♪♪ 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 case and how

it could reframe the public debate over gender identity. but we start with this remarkable turn of events, not only that donald trump may pull the plug on his choice for defense secretary, pete hegseth, but that he is actively considering florida governor ron desantis as his replacement, a man who trump brutally mocked on the campaign trail, questioning everything from his political acumen to his sexuality. the new reporting comes from two sources familiar with trump's decision making. one of them telling nbc news that desantis is, quote, very much in contention. hegseth, meantime, is back on capitol hill. meeting with senators amid new nbc reporting that his drinking raised alarm bells among staff he worked with at fox news. but this morning, he said he's not withdrawing and said the president-elect is behind him. >> i spoke to the president-elect this morning. he said keep going. >> you're in this all the way? >> why would i back down?

i've always been a fighter. >> it's clear hegseth is in for a fight. nbc news learned that at least six republican senators could vote no, which would effectively doom his chances. but while he's losing support on the hill, his own mother came to his defense, publicly recanting the accusations of adultery and sexual abuse she made against her son in an email from 2018. >> he doesn't misuse women, no. i mean, he, you know, he's been through some difficult things. i'm not going to list them by name, but i would just say that some of those -- some of those attachments or descriptions are just not true. especially anymore. >> i want to bring in nbc's ryan nobles who is on capitol hill. nbc's vaughn hillyard is coffer covering the president-elect and courtney kube and david jolly from florida, and msnbc political analyst. we expect hegseth to speak on

the hill today, ryan. what are you hearing first from senate republicans? any of this damage control, the meetings he's been doing, any of this seemed to have helped him? >> reporter: it seems clear that pete hegseth is not going to go down without a fight. there's growing republicans who seem to have real concerns about his confirmation. he is trying to convince them, up the charm offensive, the stories published about him are taken out of context or are outright wrong and he still has the backing of the president-elect donald trump. this despite the fact that there is reporting that donald trump is already looking for options beyond just hegseth. now, up until this point, hegseth has been very reluctant to talk to the press of any kind to discuss these on going issues that are surrounding him. only given one statement on camera before today, but it looks as though his media

strategy is changing. you saw him speak to reporters this morning as he came to capitol hill. just did a lengthy interview for megyn kelly's podcast which is soon to air. he is scheduled to talk to reporters again after his round of meetings he had so far today on capitol hill. so this shows that he is going to try to take these allegations head on and try to explain to republican senators why he still deserves confirmation. that being said, there are still many that are not prepared to fully give them their support and want to see this process play itself out. listen to what josh hawley, a republican senator said earlier today. >> if the president wants him to be secretary of defense, then people ought to give him a shot. my presumption is i would support him. let him take the oath and answer all the questions. he'll answer all of those and many, many more under oath, if he wants to and if the president wants him to.

but, i don't know what the case is at this point. >> reporter: and the one thing, chris, we should keep in the back of our minds is that donald trump isn't often willing to just dump someone overboard, particularly someone that he picks to join him as part of his administration. you, of course, remember the very contentious confirmation battle over supreme court justice brett kavanaugh where despite the claims about kavanaugh's past conduct came to light, there was a very emotional hearing from kavanaugh's accuser. trump doubled down on his support for kavanaugh. the fact that kavanaugh was willing to defend himself was something that impressed trump and ultimately led to his confirmation. the question is, are we dealing with the same situation here? it seems pretty clear at this point hegseth is willing to take on this fight, whether or not he'll be successful and also of course the possibility of more stories about his background still exists. even more information could come forward.

at this point he is staying in with the hopes of being confirmed. chris? >> congressman, some supporters are wavering. now punch bowl quotes saying these allegations come up in just the last 12 to 14 hours are a surprise to all of us. and so, yes, he does need to address those because this was not something of which we were aware, nor was president trump aware of them. i mean, that's a pretty stark turn around for starters. but, how is trump's team not aware of any of this? what does it say about their ability to properly vet these nominees? >> well, i think it's clear that their vetting process has been very poor, but that's hard when you have a principal in donald trump who often acts on impulse. if you take the reporting around his choice of matt gaetz, happened on an airplane when susie wiles wasn't in the room and saw what happened with that one. i think it's becoming clear, chris, that pete hegseth is a

