that does it for me today. but we're already working on a very packed show for tomorrow night. alex padilla, a member of the judiciary committee, will be one much my guests. now if kash patel makes it to a confirmation hearing, we'll see, senator padilla will be one of the lawmakers who will be able to question him. that's coming up at 8:00 p.m. eastern. stay with you are because there's much more news coming up on msnbc. ♪♪

good day to all of us from msnbc world headquarters here in new york. welcome to "alex witt reports." 50 days until inauguration day and donald trump shaking up washington with the naming of his loyalist kash patel as hi choice for director of the fbi. patel has declared a long and deep animosity to the justice department and will use federal agencies to go after media. here's reaction from both sides of the aisle. >> president trump is entitled to name his appointees. that's exactly what he's doing and i'm going to support this appointment. kash worked national security, the department of justice and someone willing to uncover the wrongs of the fbi. >> i haven't seen what the proof is that the fbi has been weaponized against a political party or the department of justice. of course, this department of justice has brought charges against democratic u.s. senator

in new jersey, a democratic congressman in texas, and so some people just seem to think that it should go only in one direction. >> meanwhile, trump has made two more announcements and he's keeping these in the family. naming charles kushner, ivanka trump's father-in-law, as his pick for ambassador to france, and tiffany trump's father-in-law as his pick for senior adviser on arab and middle eastern affairs. new reaction to trump's 25% tariff threats that led to a surprise visit from canadian prime minister justin trudeau and pushback from mexican president who said she did not agree to close the border and there will be no tariff war. here's how the debate is being framed on both sides. >> you look at the threat of tariffs against mexico and canada, immediately has produced action. we've seen the president of mexico stand up and promise that she is going to work hand in hand with the president of the

united states. >> donald trump engages in sort of throughoutless insane tariff policy that ends up in prices going up, but jobs not being created in the united states. you've got to use tariffs in the right way. if you use them in the right way, they can create jobs. donald trump is going to talk about tariffs because you doesn't want you to know about the primary centerpiece of his economic agenda, which is a tax cut for billionaires and millionaires and corporations. >> we've got reporters and analysts in place ready to go over all these new developments for us. we'll start with nbc's ally rafah in west palm beach, florida. what has been the reaction to trump choosing kash patel as his fbi director? >> reporter: this pick has ignited a lot of controversy given kash patel's previous conditions and comments. he has long wushed conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. he's also called for the purging of leadership of multiple

government agencies, including this agency that he has now been tapped to lead. and the president-elect says if he is confirmed to this position, that will allow him to, quote, bring back fidelity, bravery and integrity to the fbi. one thing standing in his way, though, is the fact there is an fbi director currently in place, currently serving in year seven of his ten-year long term. that is chris wray. he was appointed by then president trump during the first administration but there's been bad blood between trump and wray since the raiding of mar-a-lago for the classified documents in 2022 that president-elect trump claims is politically motivated. we're seeing reaction about this pick across the airwaves. one from jake sullivan, who said he wouldn't comment specifically on these trump picks but he talked about how important it

was for the fbi to remain independent. listen to his comments here. >> the only thing i can point out is that we -- the biden administration adhere to the long-standing norm that fbi directors serve out their full terms because the fbi director is a unique player in the american government system. they're appointed for ten-year terms, not terms just for the duration of a given president. the current fbi director, chris wray, was appointed by donald trump. joe biden fired him. he relied upon him to execute his responsibilities as the director of the fbi and allowed him to serve out the fullness of his term. >> alex, obviously the next step here will be senate confirmation and patel's path to be able to do that is not looking like it's going to be an easy one. obviously,there are republicans in the senate that agree with this goal to completely overall the fbi but also republicans who

maintain the fbi should remain incident pent. this is once again going to be a test of these republican senators' loyalty to the president-elect, alex. >> one more question before we let you go because we are seeing more trump announcements today. who else has joined trump's growing list of administration picks? >> reporter: yeah, alex, that's right. for the president-elect keeping in this tradition that we've been seeing from him to keep these administration picks, some of them within his family. yesterday he picked his daughter ivanka's husband jared, his father, charles kushner, to be ambassador to france. today he's announcing the father-in-law of his other daughter, tiffany, a lebanese lawyer named boulos will be ambassador on public affairs. >> meantime, let's go to capitol hill where trump's pick could be looking at a long path to senate

