room at the bay village police department. her case notes remain front and center. she has been gone for more than 30 years, but amy mihaljevic is still here and she is waiting for justice. maybe you can help her find it. >> if you have information you think might help with the case, please call the bay village police at 440-871-1234 . investigators are offering a $50,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction. conviction. this sunday, background check. >> i'm looking forward to a hearing. >> president-elect donald trump's cabinet picks are facing intense scrutiny after his

this sunday background check. facing intense scrutiny after his first choice for attorney general matt gaetz withdraws his nomination amid serious allegations of sexual misconduct. >> i was surprised by how abroad bankruptly it happened. >> he was controversial. he understood that. >> apparently he was aware of reality. >> will mr. trump's other controversial picks face more opposition from senate republicans? the agenda donald trump is planning to roll out a series of executive orders within hours of taking office. >> what are mr. trump's top priorities? >> and missile threat as the war in ukraine passes the 1000 day mark, tensions are rising in the region. after the biden administration lifts restrictions on long range weapons and vladimir

putin fires back using a new hyper sonic ballistic missile. my guest this morning democratic senator-elect adam schiff and republican senator eric schmitt. former homeland security secretary jae johnson. anna palmer and stephen hayes, editor of the dispatch. welcome to sunday. it's meet the press. eet the pr. washington, the longest running show in television history this is "meet the press" with kristen welker. >> good sunday morning. president-elect donald trump has finished rolling out a preholid good sunday morning. president-elect donald trump has finished rolling out a pre- holiday flurry of cabinet picks. on tuesday as a growing number of republican senators demanded

the release after house ethics report into allegations former florida congressman matt gaetz paid women for sex including a 17-year-old, the president- elect denied he was reconsidering gaetz. >> mr. president, are you reconsidering the nomination of matt gaetz? >> no. >> but just two days later gaetz withdrew from consideration. though he continues to deny wrong doing. >> i was keying with a politically motivated body. they had an ax to grind. that was going to serve as at least enough of a basis to delay my confirmation as attorney general. >> was this decision a surprise? >> no. i was surprised the timing of it. i figured it would go a little longer an that. ultimately i think you could see the writing on the wall. >> president-elect trump named former two term florida attorney germ pam bondi who served during his first

impeachment trial after mr. trump lost the 2020 election, bondi amplified false claims of election fraud. >> as eric trump said we are thrilled to have won pennsylvania. >> we have won pennsylvania and they're not going to take it away from us. >> now bondi has been a vocal critic of the criminal cases against mr. trump as well as special counsel jack smith who charged him in two federal cases. >> the department of justice, the prosecutors will be prosecuted. the bad ones. the investigators will be investigated. because the deep state last term for president trump they were hiding in the shadows. but now they have a spotlight on them. and they can all be investigated and the house needs to be cleaned out because now we know who most of them are. >> according to the washington post, president-elect trump plans to fire the team that worked with the special counsel. the press secretary for mr. trump's transition team responding quote, president trump campaigned on firing

bureaucrats who have engaged in the weaponnization. a key question now that gaetz has dropped out, will other trump picks face more intense scrutiny including pete hegseth who faces questions about sexual assault allegations. and former democratic congresswoman tuls i gabbard who made two secret visits to syrian dictator in 2017. in. ambassador nikki haley weighing in. >> this is not a place for a russian, iranian, syrian, chinese sympathizer. dni has a analyze real threats. are we comfortable with someone like that at the top of our national intelligence agencies? >> nbc news has learned that within hours of taking office president-elect trump plans to roll out a series of executive

actions aligned with his campaign promises, including setting in motion the large scale deportation of people living in the country illegally. >> those people who say they're going to stop us from what we're doing. they will not. we'll have no problem finding a place to detain these people. it's going to cost money. we got to have the money to do it. president trump is going to make sure we have the funds to do this. >> mr. trump and his allies disavowed project 2025 during the campaign. >> i don't know what it is. project 2025. he's involved in projects. then they read some of the things and they are extreme. i mean they're seriously extreme. >> i have no idea what project 2025 is. i've never read it. and i never will. >> but with the campaign over, trump's transition team is turning to project 2025 to help staff the next administration. picking its coauthor russell vought to lead the office of

