everywhere online with fake movie posters between the witches in ancient rome. even though it was a draw, it didn't match bashar al assad when, you know, "barbie" and "oppenheimer" pulled in more than $300 million that their debate weekend. that does it for us today. thank you so much for joining me. we are moments away from seeing president biden pardon these two turkeys ahead of thanksgiving. peach and blossom. we will take you there live when it happens. see you back here tomorrow same time, same place. and catch our show online around the clock on youtube and other platforms. i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. jose diaz-balart picks up the coverage right now. verage rightw good morning. 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart and we are minutes away from a thanksgiving tradition at the white house.

the presidential turkey pardon. two lucky turkeys will be spared the fate of landing on a thanksgiving table while an estimated 46 million turkeys are eaten each year as part of the thanksgiving holiday. this year president biden will pardon peach and blossom seen here while just before their big moment when they will be pardoned by president biden. joining us now from the white house, gabe gutierrez. good morning. what can we expect today? >> reporter: hi there, jose. this is certainly the tastiest assignment i have had in a while, the annual turkey pardon. much anticipated at the white house. as you mentioned, peach and blossomed will be pardoned. cue the puns. it's about stuffing and all that, something that the white house does every single year. the origin of this is disputed. it dates back, some stories to the civil war, the first official pardon in 1989.

it's been happening ever since. peach and blossom, they were hatched several months ago in minnesota and then they rode the gravy train here to washington and spent last night in the famous willer hotel. a very nice night i am told ahead of this pardoning ceremony. we are expecting president biden in a little bit to deliver the official pardon as we get into this thanksgiving season. a beautiful morning here, jose, and a lot of guests here eagerly anticipating the famous turkey pardon in just a few moments from now. jose. >> and, gabe, of course we could talk about the need for a pardon for another day and another moment, right? >> right. >> so when you say -- >> reporter: just turkey. >> right. [ speaking in a global language ] but it includes where are these two turkeys going to end up? >> reporter: yeah, that's right. they will go back to minnesota where, you know, their hometown,

obviously. they are going to be a part of a preserve out there. but, look, this is peach and blossom i'm told they are 41 and 40 pounds respectively. it's very important, that detail. i am sure they are very grateful, jose, to be heading back home where they belong. >> gabe gutierrez at the white house. my friend, thank you very much. we will be monitoring this when the president does come out to pardon these 40 and 41-year-old lovely birds. we will, of course, go live to that. gabe, thanks. turning to the incoming administration with just 56 days until inauguration day. president trump named picks for 15 heads of cabinet. teb of those announcements were made just this past friday and saturday. his latest picks include secretaries of the treasury, agriculture, labor, housing and urban development. vaughn hillyard, michael steele

and co-host of the weekend here on msnbc and victoria, dean of the clinton school of public service at the university of arkansas and an msnbc contributor. vaughn, what are we learning about mr. trump's new additions and this flurry over the weekend? to. >> a lot. i think we will be learning more the next few months before these confirmation proceedings take place. donald trump late friday night as you outlined released a whole litany of these picks here to oversee the fda, the cdc, of course scott bessent as treasury secretary nominee after several weeks of deliberation. you also have a pro union former republican congresswoman taking over the labor secretary position. interesting she could very well receive the support of many democratic senators. you also have russell vought, his one-time omb director from the first administration who he tapped to come back in that capacity here for the second go around. notably, russ vought was one of

the leading co-authors of project 2025 and is outlining the ways departments and agencies under the executive branch in 2025 could work more efficiently. also dave weldon, the former republican congressman there who is actually a teammate of robert f. kennedy jr. back in the early 2000s. rfk when he wrote a long magazine piece in 2005 touted the work of dave weldon around the why idea that there is a preservative in many vaccines that is linked to autism, which science does not bear out. that is being factual, but robert f. kennedy jr. is getting an ally to take on the cdc role. you also have the likes of marty makary, who will be leading the fda as the nominee to be the fda director. this is another potential ally it to robert f. kennedy jr. sebastian gorka, who has been very much of a right wing provocateur and right-wing media the last eight years is somebody

who has been welcomed back into the administration after serving in 2017 as the steve bannon ally for several months. but you are seeing this cabinet be rounded out here. it is a very white cabinet and one that is full of donald trump allies. brooke rollins was one of those friday night picks as well. she led an outside organization back in the aftermath of the first trump administration, america first policy institute, and she, for her work, is tapped to lead the agricultural department. it's full of loyalists. where they have staying power, we will wait and see. >> and i am going to interrupt you. we are going back to the white house because there is the president. >> members of the cabinet, members of the white house staff and their families, we got students from 4-h programs and future farmers of america. where are you? and of course a special thanks to everyone at the national turkey federation.