confirmation. what has been the reaction from congress members so far on patel for fbi director? >> as you heard from allie, the reaction has been mixed. you definitely have senate republicans who are more loyal to the president-elect, who said he should have exactly who he wants. they think kash patel will be just the kind of disruptor the fbi needs. i'm talking about someone like bill haggerty who told kristen welker that but you have more republicans, more establishment type republicans who think chris wray, the current fbi director, appointed by trump in the first term, is doing a great job. this is someone that allie laid out biden has kept on his ten-year term. his term does not run out until 2027. that is exactly what we are hearing from the top democrat on the senate judiciary committee dirk durbin releasing a statement saying the senate should reject this unprecedented effort for this campaign of retribution that trump has promised. that is the first committee that

kash patel is going to have to face in his confirmation process. certainly the fbi is the main investigative arm of the doj behind matt gaetz, who withdrew his name to lead that agency. kash patel certainly has the steepest battle to confirmation. take a listen to senator mike rounds and senator chris murphy, a democrat on this. watch. >> the president gets the benefit of the doubt on the nomination, but we still go through a process and that process includes advice and consent, which for the senate means advice or consent sometimes. >> i will vote no. i will organize not just my colleague the but the american public to understand what's happening here. kash patel's only qualification is because he agrees with donald trump that the department of justice should serve to punish, lock up and intimidate donald trump's political opponents. >> now, if confirmed, patel will be serving effectively with pam

bondi, who put her name in the ring after matt gaetz withdrew as attorney general and those two could be disruptors and destroyers of the status quo, something trump very much promised on the campaign trail, something he wants to happen. the senate is not like the house. you still have those establishment republicans. they can only lose three with vance breaking the tie, the vice president-elect on kash patel, to get him through. >> thank you so much for that. joining me right now to further discuss, we have hugo lowell from "the guardian" and christopher o'leary, now senior vice president for global operations at suphang group. this is another controversial pick of donald trump of another loyalist. you posted after the announcement that patel was not the first choice for some trump advisers. can you talk a bit about your own reporting? >> yeah. it's been complicated inside trump world because i think there were some advisers who

thought kash patel because of his deeply polarizing nature, it would be easier to put him in as deputy director because that is a role that obviously does not require senate confirmation and have someone a little more mainstream as the fbi director proper. what has happened is trump decided he liked the guy who is loyal to him the most. that was kash. you have to remember from trump's perspective, kash has been with him the two years he was under investigation. kash was subpoenaed to testify in the investigation against jack smith and he refused. it was only after he was forced to by judicial order that he went in and testified. when he testified, what he told the grand jury was, well, i don't think trump did anything wrong anyway because he declassified any and all documents that were at mar-a-lago. so for trump this is a guy that be there with he needs him and

his loyalty has been demonstrated time and time again. i think at the end of the day what has happened is that combined with his allies, people like steve bannon, mike davis, a long-time legal adviser to trump, pushing kash patel. all of that have come together for kash to get the top job. >> christopher, you served in the fbi for over 20 years. kash patel was chosen now for the director role with little significant experience in law enforcement, one senior law enforcement official who interacted with patel in the past and calling the pick ridiculous and the least qualified pick in law enforcement. that do you make of this nomination? >> well, he would not have been my first choice by far. i actually know kash patel quite well myself. worked counterterrorism matters with him over a decade ago. so, i know what his background and experience are. and i think to be fair to him, he's no less qualified to be fbi

director than many -- including christopher wray and many of the people before it. really, the standard in the last few decades has been doj experience. kash patel has that. my experience with him, working directly with him, he was professional, dedicated, he was enthusiastic about the mission. and he was collaborative with the interagency, which is critical to getting operations done. if he was to demonstrate that kash patel that many fbi agents worked with a decade plus ago, i think it will be well received. i think the concern is this political theater and rhetoric and the idea he's going to come to fbi headquarters with a sledgehammer and tear the place down because, you know, i left the fbi just about a year ago and i have not seen the deep state that's been alluded to. i would actually say if i was to, you know, paint with broad brush strokes where the fbi leans politically, you know, for

