier heartburn relief, one beats ten. prilosec otc. one pill. 24 hours. zero heartburn.

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trump is in washington today behind the scenes the next administration is starting to come together. in the last 24 hours, we learned several of trump's new picks including john ratcliffe, cia director, congressman mike waltz, national security adviser, one of the surprising choices so far is pete hegseth, army veteran who served in iraq and afghanistan. here is how some on capitol hill responded to the news. >> trump just announced that he's nominating pete hegseth, the fox news host, as the secretary of defense. >> wow. >> what are your thoughts on that? >> um, i just said wow. >> is that a surprising wow, is that a -- is it a good choice? >> well, no, i'm just surprised. i'm not going to comment whether it is good, bad or indifferent. >> it is surprising and concerning, given the lack of experience. the pentagon, biggest

bureaucracy in the world, hard thing to run. so, i think it is going to be a challenge. >> joining us now, nbc's garrett haake and with us jen psaki and mark short. thank you for remaining on this hour. i want to start with you, garrett. how much more do we know about trump's decision to select pete hegseth to be secretary of defense? >> not a lot. it is in keeping with how he views a lot of the appointments. he likes to see people who he thinks fits the central casting idea of the positions he's trying to select. he likes people who have the appearance of loyalty to him and defending he and his policies on television. hegseth fits s those categorie. despite being a veteran and a combat veteran himself, you know, he lacks much institutional knowledge of the agency he would lead. i think he could face somewhat

of a difficult confirmation process. this is where you'll hear me say a lot over the next several months, elections have consequences here. because trump could afford to lose a couple of republican votes like lisa murkowski and still get hegseth over the line. this would be one i would circle on my calendar, from what we have seen so far, the one that is likely to be the biggest uphill climb in terms of a confirmation. >> mark, just last week hegseth went on a podcast and, you know, at length all kinds of issues he brought up. this is how he said his views were about women serving in combat. >> i'm straight up just saying, we should not have women in combat roles. it hasn't made us more effective, hasn't made us more lethal, has fighting more complicated. >> do you think that -- and garrett's point, confirmation in the senate is this kind of comment maybe a problem for

that? >> well, i'm sure there will be a long confirmation process for several of the appointees. i wouldn't underestimate, pete. i think that as garrett said, pete served 20 years, awarded the bronze star twice in iraq and afghanistan, somebody that i got to know when he was running concerned veterans for america. i think people too quickly underestimate pete and i think that this is a welcome change for a lot of people who want to see a change in the pentagon. but to garrett's point, 53 does give republicans a bigger cushion. in 2017, there was 52. by the end of the first year, with mccain's tragic illness, down to 51. there was not a lot of margin. and it may not sound like a lot to a lot of your viewers to go from 51 to 53, but it is significant if you can lose a couple defections and still get people confirmed. and i think there is going to be probably additional picks and i think democrats will look to try to get -- who they target at

this point is unknown because there will be additional picks. i wouldn't underestimate pete. let's let it play out. >> jen, what are your thoughts on that? >> well, i agree with what a lot of what mark just said. look, there is typically one or two, maybe more depending on who trump puts forward that the opposing party will target. and try to make clear to the public why this person is not qualified or unfit for the job. i think there is a net benefit in having cabinet members. i can tell you from having lots of communication roles who can go on television. what i will tell you is it is far from a top 20 characteristic or quality that you need for the secretary of defense. yes, he served and maybe he could be the victim of secretar veterans affairs or something else. he overseas the men and women serving around the world. it is not with someone good on

tv or fighting woke or cultural issues which apparently pete has some views on, it is about somebody who knows how to strategically have a seat at the table in the situation room. does he have that background? he does not. so i do expect that this is going to be something that not just democrats, but i think people from national security backgrounds have some real concerns about. could he still get through? yes, he could. because to mark's point, 53 is a lot, 53 is a lot of senators to have, you could lose a couple and i doubt trump is going to lose that many on many of his picks. >> and, jen, just on the issue of -- that mark was speaking about, about institutional knowledge and experience, has that been the most important quality for cabinet members? obviously the dod is in a class by itself, but institutional knowledge and managerial experience in bureaucracies, is that the most important or are those the most important qualities? >> look, i think, jose, every

cabinet position is different. and i think there is a department of defense, as you just said, is in a league of its own because of their responsibility of that department and as a person who is the secretary at the top. and it is not, again, just about fighting issues that are cultural. it is about having a seat, sitting next to the president, and the vice president, and in the situation rooms, when there are matters of war and peace, matters of using military force or not military force, when do you put our men and women's lives at risk, and are you somebody who can go sit at a table in a foreign capital and be taken seriously by your counterparts who are the secretaries of defense of other countrys? that's what that job is about. and it is different. the bureaucracy, the short-handing of that is much bigger. it is about being able to have a legitimate global role. and is this somebody who can have a legitimate global role? we don't have any knowledge of his background to suggest he can, it is not just about being good on tv. but i don't know whether this is going to be the pick that