leslie old man, president of the federation. leslie, where are you? there you are. and john zimmerman, chairman of the federation and his family from northfield, minnesota. john. i was there last year with my secretary of agriculture. and the minnesota governor tim walz. talking about our historic investment in transforming rural america, back in minnesota john's been a turkey grower for 35 years. he has raised over 4 million turkeys. whoa. and with the help of his 9-year-old son grant they have raised two special guests we're honoring today. peach and blossom. let's bring peach up to join us.

peach weighs about 42 pounds? >> yes. >> what do you say, peach? peach is making a last-minute plea here. two turkeys named after delaware state flower, the peach blossom. by the way, delaware has a long history of growing peaches. in fact, the peach pie in our state is is one of my favorites, the state dessert. and peach blossom flower symbolizes the resilience, which is, quite frankly, fitting for today. this white house tradition began when turkey was presented to president truman, and that president then president george h.w. bush began pardoning turkeys. in the last four years, i have

had the honor to continue that tradition by pardoning peanut butter, chocolate and chip, liberty and bell, and today peach and blossom. they will join the free birds of the united states of america. born this past july at the zimmerman family farm, raised by the -- yeah, i hear you. [ laughter ] peach wants to speak a little bit here. raised by the family with the help of neighboring children who helped the turkey get ready for this very moment. according to experts, peach weighs 41 pounds and loves to eat hot dish and tater tots. and cross-country skiings. you know, dreams to see -- the real dream he has is to see the northern lights, i'm told. he lives by the motto, keep calm and gobble on. many while, blossom weighs 40

pounds. loves to eat cheese curds and watch boxing, wants to visit each one of minnesota's 10,000 lakes. lives by the motto, no fowl play. just minnesota nice. and just finished two days, a road trip from minnesota to -- by the way, do you have chairs? sit down. i forgot you had chairs. [ cheers and applause ] i'm sorry. started thinking about the arduous trip they made. you guys are still standing. that trip is 1,100 miles. takes 16.5 hours. through it all, they stayed calm, they gobbled on, and still gobbling. they were -- they were listening

to their favorite music, which ll, fellas, your prayer is going to be answered today. based on your temperament and being productive members of society, i hereby pardon peach and blossom! [ cheers and applause ] they will now head back to farm america minnesota, senator for agriculture and interpretation to serve as educational ambassador of america's top turkey state and inspire the next generation of agriculture students. congratulations. a more serious note, this event marks the official start of the holiday season here in washington. it's also my last time to speak here as your president during the season, and give thanks and gratitude. so let me say to you it's been the honor of my life. i'm forever grateful. later today my wife jill and i

will travel to staten island, new york, for a friends giving with members. coast guard and their families to demonstrate our gratitude for their service and sacrifice like my son. [ applause ] we also keep in our hearts those who have lost so much who had have an empty seat at the thanksgiving dinner table tonight. excuse me, thursday night. may we use this moment to take time from our busy lives and focus on what matters most. have an expression. the family is the beginning, middle and the end. our friends and our neighbors. the fact that we bless these -- to live in america, the greatest country on earth, and that's not hyperbole. we are. no matter what, in america we never give up. we keep going. we keep the faith. just remember who we are.

we are the united states of america and there is nothing, nothing, nothing beyond our capacity if we do it together. so happy thanksgiving, america. got god blows you god bless you all and may god protect our troops. thank you. [ cheers and applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ >> so, now is when i guess he has to, like, essentially, you know, formally, you know, save the birds. this is the moment, i guess. you know, this is, like -- let's stay with it, i guess, to see if there is -- is that -- i don't think there is, like, anything else to this, right? what do you guys think? i think this is it.