individuals, it's probably a little more to the right than anything. so, that's kind of an academic point, though. fbi agents and intelligence analysts and professionals, this he are career civil servants. i have just not seen this deep state issue that he's going in there to correct. i think he's going to be destroying an institution this country desperately needs. >> so, how do you think this pick is being perceived, christopher, within the fbi itself, within the rank and file? >> i think there's apprehension, for sure. but because the fbi is full of professionals, and if kash patel is confirmed, the fbi will do their best to get behind him and try to carry out the mission to protect the constitution and the american people. will will also be leaders who will try to assist him and lead up. having worked with kash patel within the interagency, meaning

the fbi, cia, intelligence community, special operations partners, kash patel really looked up to the members of the special operations community. i would remind him he could look at some of the greatest leaders we've had in the global war on terrorism. general stanley mcchrystal, mccraven up to the current jsoc commanding general -- or commanding officer, admiral mitch bradley. that is what leadership is. it's collaboration, it's being a visionary, it is making institutional change but by doing it with cultural change, by motivating people. he's talking about making structural change without making any other positive changes within the organization. and i don't think that will be effective or well received. >> so with regard, then, hugo, this question to you, the leadership of donald trump, if you will. following the fbi raid of mar-a-lago in 2022 for the classified documents trump was keeping there, patel advanced a

theory that trump had declared those documents as declassified while still in the white house so it wouldn't be a crime to possess them. what does this say about their relationship, about trump's leadership to kash patel if he is confirmed as fbi director? >> i think when kash patel went and testified before the grand jury, you have to remember that kash was one of the few people around trump at that time. it was 2021, we were coming into some of the big moments of the january 6th committee in terms of the investigation. trump had very few people by his side and kash stepped up to that mantel, if you will, or that's how it was perceived inside trump world. that's why he's engendered so much trust with trump. it goes the other way, that trump did talk to kash and continues to talk to kash. i think the situation where we are now is if trump wants something done, then kash would

be more than willing to do it because that is the role he has assumed for himself. not only because trump is saying it because because he's buying into it. he is idealogically aligned person with trump, he is a believer, so to speak. so it's difficult to know exactly how trump's leadership always works here, but i think it would be a pretty safe bet to say, if trump wanted jack smith investigated, you know, we need to go after the investigators, kash patel has said by himself, of his own volition, he needs to bring the intelligence agencies to heel. so i don't think it would be a particularly big surprise if kash went and did that, using the powers he would have as fbi director. >> christopher, the current fbi director, christopher wray, he was nominated by donald trump during his first presidency. he still has three years left on his ten-year term. he would either have to resign or be fired by donald trump. let me bring up a statement that

the majority whip dick durbin just issued on the pick of kash patel. if we put it up there, he will reiterate that, what i just said, but also he goes on to say, now the president-elect wants to replace his own appointee with an unqualified loyalist. the senate should reject this unprecedented effort to weaponize the fbi for campaign retribution that donald trump has promised. the question to you, christopher, how do you see this playing out? >> so, the idea of the ten-year terms came after the death of director hoover, who was the director for over four decades. actually one of the reasons was to limit the terms to ten years but also still provide that continuity of leadership for the organization. so, having a director who can lead an organization throughout administrations and making sure it stays outside of politics, i'll point back to director mueller was the only one who

exceeded that when they actually -- congress universally nominated him to serve an extra two years because they saw he was doing such a good job and the country needed him. i think cutting the term short does a disservice to the fbi and the men and women because their leader is removed without cause. that's number one. i think it does a disservice to the country because what it does is allow administrations to put their guy and it brings the fbi back into politics. it's been -- it has been talked about. it is important for the fbi to remain independent. for a variety of reasons. but one of the things the fbi does, one of our missions is public corruption investigations. we go after corrupt politicians. we go after corrupt law enforcement agencies. and having that ability to conduct those investigations without political pressure or the fear of losing your job as fbi director is important.