dead man walking in terms of his nomination opportunities. and it has this real unsettling feeling when it says the president told me to keep going. that's a kiss of death almost. and look, part of it is if you are the trump camp, they do have to manage his withdrawal a little bit, use the gaetz nomination as an example. once gaetz was out, it was probably within 24 hours or so they had pam bondi lined up. so if the trump team is considering ron desantis or joanie ernst or someone else, you want a commitment from that alternative pick before you really pull the string and let hegseth go. so right now hegseth doesn't have a choice. he couldn't cancel today's meeting even though it looks like the votes won't be there because that would retell the story even worse. they have him out there walking the plank, waiting for donald trump to line up who he wants. it may be ron desantis. honestly in this environment, joanie ernst would be a great

pick. ron desantis, the president's daughter-in-law wants it. it's very transactional, donald trump pick ron desantis for the secretary of defense. >> before we get there, let's talk about, courtney, what we're learning, some of these new allegations about former fox employees and i think some current as well who had questions about his drinking. >> yeah, that's right, chris. so we spoke with ten current and former fox news employees. most of whom who worked with him on the popular weekend show "fox and friends." pete hegseth was a host on that until november 12th when president-elect donald trump named him to be his pick for secretary of defense. during the course of the years where hegseth work on that show, these employees told us about a series of cases where he would show up for work 6:00 a.m. on the weekends, show up minutes before the show would go on the

air, talk about being hungover, he would clearly be hungover, he would show up just moments before the show was going to start and have to put makeup on him the last minute and walk him through some of the topics and cases he would show up smelling of alcohol from the night before. now, chris, the employees told us about this because they were concerned about -- it caused a lot of stress and pressure on the people who worked on that show for a matter of years. but they were also concerned about what it said about his character. i'm standing in the pentagon right now. this is an organization, the department of defense, of roughly 3 million people, active, guard, reserve and civilians. the budget is upwards of $900 billion. this is a 24/7 job with a tremendous amount of responsibility. the secretary of defense signs the orders, the deployment orders that signs men and women into combat zone into harm's way. and the employees who we spoke with were concerned about his past -- the evidence of his past

character, and his decision making, and then taking over the helm of a place that has so -- such an unbelievable and awesome responsibility. so, as i said, these employees told us about the past behavior. fox news did not reply to a request for comment. the transition team denied this. calling the allegations false. >> i'm going to interrupt you now because pete hegseth is coming to the cameras on capitol hill. let's listen in. >> it's been edifying and wonderful process to go through and meet with senators and talk to them, especially members of the senate armed services committee whose passion is the defense department and are war fighters. to hear what they want to do to make sure that department is properly oriented for the threats of the world and make sure that we're putting the war fighters first. that's what donald trump asked me to do. your job is to bring a war fighting ethos back to the pentagon. your job is to make sure that

it's lethality, lethality, everything else is gone. everything else that distracts from that shouldn't be happening. that's the message i'm hearing from senators and that advise and consent process and it's been a wonderful process. as far as everything else, i had a chance to sit down with megyn kelly today for an hour. i refer you to that interview. she asked probably all the questions you guys would like to ask. [ all speaking at once ] >> so we were told that pete hegseth would come before the cameras, but he did it very briefly. he obviously didn't take any questions, although we'll see if he has anything else to say as those cameras follow him down the hallway. but the bottom line is this he has not giving any indication that he is willing to step back. he called it a wonderful process to go through. which is an interesting way to put it given the controversies and everything surrounding him. he said today, vaughn n a statement he put out about a war fighting ethos that he was going

to continue to fight. we have to wait and see in the sitdown with megyn kelly. i wonder what your take away is from his time on the hill, i should say. on tuesday he met with senator eric schmidt. on monday, tommy tubervillle. cindy loomis. cruz, lee, senator rick scott, all of those expressed support for his nomination, though it's not clear exactly how many of these new allegations have come out or details have come out since they met with him. and he is to meet with meet with john thune. he met with him, roger wicker and senator joanie ernst. that's the backdrop of what he was talking about, advice and consent. what do you take away from his day on the hill today and what you just heard from him? >> reporter: right. at this point in time he has been red zant to answer