so they are essentially pardoned. this is just great. i want to bring in vaughn and michael and victoria. let's stay with this. this is a uniquely american thing. >> yeah. >> not only is thanksgiving uniquely american, right? but then the president of the united states of america pardoning two birds. you know, the beginning of the week of thanksgiving. it's such a uniquely american phenomenon. i mean -- >> it is. >> the rest of the world looks at this and says, that's the united states of america. only they can do that. >> and they want to still -- they still want to come here to be a part of it. and that, you know, yes. it's a crazy wacky tradition that actually is not that old, as the president noted, and as

you noted earlier. i mean, you know, it's interesting that in fact ben franklin had such an affinity for the turkey, he offered the turkey instead of the bald eagle as our national bird. and until someone pointed out to him, you know when it rains t they drown themselves by looking in the rain. but it's kind of a quirky thing and it really speaks to the still kind of quirky nature of the american experience. >> i agree. and we will get into the whole, you know, reality of the american experience of what we can expect going forward after the 20th of january. to wrap it up, victoria, it's the, you know, the fact that thanksgiving is an american tradition, which is such a beautiful tradition that many people throughout the world have actually also assumed in

different ways. you know, such an american thing. it's unique and really beautiful. >> really is. and i think, jose, especially in times like these where we have been seeing our nation divided. we see hyper polarization. thanksgiving is one of those moments when you come together, right. the conversation at the thanksgiving table maybe extremely heated at times, but at the end of the day you are coming together, and i think it's the spaces we recognize of our common humanity, we are coming together to discuss, to see each other as who we are, which i think is so important, such a beautiful thing about our american tradition. >> yeah. and michael, talking about now the, you know, post-thanksgiving, but over the weekend and vaughn was talking about the flurry of choices that president-elect trump, you know,

had over the weekend, "the new york times" describes trump's cabinet as many ideologies behind the veil of america it goes on to say, quote, one faction of prospective nominees appears focus on revenge, another on calming market, a third on perhaps hopelessly cutting people and budgets. what stands out to you about this? >> i labeled it the menagerie of misfits. they are all cobbled together, but they don't connect. they don't fit as "the new york times" noted. everyone has -- there is already reporting about the various silos that emerged that allowed -- the loud shouting conversations occurring within the transition team. this is the kind of chaos that donald trump likes around him. we have known for a very, very long time that his business orientation is to see who is going to fight over him the

most. who is going to be the most idealogically appealing to him, connected to him. who is going to make the loudest noise on his behalf. we saw in the first administration, reince priebus at the cabinet meeting basically, you know, putting forth the supplication to, you know, mr. president, we are so proud that you picked us, oh my gosh, we are so honored, right? this is not a team of individuals who are going to be as cabinet secretaries should be, advisors to the president at the same time that they are pushing forward policies that benefit the american people that are oriented around the president's agenda. what is that agenda? it's retribution. it's going back relitigating the 2020 election. all of these folks are there to do that level of bidding. so, you know, i know people want to write the story that somehow this of those

issues. i mean, come on. it's not real. >> yeah. you know, yet, victoria, new polling shows that almost six in ten americans say they approve of trump's handling of his transition. what is that telling you? >> so this is the eagerness of not seeing the usual suspects because, you know, for the last couple of decades republicans and administrations, democratic administrations, you usually saw some folks carrying over from the period before, right. so even in trump's first administration he pulled folks from the bush era, bush one and bush two, from other areas. folks from the washington establishment. and so this is really his call to say, you know what? we're starting from scratch.

he said this before. let's drain the swamp. so that is, i think, the eagerness that folks are seeing and why we are seeing the poll numbers that it's new faces. now, whether this is going to work, whether this complete freshness and lack of experience or lack of know-how is going to bring about the results that the american public wants, that's a different question. but that came -- that campaign promise that has been made of this is a restart, washington is broken, so we're just going to clean house and look at those nominees. he is cleaning house. these are not your usual suspects. >> yeah, i mean, michael, this comes as we look ahead at the senate confirmation process of some of trump's more controversial white house picks. here is what we heard from republican senator james langford about tulsi gabbard's bid for the director of national intelligence. listen to this. >> anything about her concerns you? >> well, we will have lots of questions. she met with bashar al assad.

