brutal killing. the state presented a case involving forensic, digital and surveillance evidence. about 30 or so of laken riley's family members have been in the courtroom every single day of this trial. when the judge delivered the verdict you could hear them gasping and crying. listening to all of this testimony, especially the more graphic pieces of evidence presented to the judge. they had to leave the courtroom several times. we are not sure if before the sentencing we will be hearing directly from them and victim impact statements. we will be watching that. jose. >> priya sridhar, thank you so much. and that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. >> right now on "andrea mitchell reports," the house ethics

committee meeting next hour on whether to share the investigation report as vice president elect jd vance leads the lobbying effort on the hill today trying to save donald trump's controversial pick to lead the department despite bipartisan criticism. a former head of the cdc joining me as the medical community reacts to the surprising selection of dr. oz to run the centers for medicare and medicaid after choosing jfk jr. was chosen to lead the department of health and human services. concerns about a potentially significant air attack from russia, this in response to the u.s. letting kyiv firing long range missiles as russian bases. in the last hour, jose ibarra was found guilty on all charges connected to the murder of laken riley.

good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington with the house ethics committee meeting this afternoon amid bipartisan pressure to turn over its report on matt gaetz for the evidence on the allegations against him to the senate. the senate, of course, would have to vote to confirm him for attorney general. they'll be focusing on the alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use he has vehemently denied. gaetz and vance are meeting with key republicans on the senate judiciary committee, including senators graham and tillis. >> no rubber stamps, no lynch mob. i'm not going to be part of a process that leaks information that shouldn't be leaked. >> nominee, whether they are biden's in the last administration, or whether they

are president trump deserve a process, every member should meet with them, regardless of whether they're a no vote or a yes vote. i think it will be the worst spectacle you can imagine, i think the democrats are going to be cruel is as they were can kavanaugh. facts have to go where facts go. they're not going to pull any punches. i hope president trump does at least 33 recess appointments. you know why 33? because obama did 32. if anybody thinks recess appointments are something new and different, study a couple of administrations back. >> speaker johnson arguing because matt gaetz resigned from congress, the report should not be made public, that the ethics committee no longer has jurisdiction despite having been precedent of doing exactly that. president-elect trump also announcing more names to potentially join his incoming administration, including former acting attorney general matt whitaker, who has no experience as a diplomat, to be the nato ambassador.

former professional wrestling executive linda mcmahon was picked to lead the education department, which mr. trump has said he wants to eliminate. mcmahon, who is co-leading the trump transition, is a trump campaign donor, who also served in the previous trump administration as head of the small business administration. mr. trump also announcing dr. mehmet oz, the talk show host and former senate candidate, to lead the senators for medicare and medicaid services. dr. oz, who has faced criticism for questionable medical advice will potentially work under vaccine skeptic robert f. kennedy jr. joining us now, garrett haake on capitol hill, "new york times" chief white house correspondent peter baker, and former republican pennsylvania congressman charlie dent. jd vance and mt.att gaetz tryin to drum up support. what do we know about the ethics committee meeting? >> reporter: it is a black box

on the house side. they're going to meet this afternoon, we believe they're going to discuss and possibly vote on whether or not to release the report that they have compiled on matt gaetz or perhaps give some of its component parts just to the senate. but i say perhaps because they have kept their cards very close to the vest as they often do. over on the senate side, there is some pressure, senate democrats have asked them to preserve relevant documents, there is a significant desire to see if not the full report, at least the interviews that led to its creation. even some senate republicans have said either expect to see it from the ethics committee or pieces of it come out before gaetz gets to a confirmation hearing. we have no real indication exactly what the house ethics committee will do. we only know that speaker johnson put his finger on the scale here a little bit, by arguing he doesn't think the report should be released. and that the committee, which is evenly divided, only house committee so constructed, between democrats and republicans will have to sort of sort this out themselves behind closed doors today.

