place where there are a lot of cameras and there's a lot of information gathering going on. >> if you're going to commit a crime like this, you don't want to do it in new york city. there are so many cameras within the city, leaving the city, license plate readers. my guess is they will be able to see a very nice trail of where the shooter went after he committed the crime, how he was able to get this e bike, where he took the bike. new york is a place that it is very easy to actually follow people and get that video trail, which will ultimately help them prove this case. >> you know, frank, the fact this was carried out at 7:00, right before 7:00 in the morning on a real busy day in new york city. i'm just wondering, the fact they've been able to see him go from walking to an e bike then disappear into central park. disappear into central park.

is there anything in central park that could identify him? >> they seemed to confident this was planned. i agree with that. we've got to assume he planned to end his journey in central park then move on from there. so something could have been staged or preplanted. frank, barrett, thank you both so much. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more after a break. right now, breaking news in midtown manhattan. the nypd investigating a stunning shooting death of the ceo of the nation's largest health insurance company right there in manhattan outside the new york hilton on 6th avenue. just blocks from radio city. >> i want to be clear. at this time, every indication is that this was a premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack.

>> here in washington, pete hegseth's chances of becoming the next secretary of defense could be sinking as the controversy surrounding his alleged drinking problem grow and amid new reporting, president-elect trump might be considering replacements. among the possible contenders, trump's former rival, ron desantis. we'll go live to south korea where that country's president is facing calls to resign or be impeached after he declared martial law, prompting widespread pro democracy protests. a vote from the national assembly and then reversal from the hard line president while protesters are still thronging to the capital of seoul. and the latest from the supreme court today as the justices hear oral arguments on a critical case that could impact transgender healthcare across the nation. good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in

washington. we are following the breaking news from new york city where right now, police are searching for a gunman who fatally shot the ceo of united healthcare, brian thompson, outside the new york hilton hotel in midtown manhattan just before 7:00 a.m. eastern this morning. nypd officials providing updates at a press conference just moments ago saying this appeared to be a brazen targeted attack. >> the motive is unown but based on the evidence we have so far, it appears the victim was specifically targeted but at this point, we don't know why. this doesn't appear to be a random act of violence. >> joining me now, sam brock, retired special agent in charge, jim kavanaugh, and former fbi assistant director for counterintelligence, frank. what else did we learn at that news conference? >> there's a couple of thingss

that are apparent. one is that trs a man hunt going on for a shooter last seen on an e bike heading into central park which is only a few blocks away. in word of the nypd, an almost certain preplanned attack happened when brian thompson was murdered on the street. andrea, we've got more details about how this went down specifically that the shooter according to the police was standing on the sidewalk several minutes before thompson crosses the street. people passed by him then police say he took out his gun and when thompson appeared, took out his gun and fired several shots. one that hit his back. police said the gun malfunctioned. he dropped that and several shell casings. they said they found three 9

millimeters shell casings on the street and he fled to a nearby alleyway where they recovered a cell phone. they're trying to see what type of information can be obtained through that. then obtained a city bike. he got on the bike and headed into central park. that's the latest we have in terms of the play-by-play in terms of how this happened. police were asking what kind of information do you have on the shooter's where abouts, can you track his location on the bike. they were not able to provide a lot of information on that only to say they were working with the companies to see what sort of information could be combed. statements coming in right now, you're talking about the gentleman who led the insurance unit for united health group, one of the largest insurance companies in the united states. a massive, massive financial footprint. they said they are deeply saddened and shocked at what happened. he was a well respected colleague who got along with everybody and they're processing

and absorbing the depth of this information. their colleague and ceo shot and killed in midtown manhattan at a time of the day where there's a lot of people around. almost 7:00 in the morning and it just blind sided everybody. this is something that's still being worked through. they had a conversation where she said i'm just trying to process this now and tell my kids and help console them as they come to terms with what's just happened. she also described the idea that he was under threat of some sort. wasn't sure how, but he had discussed previously being threatened. we don't know the details of that. what that might be about, whether it was insurance coverage related or not. so now this investigation moves forward with the last known sighting of the victim in central park. >> this is extraordinary. a lot of us just walk by those blocks all the time when we're in new york.