we want to know what the purpose was and direction for that was as a member of congress, we will want to talk about past comments she made and get the full context. sure, comments are floating out there. we want to know the rest of the story. >> michael, do you think that gabbard's confirmation will be difficult? >> it should be. it should be very difficult. when you have members of the intelligence committee, community, you know, openly stating their concerns about hand her words, her own words as director of national intelligence that is the -- it is the gathering point of all of the intelligence across the network of intelligence communities that we have, that's, you know, she is the one who preparing the presidents' daily briefing. she is the one who is filtering through and leveling up not the information that the president wants to hear, but the information he needs to hear.

i don't trust her. i don't know why anybody would. her own words betray the fact she should not be in this position, but here she is. i am hoping. as vaughn can tell you from his own conversations and reporting, that, you know, senator langford and others -- that's not just a one-off. there are genuine concerns about where she will come down in her responsibilities and giving her access to that kind of information, what becomes of that. and that's not just true about her, but others, other picks that the president has made that raises concerns in both domestic and, you know, national security spaces. >> and so, vaughn, do you think that anyone in trump transition world does have those concerns? maybe not about the candidates as much as about getting them confirmed. >> absolutely should.

number one, matt gaetz was rejected within eight days effectively because they couldn't cobble together enough republican support from the outset. and if you are looking at the likes of tulsi gabbard, i think it's a question of whether you get four republicans that reject her. when you are looking at someone like mitch mcconnell who is retiring two years from now, there is a moment here where he is not going to be hamstrung by understanding that he is no longer going to be the senate majority leader. if you are looking at the fate of ukraine additional supplemental aid from the u.s. and a reality that donald trump within the next few months may indicate his intention to cut off supplemental funding, that could very well lead to questions of tulsi gabbard who is somebody who over the course of the last two and a half years of this war have propagated the idea that if the u.s. and nato alliance had not moved defense resources near the russian border, then, well, it

that caused russia to ultimately invade ukraine, which of course really puts the onus on nato and the u.s. and ukraine as opposed to the onus on russia. and i think that is where a lot of the concerns will be increased because it's not just about the immediacy about her role as director of national intelligence, but it is around the entire trump administration's posture and its foreign policy positions towards that region going forward beyond the initial months of 2025. >> vaughn hillyard, michael steele and victoria, thank you so much. record holiday travel crush. your thanksgiving forecast. plus, we are keeping our eyes on the middle east amid a barrage of strikes between israel and hezbollah. we have got new reporting on when a possible cease-fire agreement could come. and later, the menendez brothers convicted of course of killing their parents,

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29 past the hour. thanksgiving rush already underway with a record number of americans expected to travel for the holidays this year, but weather could be an issue for those hitting the road or heading to the airports. the forecasts are calling for cold and soggy week across the country. joining us now is nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, good morning. so what can we expect this week? >> not horrible, jose. i think people will get to their destinations but they will be delays. there will be mostly rain, some areas a little bit of ice and snow. let's break it down. we have two storms. this first is weak, brings a little bit of light rain. the second storm coming into california will cross the coast all the way coast to coast the next four to five days. the bad weather out there now is currently northern wisconsin, upper peninsula in michigan. light snow. by your standards, not a huge deal. let's track the storm. the moves through west.

california compared to the last two storms. when it gets to tuesday and wednesday through the intermountain west, salt lake city, colorado, interstate 25 out of denver we will have some dicey weather. wednesday notice how the storm grows. the green is rain. we can deal with rain at the airports and roads. not that bad. up to the southern great lakes, that's where we could have a little bit of ice, a little bit of snow. doesn't look major. just looks if you are traveling wednesday evening could be problematic. the forecast on wednesday, east coast just fine. no problems driving anywhere there. throughout the south no issues. chicago temperatures are warm. looks like even if you see snowflakes it will be melting on the pavement. airport impacts i think we are not bad on wednesday. o'hare, obviously, late in the day if we get snow or rain minor delays, not that problem a attic. more issues thursday. into thanksgiving day a lot of people drive op thanksgiving day, and the east coast is going to get the storm. it's not going to be like a severe weather with thunderstorms or we won't have

flooding. just plain rain, but it looks soggy out there. i-95 especially about the first half of the day. northern and central new england you have a chance to get snow out of that, jose. unfortunately for that macy's parade, does look like kind of damp and chilly. we like that forecast to change a couple of days to go. >> i mean, and then bill, i mean, 60 degrees overnight in south florida. you know, you got people with parkas. >> if you want me to send you gloves and hats, i have them. >> we may have to. thank you. this morning there is growing concern about donald trump's cabinet picks as the team that will make up his second administration takes shape. pam bondi, for example, trump's new pick for attorney general, has defended trump and lies about the 2020 election and attacking those investigating him. the former florida attorney general vowing to prosecute who she calls the, quote, bad prosecutors. here is just some of what she said last year after trump was