questions from reporters. garrett haake began to ask him, do you think you have the character before hegseth disappeared down the hallway. that's where this megyn kelly interview will be notable the extent she does or does not ask pointed questions of him and whether he provides responses that alleviate any concerns for the republicans who called for fbi background checks of hegseth and others. it's most notable that here from palm beach, the trump transition team is talking about individuals who are under consideration to replace pete hegseth as the d.o.d. nominee. when you're looking at those individuals who sources tell courtney kube, our colleague matt dixon and myself include the likes of joanie ernst, was just at mar-a-lago last week, iowa senator, she was here on donald trump's election victory

and has not been ra-ra maga. she pushed back on tariff policy and somebody who two years ago when donald trump skipped her annual republican affair in iowa in which every other confidential on the republican side came and he did not. she publicly spoke out to a certain extent against donald trump deciding not to come to that. bill haggerty, another republican senator name has been floated for multiple other jobs but repeatedly passed up and other notable name is michael waltz, already been tapped to be his national security adviser but we're told could be shifted into the position to be the d.o.d. nominee. and each of those individuals would be expected up on capitol hill to much have much easier path toward confirmation than what pete hegseth is currently enduring. this comes at a time for donald trump in which there are serious questions about his judgment and the decision to bypass the

typical fbi process and the belief whoever he puts forward for nomination would be able to pass through the republican majority senate, clearly with matt gaetz going down the decision is then made quite clear from republican senators they're not going to be a rubber stamp for whoever he puts forward simply because donald trump won including with the popular vote. >> so, we got new sound from blumenthal who was spoken to by garrett haake who asked him about the status on the hill. we want to play for you what blumenthal told our nbc reporter. >> i've talked to five to ten republicans said they're waiting for the right moment to say no to pete hegseth. >> your colleagues saying that you privately is much lower bar to vote against him publicly or say publicly they won't support him. why do you think so few republicans, none by my count, have been willing to come out and say definitively not support

this nominee. >> nobody wants to defy donald trump. >> which brings me, vaughn, to donald trump himself. courtney was describing the great reporting our team did about his fellow fox news employees and former employees. donald trump is known to be a tea totaler. he has spoken very openly about the destruction of addiction. he did it, in fact, i was remembering when he was talking to a group of folks talking about fentanyl crisis. but he specifically mentioned his brother who was an alcoholic and who he believes death -- that was a contributing factor to the heart attack that ultimately took his life. what do we know really about donald trump and how he's feeling about hegseth? and are these kinds of allegations new to him? could they be influencing him? >> reporter: pete hegseth's selection became very quickly. there were other individuals who

were under consideration to lead the pentagon. and pete hegseth, after meeting with donald trump, surprised many people inside of the transition who had watched donald trump interview others who were in the position to be the potential pentagon nominee. but with pete hegseth, you note the drinking. we have seen donald trump over the last nine years repeatedly come to the defense of individuals accused of sexual assault or sexual misconduct. and of course, donald trump has defended himself against own such accusations and was found liable for sexual abuse himself. but that is where the concern about repeated intoxication could meet a different threshold of concern for donald trump. that is where the reporting not only his time at the veteran's organization but also courtney's reporting at his time at fox is -- could very well be a paramount concern. that is where you see donald trump even looking to consider the likes of florida governor ron desantis, who he had sought to extinguish the political career of other the course of the last two years is notable

and also comes down to the fact that donald trump's close nucleus of individuals who he has the utmost faith and trust to be loyal to him is actually quite limiting being number one, loyal and number two qualified. that led to some of these perhaps surprising picks because donald trump said from the outset he wanted to surround himself and a cabinet by individuals who he had no questions about their loyalty to him and his policies and the willingness to execute his wishes over these four years. and i think that this is where it's all coming to a head because that group of individuals who donald trump number one trusts but also meet the qualifications that individuals up on capitol hill including republican senators would expect to traditionally fill those key cabinet positions, i think that that is where donald trump is now running into some trouble because that list of names is dramatically shrinking in realtime. >> which seems, david to put these two men, donald trump and pete hegseth on two different