budget and management. top trump aides are praising the pick. >> russ vought has been the guy for the last four years who's been developing the plan to take down the deep state. that's russ. he's going to be right there at omb to execute that plan. >> and joining me now is republican senator eric schmitt of missouri. welcome to meet the press. >> it's great to be with you. just two and a half weeks after president trump completed the greatest political comeback in american history winning all the battleground states, the popular vote, getting a mandate from the american people to shake things up in washington. look forward to helping him do that with our new majority in the senate and with our friends in the house. >> great to have you here and to have your perspective. let's start right there and this decision by former congressman matt gaetz to withdraw his name from consideration for attorney general. it comes as nbc news has learned that five republican senators were planning to vote against gaetz. do you believe it was a mistake

by president-elect trump to pick gaetz in the first place, senator? >> well i think matt gaetz made a decision and i respect that decision. we're moving on now to the nominee he's chosen pam bondi who i know very well. come from state attorney general world. pam has taken on the tough fights. she took on drug trafficking. she's a tough career prosecutor. she's smart. she's tough. it's a great pick. and the justice department is ripe for reform. i think president trump is picking reformers. he campaigned on that and he's delivering on that promise. >> we are going to delve into that in a moment. just to stay on this issue of matt gaetz for a moment. given the severity of allegations he was facing, allegations of sexual misconduct including that he had sex with a minor at a party in 2017, which he denies. but do you think that he should have been picked in the first

place? >> i think president trump deserves the ability to put people in positions who are going to do reform. there's some things we can do in congress oversight and legislation. you really need reformers at the head of these different agencies. you're seeing that as a common theme. there really is a lot of reform that needs to happen. >> let's talk about pam bondi who we were just talking about. the former florida attorney general. bondi has vowed to investigate the investigators. prosecute the prosecutors. a different tone than you have struck, senator. you've said the doj should be quote, going back to fighting crime and not settling political scores. how do you square those two different views? >> i will tell you that pam bondi has a track record she's very serious person. i think she's seen the weaponnization. everybody's seen this of the justice department over the last four years. it really is a tragedy for a

once respected agency. that has gone after catholics. it's gone after parents who showed up to school board meetings under the auspices of the patriot then clearly weapon that department. the arc of that story is terrifying. after the midterms joe biden said that there was no way president trump would be back in the white house. after that speech zombie ace cases were resurrected. the number three person from it doj went to new york. the number two prosecutor in atlanta went to the white house and coordinated. they all fell apart under the weight of the law. i do think there needs to be accountability. >> what specifically does accountability look like? you suggesting you want to see

special counsel jack smith, attorney general merrick garland prosecuted? >> no, i think accountability means the people involved should be fired immediately. anybody part of this effort to keep president trump off the ballot and to throw him in jail for the rest of his life because they didn't like his politics and to continue to cast him as a threat to democracy was wrong. so we'll see where that goes. i just don't think in this country unless we want to be a banana republic i don't want to see that happen. pam bondi is a smart, capable tough person. >> so she has your vote? >> absolutely. i've come to respect pam bondi. this is a home run by president trump. >> all right. let's talk about another

potential nominee more details about the sexual assault allegation against pete hegseth mr. trump's pick for the defense secretary. the police report filed at the time says jane doe stated she got up and tried to leave the room but hegseth blocked the door with his body. jane doe remembered saying no a lot. hegseth was not charged in this case. he denies any wrong doing. senator, you have a long history of fighting for sexual assault victims as missouri's attorney general. does this incident raise concerns about his confirmation? >> that's why we have the confirmation process. senators certainly are going to ask questions about it. they should. he has a right to answer. what he said so far is he did no wrong. it's important to note the prosecutor didn't bring charges. it'll be interesting to see if there's any other memorandum that would go along with that prosecutor's decision not to