>> and, garrett, what stands out to you in donald trump's choice of dr. oz to oversee medicare and medicaid and linda mcmahon, of course, to be secretary of education? >> well, a couple of things. these are people that he knows well, that he thinks will be loyal to him, and that at least in the case of dr. oz, he believes will be good spokesman on television. all of these are qualities that donald trump looks for in picks either to fill out his white house or his cabinet picks, you know, above and beyond what their traditional qualifications may be. mcmahon is interesting because she is someone who had been thought to be a lock for the commerce department seat which went to her co-chair howard lutnick, just yesterday, as well. so the two folks leading the transition now know they will have roles in the coming administration. although as you point out in your intro, exactly what linda mcmahon's role will be leading an agency that donald trump wants to get rid of is an open question. >> charlie dent, you served on the ethics committee.

what should we make of this dilemma? there is precedent for ing a report after someone has resigned. >> 1990, a member was accused of having sex with a 16-year-old after he left that report was released. there was a case of blake farronhold, the committee made a statement that had to do with sexual harassment and some kind of a settlement. i guess what i would say to you is that this is very different p when a member of congress resigns due to scandal, they go away quietly, they go about the business of reconstructing their lives and relationships and trying to get their acts together. >> they don't become attorney general? >> they don't get nominated to the top law enforcement officer of the country. you have the united states senate now asking as part of their official record to have this report as they go about their confirmation process. that's important. and then there is the american people who might want to know some things about the man who is going to be the top law enforcement officer if these --

if there is merit to these allegations against him. i'm astounded and by the way, i don't think it is appropriate for the speaker of the house to weigh in on the committee deliberation. >> and, peter, let's talk about this. the other difference now is that the fbi has not done preliminary investigations people, because the president-elect has not signed the agreement under the presidential transition act that actually an amendment that he approved and signed into law as president of the united states. so he has not agreed to these fbi clearances. these people are -- that's why some of these things are coming up now to the surprise of people who have not been properly vetted. >> yeah. it is not surprising that if you don't go through the vetting process, you end up with some unpleasant surprises. they knew that matt gaetz, of course, was accused of all these things, none of that is new. what is new, of course, would be the findings of the house ethics committee, if that can be pried loose. this was something they knew was

going to be there and therefore decided they would take it on despite knowing that. some of the other ones may be a surprise. it looks like pete hegseth accusation where he was accused of assaulting a woman and paid a settlement to her, he denies that it was nonconsensual, that seems to have been a surprise to the trump transition. and this is the reason why you do vetting, so you don't have surprises. if you take on a controversial nominee, you know going in what you're dealing with, what you might have to address, what might be the obstacles toward confirmation. that is not something going on here. >> peter, you've written about the pattern of sexual harassment allegations against some of these very prominent nominees. not nominees, choices, they're not nominated until he becomes president. this is unusual also. usually it would be disqualifying. what does it say about the president-elect? >> absolutely. and congressman dent knows this,

of course, because we have seen in washington that it used to be something like not paying your nanny's employment tax would be enough to scuttle a nomination for a cabinet position. now we're talking about, you know, putting forward people who have been accused of some pretty tough things. they deny them, so, you know, due process is still important, but usually something like that would keep a president from putting forward nominees like matt gaetz who has been accused of sex and drug parties and pete hegseth accused of sexually assaulting a woman, robert f. kennedy jr. accused in a magazine piece last summer of groping a family nanny, he sent her a text saying i don't remember this, but if i did do any harm, i'm certainly sorry and told the er denying he did this and then elon musk, head of a sweeping organization in theory that can redefine the entire federal government if trump goes along with it.

all of this is under a president-elect who himself was found liable in a civil lawsuit last year of sexual abuse against e. jean carroll, the writer. the first time we had an incoming president found by a court to be a sexual abuser. he seemed to be taking on -- saying i'm not in favor of disqualifying people because of these things because i don't believe these allegations are true or they're unfair. >> garrett haake, peter baker, charlie dent, thank you to all of you. joining us now, dr. richard besser, ceo of the robert wood johnson foundation, former acting director of the cdc. your reactions to dr. trump picking dr. oz, first of all, to head the centers for medicare and medicaid services. >> i have to say, i was shocked. and very disappointed.