for all of you who work right there at 30 rock, this is the neighborhood. we stay at the hilton. go to events there. that's where the white house press corp. has been many, many times at u.n. events. that's where we were located. jim, what stood out to you because i was struck by the fact that a ceo of this, of a company this size did not have personal security. i don't know if he was out running or exercising but the walk out security is strange. and what about the weapon? >> right. i agree with you, andrea. it's healthcare. because people, you know, they have these debilitating illnesses. sometimes the companies deny coverage. people die. the mad bomber of new york city, that's, you know, he planted 16 bombs in new york city in the '40s and '50s because he had a back injury and edison wouldn't pay him for it. healthcare company ceos

certainly should have protection. looking at the picture they released is interesting. i don't think this is a professional killer at all. i don't think this guy's ever killed before. i think, look how far he is from the victim. he's standing quite away. he takes a rudimentary shooter stance. i wouldn't call it professional. he seems to be quite a distance away where the first shots are fired then ran up and shot the ceo when he was on the sidewalk. i'd say in that back pack, he probably has a change of clothes and there's a small rectangular object on the very side of that lower backpack. maybe that was his phone. if that phone in the alley is his, he's going to be discovered quickly. kind of like fiezle shahzad who left his own car keys in the bomb vehicle. so some of these guys do that. they've had many cases, i'm sure frank has, too, where they've dropped their wallet or id or keys and they're quickly rounded

up. not a professional killer. i saw frank earlier. he did clear the gun but a professional killer would not have his gun jamming like that. he would be so practiced with the weapon and it would be cleaned, ready and wouldn't jam. again, the shot from this distance, why is he doing it from there. now, i'm of the opinion that it is the major league category is a targeted killing. that's what it looks like and maybe the ceo was under some threats. but i just wouldn't throw out if i was a commander on this case, that it could be a random attack. people say other pedestrians walk by. that's true, but they pick someone who they want to kill. maybe he's the first guy with a suit and the briefcase and maybe he's angry at the establishment. i think that's a low chance but i wouldn't rule out anything. if i was commanding it, i'd set leads all over those things.

hopefully they're going to be searching the garbage cans all up and down his points of egress because another amateur hour is he's leaving with a gun and if he's caught blocks away, he's caught for sure. he doesn't leave the gun. doesn't leave a cold gun like a pro killer would do. and he doesn't get up close like a pro killer would do. so he's amateur hour, but he could have ditched that gun in a garbage can on the way and they need to be searching those cans along that path he took. along with the cameras and the cell phone seems to be very fruitful and checking on the threats that the ceo has already reportedly gotten. >> and frank, this guy, they tracked him to central park. so they've got a vast area. new york city right now is filled with tourists. the holiday season. i was there yesterday. traffic was bumper to bumper. pedestrians and of course, you

know, the tree lighting, radio city. it's all right there. plus, central park. the guy was on an e bike which we know has gps but they have to get a court order to go and get that gps from the company? >> depends on whether the company wants to consent or not. but they'll follow up with some paper as we say in the business. i can tell you, it's a mixed blessing when a major crime occurs in a major metropolitan area and that is that yes, you're on camera. there's lots of eyes and ears. you can appeal to the public. that's all good. the bad news is in a place like new york, you can hide in plain sight. particularly if you've been wearing a mask. you can blend in. so, there's good and bad there. some of my takeaways from the press conference. after the fbi, i spent five years in corporate security for what was then a fortune ten company, similar size. we're talking united healthcare has half a million employees.

has something like over 100 million people insured. a lot of suspects there. disgruntled employees. disgruntled patients. and now we have the annual investors meeting. that was a security challenge for us. you have to publicly post per sec rules if you're publicly traded, and united is, the time, date, and location of your meeting. so someone can easily know my target's going to be right there at this time. good news, the ceo stayed across the street at a separate hotel from the event. that's highly recommended. bad news, astonishingly reportedly no security detail. that is astounding to me. >> well, thanks to all of you and jim, we've talked about how that area is so heavily trafficked. so they may be getting tips.