charge pete hegseth. but i think ultimately this is a decision that president trump made to bring in another disrupt i have. it was disrupter versus establishment. there needs to be reform in the pentagon. whether procurement, getting rid of divisive dei dividing our military. there's no place in our military, he's talked about eliminating that. making sure our focus is on china. >> big picture, senator. you're on the armed services committee. there's a known sexual assault problem in the military. do you believe that pete hegseth is the right person to lead the military given all of that at this very moment? >> he's not been charged with anything. i think that's important. read from a police report. i've not seen the police report. i'd like -- there's probably more documentation around this. >> i hear you saying you have questions. >> well of course i'm going to have questions.

but that police report and no charges being brought i think answers itself. if there was something to be done here i'm sure the prosecutor would have pursued it. she didn't. which speaks to that issue, i think. the pentagon needs reform. pete hegseth is a guy that president trump trusts to go do that reform. eliminating dei. being more innovative. there's a lot of red tape. also having somebody who served on the front lines who has the soldiers point of view on this would be really important. >> let's talk about the pick of tulsi gabbard for dni. here's what nikki haley had to say. >> this is not a place for a russian, iranian, syrian, chinese sympathizer. dni has to analyze real threats. are we comfortable with someone like that at the top of our national intelligence agency? >> so senator, what say you?

are you comfortable? will you vote for tulsi gabbard? >> i think it's really interesting that anybody that has a different political view now is being cast as a russian asset. it's totally ridiculous. tulsi gabbard has served in our military. she served as a congresswoman. as a democrat, i might add. part of this unique coalition that president trump has put together. i think it's a slur, quite frankly. you know, there's no evidence that she's an asset of another country. she served this country honorably. she cares about our constitution. civil liberties and making sure people aren't being targeted by intelligence agencies. i think this is a reformer who can come in who is maybe not part of the same washington cocktail party circuit that people in the intel community are used to. maybe that's what we need right now. president trump listened to the american people when they screamed about these issues. they want to be heard. they feel like washington is

broken. >> so you're a yes on tulsi gabbard? just to be clear? >> i'm a yes on pam bondi. i'm a yes on pete hegseth. i'm a yes on tulsi gabbard. >> there you have it. let me zoom out a little bit. the trump transition team has so far bypassed additional background checks for cabinet picks. are you confident all of mr. trump's picks will be fully and properly vetted before this confirmation process? >> i am. i think that's an important role of the united states senate. it's a uniquely institution for a bunch of reasons. armed services, judiciary, any of the committees these candidates for these positions it's going to be thorough. it should be. we should ask tough questions. that's part of the process. i have full confidence that's what we'll have. >> all right. let's do a little bit of foreign policy now. we've seen the war in ukraine

escalate this week. i wonder do you support the u.s. staying in nato and recommitting itself to the idea that an attack against one is an attack against all? >> yeah, i don't think anybody's talking about exiting nato. i do think what president trump has brought to the table in his first four years is it's time for our european allies to step up. american taxpayers are tired of footing the bill all the time for the wars in europe. specifically as it relates to ukraine. i think they need to step up. there's been no definition of what victory looks like. no accountability. people have afforded efforts to have independ audits of how the money is being spent. european allies need to step up. we're not exiting from nato. i do think president trump has an opportunity to usher in a new era of american realism. our core national interest are defined by what america's needs

are. protecting the homeland. making sure european allies play a pivotal role. >> would you object, would you push back if president-elect trump were to say he wants to pull out of nato? >> he's not talked about that at all. what he has talked about has been spending more money on their defense. they started to do that after a lot of whining initially. they started to do that. i don't think they've met where they should go. i think that threshold should be higher than what it is. the american taxpayers deserve a president who understands that they might be tired of subsidizing the social welfare programs in europe. that message is going to be delivered. it's being delivered here today. it's been delivered four years ago under president trump. these are important relationships for us in europe. i do think it's time for european allies to step up more financially and for their own defense. >> your first time being on the program, we appreciate your

being here. thank you so much. >> any tile. >> when we come back, democratic senator-elect adam schiff joins me next. ff joins