paths because, wow, full-court press by hegseth. we just saw him come before the cameras. we heard him say that he has done a long interview, a sit-down interview with megyn kelly. his mother was on television today basically saying he's not the same person he was and seemingly recanting some of what she wrote to him in an email during his second divorce and his own op-ed in the wall street journal. on the other hand, you have that new reporting and you touched on it, that donald trump is considering making ron desantis the new nominee -- a man with whom he's had a con ten tentiou relationship over the years. let's listen. >> ron desanctimonious -- >> somebody like ron cannot do it because he's owned and controlled by the globalist establishment who always puts america last. >> they keep saying, oh, i think desang tis can do okay with

farmers. i don't think so. based on polls, he's not doing okay with anything. >> the problem with ron desanctimonious is he needs a personality transplant and those are not yet availability. >> and yet now they're having these conversations. they're talking to each other. tell me where you think this is headed and if you think this full-court press that we are seeing from pete hegseth to save his nomination has a chance of succeeding? >> i don't think it has a chance of succeeding because what's missing from the story is donald trump's not making phone calls to senators on behalf of hegseth. jd vance is not up on the hill on behalf of hegseth and we're just talking about the sexual misconduct and the drinking. we haven't gotten to very substantive issues about the role of women in the military, which is -- would be representative of some hard joanie ernst questioning. five weeks to go before the confirmation hearings, four weeks, whatever the number is.

what hegseth is doing right now, they sent him out there to bide time. maybe i'm wrong. maybe donald trump actually gets more reflexive and digs in, but the fact that there are leaks about other candidates, to vaughn's point, suggests the donald trump political operation is already signaling that hegseth is done and they're moving on. that's a hard spot for hegseth but then the question becomes who's next? despite all of the insults of ron desantis, the bitterness is real between both of them. the truth is, ron desantis holds over donald trump's head the florida senate seat once marco rubio, presumably will be confirmed as secretary of state. the trump family wants that to go to laura trump. ron desantis has other allies he could give it to. that currency is probably bringing the two together. for ron desantis, it's the perfect opportunity. serve your country as secretary of defense and he is a lame duck now as governor but would not be should he be secretary of defense in the first term of the trump administration, perhaps it does set him up to run for president again, which is

ultimately ron desantis's long-term goal. >> all right. ryan nobles, vaughn hillyard, courtney kube, former congressman david jolly, thank you on a very busy day of developments on the hill. coming up in 90 seconds, what the nypd calls a brazen, premeditated atact by a suspect laying in wait. the new details we're learning about the murder of united health care ceo and the manhunt for the gunman who ambushed him. hi. i'm damian clark. i'm

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we're continuing to follow the breaking news out of new york city where a manhunt is under way for the gunman who killed the head of a major health insurance company this morning. brand new pictures from nypd show the suspect holding the alleged murder weapon before fleeing the scene on an e-bike. the victim, brian thompson, was the ceo of united healthcare. his wife told nbc news he had been getting threats it happened outside a hotel from rockefeller center. an area packed with tourists for the christmas season. nbc's sam brock is following the story. also joining us mark clak ston and retired nypd detective. sam, police made clear they believe this was a premeditated attack. what else do we know and what about this manhunt? >> reporter: look, there's just extraordinary societies of circumstances pertaining to this murder, according to police,

chris. preplanned murder at that. 6:40 this morning mr. thompson was walking out of a hotel, according to police, across the street. the investor event he was going to attend today was at 8:00. this is an hour and 20 minutes beforehand. he's out here, early in the morning, and just so happens the person who shot him was also on the sidewalk. according to police, only several minutes before that, they say he came from dark part or border of the sidewalk out into the street, calmly strides up, holds up the weapon. you can see him holding a firearm with what appears to be a silencer on the end of it and shoots thompson in his back. he staggers back and continues to move forward and shoot him multiple other times. police did say the weapon appeared to jam at some point but he kept firing. got through that and then the shooter found a bike, perhaps he had it staged nearby, gets on the e-bike and heads out into central park. that's where we were the last known time stamp for this, at least a visual time stamp with