some good, some not so good. you've got a new commissioner of the nypd, but they're the best in the business at figuring stuff like this out. they've got a great detective unit. so challenges pluses and minuses. >> looking at the picture there, it should get wide coverage all over the country. somebody could see that and know somebody who's leaked before, in other words, made comments about how they hate united healthcare and want to get back because their loved one died, didn't get paid for medical care, whatever grudge they hold. he might have spouted that out before a year ago, more than a year ago. and somebody might remember that. and see the picture and might say that looks a lot like you know, so and so. so there could be some leads that develop there. i think a real strong lead right now is the cell phone. it's got to be determined if it's his or not. these are crowded streets.

and anybody can drop a cell phone. but it was in the alley at the point where he made his point of egress. so that is a very big lead and i'm sure they're cracking that open now. this guy could be from anywhere. doesn't have to be from new york city. he might have a change of clothes in that backpack. he came to new york to do this. like frank said, the investor meeting, and he gets on that bike, goes into central park, changes his clothes. he's back out in a taxi and back out to an airport or a car somewhere and he's back. it means he was determined and bent on making a killing if in fact this was the one person he wanted to kill. i think that's the likely motive, andrea. >> and frank, if there were threats and that's something we don't know very much about, but if he had communicated to either his company's security or even if fbi that there had been some

threats, they could have been anonymous threat, but they would have been letters. anonymous notes. >> oh, for sure. they're combing through right now, police and united security healthcare team are poring over the files. the threat files. frequent fliers, i used to call him. people who continuously write in irrate about something and you have to assess if they're a threat. a company of this size, it's a long file. there's a lot of people who have reason to be upset at a major healthcare company and it could also be a disgruntled employee who was fired last week. so you just have to go through all of that and comb through it methodically and that's going on as we speak. >> we should point out you know, just for a point of reference, united healthcare is bigger than general motors. so they're not as well-known as the iconic national brands, but they are the largest healthcare insurer in the country.

and this was their investors conference. so to all of your points, it has to be publicly known. you're talking about shareholders. any number of people who could be upset with a company or with its ceo. or could be personal. i mean, this guy was so well liked and to become the ceo of this kind of company, you have to be vetted and you know, cleared by the boards and you know, they go over your compensation. every aspect of it and everything has to be shared with the sec because it's a public company. so, you know, frank, that all is part of this. >> we used to provide tremendous security to the annual investors meeting. it was one of my largest security planning challenges because it's open to anybody who owns one share of the company. and they get a chance to stand up and speak and rant and rave.

you're likely very secure within that hilton conference ballroom, but you note this happened outside the hilton, right? so this person thought this through. hey, if i let him get inside, now he's shielded by some security. i'm going to do this outside and that's where we are. >> i guess just fortunate that no one, no other bystander was hit by it's a tragic death. just think of the colleagues, the family, and the personal tragedy of this. and it is a crime story unlike anything we've seen in recent decades, really. a murder of a high profile you know corporate leader right there in the middle of manhattan. thank you all for the scramble. sam, jim, frank. really do appreciate it. in just 90 seconds, we will turn to capitol hill. speaking of a scramble, the choice to head the defense department is facing mounting

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our warriors never back down and neither will i. that comes after sources familiar with the president-elect's decision making tell nbc news mr. trump is considering replacing hegseth possibly with conservative florida governor ron desantis to lead the pentagon but there are others. the list includes senators joni ernst, bill haggerty, as well as mike waltz, who could slide over and be positioned for that job instead. three republican sources say that at least half a dozen gop senators are not comfortable with supporting hegseth because of allegations of sexual assault, which hegseth denies. that's exclusive reporting from our team led by courtney kube and now exclusive nbc news reporting also that 10%, excuse me, ten current and former fox news employees say that

hegseth's drinking habits were a concern to colleagues. the trump transition team says those allegations are disgusting, unfounded, and false. we begin with garrett haake, courtney kube, "washington post" national editor, phil rucker, and former press secretary to republican house speakers boehner and ryan, brandan buck. courtney, you boca the roke the. what did you learn? >> it comes on the heels of a number of different stories with allegations about character concerns regarding pete hegseth. so of course, we've heard about allegations that he was involved in a potential sexual assault. of course, he, there was a payment to the woman who made that claim. there were never charges filed. there's also been concerns about financial mismanagement. we heard about that in "the new yorker" article over the weekend from his time when he was working for a non-profit that