this position, running cms impacts over 180 million lives in our country. this part of the department of health and human services runs medicare, it runs medicaid, which provides healthcare services to lower income people, people with disabilities, runs the children's health insurance program, it is an essential part of government and traditionally it has been headed up by someone with great expertise in health insurance, someone who really understands how government works. dr. oz has no experience running any government department. he has been a strong voice in health in our country. the problem with that is that he has been a very divisive voice. he's someone who has lifted up important things people can do for their health, and mixes that with misinformation about products that actually have absolutely no health benefits.

putting him in this role undermines the value of this critical part of our government. i worked as a pediatrician for more than 30 years in community clinics around the country. my patients were either on medicaid or had no health insurance. and i saw the impact on people's lives when they did not have health insurance. in our country today, there are 27 million people without health insurance. if some of the plan moves go forward from this administration, millions of more people will lose their health insurance. it will be so important for the senate when they meet with dr. oz to get an understanding of how would he move forward to ensure that everyone in america has the opportunity for health, where health is not a privilege, but truly a right for everyone. >> and let's talk about the person who will be working under, if these nominations go through, rfk jr., to be the secretary of health and human

services. >> yeah, this is absolutely shocking. there is -- there are very few people in our country who have done more to undermine the confidence in our vaccines than mr. kennedy. and having him lead the department of health and human services is frankly dangerous. we rely on vaccinations to ensure not only that our own children are safe, but that we're providing protection for our families, for those around our children. and to have someone in that role who questions having just vaccines as requirements for school entry is frankly dangerous and i think will lead us to see many diseases that we have pretty much said good-bye to occurring again. measles, whooping cough, diseases that we should not be seeing occurring in our schools will occur quite frequently if we see people -- people taking his advice and not getting

vaccinated. >> the cdc had a pretty rough time when donald trump was president before because of a lot of political pressure, about conclusions and advice regarding covid. the cdc has traditionally been the gold standard around the world for public health. and public health decisions. so, what do you think about the professionals, the doctors and scientists, in the agency? >> yeah, you know, andrea, one of the really tragic things with the covid pandemic was how politicized public health became. i led the cdc for a brief period at the start of the 2009 swine flu pandemic. it was a party period where peo across the country where they looked to them as heroes, people were sacrificing their own time, putting themselves at risk to improve the prospects for people in their communities. with covid, we saw the opposite.

we saw it politicized. we saw people working in public health, at the federal level, at the community level, the state level, being called out as dangerous, as being un-american. simply because they were telling people things that they could do to protect their health and the health of those around them. with that, we saw a lot of people with talent in public health leave that sector. and i worry that if we have someone like mr. kennedy leading the department of health and human services, we will see people leave. we will see talent go. he has called for eliminating whole departments within the department of health and human services. and that's really dangerous. why would someone want to stay and work in that environment. if we lose more talent, the people who will pay are those of us in communities. everyone in america will suffer from that. and that concerns me greatly. >> dr. richard besser, thank you so much. >> thank you. and in just 90 seconds, the

push to make the gaetz report public and new concerns about russia's potential response to u.s. support for ukraine in terms of long range missiles firing into russia. we'll talk with congressman mike quigley. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. you're watchil reports" on msnbc. part of the irresistible scent collection from gain.

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ibarra, an undocumented venezuelan immigrant, was found guilty on all charges related to riley's death. he's expected to be sentenced very shortly. joining us now from outside the courthouse in athens, nbc news correspondent priya sridhar. tell us more about the guilty verdict and, of course, the emotional reaction from the family. >> reporter: that's right, andrea. this is a conclusion of a highly anticipated murder trial that was thrust into the national spotlight because as you mentioned, the suspect now convicted killer in this case was an undocumented migrant. so we heard president biden and president-elect trump weighing in on this case because it was tied frequently to the national debate over immigration. but the judge came back rather swiftly, he took less than a 15-minute recess after the closing arguments and came back and essentially said that he wanted to take all of the emotion out of this, and this was really about the abundance of evidence that the state