6:48. that's like five or six hours ago. police say they are not going to rest until they find this person, but i'll point something out, there's cameras all other midtown manhattan, poles, buildings, all other the place. that's not the case in central park. this person got there before 7:00 a.m. this morning. dressed according to police in a very distinctive outfit a lot of black but very distinctive gray backpack. for all we know could have ditched all these things without video surveillance and it's not clear exactly where he is at this time. nypd did hold a press conference about an hour ago. here is a snip pet of what they told the public. >> the issue appears to be a light skin male, wearing a light brown or cream colored jacket, black face mask, bliek and white sneem sneakers and very distinctive gray backpack. 6:48 we have the shooter riding the bike into central park at center drive. the motive for this murder currently is unknown, but based on the ed we have so far, it does appear that the victim was

specifically targeted. >> reporter: chris, police say they recovered several things at the scene. three 9 millimeter bullets and casings and a cell phone they will put under a forensic examination. we don't have any more information beyond that. but this is all coming at a time where there are throngs of people in mid town manhattan. i just was two blocks away a second ago. it's just a sea of those who are coming out to see the tree lighting later today. it's jammed. all of this going on at the same time there's an active manhunt for someone who assassinated a major corporation ceo. the juxtaposition is hard to wrap your mind around. police said for those going out for the tree lighting ceremony later today they will be safe. there's a heavy police presence, but all this unraveling simultaneously, chris. >> so mark, let me just go over again the challenges for folks who are looking for this suspect. he took off on an e-bike, made a quick get away, goes into central park, sam points out there aren't a lot of cameras,

as there are in midtown manhattan. you have a lot of trails and trees, you have places where it's easy if you know particularly central park to get lost, to not be seen. especially on a day like today when it's cold. and even for some reason he didn't ditch that e-bike and the city bikes are very distinctive, right? they have a logo on them. there are tens of thousands of them across the greater new york city area. so, where do you even begin? >> well, you begin at the epicenter. and you begin to move out ward because obviously the crime scene is expanding. the evidence trail is expanding and there are additional resources that you have to acquire and evaluate, analyze, all while conducting this massive manhunt. and also, ensuring the safety of other new yorkers in the area. so it is a herculean task. i could tell just based on the amount of information and the

specificity that the officials provided during the course of the press conference itself, that there is a lot of valuable information that they have yet to track down, but i'm sure they have significant leads and information just based on how much information they provided to the public. >> let me ask you about what police are saying, because this is the busiest time of year we're coming upon the busiest time of year, the holiday season that stretches all the way into and past new years. i can tell you i walk through that area of midtown manhattan everyday, to and from work, and it is jammed in a way that it isn't outside of the holiday season. so, new york has an incredibly talented, incredibly experienced police force. when they say it's okay, come out, you're safe. can they say that with confidence?

>> absolutely. i think they're going based on the information that they've been able to obtain at that particular point. of course they've accessed the domain awareness system, which is a network of digital surveillance cameras, you know, private cameras, public cameras tied to license plate readers. they obviously -- and based on the information they provided, did some significant tracking up to the point of entering the park itself. and i suspect quite frankly they have some additional information even when the shooter entered into the park itself. the park is not totally devoid of surveillance equipment and other items that could perhaps assist in tracking him. so, i think there's a lot of information, like i said, that they have that they had not released publicly just based on how much they have released. and given this domain awareness system, the network that's been

established incorporating administrative reports, they have access to summons information, criminal court information, warrants. this camera system, it's really a high-tech and far-advanced system that can really make a big difference when you're trying to track a person down for committing this type of an offense. vastly different than i think a lot of people remember the '90s when mark was ssassinated on the west side. there was a different vibe, different tenacity and whole bunch of different technology that assists these type of manhunts now days. >> marq claxton, thank you so much. up next, the supreme court takes on the marquee case of the term, wading into the culture war issue of transgender care for minors. we'll dig into the huge implications of today's arguments. implications of today arguments. at harbor freight, we do business differently from the other guys. we design and test our own tools. and sell them directly to you. no middleman. just quality tools you can trust