advocated for veterans. then there have been a number of different cases and instances where former colleagues of him have talked about his excessive drinking. "the new yorker" talked about it at the veterans advocacy group but now we're learning from former employees that there was a lot of concern about his time while serving on fox and friends. these individuals told us of cases where he would show up only minutes before the show would begin at 6:00 a.m. on the weekends. at times, he would still be hungover from the night before. sometimes talking about how he had barely slept and instances where he would come in smelling of alcohol from being out the night before. these cases and circumstances caused additional stress and pressure on these people. some telling us, again, these are people who worked closely with him saying that it caused additional stress and pressure on the show on his colleagues and that some of them telling us

in fact it should be disqualifying. his excessive drinking. now, as you mentioned, the trump transition team denied these allegations saying they are false. but as you also said, andrea, we have ten individuals who worked with him. current and former employees, who were telling us a very clear and common narrative about a series, a pattern of behavior that occurred over the course of years while he was in that job. >> and garrett, hegseth's political future seems in jeopardy. desantis confirmation would be a lot easier. there are others but there are still bitter feelings towards desantis inside trump world. >> reporter: two separate issues. the desantis part of it, donald trump sort of famously loves a convert. if ron desantis is willing to take a job with donald trump, i think trump himself would be willing to give him one. i think it's likely there's more hard feelings between the staffs

including someone like susie wiles who had been forced out of desantis' inner circle. just not a lot of good feeling between their two political operations. of course, that only matters if hegseth withdraws his nomination or is told to withdraw it by donald trump. i don't think that's at all clear at this moment. trump likes a fighter and what we're seeing i think today from hegseth including in that clip you showed just a moment ago and the fact that he's sitting down for at least one interview today with megyn kelly, is that he is doing more fighting on his own behalf today. even his mother appearing on fox news this morning to dispute or clean up the episode she sent him in 2018 suggesting he abused women at that time. here's what she said on fox today. >> we all believe in him. we really believe that he is not that man he was seven years ago. pete is a new person. he's redeemed, forgiven.

changed. i think we all are after seven years. i believe he's the man for the job. >> reporter: so andrea, probably helpful to get that out into the conservative media ecosystem on a channel that will be seen by many of these senators but i think it's worth saying just having your mom back in your corner is not clearing a high bar to a senate confirmed position like secretary of defense. one other note on the expanding trump team here. peter navarro, former trade adviser to donald trump, will once again be a trade adviser to donald trump. he just announced this morning. navarro went to prison. he's out, back on the trump team and will be back in the new trump white house we learned today. >> he didn't only do trade because he got deeply involved in countering a lot of the advice from the cdc on covid. and coming up with, you know,

some of the really strange concoctions that were marketed and purchased by the u.s. government to the tune of millions of dollars which were harmful and not at all cures for covid. against all advice. >> reporter: a variety of subjects. >> yes. garrett, thank you so much. phil, let's talk about the fbi because the trump transition has finally agreed, they've signed the mou. agreements to let the fbi do background checks on his choices. they would almost certainly have uncovered the widespread drinking allegations because i've been asked by the fbi questions about people i know. do you think they would be good for service and the fbi asking you, do they drink too much? do you know if they take drugs? do you know of any reasons they would not be good? it would be the first or the

second question and it would come to these many colleagues who have talked to courtney kube and to others about his drinking habits, alleged drinking habits. the question is why do you think they now greed to it? are they beginning to see the private security firm isn't doing such a good job on matt gaetz and pete hegseth? could save them a lot of grief. >> certainly that could be one reason why they agreed to permit these fbi background checks but it's also notable that key senators including the senate republican leader, john thune of south dakota, have been saying they think it's essential that these nominees in the formal nomination process which will take place once the new senate is and the president is sworn in in january, that these background checks be a part of that process. and so you know, we've seen trump rush very quickly in the days after the election to start to name the members of his cabinet without going through