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in theaters now. welcome back. and joining me now is democratic senator-elect adam schiff of california. senator-elect ffwelcome back. joining me now is democratic senator-elect adam schiff of california. welcome back to meet the press. congratulations. >> thank you. good to be with you. >> great to have you here. let's start off by talking about matt gaetz who you just heard me talking with senator schmitt about this. he's no longer in contention to be attorney general. there's still this report swirling around him. the house investigation. the house ethics committee has launched this investigation. details started to leak out this week to some members on capitol hill. do you think that report should be made public? >> i do think it should be made public. i don't think that when someone decides to avoid the public accountability they simply

leave congress and make it all go away. the taxpayers pay for that analysis and that report. i think they have a right to see it. >> do you think it will be made public? >> i don't know. it seems like party line basis republicans are saying no the public has no right to see this. but it underscores to me why the president's lack of background checks for his nominees is flawed. he may have still decided to nominate matt gaetz, but if they did a thorough vetting he may have decided not to. having the fbi review potential nominees it's not only to protect the public interests, it's to protect the president- elect's interests to make sure he's not sts to make sure he's not embarrassed by nominating someone like matt gaetz. i think it shows a flaw in the process he even got nominated. perhaps with respect to hegseth had a thorough investigation been done it might have

influenced the president- elect's decision to nominate him in the first place. >> big pictures, president- elect trump said he wants to pick pam bondi to serve as his attorney general. he has swept the battleground states. he won the popular vote. republicans have control of the house and of the senate. do you think that the president- elect should have his picks confirmed? >> i think the president has a right to nominate anyone who is qualified who has good judgment and good character. doesn't mean he's guaranteed senate approval of whoever he nominates. some of these nominees are deeply problematic. i'll be interested in the confirmation process. will pam bondi continue to tell the big lie even under oath. is she going to continue to say that the justice department should be prosecuting prosecutors who brought valid evidence before a grand jury, grand jury found probable cause to believe donald trump committed crimes. that's not a basis to go after

them. she's going to have to answer tough questions. tulsi gabbard concerns me a great deal. someone who has echoed kremlin talking points. someone who has appeared to make common cause with bashar al-asad. someone who has no experience not even on the intelligence committee in congress should be running those agent sis. they'll have tough questions to answer. >> is there anyone on this list who at this very moment you think you could vote yes on? >> well, for example i think marco rubio is enormously well qualified for the job. i still want to ask questions. i'm not going to prejudge even him, but he's unquestionably qualified. some really stand out for the risk they would present. >> so right now senator rubio would have your vote as a yes? >> well, i'm strongly inclined that way. i don't want to prejudge completely because you never can tell what comes out in the vetting process. >> let's talk about your former

colleague tulsi gabbard. she's been picked as director of national intelligence. just last week congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz said gabbard was likely a russian asset. >> i wouldn't describe her that way. but i would say this, she has certainly echoed talking points for the kremlin. she appeared to have taken putin's side when he invaded ukraine. and, you know, her fondness for someone who is gassing his own people calls her judgment deeply into question. here you have someone with questionable judgment and no experience. that's not a great recipe for running the agencies. the problem is if our foreign allies don't trust the head of our intelligence agencies, they'll stop sharing information with us. that makes our country less safe. >> i want to play something that president-elect trump said about you when he was a

candidate. he called you quote, more dangerous than foreign adversaries. take a listen and i'll get your reaction on the other side. >> the enemy from within in my opinion is more dangerous than china, russia and all these countries. if it you have a smart president he can handle them pretty easily. i got along great with all of them. i handled them. but the thing that's tougher to handle with these lunatics that we have inside like adam schiff, adam shifty schiff. >> senator-elect, when you hear that language, how concerned are you that you will be targeted by president-elect trump? >> well, that's dictator talk. that's how autokarats talk. they want to make their political opposition an enemy. describe them in those terms. i'm not concerned about myself. i'm going to do my job. i'm not going to have his threats intimidate me from doing so. any time you have someone particularly someone who is going to become president of the united states fawning over