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today the supreme court is directly diving into the politically fraught issue of transgender rights. taking on one of the most closely-watched cases of this scotus term, at the center of it, tennessee's ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors. the lawyers there today, the tennessee solicitor general and chase, the first transgender attorney to argue before the supreme court. >> tennessee claims the sex-based line drawing is justified to protect children. but sb 1 has taken away the only

treatment that relieved years of suffering for each of the adolescent plaintiffs. >> tennessee lawmakers enacted sb 1 to protect minors from risky, unproven medical interventions. the law imposes and across the board rule that allows the use of drugs and surgeries for some medical purposes but not for others. its application turns entirely on medical purpose not a patient's sex. >> joining us now nbc news justice correspondent ken dilanian who is at the court. former deputy assistant attorney general harry litman and antonio hilton was on the ground in tennessee when that law was signed. ken, this is the first time the court has taken up a case on transgender rights under the equal protections clause. explain that to us and what we heard today from the court. >> reporter: that's right, chris. so the plaintiffs and the biden administration were asking the court to overturn this law on the grounds that it violated the 14th amendment provision prohibiting discrimination on

the basis of sex. and that was a hard thing for the plaintiffs to overcome because the advocates of this law argues it treats boys and girls the same. it bans gender-affirming care for both as minors. and it appeared that a majority of conservative justices were -- are not prepared to overturn this law on the basis that it discriminates -- constitutes sex discrimination. and they also waded into the policy debate. and many of the conservatives expressed doubts that the supreme court should be weighing in on this contentious issue when, as they pointed out n europe, for example, some countries great britain, for example, are restricting gender-affirming care and the medical consensus there is different from the medical consensus in the united states. the biden administration argued today that denying this care to minors really does harm to people up to and including encouraging suicide. so there's a real divide there. but geb, the atives seem

very skeptical. take a listen. >> if you're thinking about this from the standpoint of there's no harm in just making them wait until they're adults, i think you have to recognize that the effect of denying this care is to produce irreversible physical effects that are consistent with their birth sex because they have to go through puberty before they turn 18. so essentially what this law is doing is saying we're going to make all adolescents in the state develop the physical secondary sex characterists consistent with their gender or sex assigned at birth even though that might significantly increase the of suicide and critically make it much harder to let them be accepted gender identity as an adult. >> application turns entirely on medical purpose, not a patient's sex. that is not sex discrimination. the challengers try to make the law seem sex based this morning by using terms like mas ewely niezing and feminizing but the arguments conflate fundamentally

different treatments. >> chris, we expect a ruling around june. it will have enormous implications. this isn't just about tennessee obviously. around half the states have passed similar bans and donald trump and the republicans have threatened to try to enact a national ban and prohibition on medicare and medicaid from covering these kinds of treatments. so this is a really important case, chris. >> ken, thank you so much. so harry, look, we are a country that's still trying to navigate the issue of transgender rights. it is new for a lot of americans. these are new issues for the courts. so from a legal perspective, what do you think the court is looking at to make this decision? >> i think as ken said, on the one hand there's this word puzzle, chris, is it discrimination based on sex. you heard the solicitor general for tennessee say, oh, no, it applies to boys and girls alike. but the solicitor general for the united states said, huh-uh. if you are a boy, who wants

gender-certain therapy you can get it. if you're a girl, you cannot. full stop. and that's because of this ban. but what really underlies it is i think the policy debate but they are connected because, you know, justice kavanaugh said and i think this is where the court is going, if the constitution doesn't speak to this, shouldn't we let it play out in the states? but that's the question. does the constitution speak to it because if it is a sex-based discrimination, the equal protection clause says you can't do it and the sort of loudest part of the argument today was the sound of silence from justice gorsuch, who had joined an opinion under title 7 but not the constitution but the same issue saying this is discrimination based on sex. so they're going to have to first tango with that logistical or word issue because that will drive their standard of review.

