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right now on "andrea mitchell reports," a 26-year-old ivy league graduate is in police custody charged with the murder of brian thompson almost a week after he was gunned down in new york city. we'll have the latest including news of an extradition hearing in the next hour. the world is watching what happens next in syria after rebel forces topple the assad regime. the u.s. is today warning all sides to let syria determine its own future. plus, a dangerous wildfire exploding in malibu forcing residents to evacuate. parts of southern california bracing for more threatening conditions ahead with high winds. and president-elect trump's picks including hegseth, patel

and gabbard are on capitol hill today trying to solidify their support in an effort to secure their confirmations. good day. the suspected gunman charged in the killing of united healthcare ceo is about to face an extradition hearing in pennsylvania to determine when he'll be brought back to new york. and we're learning chilling new details. 26-year-old luigi mangione is now officially charged with murder as well as several other charges spanning two states. the tip that broke the case was called in by a sharp eyed mcdonald's employee in altoona, pennsylvania, five hours away from the murder scene. a rookie police officer responding to the call immediately identified mangione as the suspect wanted 280 miles

away. he was apparently caught red handed with the same fake id he used at the manhattan hostel, plus, what appears to be a ghost gun and silencer similar to the ones on security video. police also found a three-page handwritten note to the healthcare industry with mangione writing in part frankly, these parasites had it coming and it had to be done. "the new york times" saying that mangione was suffering from severe back pain and had cut off friends and family. police say the graduate from a well to do maryland family was not on their radar at all until the call from the fast food worker. >> we have been working this hard for five days and gotten hundreds of tips to our tip lines but this was not a name that was called in to us. >> what we know is that he has ties to maryland, to hawaii and to san francisco, california. he attended college in

pennsylvania and we know he has no prior criminal history. not only in new york city, but in the country. >> we begin with nbc news law enforcement correspondent, tom winter. george solis in altoona, pennsylvania, michael alcazar and joyce vance, co-host of the sisters in law podcast. tom, you've been all over this case from the beginning. you broke the news of the suspect being found, person of interest. what have you been able to pull from his manifesto? his other writings on social media that show his empathy towards the unabomber? >> two things there, andrea. the first one are the writings this individual apparently had on his person or in his backpack at the time he was taken into custody. as you just referenced. there's two specific quotes of it, which may be helpful. one says to the feds, i'll keep

this short because i do respect what you do for our country to save you a lengthy investigation, i say plainly i wasn't working with anyone. to be clear, andrea, while law enforcement officials believe he acted alone, they have not ruled out anybody else. so just want to be clear on that point. secondly, he apparently wrote i do apologize for any strife or traumas, but it had to be done. frankly, these parasites simply had it coming. it's three pages, but it's only approximately 300 yards. in there, he does specifically reference the healthcare industry. large corporations in the united states in general and then also specifically and criticizes those companies also criticizes united healthcare. so that's what's in there. should point out that law enforcement officials we've spoken to say they're concerned about other people who might look at this as a call to action for ceos in this country.

this is a huge concern and really kind of extends the theme that we've seen here in 2024, which is people trying to solve significant problems in their view through violence. you saw it twice with the attempted assassination of donald trump while he was a candidate, now president-elect, of course. and you see it here. this person having a specific animus to an industry and to a company perhaps and trying to in fact, it did, according to prosecutors, kill somebody who ran the company. this is a trend that's deeply troubling in law enforcement circles. intelligence alysts are poring over this in the united states and part of the things they're poring over are posts referencing the unabomber where he talks about some of his views and espouses some of his views. you're looking at one of the

posts by apparently by luigi mangione's profile and what he wrote online. so yes, a lot of things for investigators to pore over. that's kind of the broader component of this. the broader intelligence component of this. there's the other component which is just the pure criminal prosecution component of it. that's something we'll hear more about today i think with the extradition hearing and charges filed late last night in new york for this case. so that's where things are on the criminal side. there, it's more about matching evidence to this individual and as we started the show, you saw that identification and that gun, which will presumably be so important to this prosecution. >> do they have to lay out in the extradition hearing, any kind of probable cause or any new evidence that we might not have seen as to why he should be brought back to new york for trial?