dictators, emulating their language, attacking the press, we should be concerned about it because at the end of the day, it means that the american people will suffer. the american people i think voted on the basis of the economy. they wanted change to the economy. they weren't voting for dictatorship. so i think he is going to misread his mandate if that's what he thinks voters chose him for. >> let me ask you. there is an effort underway to dismiss both the federal and the state cases that president- elect trump is facing. do you believe that that is appropriate? again, now that he has won office. now that he is going to be in the white house and the supreme court has obviously said he has immunity for all official acts once he's in office. do you think his cases should be dismissed? >> i don't. i think the sentencing and further proceedings in the new york case should be deferred until after he leaves office.

likewise i think for the proceedings in the two federal cases should be deferred until he leaves office, but they should not be dismissed. a jury of donald trump's peers found him guilty. he's no less guilty because he won an election. two grand juries found probable cause to believe donald trump committed federal crimes. those cases shouldn't go away simply because he was elected. the presidency is not a get out of jail free card. instead they should be postponed for the proceedings until after he leaves office. >> i want to turn now to the results of 2024 election. and talk a little bit about what you think may have gone wrong. you joined this program a month before the election and you talked about vice president harris' chances of winning. take a look at this. >> by the standards of today i think she can win overwhelmingly. overwhelming may be winning by

100,000 votes or 80,000 votes. i think that's within her capacity to do. i think we are well poised to win this thing. but it is still scary close. >> why do you think that kamala harris didn't win and win overwhelmingly? >> i think joe biden's decision to step aside and pass the torch was the right decision. it gave us a chance to win. it didn't give us a guarantee. i thought she could win. ultimately what we saw both in this country and around the world was a very strong antiincumbent wave that took out progressives and conservatives. our party became associated with the status quo. that it was too much to overcome. the principle issue is the economy. over years and decades it's gotten more difficult for people working full time to make a living. until we resolve that challenge to the economy, we may find the presidency is easier to get than it is to keep. >> you talk about president

biden's role in all of this. pelosi said he should have stepped aside sooner. that that could have made a significant difference in the outcome of this election. do you agree? >> she has far better political instincts than i do. it's difficult because had we gone to a competitive primary, what would the results have been? how i guess ugly and divisive and chi yachtic would it have been? very hard to tell. i do think the democratic party has to recognize the challenge we have which is for too many millions of battleground voters working people they don't think we represent them and we have to make that case anew. >> senator-elect, do you believe that president biden bears some responsibility for staying in too long? >> look, i think the entire democratic party bears

responsibility. myself included. and the former president mounted an effective campaign. the challenge we have is we need to put forward a bold vision for how we're going to move the economy forward. >> before i let you go, i do want to ask you about what happened on capitol hill this week. nancy mace introduced legislation to restrict transgender people from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity. mace said the move was in response to congresswoman-elect sarah mcbride who is set to become the first openly transgender member of congress. mcbride has called this an effort to just distract from the real issues. johnson has been support i have of nancy mace. where do you come down? how do you see this? >> i think it is a distraction. we have bigger challenges ahead of us, including the most

immediate. we should be focused on those problems. >> senator-elect adam schiff, thank you so much for being here in person. appreciate it. good to see you. when we come back, president-elect trump experienced his first setback as he moves quickly to pick his cabinet. will mr. trump's picks face opposition? the panel is next. on? the panel is next. that start working on contact and lasts up to 8 hours.

let me set the record straight. thaare people born wicked?act or do they have wickedness thrust upon them? oh! -ah! [ laughter ] no need to respond. that was rhetorical. hm, hmm. welcome back. the panel is here. nbc news senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell, forme welcome back. the panel is here. nbc news senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell, former secretary of homeland security jae johnson, anna palmer and stephen hayes. thank you all so much for being here. kelly o'donnell, let me start with you. huge week in terms of president- elect trump's picks. the big news that matt gaetz withdrew his name for consideration to be attorney general because you had five republican senators saying they were going to vote no.