presented throughout the last four days. the state brought forth several witnesses that outlined forensic video and digital evidence that tied jose ibarra to the brutal killing of this 22-year-old nursing student, laken riley, when she was out for a morning jog back in february. the defense tried to say that this evidence was circumstantial and they even attempted to point the finger at jose ibarra's own brother diego ibarra saying they looked very similar, and that they shared dna. but, of course, you know, that wasn't the -- the judge didn't take any of that into consideration. when the judge did deliver that verdict, we heard audible gasps and sobs from laken riley's family members. 30 or so of them had been coming to this courthouse behind me here for every single day of the trial. and in the next 30 minutes or so, we are expecting the judge to come back and deliver the sentencing in this case. jose ibarra does face life in prison without parole.

the death penalty is not on the table in this case. what we're interested to see if any of laken riley's family members will be delivering victim impact statements, andrea. >> priya, thank you very much. we appreciate it. we'll be watching and carrying that sentence for you, the sentencing for all of our viewers. with ukraine firing its long range missiles for the first time yesterday, the u.s. is now temporarily closing its key embassy, telling americans as well as the embassy employees in ukraine to shelter in place. they're anticipating a russian air strike in response. in another policy change, president biden is now authorized providing antipersonnel land mines to ukraine, which is aimed at helping stop the advance of russian ground forces, which include, of course, those north koreans now. but the move is facing a lot of criticism from arms control groups. joining me now is democratic congressman mike quigley of illinois, co-chair of the commission on ukraine caucus. thank you so much for being with us. you were in ukraine a few weeks

ago. you've opinion a been a strong . what is your thought on the land mine policy? there has been criticism of the u.s. of being one of the major countries not to sign the land mine treaty. >> sure. look, i mean, these are decisions the biden administration has made throughout this war. and as you have said, i've been to ukraine four times since a thousand day war commenced. you've got a battle putin who is a horrific war criminal. ukraine faces a 4-1 manpower shortage. we have to balance the interests here. it is a difficult choice, i recognize. but this is an autonomous country facing extinction from one of the largest armies in the world. so you have to make these tough choices. >> and what -- a lot of speculation this is to increase

the bargaining clout of president zelenskyy under president-elect trump when he becomes president, will be as he has said, he could settle it in 24 hours. there will be pressure to negotiate, which could mean concessions for vladimir putin. >> look, let's remember, putin's talking about saber rattling again, nuclear saber rattling, which we should take very seriously. he had red lines before. he didn't want us to have any long range missiles there, which are there now and tanks and f-16s and so forth. but, you know, in the end, we have nato and the u.s. and ukraine have to have our red lines too. and the war crimes that have taken place and just how to stop them. i have grave concern about the trump administration here because at the very least we have to have another supplemental sometime early in the next year to keep this battle continuing. this is the biggest war and most important war of our lifetime.

it is why we fought the second world war and formed the liberal democratic world order after that. so, again, these are brutally tough choices. but the sacrifice on the other side, our red lines are important as well. >> i want to ask you about tulsi gabbard. you served on the intelligence committee and she has no intelligence experience. she's also said very provocative things, she praised vladimir putin at times, she said that the war was justified, the invasion of ukraine was justified because ukraine was talking about joining nato. which had not been approved and was years off and is their right as an independent country. so, there is a lot of talk and a lot of praise for her in -- on russian state media in the last couple of days for being chosen to head 18 intelligence agencies. she would do the final edit on the presidential daily brief and also choose the briefer among

other things. >> look, grave concern here as well. this is -- odni was created post 9/11 to make sure that all our intelligence community shares information to avoid another 9/11. so, the fact that she has zero experience, didn't serve on the intel committee, doesn't have any government experience in this vein at all, i'm not sure she understands the role of odni or how to go forward with that. that sharing information is less likely to take place within our own community. but let's look at the rest of the world. you mentioned concerns about russia. she privately met with syria's president assad. i think there will be great concerns among our allies, sharing information with our intel community because she is at the head of it. why would they trust her not to share with people that she praises, like putin and assad,