indicted in georgia on charges of trying to overturn the 2020 election. >> 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. >> joining us now nbc's ken dilanian and senior writer of politico magazine and former federal prosecutor at the department of justice. ken, what is bondi's experience, how she could lead the department of justice? >> i think it's a mixed picture. unlike matt gaetz, pam bondi is a real lawyer, worked as a prosecutor many years and was attorney general of a major state for eight years. so she knows about the rule of law. she knows how to run a large organization. and in some ways she is going to govern the justice department, i would think, like a standard conservative administration. there is going to be a lot of

changes, a lot of different positions. but that's sort of normal. then you have this other element here, and what you just heard her talking about the deep state and bad prosecutors will be prosecuted. that really starts to suggest that she will at least in part pursue donald trump's agenda of retribution, and one can easily imagine a special council appointed to investigate the investigators as happened in the first trump administration with special counsel john durham and people having to hire lawyers and go through the agony of being investigated. the end of the day, the fbi, the investigators, they can't manufacture crimes where none existed and there is not a sin till of a of evidence by jack smith or anyone else in terms of the investigations of donald trump. nonetheless, you know, it seems likely she will pursue that agenda, jose. >> and you worked for the justice department under presidents obama and trump. what are people in the doj saying about the possibility of bondi coming in?

>> i think everybody has breathed a sigh of relief after matt gaetz sort of was taken out of contention. or removed himself. look, i think bondi, the profile is exactly as ken described it. i think people at least take some comfort in the fact that she is a career prosecutor, she is a professional, she is a lawyer, she knows what she is doing, and particularly in the area of criminal cases. but i think that there is a legitimate concern about some of these comments that have been raised, including about prosecuting the prosecutors and trump's lies about the 2020 election. so, you know, we have talked about this, actually, a little bit when the gaetz nomination was still pending. i tend to not just view the attorney general position as a box where someone just has to check the right boxes on a resume. this is such an important position. it requires, i think, senators in a public to assess the nominee's character, temperament, disposition, their ethical and moral compasses to the best that they can.

i don't mean to suggest that bondi would fail that, but i think there will be serious questions about these comments at her confirmation hearing and i hope she has answers that put some of the serious concerns to rest. >> and ken, nbc news's new reporting on how officials inside the justice department are reacting to trump naming his defense attorney, todd blanche, as deputy attorney general. what did you learn? >> as strange as it sounds, defense attorney, the president's defense attorney becoming the deputy attorney general, chief operating officer of the department, a lot relieved simply because todd blanche was a prosecutor at the justice department. people know him and they know he is a serious lawyer and they believe based on the track record that he has some ability to stand up to donald trump. donald trump's behavior as a client in these cases changed significantly when todd blanche became his lawyer. so there is a lot of favorability being directed at this nomination.

again, it's a crucial job. it's really running the nuts and bolts of the department. at the end of the day wgs that trump wants him to do that people won't like. but given his experience level, generally viewed positive inside the department. >> you have a new piece out making the case for president biden to commute or even, i guess, pardon, but not to pardon, but to commute any prison sentence for hunter biden. the president said he will not pardon or commute his sentence, sentences. what would a commutation look like and why do you think the president should do it? >> well, so you're right. there is a distinction between a pardon and commutation. what i'm suggesting is not a pardon, wiping the convictions clean. i am saying commuting any prison term he may receive in connection with the sentences on these cases, the convictions would stand but he wouldn't necessarily serve -- he wouldn't serve prison time under my approach. the reasoning is i based on two

premise. one, if you look at the two criminal cases brought against biden, these are not cases that are usually pursued through criminal prosecutions. they are usually resolved through non-criminal means. the second key paramus or factual premise, there was a deal last summer which all of these charges would be resolved without hunter biden vog to go to prison, and republicans balked. the judge in delaware, a trump appointee balked. there was a dispute over community. he wot charged with all of these cases but the gun case in delaware, the tax case in l.a., he has been. >> charred with nothing else. but basically we have this situation where trump may be going to the white house, he may be going to prison. it seems very, very off and really ripe for some mercy, honestly, by the president. >> ken dilanian and an koosh,

thank you. up next, from former democratic donor to president-elect donald trump's pick for treasury secretary, deep dive on billionaire hedge fund manager scott bessent. you are watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. d.