the kind of formal and elongated background check vetting process that normally would be part of a presidential transition, but now letting the fbi conduct these checks will more thoroughly vet these candidates. especially those who will have national security portfolios and require those security clearances and be making a lot of key decisions that affect the u.s. and the world. >> certainly will speed up the confirmation process because those hearings can begin. when running for the nomination, desantis' military plan was to quote, rip the woke out of the military. also ripping a lot out of donald trump, which is not fully forgiven by some of the people working for donald trump. what does that mean in terms of the maga agenda if desantis were to become the next nominee or the next choice, i should say. for defense secretary. >> well, it's actually quite consistent with what pete hegseth has been saying. in that way, it's an easy swap

because pete hegseth has talked at length about how he thinks the defense department has been too weak and not been focused enough on the fighting mission. i think this would be one of the most popular things in the senate that donald trump has ever done. it's clear you have a significant number of senators who don't want to confront this. they don't want to have to take a vote and probably would never get to that, on a popular fox news figure. at this point, you have senators, kevin cramer, was openly musing about how he would be happy to vote for senator ernst. somebody who's not been nominated for that path. there are a lot of questions that are going to continue to be asked. once you're this wounded, it's pretty difficult to make a comeback. look, the senate is not the center of the resistance but a number of these folks are showing they're not going to be complete pushovers. if there are questions about his

treatment of women, about substance abuse, financial mismanagement, his experience and ability to do this job, there are going to be senators who are going to want real answers to that and we're seeing that with their desire to get the fbi background checks. that's not a great sign for people like this who don't have a lot of experience to back up or good will with those senators to stand on at this moment. >> but it's still a fairly closely divided senate. better shape than some might have thought they would be but what about joni and senator hagerty? is there a risk at putting one of those in. >> with the senate, governors there can just appoint someone quickly unlike in the house where you would have to have special elections. it would be a relatively easy process and i think a lot of

senators would breathe a sigh of relief. >> exactly. thank you so much. next, live to south korea engulfed in pro democracy protests after the president tried to impose martial law and had to reverse himself. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. you're watchil reports" on msnbc. body deodorant. it doesn't leave an icky residue. and it actually gives me 72 hour odor protection... everywhere. secret whole body deodorant. ["the glory of love" plays] giving. ♪ giving that's possible through the power of dell ai with intel. so those who receive can find the joy of giving back. what if your mobile network wasn't just built to work out here... ...but was designed differently to also give you blazing fast wifi where you are most of the time?

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south korea's president could face impeachment in the coming days. that follows his ill fated

six-hour declaration of martial law yesterday. a move that prompted widespread protests from thousands of pro democracy people and lawmakers. south koreans have rallied behind opposition lawmakers in the national assembly as they move to impeach the president over his martial law declaration. joining me now from seoul, janice, this is such a critical ally given the relationship with north korea, with china. the whole, you know, nuclear threat in the region. and here, you've got a threat to the government of south korea. >> reporter: opposition parties moved to impeach president yoon today and there could be a vote as early as friday. there are some lawmakers who are threatening to have him arrested such is the sense of rage and disappointment in this

declaration of martial law that he invoked then had to reverse within hours. that has pushed this country and democracy into turmoil. the question is why did he do it. at the time in the tv address, president yoon said that he was doing it to protect constitutional order. but this was a move against the government here. he was citing the threat of quote north korean anti state forces. it's no secret that he has been locked in a bitter showdown with the opposition here since he was first elected in 2022. he saw martial law as a way to test that political deadlock. it was a risky move and it backfired. >> janice, thank you. and next, a live report from the supreme court as the justices weigh a challenge to a

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at the supreme court, they are wrapping up just moments ago oral arguments over gender affirming medical care for minors. the question is whether states, in this case, tennessee, can ban gender transition surgery,

puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors. the case was brought by three transgender teens, their families and the biden administration. the case follows several european countries recently limiting hormone treatments for adolescents. joining me now, ken dilanian at the supreme court and former u.s. attorney, barbara mcquaid. ken, how did the arguments go? what do you infer from the arguments as to which way this might go? >> reporter: well, andrea, it was so interesting. the legal question in this case is whether the tennessee law violates the constitution's equal protections provisions by discriminating on the basis of sex. and a number of conservative justices appear to be skeptical of that idea. if they rule that it does do that, it would have to go back to the lower courts which would apply a heightened scrutiny on this law and would require tennessee to get more justification than it has so far for why this law is a good idea.