>> that's really up to mangione. if he waives this, there's no sort of prosecution that prosecutors need to make. there's no specific hearing. this pretty much ends today and he could be back in new york city today or tomorrow. if he chooses to challenge it, that's a whole separate thing. to the question you were asking, prosecutors might have to show more of what they've learned through their investigation and the investigation of the nypd. >> george, governor shapiro says the real hero here and there's no question about that because the police commissioner said they had no lead as to who this was. the identity. was the mcdonald's employee who just called 911, recognized him. he was still wearing his mask though. talk to us about that and where the investigation stands there. >> reporter: good to be with you. of course, the big question was when the hearing might be and we got that answer. about 1:30 today at the blair county courthouse. that's where mangione made the

appearance late last night, 6:00, 6:30. appeared very somber. no cameras in the courtroom. when he was read the charges he faces here in pennsylvania for forgery and the firearms charge, two felonies, three misdemeanors, he remained quiet. just said yes, sir, no, sir. it was after he was denied bail that he said something about the charges. that was where the prosecutors laid out inside of that backpack they found with him, he had about $8,000 in cash, some foreign currency. as well as the gun, silencer, passport. a bag that was in there that may have been waterproof or some type of high sophistication to which he challenged. he said listen, i don't know where that money came from and as far as this high level of sophistication, that was just a waterproof bag. if anything, that gives us an

indication of whether or not he may have anything to say about this extradition hearing or waives it today. as far as the investigation goes and the mcdonald's employee, today, we heard from the deputy chief of the police department. he said this is a polarized case. we've received some threats against some citizens in our community. we're talking all of those threats very seriously. so they're waiting to see where this case goes from here. there was a witness inside of that mcdonald's that watched this all unfold. since this happened fairly early in the morning. take a listen to what they said. >> a guy came in the door and i didn't really look at him. i thought everyone was kidding around. the one guy said that looks like the shooter from new york. he was probably ten feet away from me and with his back to me. i'm sure he, he probably heard

us. >> reporter: as you know, this type of thing doesn't happen all the time here in altoona, pennsylvania. this community very rattled by everything that has unfolded. >> i can imagine so. michael, the last setting the nypd had was the day of the t shooing. the fact a good samaritan helped break the case really highlights the importance of crowd sources for crime solving. putting out all that video and pictures. >> once we disseminated the images of the suspect, we're relying on the public. we have a crime stoppers tip, we check it out, it turns out not to be the suspect, not in this case. good job by this civilian that reported him. great job by the police officer that made the apprehension. it was a coordination by

everybody to make a successful arrest of this suspect. >> and joyce vance, let's talk, this young man is from a very wealthy family. a privileged background. highly educated. so it seems so extraordinary that he has these you know, anti establishment views, terrorist views, really. at least according to his own writings. do you think there's going to be a mental health defense here? >> well, it will be an interesting prosecution, andrea. you know, sometimes you have people who don't want a defense. they have a point of view to push. they have a manifesto. we know this defendant does in fact have a manifesto and appears to have an ax to grind. it's important by the way to caution that this early in an investigation, there can be information that appears to be accurate that surfaces that ultimately law enforcement has to set aside because it's not

accurate. there will be issues about what evidence is admissible at trial. but while there could be lawyers who intervene in some sort of an insanity or mental health defense, this could also be a defendant who wants to go to trial to bring attention to his point of view. that's something that happens rarely, but he does seem to fit that profile. >> and there seem to be so much public sympathy for him. i know it's anecdotal because we're only seeing the people who want to express themselves, but i was surprised by the vitriol expressed against the health industry. we all have our experiences and anger at times when you're left on hold for hours by insurance companies but to find people, you know, saluting and cheering on the murderer in those days when he was on the loose. how hard is it going to be to find a jury?

>> you know, lawyers put this issue we call it jury nullification, and the issue involves whether jurors will make a decision to acquit or maybe one juror will make a decision to vote against convicting. not because they believe the defendant isn't guilty but because they're willing to give that defendant a path. that's a really dangerous sort of a proposition to have jurors redeciding or relitigating the issue of what the law should be. and that's a real risk and a reason that prosecutors will tell you it's so critical for people to face accountability under the law. we don't want these individualized decisions. we want to have a system of law that applies equally to everyone. when you look at a situation like this and you say well, this is a policy difference that he had with the man he murdered, that's clearly the sort of situation where we can't say it's okay to murder someone.