. 42 past the hour.

three weeks after becoming president-elect, donald trump has selected people to fill the 15 main cabinet positions. scott bessent to be treasury secretary, he is a billionaire hedge fund manager, advocate for deficit reduction. if confirmed, he would be the first openly gay person to serve as treasury secretary. with us now nbc news senior business correspondent christine romans. what more can you tell us about scott bessent? >> well, a wealthy hedge fund manager. he is respected by wall street. he is someone who has scoured the globe looking for investments. since the 1990s he was alongside george soros when he was making high-profile bets on the uk economy and the japanese economy. and scott bessent was right there. he made billions dollars for investors. he has his own hedge fund. he has been a campaign donor and surrogate for trump for some

weeks now. fascinating, fascinating rise up through the ranks here. now he is poised to be nominated to this very important position. >> so, what do we know how he would do if he is confirmed? >> he has said that he is there to do what donald trump wants to do on tariffs. he has also been concerned about deficits. so there is this idea here if you have big tax cuts, big tariffs, would that hurt the economy, cause inflation, hurt deficits. he understands how that works. he basically said he -- you saw the plan. he wants to cut to 3% of the size of the economy, spur economic growth through deregulation. i think what's so interesting here is the way he is being received by wall street, they think this guy is not a flamethrower. he is a strategic thinker. they think he will pursue tariffs on behalf of donald trump and the trump administration but he will pursue tariffs slowly and tax cuts quickly. and that is something that wall

street likes to hear. >> thank you so very much. appreciate it. up next, israel's military says it struck at least two dozen hezbollah targets in lebanon hours ago. we have new reporting on when a possible ceasefire could come. plus, the war in ukraine keeps escalating. our own richard engel is live in kyiv and reports on a group of women soldiers, including grandmothers, taking up arms. you're watching "jose rn... how do you spell relief? r-o-l-a-i-d-s rolaids' dual-active formula begins to neutralize acid on contact. r-o-l-a-i-d-s spells relief. (man) mm, hey, honey. looks like my to-do list grew. "paint the bathroom, give baxter a bath, get life insurance," hm. i have a few minutes. i can do that now.

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47 past the hour. we are following multiple developments in the middle east this morning. the israeli ambassador to the u.s. says a potential ceasefire with hezbollah could come within days. the proposed deal would bring a two-month pause to the conflict with israel and hezbollah withdrawing from lebanon's southern border. in the united arab emirates meanwhile three have been arrested in connection with a murder of an israeli moldovan rabbi there. the israeli government calling the krilg a criminal antisemitic terrorist event. joining us from jerusalem is nbc's hala. >> reporter: jose, from a very rain any jerusalem, this is causing quite a lot of misery for the internally displaced in gaza and elsewhere in the region. the weather has been absolutely

atrocious. to that potential ceasefire deal over the last 24 hours or so we have heard from multiple sources, three of whom have spoken to nbc news in the united states, about the potential for a ceasefire agreement between hezbollah and israel. one official saying though that there are still a few issues left to be resolved. jose, i would really caution at this stage to, you know, wait until a signature is actually put at the bottom of any deal. we've heard in the last few months that ceasefire deals were imminent only for them to fall apart at the last minute. however, it does appear as though this one has a bit more momentum. we heard from the israeli ambassador to the u.n. who said that he assumes there will be a cabinet meeting in israel to approve and finalize the deal either today or tomorrow. if that happens, that will be a

big relief for people on both sides of the border, especially in beirut that has been hit quite hard by the israeli military, including in central parts of the lebanese capital. this is happening with more and more frequently, the israeli military is hitting quite densely populated areas. and there are warnings to communities in northeast israel to abide by increased restrictions as there are expectations that hezbollah is going to launch another salvo of rockets into that part of the country. they launched over 200 in the last 24 hours, but have hit hargs as far south as the outskirts of tel aviv. all of this before potentially an anticipated ceasefire deal between the two sides, jose. so we are all waiting. there is a cabinet meeting that is expected in the next 24, 48 hours in israel, and if indeed