>> the insights from your experience, your reporting, hugo, very muvalued. thank you very much. how millions are dealing with a massive storm that could dump up to six feet of snow in some places. we're back in a short 90 seconds. a short 90 seconds. phone, any condition. this black friday, get iphone 16 pro, on us. and ipad and apple watch series 10. all three on us. only on verizon. i am obsessed with olay's retinol body wash. with olay retinol body wash, 95% of women had visibly renewed skin. makes my skin feel so smooth and moisturized. olay body wash & lotion. discover yours.

we are following the winter weather plowing through the u.s. on this busy travel day. millions are under alerts right now including lake-effect snow warnings as several more feet of snow could fall on the great

lakes and many more are suffering with the coldest temperatures since last winter. our team of reporters is on the ground tracking the impact of all of this. we're going to begin with nbc's george where buffalo bills are playing and 26 inches of snow are expected to fall before the game even starts, i mean, wow. that's about seven hours from kickoff. come on. what are you seeing? >> reporter: wow, you're absolutely right. that snowfall has been significant here. it is so frigid. behind me you might see the heavy machinery that's been clearing out some of the snow here in the tailgate lots. one thing about the bills mafia, nothing will deter them from coming to this game. some of them getting here super early to dig out their spots. fans actually going inside highmark to shovel out their spots. talk about commitment. again, you still have snowflakes falling here. it is so cold out here. this area slammed, as you mentioned, more snow is on the

way. a major snowstorm reeking havoc on the roads as millions of americans return home from thanksgiving. the storm slamming the great lakes region bringing feet of snow. parts of new york ing a state of emergency. in pennsylvania a disaster declaration. snow falling as fast as 3 inches causing whiteout conditions. and with 3 1/2 feet of snow on the ground, plows have been struggling to keep roads clear. snow snarling traffic and stranding hundreds of cars for hours. portions of interstate 90 shut down from ohio to new york. some officials even forced to clear the roads themselves. drivers rescued from their cars and brought to warming shelters. >> between the snow event, the holiday travel and the game, is this potentially disastrous on the roadways? >> it's definitely a recipe to have a lot more people on the road than we would like. >> reporter: including in orchard park, home of the buffalo bills. fans asked to bring snow shovels to clear out some of the snow ahead of tonight's big game.

as millions across the country are already feeling winter's wrath with nearly 70% of americans set to face temperatures at freezing or below. back in buffalo, residents already ready to dig out. >> i just have all my shovels ready, the snow blower is going and everything is gassed up and ready to go. it's buffalo. bring it on. >> reporter: isn't that the spirit here? now, one thing to note, alex, is the travel bans that were in effect for this area have been lifted. there's still travel advisories but officials want everyone out here to tread carefully because even though the plows and the crews have been working around the clock to clear the roads, obviously you have to worry about those frigid temps and icing on the road. again, that game set for kickoff and bills mafia ready for a bills win here tonight. >> i tell you, god love them. my money will be on the bills. if for no other reason, doesn't matter how good the qback is, it makes no difference, it's the

snow. the bills can play in it. the 49ers are going to go -- i think. we'll see you again. let's go to richfield, new jersey, where nbc's marques francis is keeping an eye on the travel rush on the roads. how are things looking so far? >> reporter: thank you, alex. there's no snow here but frigid temps. there's been a steady stream of people coming into and out of the vince lombardi rest area across the hudson from manhattan. the american automobile association, better known as aaa, forecasted for about 80 million people to be traveling this holiday season that began last tuesday and extends all the way through tomorrow. of those 80 million, which is a new record, 72 million are traveling by car. another 6 million by airplane and 2 million by cruise, buses and trains. all people are trying to get to where they need to go. i spoke to a few of the travelers who are looking to

brave the roads. this is what they had to say. take a listen. >> for us it's been great. we went out on wednesday, it was pretty much no traffic. coming back this way because we left so early. we've been zip zip. >> hectic. it was busy going from peb pennsylvania to new york. it got jammed up in the obvious places. >> it was exciting. we went from boston to maryland to pennsylvania to maryland to new jersey. we're heading back to boston now. we had a wedding last night. lots of thanksgiving meals everywhere. it was busy but good. >> reporter: and i spoke to just about a dozen travelers going everywhere from maine to florida as far west as pennsylvania. and one thing came true. no matter if they left super early or super late, they all ran into some kind of traffic. going back into that 6 million number, the amount of people traveling by air this holiday season, tsa just came out with numbers. yesterday they screened 2.9 million people. today they're expected to hit 3

million. so, no matter if you're going by air or by car, there's a lot of people on the road this holiday season. >> no surprise on that. we'll check in with you again and see if it eases up a bit for those on the road. thank you. meantime, so many choices, so many questions. next, what is fueling donald trump's controversial cabinet and administration picks. tion ps 'p due to burning and stabbing pain in my hands, so i use nervive. nervive's clinical dose of ala reduces nerve discomfort in as little as seven days. now i can help again feel the difference with nervive. take an ekg from anywhere, but with 6-times the data. can your smartwatch do that? introducing kardiamobile 6l,