i have as much empathy as anyone else does for disagreement with the insurance system. i've got a kid born with a genetic defect. i've spent a idiculous amount of time fighting with insurance companies. that doesn't mean you pick up a gun and resolve it that way. might mean you need to take a more difficult path. that's what prosecutors will have to express to a jury and convince them of. >> do we know yet just briefly whether or not he has a public defender? he's from a wealthy family, but he's separated from his family. they're estranged. >> he'll have to make a needs assessment with the court to determine whether or not he's entitled to a defender, but typically the standard is low and if you certify you can't pay for your own counsel, you're constitutional entitled to have someone represent you. >> michael, i was intrigued by the fact his picture, even that

four second shot was out there for so many days. he's from a prominent family. not his classmates, family, fraternity, nobody came forward and said that looks like our michael. isn't that strange? i also want to ask you about the ghost gun. if that makes it harder to link it to the crime or it could be a second gun, right? might not be the one that was used in the crime. >> yeah, it was surprising the police commissioner said they had no information, you know, linking this gentleman, this perpetrator to the crime. other than the 911 call. i'm confident they had thousands of crime stopper tips but perhaps didn't have the opportunity to vet them. the mayor alluded they had his name and just contradicted by the chief of detectives and police commissioner. so it gives me a little bit of concern about what happened there. as far as the ghost gun, he

could have purchased this online. he's an engineering graduate. he could have made it himself. we have to try to link the weapon to the bullets we recovered on the scene. typically, most guns have rifling on the barrel and we like to do ballistic teszing to see if the bullets came from that weapon. if that's not the weapon, we have other ways to link him. perhaps his fingerprints on the water bottle, the cell phone. other things they recovered from the scene. >> thanks for your advice today. in 90 seconds, a live report from inside syria. we'll talk with a top israeli ambassador on the upheaval in the region. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. region you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. delicious too. just ask my old friend, kevin. nothing like enjoying a cold one while watching the game.

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only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ oh... stuffed up again? so congested! you need sinex saline from vicks. just sinex, breathe, ahhhh! what is — wow! sinex. breathe. ahhhhhh! today, prime minister netanyahu became israeli's first sitting leader to take the stand as a criminal defendant when he testified in his long running corruption trial. he's charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases more than four years ago. he has tried for years to avoid appearing in court. critics accusing him of undermining israel's judicial system. the israeli prime minister calls the charges a witch hunt and

syria now faces uncertainty about its future after the fall of the assad regime. israel is also taking over a disputed demilitarized buffer zone. new footage showing tanks in the golan heights in the contested area. this is an area along israel's northern border with syria. arab states are calling it illegal and a land grab. prime minister says it's temporary and that israel is talking all of the actions necessary, excuse me, to try to ensure its own security. explosions also rocked syria overnight with israel striking in and around damascus. israel saying it is targeting military and scientific research facilities. joining me from damascus is richard engel. really good to see you. you're doing your trademark extraordinary reporting but to

see you back in syria after all you've experienced in syria over the past years during this whole civil war is amazing. it's very moving to all of us. >> reporter: well, it's moving to be here. thank you, andrea. it is just astonishing how much has changed over the last several day, really. this was a country that was locked in a civil war for over a decade. yes, a civil war that i covered extensively and i think what you were referring, i was kidnapped in syria. had quite a few experiences in this country. because of this civil war, millions of syrians fled the country. hundreds of thousands of people were killed. more than 100,000 people were disappeared. and many of them remain missing. in fact, human rights groups in this country believe that most of those who were missing are in

fact dead. and the first day after assad was overthrown when the rebels marched into this country and assad's military faded away, it was a time of celebration. people came from all over the country to celebrate really the end of the civil war, to welcome a new beginning, and there was celebratory gunfire all around this city. people have been flooding in from around the arab world from the neighboring countries so they could see what was left of their houses, to reconnect with their relatives. to just come home. today, they were peeling back the curtain and seeing how brutal these last ten years have been. the assad family ruled here for over half a century but since the civil war began, the level of brutality in syria was really

beyond the pale. we saw some of that today when we went to one of a prison facility, one of the worst torture detention facilities i've ever seen anywhere. that includes abu ghraib, facilities where russians were torturing ukrainians. this was torture and killing on an industrial scale. in fact, amnesty international described it as a human slaughter house. this prison is on a hill top outside of damascus. what we saw there today were syrians desperately looking for missing relatives. for what they hope are hidden cells, subterranean labyrinths where their relatives might be kept. they might be holding on in some chamber behind a wall. so they came with crowbars and pick axes and there was a bulldozer or two. they were looking for documents

strewn all over the floor. we saw torture devices. one man came out with an armload of nooses. we didn't see any evidence of any subterranean chambers. the prison was empty. just these thousands of family members looking in desperation for any sign of their lost relatives. this was a one way facility. if you were sent there, you were never heard from again and today, syrians were able to finally approach this black site and go inside and see if they could find any trace of their relatives. we saw no success stories there. but if the first day was celebration, today was a bit of a realization of how difficult it has been and now, the questions are four, five year two look like and this country is already back at war. they were about 300 israeli strikes over the last 24 hours. most of them on military