everybody focuses on and i also don't know that trump is going to lose more than three senators. that is to mark's point a lot of people to lose on a pick. especially given his loyalty he has within the party right now. >> yeah, i'm sorry, i didn't mean to interrupt there, jen. garrett, meanwhile, trump's decision on who will serve as secretary of state. who is going on there? >> we reported a couple of days ago now that marco rubio will be that person, according to multiple sources who are familiar with the process. i think the holdout is in part over the internal ing that was taking place at mar-a-lago about who should fill that role, despite trump made his decision. and speaks to the disorganization of this transition process, the team around trump has tried to present these picks in an orderly fashion, make and announce decisions in an orderly fashion, but some of the picks have their planned announcements, some announcements are sitting around waiting for trump to give final approval.

so the announcements have come in something of a haphazard way but i've not heard anything to suggest that it will not ultimately be marco rubio who gets the nomination for secretary of state. that day may not be today. >> and, mark, trump announcing he plans to nominate mike huckabee, the former governor of arkansas, to be the next u.s. ambassador to israel. what do you make of that? >> look, i think from a national security perspective, with waltz, ratcliffe, huckabee, and rubio, that is a tremendously strong team that i think conservatives can get excited about. i also, you know, i don't know that i initially agree with the notion of how chaotic this transition is going. there is no doubt trump brings an element of that, he wants to be final decisionmaker on all of it. something that vaughn said in the earlier segment, you know, i think that the beginning of the first administration, it was a team of rivals, you had a lot of rnc people loyal to reince, a

lot of left of center people that jared brought in and a bannon group, always fighting against each other and it seems like this group is a closer knit group of people. you may not like the people that are coming forward with, but at the same time, i think they moved pretty quickly considering the election was a week ago and all the people that have already been put forward. so it does seem like they're ready to go, and it doesn't seem like they're leaning on these outside groups that i think raised a lot of money saying they're setting up these transition teams for them. this needs to be a very tightly knit group from the campaign moving forward quickly with a lot of the decisions. >> and, jen, strikes me as though every single time a new administration has come in, there is the question of who will be, you know, in the cabinet and this, but it seems as though this time it is more like a made for tv soap opera as far as who is in, who is out, and when these things are mentioned. >> well, i will say that

oftentimes picks leak, right? and i know that, well, i think there are issues with many of the national security people that trump has put forward for a variety of substantive reasons, the timeline is not thatted ed abnormal. joe biden announced his national security team right before thanksgiving, so that's a little bit later than we are right now, but actually doing that team first is pretty normal. the piece about people aligning and getting together -- and getting along well is a good thing. i think the place where people should watch is it is not just about loyalists, it is also about how people see trump's view of power and executive and presidential power and you look at things like that steven miller said during the first term and he sees executive power as all powerful. is that how these other cabinet members view things or nominees? i hope that question is going to be asked in the confirmation hearings. i don't know often s leak. that's not the hectic part.

the hectic part is people like lisa murkowski saying wow when she hears the secretary of defense name or adam smith, the chairman of armed services not being quite sure -- being concerned about the nominee. that's where it gets hectic when people dive into whether people should be in these positions. >> garrett haake, jen psaki, mark short, thank you. we'll continue to keep an eye on the white house, where president biden is still meeting with president-elect donald trump. plus, what we know about what special counsel jack smith is going to do right before trump takes office. and later, an nbc news exclusive, new details about trump's plan to carry out mass deportations. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. is you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc.

47 past the hour of the now to breaking news in the legal drama surrounding president-elect donald trump. nbc news confirmed special counsel jack smith and his team plan to resign before trump

takes office in january. "the new york times" first to break the news. smith oversaw cases against trump related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and his handling of classified documents. this comes a week after nbc news reported that justice department officials have been evaluating how to wind down these cases. with us now is "new york times" reporter devlin barrett, part of the team who helped break this story. great seeing you, my friend. is there a timeline for when smith plans to depart? >> so, i think we have to really think about december as the point where he's going to try to finish the main pieces of his work. you know, some of this stuff he doesn't have control over, for example. the court cases, he has to wait on a judge's ruling on what are likely to be motions to dismiss charges. he also, you know, when special counsel reports have been issued in the past, they required intelligence agency review, he can't control those reviews necessarily. so, he does have some parts that

he's not in charge of. however, his plan as it has been described to us is to spend the next month figuring out how to wind down the cases, thethat wo his report so he's gone by the time trump becomes president. >> and so that final report, you know, what could we potentially learn from it? >> so, the final report can be a lot of things, but i think we need to keep in mind, this report may be quite different than, for example, bob mueller's report about the russia investigation, or the report that robert hur issued about the investigation of president biden's classified documents. and that's because jack smith has filed two indictments. so we know what his prosecution decisions are. we know the basis of those prosecution decisions, which is the purpose of those reports. so, there is a world in which this report is actually much shorter than the special counsel