who are friends with our adversaries in north korea and china and iran? so, i think she poses a national security risk at the head of the intelligence community. the odni. so, i hear concerns about the other picks, so far under the trump administration, but for my experience, she's the one that poses the greatest risk to our country. >> you also did sign among other democrats house democrats asking the house ethics committee to release that gaetz report. what happens if it isn't released? >> it's just mind blowing. the fact is this is going to be our head of law enforcement community with the allegations against him? i hope the members of the committee have greater loyalty to the american people and our country than blind sycophantic loyalty to the president of the united states. these are spots that run critical aspects of our

government, that play a critical role in the lives of american people. the very least the transparency is to know who these people are, the president-elect can pick who he wants. but the senate can't advocate its responsibility, not just to itself, and the constitution, but the american people, to know who are e running their governt and everything about them. >> congressman mike quigley, thank you, sir. >> thank you. and next, what to expect from new york state supreme court justice juan merchan after manhattan prosecutors move to push the president-elect's sentencing to after his second term. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. watching "andreal reports. this is msnbc. good thing you don 't need to fingerstick. how's all that food affect your glucose? oh, the answers on your phone. what if you're heading low at night? [phone beeps] wow, it can alert you?! and you can even track your goals. manage your diabetes with confidence with dexcom g7. the most accurate cgm.

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we're following breaking news as we await a ruling from judge juan merchan to decide the fate of donald trump's new york hush money case. lawyers are demanding the case and criminal conviction be thrown out entirely. in a letter to judge merchan, they write, immediate dismissal of this case is mandated by the federal constitution, the presidential transition act of 1963, and the interest of justice in order to facilitate the orderly transition of executive power. in a filing yesterday, prosecutors from the manhattan d.a.'s office requested that the president-elect sentencing be postponed to put the case on pause while trump is in the white house. joining me now is msnbc legal

correspondent lisa rubin. this all became even more difficult for the d.a., certainly for the prosecutors, after the presidential immunity decision from the supreme court. >> that is certainly true, andrea. and there was a motion from trump's lawyers that was already on juan merchan, the judge in this case's plate, they asked him to set aside the verdict on the grounds of the presidential immunity decision, citing evidence admitted during the trial and saying that much of that evidence came from a period of time where donald trump was president and implicated presidential conversations or communications, whether it be conversations with his then communications director, hope hicks, or tweets he issued, for example, when he was president about michael cohen. they had already moved to set aside that verdict and that was a decision that we were actually expecting from juan merchan this month. but now donald trump's lawyer saying it is not enough for us to wipe the slate clean of that verdict. we want you to dismiss this case

entirely. that would mean no verdict, no sentencing, it would be like it never happened, andrea, and as you know, the d.a.'s office saying yesterday, no, we want the conviction to stand, we're willing to wait to have him sentenced and we'll wait until 2029 when the man is no longer president. but we are not willing to consent to a dismissal of this case. >> is there any indication which way judge merchan might be leaning? >> no, and in fact, all that donald trump's lawyers have submitted today is what is called a premotion letter, two-page document, i'll hold it up, where they are asking for permission to file a full motion and they would like to do so by december 20th. so, one option for juan merchan is grant briefing on this motion. that would need the next thing that happens is donald trump's folks put in a full brief, explain ex- explaining why they believe dismissal is necessary that would give the d.a. an opportunity to respond and trump's lawyers would have an opportunity to reply. and that might even put the briefing schedule here into a

time frame where donald trump is not only the president-elect, but the sitting president of the united states and i'll venture a guess that's exactly what donald trump's lawyers want, the calculus of the issues changes, even though they say dismissal is mandated by the transition, truly the legal analysis, i think, changes for them and for any judge once donald trump is back in the oval office. >> lisa rubin, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> the judge -- up next, the impact of president biden's decision to green light a wave of new military arms to ukraine and how russia's vladimir putin might respond. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. respond. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. the ultra-low easy step helps keep you safe from having to climb over those high walled tubs, allowing you to age gracefully in the home you love. and now, back by popular demand, for a limited time, when you purchase your brand-new safe step walk-in tub, you'll receive a free shower package!