do you think this is a one off? in other words, do you think it's a sign of opposition potentially for senate republicans or is this just something that happened with matt gaetz? >> i think what the president- elect did and he may not have intended it is he created a stress test on the system of the constitutional power of devise and consent. the shock and the jolt of a gaetz nomination put republican senators in particular in a difficult place. they don't want to deny and defy donald trump's picks. and so the real question is this the outlier or has he set up conditions now where everyone else looks favorable. i think that's what we don't know. the republicans did a quiet mission against gaetz and that was important in the context of trying to remain loyal. >> anna, such a great point. publicly every republican said look, we might have criticisms of matt gaetz but we're not closing the door to him.

no one said no publicly. how do you see this playing out? what are sources telling you? >> this is the tight rope that senate republicans face and they're walking when it comes to all of these nominations. particularly some of the more controversial ones. there's a lot of concern. you talk to members of and their staff behind the scenes and if they're being honest there's a lot of nervousness around pete hegseth, tulsi gabbard. they don't want to get into a twitter war with donald trump because they know they're going to lose. >> secretary johnson, you are familiar with these confirmation processes. >> intimately. yes. >> take us inside based on your intimate knowledge. what do you make of what we witnessed so far? >> well, on the senate i didn't exactly see a whole lot of profiles in courage. matt gaetz was a wild pitch even with donald trump's strike zone.

you cannot nominate credibly someone to be the head of the justice department who was just recently a subject of a justice department investigation. no one said outright he's not qualified. i've heard lindsey graham and others say that presidents entitled to his nominees. that's simply not true. the senate has a constitutional obligation to advise and consent. i've be through the process three times. two of them i was nominated by a democratic president. confirmed by a democratic senate and it it was not a free pass. i can tell you that. i had to in the background investigation go back to the address of the sears where i worked when i was a college student. go through every single foreign trip i'd ever taken since i was age 18. the senate has a job to do in this process. >> it really is instructive to hear the secretary talk about his own experience because you

think about some of these picks now. particularly a pete hegseth and in my conversation with senator schmitt he basically acknowledged he has real questions for him. who do you think of the remaining cabinet picks now that they've all been filled out? who do you think is going to be the toughest to be confirmed? >> i think what you're seeing is republican senators making the distinction between unconventional and unqualified. they can vote for unconventional picks. most of the picks are going to be unconventional. what they don't want to do is support unqualified candidates. i guess i have a different view than the secretary. this first week, i would say republican senators got their backup and said we're not going to do this. there was a quiet effort to have matt gaetz removed. senator lindsey graham who has shown great deference in the past had a stern discussion with matt gaetz. laid out what the likely scenarios would be if he proceeded with the nomination.

suggests there wouldn't have been votes. other senators back channeled with the incoming administration about that. i think also you heard eric schmitt today on your interview suggest that background checks would be important whether they're fbi background checks or others, would be important. third you've seen republican senators show skepticism, publicly, about this recess appointment process. thus far early on republican senators are saying we want to be supportive of the president's picks but there's a line here. >> you're absolutely right on the recess appointments. last week we were talking about recess appointments as that's a real possibility. they sent a message they're not necessarily. president-elect trump is rolling out his picks with incredible speed. he's now basically filled all of the positions in his cabinet. including treasury secretary scott bessent former hedge fund ceo. what do you make of the pace of this and the fact you have some

senators saying we want to start the confirmation process before the inauguration. >> which they can do once the new congress is taken into office. this is a faster pace than trump .1. it is also one where as the president-elect talked about this being a nice transition, he has not fully engaged in the transition. he has not signed the paperwork that allows him to work with the sitting administration for really important things. not only is it access to office space and financial support to run the transition, but as we mentioned the fbi background checks. that's a tool that could be used by the president-elect but he's so wary that he's not affording himself some of the things that government allows to make a new administration successful. that's an interesting choice that he likes to break the china but sometimes there are tools available to him and he doesn't want to use them. >> secretary john sob, how significant is it he's not using these tools? >> very. reports are that his vetting