reports we have been used to seeing lately. >> and, so, in both cases you mentioned, mueller and hur report, this would also be made public? >> attorney general merrick garland said repeatedly that he intends to make as much of these reports public as possible. so, that's the pattern that has been established. none of my reporting suggests that that pattern will be -- will change here. but, again, timing is important because, one, if there are intelligence classified issues that have to be reviewed, that can take time. and if this work pushes into the trump administration, you could get a different attorney general, and different types of decisions being made. and that's when this could get -- lead to a very different outcome. >> and, so, january 20th, big day, he could -- could the incoming president become president on the 20th, could

he -- does he have the authority to make these cases go away? how? >> so, the way that would likely work, if there is still viable cases, live cases, when trump becomes the president, is trump could, in theory, instruct his justice department, senior leadership, to issue a motion to dismiss, ask the court's permission to dismiss these cases. i suspect we may see smith do a version of that before the trump administration begins. smith has given himself a december 2nd deadline to sort of decide how he wants to do that. >> devlin barrett, thank you so much for being with us. really appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. up next, senate republicans are voting right now on who will be their next leader, and we will, of course, continue watching the white house, where a meeting is under way between president biden and president-elect trump. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. y diaz-balart reports" on msnbc.

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54 past the hour. we're following breaking news from capitol hill, right now, senate republicans are voting on who will be the next senate republican leader. the contenders are senators john thune, john cornyn and rick scott. joining us now from capitol hill is nbc's ali vitali. good morning. what is the latest on this vote? >> reporter: a whole lot of waiting, jose, but just in the last few minutes, we know that senators wrapped up their first

balloting round and our team on capitol hill can actually report that now rick scott, the third of those three names, is out of the race for the next majority leader for the senate republican. that leaves it between the two johns, thune and cornyn, and our understanding is that they'll move on to a second ballot vote here in real time. and so we're watching this process play out. we're all huddled here in the hallway, waiting for senators to spill out from behind these closed doors, where they're doing a secret ballot vote for the person who will lead them into this next phase of the trump era. we know that this is the first time that these republicans have considered a new leader in 18 years. that's because mitch mcconnell has been the stalwart force atop this conference for that period of time. and so, now they're in the decision phase and, again, that news coming to us just in the last few minutes from our colleagues julie tsirkin and frank thorp who have sourcing that says that rick scott came

in third in the secret ballot. as they move on to the second one, the person with the least amount of votes has to drop out, and that leaves it again between thune and cornyn. >> ali vitali, thank you so very much. really appreciate it. meanwhile, earlier this morning, trump, of course, as he continues to have his meeting with the president of the united states at the white house, we have exclusive nbc news reporting on president-elect trump's border policy and mass deportation plans. the incoming trump administration considering locations and talking to private prison companies about drastically expanding immigrant detention centers to hold immigrants before they are deported. according to two sources familiar with the planning. joining us now, nbc news homeland security correspondent julia ainsley. julia, good morning. what have you learned? >> well, jose, we have learned that as this new administration is coming together, they're already making plans for how to make a big splash on mass

deportations as soon as trump gets in office. we have been talking about how would that be possible to fulfill this promise that trump made on the campaign trail. one piece of that will be expanding i.c.e. detention by doubling their capacity, getting up to 80,000 beds. and reopening family detention. what that tells us, there could be families that could get swept up in the mass deportation effort, even though they said they'll prioritize criminals. and they're looking around major metropolitan areas, chicago, l.a., denver, miami, and houston. and though these centers may not be directly in those cities, they'll be nearby, because they plan on arresting migrants near those major metropolitan areas. and they'll need a place to put them. so they're assessing current space, looking if they can put anyone in county jails which does happen sometimes, or if they need to build new facilities. i'm told they won't have time to build brick and mortar buildings, about but they might put up soft sided temporary facilities and looking

especially to the private sector, private prison companies, whose stock has risen so much since the election for help in doing so. >> and so, julia, i mean, all of this is, again -- didn't hide this when running for president, this was what he talked about, this is what he promised, i'm wondering is it -- so these are expected to be places where dozens, hundreds of people could be kept? >> yeah or thousands. i mean, there are facilities even now that can hold up to 2,000, 3,000 migrants at a time. it is different depending on the level of security you need, the population, there are fewer people held in family detention centers, for example, but they'll be looking at how they can drastically expand so that when they do start doing these deportation efforts, there is a place to hold migrants. we think about i.c.e. detention, it is people who have been arrested when they cross the border before they're deported and holding some high profile people who are seen to be a threat to public safety, this will be people who are already

possibly living in the united states for years. possibly working here. and they'll arrest them and hold them there before they can get a flight out of the united states. >> julia ainsley in washington, thank you so much. appreciate that. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. you can watch me on social media. right now on andrea mitchell reports, president- elect trump and president biden meeting for the first time since their fateful debate as the former and future president returns to washington. >> politic is tough and in many cases it is not a nice world but it is a nice world today. >> special counsel jack smith plans to step down before trump takes office. and fires him. earlier this morning, mr.