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let me set the record straight. are people born wicked? or do they have wickedness thrust upon them? oh! -ah! [ laughter ] no need to respond. that was rhetorical. hm, hmm. more on the trump transition

and new reaction to the latest of several contentious picks for cabinet and administration roles. here's his choice for fbi director kash patel two months ago outlining his plans for the fbi. >> the fbi's footprint has gotten so freaking big. the biggest problem the fbi has had has come out of its intel shops. i'd break that component out of it. i'd shut down the fbi hoover building on day one and reopen the next day as a museum of the deep state. what do you need 7,000 people there? same thing with doj. what are all these people doing here? >> well, joining me now, don callaway, democratic strategist and founder of national protection voter fund, susan del percio, msnbc political analyst and david jolly, florida republican congressman and msnbc political analyst. i hope you had a great thanksgiving. the only thing missing from my thanksgiving table is having my son with me.

here we go. don, does kash patel sound like swub who can win senate confirmation? >> unfortunately, he does sound like he can win senate confirmation. does he soupd like someone who should be in charge of our fbi? oh, god, no. i was prepared to come in with this canned response how these outlier candidate will be nominated but i forgot all about that when i listened to kash patel. these are the words out of his mouth. that wasn't some alarmist thing. it basically outside of the extremist politics of it, it ee vinces this fundamental lack of knowledge about how things actually work. to not understand what people in there are actually doing and how they're not only protecting global security but individual american household security every day, this is what these people want to come in and eliminate. it presents a real danger to people because everyday people at the fbi and cia protect americans from things that we cannot see or even understand are out there. these people are deeply unserious because they don't

seem to understand that. >> so, as this is coming down, the drip, drip, drip, constant flooding of picks, right, is trump, susan, flooding with bad candidates to exhaust republican senators who might want to resist some of his picks? it's like they focus on one, oh, god, here's another one, here's another one. there's no time to parse out what one might mean before the next one arrives. >> well, that could have been the case if he started making these potential announcements at the end of december or early january. the fact he's given so much time on the clock to let people investigate, to speak out, to let the candidates put their foot in their mouth more and more times over the next 50 days, if you're trying to flood the zone, you try to do it quickly. you try to get away with it. that was, i think, the biggest miscalculation politically for donald trump. obviously, these picks are

payback, and donald trump rewards loyalty. i remind the members of the senate that he only repays loyalty to him. he will turn on you, though, if you go against him in any shape or way. so, even if you once support a kash patel, it doesn't mean kash patel is not going to flip on you if you don't do a vote the president likes six months into his administration. the other thing i would like to highlight about kash patel and that clip, if i were the democrats i would be highlighting over and over, that sounds like defund the fbi. why does kash patel want a weaker fbi? less law enforcement out there? that's exactly what he's proposing. >> david, let's listen to what patel told steve bannon about those he would target. here it is. >> we will go out and find the conspirators not just in government but in the media.

yes, we're going to come after the people in the media who lied about american citizens who helped joe biden rig presidential elections. we're going to come after you. whether criminally or civilly, we'll figure that out. >> do you think republican senators are going to be freaked out by this overt intimidation of the fourth estate? >> i'm afraid they may not. there's already been a move in many states, including florida, but you hear national politicians about weakening the protections for journalistses, trying to test before the supreme court the landmark decision from, i believe, '72 and change the protections given to revealing sources, to protect of anonymous sources. frankly, the standard, the burden for anonymous sources in the state of florida was proposed to be made presumably false. if there's an anonymous tip. so, i think congress -- republicans in congress might go along with what kash patel might try to do with the media. i think what's coming together, alex, is donald trump sees an opportunity to rewrite his first administration.

if you look at the departments and then the fourth estate in the media that were most critical of donald trump, it had investigative authority, he's now trying to investigate the investigators. whether it's pam bondi at justice, tulsi gabbard at d&i, kash patel at fbi or changing the standard to go after the media, it's not just his revenge tour, but he feels like his first term has been presented unfairly. take hhs and cdc with the handling of covid. he is putting people there that will rewrite the history of the first term. it creates a very dangerous moment, but he is -- donald trump ultimately is following through on his promise. this is his retribution tour. this is where it gets very dangerous. this is not something to overlook or give equity to donald trump and say, i wonder if he's right about any of this. he's not. he's wrong. this is a moment of danger. >> david, i want to also ask you about trump having announced his son-in-law jared kushner's father as his choice to ambassador of france. here is what chris christie said about charles kushner in 2019.