team did not know about this settlement of this sexual assault allegation which an fbi agent would have found in ten minutes. so i think one of the reasons we're seeing these cabinet nominees out rapid fire is because they're not doing the proper vetting of these people. >> do you think that republicans are concerned about that very fact that the i's aren't being dotted, the t's aren't being crossed. >> it's a flood the zone approach. matt gaetz for the first couple of weeks took all the oxygen out of the room. now there is this drum beat of meetings by all these cabinet nominees. it's going to be vetting. these committees and the senators themselves take it seriously, even those that are very supportive and will likely back all of trump's no, ma'am niece. they're still going to be going through that process and people are going to get -- have questions that need to be answered. >> we should say also to the

secretary's point earlier. low level incoming intel analysts go through deep background checks. i've had some who used to work for me at the weekly standard i spend 45 minutes on a call with somebody answering questions about their financial situations, whether they've had contacts with foreigners, particularly adversarial countries. these are questions these nominees should have to answer. we should get -- the public should see their answers. >> fascinating to hear your insight takes because you all have been involved. thank you very much for that. stick around. we have more to discuss. the house ethics committee was in the spotlight this week. the ethics committee made history in 1997 when it actually punished the speaker of the house. our meet the press minute is next. next. ♪♪ tresemme, style your way.

welcome back. the house ethics committee couldn't agree to release its report on its investigation of welcome back. the house ethics committee couldn't agree to release its report on its investigation of matt gaetz, but the controversy prompted gaetz to withdraw his name for attorney general. back in 1997, newt gingrich was the first house speaker ever to be punish forward ethics violations for using a tax exempt organization for political purposes and then providing inaccurate information to the committee. in a meet the press interview almost a decade later, gingrich down played the official sanction. >> on every ethics charge in the end i was exonerated. one thing that happened is i

signed a letter written by one of our lawyers that was technically wrong and i paid the cost of investigating that letter. the democrats were very mad after the '94 election. they had lost power. they for the first time in 40 years they knew it couldn't be their fault so it must be mine. if you go back and you took, if you were to some day take item by item what the charges were and what the results were again and again and again they turned out to be false. now i've had a very long career and there's lots of things people would be able to pick out from votes to attacking my life to attacking the ethics stuff. people have to decide at some point down the road are the ideas good. >> and a quick note, former speaker gingrich was not exonerated since the committee does not render a legal verdict. the day one agenda. what will donald trump's first moves be when he returns to the white house? more with the panel next. the p

welcome back. the panel is still here. let's talk about the day one

agenda, kelly. we have welcome back. the panel is still here. let's talk about the day one agenda. we have new reporting that president-elect trump once he's sworn into office on day one plans to roll out a series of executive actions as one person is saying quote like nothing of you ever seen before. >> that sounds like trump himself, doesn't it? i think you could argue that that first 24 hours will be the best day of either trump term in the experience of donald trump. because it will be the peak of his political comeback and it's where his skill set for marketing and branding comes into play. he can talk about his campaign promises with the presidential pen to sign, something he likes to do. and to outline these initial steps. we believe there will be several that relate to immigration and his mass deportation plan. expect him to talk about tariffs. expect him to do things that relate to the department of defense to unwind some of what

joe biden did with respect to service members being able to for example cross state lines for reproductive healthcare. there will be a flurry of them and they will all be big bright stamps of what he ran on. >> secretary johnson, pick up on that point. as kelly notes, immigration is really the center piece and he has this mass deportation plan. he's going to sign some executive actions. he's also going to then begin to roll out this plan. i interviewed him a couple of weeks ago after he was elected. i said do you have an actual plan. how much is it going to cost. he said there's no price tag. you obviously again have intimate knowledge with what happens at the border. how complicated would it be to actually roll out this type of plan? >> first of all, somebody should pass a law banning executive orders on day one. the reality is executive orders drafted by transition teams without the input of the