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kyiv is on high alert today with the u.s. now saying that the embassy there is temporarily closed over concerns that russia might launch a, quote, significant air attack against the ukrainian capital. joining us now, admiral james stavridis, former nato supreme allied commander and analyst. and author of the novel "the restless wave." this new alert is based on intelligence that there was an imminent russian strike or strikes potentially in response to the u.s. finally giving president zelenskyy the authority to fire at long range weapons, the atacms against russian bases inside their territory. what kind of russian response do you expect?

>> i think it will be a combined missile and drone attack, fairly similar, andrea, that one you'll recall from about a week ago which was the largest thus far of the fall. i think it will be very specifically targeted against the launch sites of those atacm missiles and also second order continue to go after the energy infrastructure of the ukrainians. look for some military targets, some civilian targets, the latter, of course, are war crimes. russia will continue to do that and, yes, you are absolutely right, this is going to be in direct response to the use of the atacms missiles. >> with a great deal of fanfare, the russians changed their nuclear policy to say they could use tactical nuclear battlefield weapons against an opponent, adversary who is not nuclear

armed but backed by nuclear nations, like the u.s., like france, for instance. that said, there is no indicating alert over that. is this just an empty threat? >> i would call it saber rattling. i suppose it is not empty in the sense that if putin wanted to, he could take the sword of nuclear weapons out of the saber. i think he's rattling the saber and the reason he's very unlikely to use nuclear weapons, twofold, one, and i say this as a former supreme allied commander of nato, there is no good military target you can use a nuclear weapon against. this is 600 miles, it is a fight that is strung out, there is no military center of gravity you can go after. and that brings me to the second reason, if he were to use it,

unimaginably in my view against a civilian target and say, take out kharkiv, the second largest city, or god forbid kyiv itself, putin knows if he were to do that, the entire global south, india, nigeria, south africa, brazil, pakistan, these countries that are kind of playing both sides, they would run away from russia as fast as they could. so, no, i don't think he has any intention of using a nuclear weapon. we should continue to be mindful of his capability, but we should not listen to our fears in this regard. we should continue to support ukraine as they prosecute the war. >> and, donald trump has now picked acting attorney general matthew whitaker as u.s. ambassador to nato. i don't know of any diplomatic experience he has. how important is that role?

>> it is an extremely important role. i've seen both republicans and democrats in the role. i've seen some people who are very good. some people who are less good. what is key is that the appointee, the ambassador, has an open mind, goes into this with a level of understanding of nato itself. its importance and is this nominee going to be someone who pushes the europeans to increase defense spending? that's fine. we need to continue to do that, but it should be done in a way that recognizes these are our allies, collectively they're the second largest defense budget in the world after the united states, collectively europe spends more on defense than china does, for example, and third and finally, be mindful that these nations came and fought with us, and died with us in afghanistan, not because europe was attacked, they came

because the united states was attacked. i think a new ambassador going in with those kind of sensibilities can be very successful. democrat or republican. >> thank you very much, admiral stavridis, good to see you. we're watching in athens georgia, courtroom, where any minute we expect the judge to read the sentence of jose ibarra. we'll bring that to you as soon as it happens. up next, the fight for democracy in hong kong as the trump and xi relationship looms over the region. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. egion. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. than brushing and flossing alone. get a next level clean... ahhhhh with listerine. feel the whoa!