that's the legal argument. the question of the policy arguments and whether these gender affirming interventions are a good or bad idea, cause harm or do good, that also infected these arguments. it was really interesting. you had some conservative justices bringing up the fact that in europe, some countries are restricting these treatments including great britain after studies have shown there are some perceived harms. people who undergo these treatments who wish they hadn't. then on the other side, you had the plaintiffs and biden administration arguing that a total ban also does great harm to people. we have sound reflecting both sides. take a listen. >> rather than impose measures guardrails, sb 1 bans the care outright no matter how critical it is for an individual patient. and that approach is a stark departure from the state's regulation of pediatric care in

all other contexts. >> this court to come in and constitutionalize the whole area when the rest of the world, or countries that have been at the forefront of this, are you know, pumping the brakes on this kind of treatment. >> reporter: as you said, andrea, this case has profound implications. not just for tennessee but for more than half the states that have passed laws banning this kind of care. and for the nation. because donald trump and the republicans have promised to impose such a ban nationally and also to restrict coverage through medicaid and medicare. so profound implications here. >> and while we're listening to the arguments based on what you heard, how is the 6-3 conservative majority court likely to rule? >> well, i'm troubled by a couple of things that i heard in the arguments today. of course, it's a hard question. but what the court is supposed to decide here is whether this violates the constitution by making a determination on the

basis of sex, not whether it is good or bad policy. that is something for legislatures and doctors to decide. and so hearing things like justice kavanaugh looking to europe as a matter of policy and what they've tried to do there is concerning. there were other justices including chief justice roberts who seemed to suggest that judges aren't experts when it comes to medical care so isn't that something we ought to leave to the decisions of lawmakers and doctors. it's just such an about face from some of the things they do agree to delve into and i also heard justice jackson say that she was very concerned and nervous about the court saying maybe we shouldn't get involved in this at all. so it may be that they're looking for an out to avoid making this decision and allow the tennessee law to be upheld. so that is a concern i have. the other thing though that's really interesting is justice gorsuch here, who could be a really interesting vote in this case, he was silent. he did not ask any questions so we didn't get a big tell from

him. but he is the justice who wrote the opinion in the most recent case the court has about transgender rights and lgbtq rights in a case from 2020. in that case, justice gorsuch said that discrimination because of someone of their sexual orientation was a discrimination on the basis of sex by the 14th amendment. you need five here and it may be we see this case decided 5-4 in favor of tennessee. >> such an interesting read. thank you. and next, how america's closest allies are bracing for the trump presidency 2.0. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. lcerative col. ...or crohn's disease symptoms after taking... ...a medication like humira or remicade? put them in check with rinvoq, a once-daily pill. when symptoms tried to take control, i got rapid relief with rinvoq. check.

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ehealth is wonderful. $1,200 savings in my pocket. i was really pleasantly surprised with that. (♪♪) (♪♪) ehealth. your medicare matchmaker. in brussels, the new secretary general of nato is warning donald trump of a dire threat to the u.s. if ukraine is pushed into a bad deal with russia. the comments come as the alliance is preparing for donald trump's second term following trump's repeated criticism of the organization in the past. something the nato chief was asked about today on "morning joe." >> how is the alliance preparing for his return? >> he was right in 2018 when he said we had to spend more. i think it is thanks to donald trump that nato where you would

for a second exclude u.s. is at 2% which was agreed in 2014. but we need to do more. we cannot stick to 2%. it has to be much more if long-term, we want to keep against the russians and others. >> and joining me now is the former british ambassador to the united states, previously to france and to turkey. and i think in previous years, you were posted in iran. >> great to be you again. >> thank you so much. let's just talk about europe writ large bracing for donald trump 2.0. for the new trump presidency. he seems to be already assuming the mantle from a diminishing joe biden. for a lot of other reasons. but trump is doing things like taking a trip to france for the notre dame reopening, but also he'll be with a lot of european leaders.