affected agency before the cabinet secretary is even confirmed are not great ideas. travel ban, for example eight years ago. let's go back to that. i'll even point fingers at myself. i was involved in the transition 16 years ago and guantanamo bay is still open. so this idea of mass deportation. that would be the equivalent if you tried to deport everyone in this country undocumented the population of two new york cities. which could not happen in my life time. an administration whether it's trump or biden or obama has to have enforcement priorities. start with the criminals. start with the national security threats. recent border crossers. tom homan knows that. i know he knows that. he used to work for me. i'd rather see ero go after the criminals versus somebody who's been in this country 12 years, committed no crimes, has children who are u.s. citizens. that's the reality of

enforcement. that's i'm sure the reality of enforcement even under a president trump. >> anna, how do you see the hill reacting to this first the flurry of executive actions but look, if he is going to even attempt to try this mass deportation plan he's going to need more funds from congress. >> yeah. i think everybody's expecting to go as fast as possible. where the money is. the power of the purse in congress holds that very tight. i also think he's going to face some skepticism by republicans on using the military for instance going into different states. i think that is going to be something you've heard rand paul and others, the libertarian side of the party say hold up. we have some questions here. >> and steve, obviously republicans have control of the house. it's a very narrow margin which could make everything that we are talking about on this agenda a little tougher. >> it could make it somewhat tenuous but i think that argues in favor of donald trump being aggressive on executive

actions. he ran on tariffs. he ran on mass deportations. he cares about these viscerally. you expect him to go as far as he can. >> what about guantanamo bay? supposed to get done on day one and it's still open. >> i'm glad they failed, actually. look, i think there's a risk in this overstating things but let's just say that donald trump is not usually restrained by overstating things. he likes to overstate things. this is what he does. >> secretary johnson. >> there's a larger point about these cabinet picks. this president this time around seems to want pass throughs. when i was general counsel of dod, the secretary of the bob gates, leon panetta. wisdom and experience. that is value added to any president. presidents need to hear things they don't want to hear from their cabinet. i'm worried these nominees will not be able to be in a position to do that. >> kelly, so thinking about the system of potential checks, you

go back to the senate and someone like a current leader mcconnell who is not going to be the leader once the new congress is sworn in. >> he is untethered by the constraints of being in leadership where you have to set the tone for the republican conference. he's one of the most i think skillful tacticians of senate rules. he has weight and relationships. he will be an appropriate tore for defense and that will be a very important part of his role in trying to get his own sense of what needs to happen. and he will talk in ways to other members that could be some conflict with donald trump from time to time. certainly he had the opportunity when he was in leadership to take a more dramatic position against donald trump. they had no relationship for a number of years. they're back in a cooperative spirit. he'll be someone to watch. he knows the president-elect may not know the rules of the

senate but mitch mcconnell does. >> anna, to that point he certainly is one to watch. you put him up as one of the five senators planning to vote no on matt gaetz. what are you going to be watching for as it relates to the current leader mitch mcconnell? >> mitch mcconnell is a man of few words but when he speaks you should listen. his colleagues behind the scenes as well. he has no fear of donald trump. if he thinks the president is doing things that are not appropriate, he will make his position known. >> do you think that's going to be really the only check? i mean here, you know, again, republicans have control very narrow control of the house, control of the senate. the supreme court. conservative leaning right now. do you think those republican senators are going to be able to check on his power? >> they're the most obvious institutional check. i think they want to get to yes on a lot of nominations and most of trump's policy priorities. mitch dock northbound heal has

a strong relationship with john thune. mitch mcconnell endorsed early. he's fond of thune. >> he's going to be one to watch as well. hope you all have a very happy thanksgiving. that is all for today. thank you for watching. have a very happy thanksgiving to all of you. we will be back next week because if it's sunday it's meet the press. the press.