nevertheless, i think we're going to see something like people aren't sure and therefore leave it up to the states. just imagine, though, if you had the same reasoning in a situation where it was clearly on the -- discrimination or social hostility, which i think we have to say it is on the basis of sex or sexual orientation, the court's role then would be to apply the constitution and strike it down. but as ken says, i don't see that happening here. >> one of the big arguments here from the solicitor general, antonia, we heard it, this can be a life and death issue for transgender individuals. and you were there, as i said early, when this was first passed in tennessee. what was the reaction? what was the conversation particularly among those it affects most directly the transgender community and their families? >> well, chris, in transgender communities in tennessee there was absolute devastation at the time. you have to keep in mind this bill was passed or signed at the

exact same time that other anti-lgbtq measures were passed in the state as well, including the infamous first in the nation attempt at restricting drag performances. and so, people were despondent frankly. very fearful. they were talking to our team about potentially needing to move their families to other states, needing to find new careers, being very fearful that they were trans in public and recognized as such that they could be attacked whether they were adult or a child. but then also tell you in the state of tennessee there were large numbers of people, many of them involved in church-based activist spaces, who had close relationships with lawmakers in the state and had fought for this exact thing. and they were jubilant. they saw this as a major win, not just for their moral or religious cause because they really see themselves as defenders of children, as protecting the sanctity of their young lives. and so, there was this mix of celebration on the ground and then utter fear for the people

who are going to be so directly impacted by this. a very, very small minority anywhere but especially in a state like tennessee. yeah. harry, obviously this is a very specific case. but donald trump has pledged to restrict access to gender-affirming healthcare and reimpose restrictions on transgender people serving in the military when he takes office in january. what impact could this ruling have on future protections for the transgender community? >> well, the first one you make is really huge. come january 20th -- there was the trans attorney there, but the thing was the united states and solicitor general. come january 20th that goes away. they file a brief in the supreme court saying we have changed our position. and basically what it's going to do -- i mean, it's a great example, trans people in the military. if you think of that as sexual discrimination, it really wouldn't hold up. we've already run that argument with homosexuals by and large in society. but i think this is a harbinger

that the supreme court saying, hands off on transgender stuff and into that void i think very forcefully will step donald trump. it's a cultural flash point issue, different states. you're going to see a real wave of strict regulation that the supreme court will bless or at least not forbid coming from the same states, a similar dynamic really as in the wake of the dobbs decision. >> and an issue that many republicans believe was very helpful to them in the november elections. harry litman, an tonio hilton, thank you. the final house race is finally called in the 2024 election. what it means for republicans and their already razor-thin majority. already razor-thin majority

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it took four weeks to get a final number on control of the house of representatives, but after california democrat adam gray flipped a seat by less than 200 votes in the last house race called, here is the final count. 220 republican seats compared to 215 for the democrats. it is razor-thin margin that potentially for months will be even closer because trump plucked some winners of house seats to serve in his administration instead. nbc's julie serken is on capitol hill for us. republicans have no margin during all 100 days of the trump administration.

tell us more about what all this means. >> reporter: yeah, it means, chris, they have a two-seat margin if everyone shows up to work. your right, in pointing out that in the first 100 days perhaps the first month or two the margin could actually go down to just one vote. it is because of all those absences in part created by the president-elect plucking members of congress to be part of his cabinet. and it is why we heard for weeks now warning signs from steve scalise, speaker johnson himself, other members of the republican leadership team to the president-elect to stop taking our members because of course they cannot put forward that mandate, those overarching pieces of legislation when it comes to extending the president's tax cuts from 2017, comes to negotiating the budget that they want, when it comes to even doing some border security measures that they could do through a process known as budget reconciliation when they can basically get rid of that 60 vote threshold in the senate and thereby push through key pieces of trump's agenda. speaker johnson alluded to this

this morning. take a listen. >> we developed an expertise. we know how to work with a small majority. 217 to 215. do the math, yes. we have nothing to spare. but all of our members know that. we talked about that today as we do constantly that this is a team effort, that we have to all row in the same direction. you'll see great cooperation bicameral cooperation between the two bodies and we'll deal with the one seat majority. >> reporter: of course they've been here before. we watched them go through this before when he was operating with a four, five seat majority, now this is effectively cut in half and everybody has to be on the same page and you can bet with trump in the white house and the other side of pennsylvania avenue certainly he'll make sure that that happens. the first act, by the way, that republicans have to get together for is officially electing mike johnson as their speaker right in the new year. >> julie, thank you. the challenge is nothing short of daunting, how to revitalize the party that lost the white house and senate whose membership is shrinking and