>> it was so obvious he had to be prosecuted. i mean, if a guy hires a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law and videotapes it and then sends the videotape to his sister to attempt to intimidate her from testifying in front of a grand jury, do i need any more justification than that? it's one of the most ghosts of disgusting crimes i prosecuted when i was u.s. attorney. >> of course, this position also requires senate confirmation. what do you think is happening here? >> i think donald trump is paying the kushners back. i will remind viewers, this is the ambassador of the united states. not the ambassador of donald trump. the representation of our country to france. but, look, it harkens back to me the $2 billion payout jared kushner got for his private equity fund or specialty finance fund from saudi after donald trump did everything favorable for the saudis, as did jared himself.

it's notable jared and ivanka have a role. payback can be different. in this case the payback to the kushners is pretty clear. >> don, it is not just a cushy role for ivanka's father-in-law and the kushners, they have also named tiffany trump's father-in-law for an advisory role. why does trump want to keep these in the family? >> because you keep money in the family. these are opportunities, obviously jared and ivanka staying out, but when you have to have the right people in, controlling the levers of the enterprise that will allow for regulations to be opened up, contracting opportunities to be opened up, you have to have an ysd man on the actual inside. that's what this trump administration will look like, even far more so than e first four years in which they increased their net value by billions, in ways americans see and don't see every day, in ways as simple as, all the moneys paid to trump properties for secret service, all the moneys

lost from, you know, we're going to do that this time around on a global scale times 1,000. there's, frankly, no limit to the universe of private enterprise that does business with not only united states government but the united states government around the world and the trump administration 2.0 has tapped into that. >> susan, let me get one last question to you about pete hegseth back in the news with "the new york times" reporting on a 2018 email his mother sent him accusing him of mistreating women's. she told "the times" she immediately regretted that email and apologized to him. do you see senators such as susan collins, lisa murkowski, voting to confirm hegseth? >> i do not. i think it also goes deeper than just his alleged sexual predatory behavior. it goes to the fact that he doesn't want women serving in the military. that automatically puts joni ernst out of her previous career. she served in the military.

i think that's going to be something that will motivate a lot of folks. they need -- this is what i was talking about letting the clock run. if your mom doesn't believe you're a decent human being, why should the united states senate? i'll leave it at that. >> i'll leave it there as well. good to see all three of you guys. thank you. coming up later, we have a new report about team trump's plans to test a radical legal theory to cut trillions in spending programs. grams. when you throw them back. and who doesn't love a good throwback? ♪♪ now with vitamin d for the dark days of winter.

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breaking news in the middle east. iran has thrown its support behind syria's government after thousands of insurgents took control of the country's largest city of aleppo. this in a surprisingly fast offensive against the regime of president bashar al assad. today fighting is intensifying. joining me from beirut, lebanon, is nbc's matt bradley. let's talk about the latest developments in syria. what do you know? >> reporter: well, we're talking about that attack, that surprise attack that really put the syrian regime on the back foot and surprised the whole world after about nearly five years that this war had seemed to be almost over. there hadn't been any real major military maneuvers. now it looks like the rebels have gotten the better of the regime. but the latest is it looks as though russian and regime aircraft have been launching air strikes against rebel targets and killing civilians in the city of aleppo and idlib, today and yesterday.