in the past, he met with the japanese prime minister with others who came to mar-a-lago. to be going abroad during the transition, it's unusual for an american president. >> i think it is unusual. >> president-elect i should say. >> though some of, there was a culture if not a law which suggests that until you got to the inauguration stage that the incoming team should keep their distance, especially from foreign governments. whatever that convention was, it's gone out the window and they are very happily talking to different governments, including the british, and going to paris i think he would enjoy that enormously. guest of honor of president macron. let us hope the french government doesn't fall in the coming hours and that becomes the real story. it might. >> as there is in germany and a lot of other countries, western allies. >> exactly. >> are really fragile right now. >> so, western allies are

fragile. in the u.k., there is a new age government which came into power in june with a big majority of 170 odd seats and yet they've got into some difficulty in their first few months in power. >> big resignations from that cabinet. >> yes. and the u.k. has got a number of inherited problems. it's got no economic growth. no productivity and the government needs to address those things. and already members of the labor party are complaining about you know, if you like -- the british government. so you've got a german political crisis, a french one. britts are not in crisis but we've got poor growth. we've really got to pull our finger out and do more to look after european prosperity and security at a time when the incoming president of the united states is saying the united states is not going to be doing as much for european security. particularly for ukraine, as it has in the past. >> and joe biden is is really

bulking up ukraine funding to where he's been criticized by the u.s. for depleting our weapons stockpiles by given ukraine so much. trying to trump through ukraine. same time, is it too little too late because of the stalemate in d.c. that caused critical three or four months last spring when russia did advance. >> i think that the west is generally speaking been too slow in providing the military support the ukrainians need to deal with the russian invasion. if you were, all of our general, whether they're british or american or french, thought this would be over in a few days if not two or three weeks and here we are, two and a half years on. >> is a negotiation inevitable now? >> and the ukrainians are still fighting for their lives. i think it does become

inevitable. not just because there's an incoming president of the united states that doesn't want to do much, but because everyone is being depleted. many people are saying that realistically, it is not going to be an option for ukraine to regain all the territory. the question is what sort of negotiation will there be and what guarantee will there be that the rest of ukraine does not get attacked by putin. >> should there be some pre nato security commitment to ukraine so that however it comes out of this negotiation, maybe giving up as much as 20% of russian occupied territory. >> that is enough to the ukrainian government at the moment. if there's a negotiation and the reason president biden is correct, we have to ensure ukrainians have chips on the table when a negotiation takes place. if they are totally deplete and losing, putin will think he's won and dictate terms. we have to avoid that.

so we have to ensure they are in a strong position. depleting our own reserve, yes, but 80% of the money voted by the u.s. congress goes to u.s. defense companies to produce new stuff. >> let me ask you about intelligence sharing because there are several nominees, now choices, not yet, one is tulsi gabbard. she only has no experience, she has repeated russian propaganda talking opponents about ukraine. she has had secret visits with al assad in syria and has no experience in managing 18 intelligence agencies so she's been widely criticized. the relationship with the u.k., the most important of our partners is ironclad. it's hard wired, but will there be ways to conpartmentalize and hold things back if she's preparing the daily brief for

the president of the united states? >> there are ways in which you can ensure that a filter is applied to the provision of the hard intelligence that goes in. even in the old days, sometimes mistakes were made -- >> will they be luctant to share? >> it has to be ced on sharing but if there's a risk of it being leaked or distorted for political reasons, there will be a move from within the alliance to hold back some of the most sensitive intelligence. if she's confirmed, it may be that that the problem will not arise but there's a lot of concern. you're quite right. amongst america's intelligence allies that this could go wrong. >> that makes us less safe. always a pleasure. thanks for visiting. >> thank you. >> appreciate that. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow the show on social media and you can rewatch the best parts of the show anytime on

youtube. just go to msnbc.com/andrea. chris jansing reports starts after a short break. nsing repors after a short break.

♪♪ good day. i'm chris jansing live at impeachment headquarters in new york city. on the brink, donald trump's embattled pick for defense secretary pete hegseth says the president's elect is still in his corner, but trump's actions may tell a different story. conversations under way about a plan b, is hegseth running out of time to get his nomination on track. plus, manhattan manhunt. the search is under way who shot a top ceo in the back, killing him in broad daylight on a busy city street before escaping on an ebike. what police have just revealed about the gunman. and the supreme court delves into the politically explosive and personally fraud issue of transgender rights. the latest on the