activist members are demoralize. but today at least five democrats are officially running with others considering a run to succeed jamie harrison as chair of the democratic national committee. after he suggested that dems actually did better than other ruling parties around the world, arguing democrats beat back global head winds that could have turned this squeaker into a landslide. well, a new dnc chair may need a plan. we reached out to each candidate to join us and explain their plan beginning with our next guest, minnesota state chair, ken martin. it's a pleasure to have you here. so, look, politico did something interesting. they laid out pros and cons for all of those of you who are possible contenders. they say you are the ultimate technician. process operative who knows all the players. but they argue you wouldn't instigate the kind of wholesale overhaul of the party's outlook that some insiders think the party needs. what's your reaction to that

concern? and what change do you think the party does need? >> well, first, chris, thank you so much for having me on today. i really appreciate it. you know, look, i'm running for the dnc because too many in washington want to win the argument. i actually want to win elections. i have a prooun track record of doing that in minnesota. 25-0 on statewide elections. we built arguably the strongest state party in the nation and we passed amazing legislation that's helping improving people's lyes throughout our state. i believe we can scale this model up to the dnc. look, i believe, strong lirks i'm the only one with a plan out already on what we need to do in this moment, in this crisis moment for the dnc, we have an opportunity. an opportunity to re-imagine the dnc and do things that we could do and should be doing as a national party to actually compete in every zip code. as i say, we need to get the dnc out of d.c., make it a national party again. make sure we're working with our 57 state parties across the country and within our territories to contest every

race up and down the ballot so that we actually are competing every public policy arena in this country. so my plan is pretty comprehensive. again, i'm the only one with a plan right now on how we actuallyover haul the dnc. i'm looking forward to the contest to come other the next two months. >> look, to be fair, you have won democratic election after election after election, but in context, minnesota's deeply blue. i don't think that you've had your state vote for a republican for president maybe since richard nixnixon. so you weren't up against the odds before joe biden dropped out of the race, the number voting for democrat dropped to the lowest level. your party was losing ground in key swing states. so, coming from a blue state, do you understand what the party is doing wrong? >> well, i think you're partly right. while we haven't voted for a republican in years for president, the reality is that

we in 2010 was the first time in 24 years we won a governorship, right. reality is minnesota is much more of a purple state. they elected republicans to the u.s. senate and elected republican governors. it's not fair to say it's a deep blue state, one of the closest nonbattleground states in the country in terms of the margin. and so, you know, what that required of course, it's gotten a lot bluer under my time as chair. we haven't lost a statewide election because that's we built the type of infrastructure that helps us win up and down the ballot. and so, look, we have to do a better job for sure of making sure we're winning every where, from red states to purple states to blue states. all are important. all have critical races. we need to be investing in all places where we're losing right now to gain background to win elections so we can actually build power and improve people's lives. >> one criticism of the party is that they took on issues much more progressive than the general public, right? today is the perfect example.

the supreme court is hearing arguments or heard arguments on a key case on transgender right. here is the question, should transgender access to healthcare the ability to play on sports teams if you're trans, be for democrats the kind of civil rights cause they have long supported or will that alienate moderate voters the party needs? >> well, let me just say, i reject the premise because at the end of the day we're democrats. we believe in fighting for the working class, for the poor and for marginalize and oppressed people, people who are being pushed out of the conversation, bullied and harassed. that's the history of our party. we will stand up for the trans community. at the same time, we will censure at the core of our messaging working class agenda that reminds people throughout this country no matter where they're from, no matter who they are, no matter who they love or where they live that our party is their champion. and we're fighting for them. and so, you know, i think look,

we can do both. we can walk and chew gum at the same time. we can live true to our values. you don't have to abandon our values as a democratic party while also centering the needs and struggles of everyday day working americans. >> ken martin, candidate to head the dnc, thank you so much for kicking us off as we look at this important race. appreciate you coming on. >> thank you. coming up, he served four months in prison for defying the january 6th committee. now peter navarro is preparing to return to a position of power. the new job that donald trump has in mind for him. stay close. more "chris jansing reports" just after this. els way fresher. so you start to wonder. if i put a sheet of bounce on the finance guy, will it make him softer? bounce can't do it all but for better laundry, ♪ put a sheet on it with bounce. ♪ have you compared your medicare plan recently? with ehealth, you can compare medicare plans side by side for free.

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