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hong kong media mogul and pro democracy activist jimmy lai was in court for first time since he was jailed four years ago. the founder of the newspaper apple daily was one of the most vocal critics of china's ruling communist party and is accused of masterminding protests that swept across hong kong. he pleaded not guilty to all the charges but faces life in prison if convicted. joining me now is sebastian lai, leading the international campaign to free his father jimmy lai. thank you for being with us. so, the court opened the trial opened overnight our time wednesday in hong kong. and he's accused of masterminding all these protests. and this comes a day after the very tough sentences of up to ten years of 45 protesters in

hong kong. tell me about the trial and the accusations against your father. >> so, it is a complete -- it is the case where there is three government appointed judges, no jury, allegations of chief security minister alluded to his guilt before the start of the trial, allegations of witnesses being tortured and the u.n. group on arbitrary detention, completely objective, said that -- issued a ruling saying my father should be released immediately, the trial never should have happened in the first place and he never should have been arrested. >> and that's the position of the u.s. government. >> u.s. government, uk government and the european parliament, international call for his release. >> as this trial continues, what chances does he have, what opportunities does he have to defend himself? >> so, as part of this show trial he does after the

prosecution had made their case, there was a six-month break. today was the restart of the trial where he is now taking a stance to have his defense. >> and one thing he's accused of is meeting in the u.s. with vice president pence at the time, and with secretary of state mike pompeo to talk about the freedom, the democracy that had been guaranteed to hong kong under the separation agreement back in the '90s. >> exactly. it is completely ridiculous, but it shows you where hong kong is now in persecuting anybody who is willing to speak up against them to call for greeter greatm and democracy. >> with the very tough sentencing of the pro democracy student leaders, and we were all, you know, enthralled with the masses of people who turned out on the streets some years ago and with your father's trial, is this the end of the

democracy movement for hong kong? >> so, with the passing of the national security law, it is definitely a very dark time for hong kong. you have examples. not even people like my father who ran a newspaper and criticize the the government and asked for more democracy, but people who wear the wrong t-shirts or likes social media posts, pro democracy social media posts are getting arrested. it is a very dark time. >> and that national security law is, of course, questioning the movement. what do you think president xi's motives are in doing this? >> so i do not know. but i know that the economy of hong kong has gotten much worse since the crackdowns. in the end, they -- why would anybody want to go there if they didn't have the freedoms that it used to. and the economy is hurting and china wants the economy of hong kong to do better, but they can't claim that they have all

these freedoms that made the -- that made the city flourish if they have my father and -- for expressing pro democratic views. >> more than a thousand. >> 1,900. ? >> almost 2,000 people jailed. it was a tourist center. lots of us loved going to hong kong. it has one of the spectacular airports, relatively new airport there. so with all of that investment, and with china's economy really in the very poor shape right now, which is a major challenge for him and getting more foreign investment, doesn't it seem as if these are conflicting impulses for the chinese leadership? >> it does. hong kong used to be a touch point where a lot of businesses could be domiciled in hong kong

and invest in china and have a relative certainty that your rights will be protected. the rights of your business will be protected. that is no longer the case. the example of my father's perfect one, he used to runt biggest newspaper in hong kong. it was a pro democracy newspaper. >> known around the world. >> right, yeah. and for his stance, for the courage of speaking out and campaigning for the democracy for the last 30 years, he is on his -- almost four years now, 77, solitary confinement in a maximum security prison. >> do you know what his health is like? >> so, it pains me to say this, but his health has gotten much worse. as you can expect, given his age and the conditions and the fact he has diabetes, 15 days or more is considered prolonged solitary confinement and he's been in there longer. >> our thoughts with you and your father and all the other

prisoners. this is really something that actually the incoming president trump should also support. have you had any outreach to anybody in the transition or any possibility of getting help? >> we have been incredibly grateful by the incredible bipartisan support we had on my father's case, being such an iconic case. president-elect trump said in an interview by hugh hewitt that he would 100% get my father out. so, you know, it is about getting him out. it is about saving his life and time is running out. >> sebastian, thank you so much for coming by on your visit to the united states. we appreciate it. >> thank you for having me. >> that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow the show on social media at mitchell reports. you can watch the best parts of our show again anytime on youtube. go to msnbc.com/andrea. "chris jansing reports" starts after a short break. drea "chris jansing reports" starts after a short break.

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