in comes since this offensive started last wednesday. this is a group that has ties historically to al qaeda. they have since said they're no longer to al qaeda. certain military analyst and middle east watchers say they still have some connection to al qaeda and other islamist militant groups and also backed by their allies, other militant groups in syria who are backed by turkey. there's a real, real complicated patch work of different groups and loyalties that have added a lot of confusion to this. we heard from the u.s. government, a spokesperson just today. here's what he said. >> this rebel offensive is led by a group the united states has designated as a terrorist entity. we have concerns about that group. we are consulting closely with players across the region to determine the best way forward. what we would like to see is the full implementation of u.n. security council resolutions that could bring a measure of peace and stability to syria and

protection to civilians, including religious minorities. >> you heard from jake sullivan. the real question going forward, given the fact that the regime forces melted away in the face of this surprise offensive by the rebels, are they going to be able to regroup and take this offensive? that looks like a pretty tal order even though the militant group was able to arm themselves over the past four or five years. it looks as though the regime hadn't set themselves up to defend themselves. they had relied on their russian and iranian backers. now it looks as though, this is part of the reason why we're seeing kind of the sin they sis of all these different fighting fields in the middle east. it looks as though these rebel fields decided to take advantage of the syrian regime, the regime of bashar al assad's patron states, iran and russia. russia, of course, very much distracted by the war in

ukraine. the iranians are now on the back foot, having tried to support and prop up their so-called axis of resistance and fight against israel. their main cat's paw against israel and the group that had been fighting in favor of bashar al assad during the civil war in syria, hezbollah, has just come to a peace deal here in lebanon. they are basically defeated as well. so, now it looks as though this was an opportunistic attack by these rebel groups taking advantage of the syrian regime's weaknesses. >> okay. matt, there's a lot to talk about with all of this that's developing there. we'll see you again. coming up next, a new report about how president-elect trump might try to drastically cut the federal budget. ral budget

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mounting fears president-elect trump will make good on his promise to cut trillions of government programs he and his administration propose. the trump team's plan to test a radical legal theory that claims the president can unilaterally slash federal funding and fire civil servants by circumventing congress's constitutional authority to appropriate federal dollars. joining me now is the writer of that report, pro publica reporter, molly. let's get into this. this plan that trump and his advisers intend to harness and drastically cut the federal budget, it is known as impoundment. explain what's behind this theory and how the trump administration could use it to

override a law, forbidding presidents from blocking spending congress approves. >> this theory says congress can never tell the president to spend money. they can only give him the option. and then he has the unilateral ability to say no if it's a program that he doesn't like. so, this would be just a really seismic shift, what he's arguing, that congress has no power of the purse. they only have the ability to write a check and the president can cash it if he feels the money isn't wasteful. you might see this come up with elon musk and ram aswamy that might one way to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. >> i'll get to those details in a second. if trump tries to use this to control the federal purse, that is almost certainly going to create a clash between the administration and congress and federal courts.

what could that look like -- i mean, could this take away congress's fundamental power? >> yeah, absolutely. this would be a really -- this would be really out there and it would require probably an act of congress to overturn its power of the purse to sort of give up its own ability to have a say in how we appropriate federal money. they would need to repeal the nixon era law. it would probably also go to the supreme court. so there's no guarantee that trump can do this. he and his team seem eager to test it, but it would require the cooperation of congress to sort of tie their own hands and take away a lot of their own power. >> but the doge duo you talked about earlier, elon musk and ramaswamy, they say the supreme court will likely side with donald trump giving him power to

exactly this. what programs do they plan on cut? can you explain how they would, in their words, do things differently, reducing federal bureaucracy. >> this is just one method they are talking about. but i think you could expect to see them test this as a weapon against a lot of regulations that they don't like. particularly during the campaign this came up as a way to get around environmental regulations, clean water protections, so i think that is -- that could be one area where you see them test this. and, yeah, i mean, they say that they believe the supreme court would side with them. i think they want to be salesmen on this. of course, they're going to say that. but at the very least they seem game to test this really out there legal theory. >> yeah. again, it is called impoundment. it is something we all may become more familiar with very soon. molly, thank you so much.

we look forward to seeing you again. meantime, at the top of the hour, billionaires in charge. how one senator is criticizing donald trump's administration picks. picks. ♪ limu emu & doug ♪ woah, limu! we're in a parade. everyone customize and save hundreds on car insurance with liberty mutual. customize and sa— (balloon doug pops & deflates) and then i wake up. and you have this dream every night? yeah, every night! hmm... i see. (limu squawks) only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ my name is brayden. i was five years old when i came to st. jude. i'll try and shorten down the story.

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