there is an approval, it could look like a 60-day, as you mentioned, cessation of hostilities. big questions though on who will police it and what happens if there are violations. jose, back to you. >> thank you. meanwhile, right now in ukraine changes to the battlefield with ukraine losing more than 40%. the russian territory it seized in a surprise attack in august. according to a senior ukrainian military source, that same source said that right now 11,000 north korean soldiers are completing their training in the region, and could be in combat by the end of the month. some of their elite units may already be on battlefield. with so much uncertainty over what happens next, more ukrainian civilians are now training for war. richard engel joined a group of woman who call themselves the witches of boucha, now readying for combat. >> reporter: president-elect trump says that he is going to wrap up this war in a day. do you have confidence in that?

i don't believe this war can be stopped with a negotiation, she says. putin can't be trusted. in three to five years, he will come back. >> richard joins us from kyiv. richard, what's the situation on the ground there today? this 40% lost, you know, inside russia, what is the situation right now? >> reporter: so, jose, it's raining in jerusalem. it is freezing cold here, and you could probably see behind me it looks like a cloud has infield the cienough, it is goo for the city because when there is this much fog cover it means that there can't be any drone attacks. you can't target the drones and can't fly them and hit them them with any kind of accuracy. there have been more and more drone attacks. there were 145 launched against

russia, launched by russia against ukraine in the last 24 hours. in addition to rockets, missiles, artillery. ukraine is escalating as well. first, as you mentioned, ukraine launched an attack into russia a few months ago now, and has also been firing longer-range american weapons inside russia. by the way, the uk and france are also allowing ukraine following the biden administration to take similar steps, firing their weapons inside russia. so this war is definitely escalating on multiple fronts, and it is escalating with the anticipation that president-elect trump is going to come, as he said he will do, and bring a ceasefire. ukraine fears that that ceasefire will be imposed on this country and that it will have to accept weak terms and that ukraine will be left in a vulnerable situation. but they are starting to accept the fact that some sort of ceasefire is certainly coming.

so you mentioned the witches of bucha. there is one way of looking at that, so that they can defend te capital. but it also shows that there is a lack of resources here. the ukrainian troops don't have enough manpower to man the front lines, so in this case this female brigade, the witches of bucha, are stepping in to defend kyiv. >> richard engel, thank you very much, my friend. next, all eyes on a courthouse in california where the menendez brothers are expected to appear virtually today nearly 30 years after their conviction for killing their parents. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. understand how to get the most from medicare. if you're eligible for medicare, it's a good idea to have original medicare. it gives you coverage for doctor office visits and hospital stays. but if you want even more benefits, you can choose a medicare advantage plan like the ones offered at humana. our plans combine original medicare with extra

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57 past the hour and in just a couple hours erik and lyle menendez are set to make their first court appearances in years after the outgoing l.a. county district attorney recommended the brothers be resentenced for the murders of their parents. they're currently serving sentences of life without parole. nbc's dana griffin joins us outside the courthouse in van nuys, california. good morning. what can we expect today? >> reporter: jose, good morning to you. so

resentencing hearing, which is scheduled in just a couple of weeks, and, behind me, you can see we're still hours away, but there's just the spectacle this has draw. you have media, people just interested in being in the courtroom when these brothers are expected to appear virtually. they even have a lottery going on. these are the tickets they are handing out to people who want to get into those 16 coveted seats. i spoke with one of those spectators. listen to what he showed me and told me. >> erik and i correspond. if i may, i'll show you a picture. he sent me a christmas card and sends a nice note that's personal. he answer add question for me a few years back that i just couldn't comprehend, and he answered it, and i understood why what happened. i told him one day when you get

out, i'll be there, and here i am. i'm here. >> reporter: you believe they were molested? >> i know they were molested. >> reporter: well, it will be up to a judge to ultimately decide if the brothers should be resentenced, which could lead them to a parole board. there's another avenue possibly having the governor of california grant clemency, so we'll see whether or not these brothers get out anytime soon. jose? >> dana, thank you so very much. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. you can always reach me on social media and watch clips from this show at youtube@msnbc/jdb. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," president-elect trump has completed his 15-member cabinet with several of his controversial choices still facing confirmation battles ahead. this hour, how will mr.