targets, but according to israel, it sank most of syria's navy including six naval vessels. it has attacked many of the advanced weapons systems in this country. it's taken out syrian air defenses. israel does not trust this rebel movement that has taken over here, which is led by a rebel commander who used to be an al qaeda commander although he's since disavowed the group and is promising now moderation. so syria is starting off right now with all of this history, a lot of hope, a lot of anguish, and already under attack as israel is actively working to disarm it in this, in these early days. >> as well as moving tanks into a disputed buffer zone and they say that it's temporary, but of course, fears that this will become, you know, basically an

occupation or taken land. >> reporter: yes. seldom are moves that are described as temporary here in the middle east remain temporary. when troops go in and take an area, they say it's temporary. in egypt after the assassination, they said that emergency law was temporary and it lasted for decades. when israeli troops moved into the southern lebanon initially, 20 years ago, it was described as temporary and ended up staying there for nearly two decades. so once troops take land in this region, usually it is for keeps and usually it is only changed in war. so, yes, israel is moving in. it says to take this buffer zone, it wants to protect itself it says from these rebels which it does not trust. it says if it leaves them here,

the rebels could pose a threat to northern israel. even though the leader of the rebel movement today gave an interview to sky news, his first interview with the foreign press, since taking power. he said that the world has nothing to fear, that he is going to be moderate, that he wants good relations with all of the country's neighbors and good relations internally, but israel doesn't trust him and arab states say that has not to go with trust, that this is a land grab and that israel is exploiting syria's weakness to try and take a bit more territory to protect itself and also to expand its borders. >> richard engel, thank you so much. we're going to follow up on that right now because joining us is israel's ambassador to the united nations. ambassador, thank you very much for being with us. let me ask you about the movement of the tanks in what is

temporary. is this going to become part of the golan heights, the part that was occupied by israel in 2019? >> andrea, thank you for having me today. we are not getting involved in the fight within syria, but we are taking the measures to protect ourselves. though our defensive temporary measures. we took over some of the border once the syrian military abandoned them. we will not allow the iranian to come back to our borders. we learned a lesson from lebanon. there was chaos and iran took advantage of it and we suffered for it for years. we are determined not to repeat that mistake. that's why we took those posts and we'll wait to see what's happening in the regime with syria. whether that peaceful or radical like we know from the past of

those leaders that they are not peace loving leaders. so we will have to be patient about it. we have no intention to stay on those positions forever, but we are sure that we don't see a radical iranian groups on our borders again. >> now the leader of the rebel group has a background years ago in al qaeda, isis. he's on the u.s. and the united nations terror list. he's sanctioned. now he is promising moderation today again and says he will protect women's rights. how is israel preparing to deal with him? are you dealing, prepared to deal with him, if he proves to be legitimate and should the u.s. and others take him off the terror list so they can get humanitarian aid to syria and help, you know, support him against some of the more radical elements in this coalition? >> we will have first of all to look at the development. we are not sure there will be a sense of government. there's a possibility that it

will be tribes or different regions and each region. we have to see how it evolves. the leader, he's a bad guy. a bad actor. you say he's changed all of a sudden. i'm not sure that is the case, but we will see the action he's taking. the way the city himself. it is important to know syrians were the ones who suffered the most from the assad regime over the years. since his father 64 years ago and we offer humanitarian support for the syrians next to the golan heights. at the end of the day, no one can tell whether syria will be a peaceful nation or chaotic like lebanon. >> and israel has been striking assad's stockpiles of weapons, chemical weapons, rockets, missiles. do you think you have control

over those chemical weapons which have been of such grave concern? >> both russia and iran supplied syria with heavy ammunition, with technology, chemical weapons. that's scary. imagine those rebel groups having the chemical weapons. so we are taking the measures to neutralize that threat and i believe that we are very successful in that, but still, you know, it's a large country. 20 million people. many facilities. and we're worried about the possibility that some kind of weapon or technology will be in the hands of the rebels and we're finding very fast going into lebanon and hezbollah against us. for years, syria was like the place for weapons coming from iran into lebanon. we are determined to stop it. syria shouldn't work for the iranian anymore. >> and there are negotiations now including turkey with hamas.

president trump says he wants hamas to release the hostages before he takes office. are trump representatives playing any kind of meaningful role in trying to get some concessions from hamas? >> first of all, we are very hopeful. it's been too long. we are talking about a 100 hostages including children and women were being held in horrible conditions. we don't know how many of them are allies and what condition of those who are still alive. and yes, it's a movement but i'm very cautious because we saw hamas was negotiating but then disappeared. i think the statements of president trump are helpful. i think what's happening in syria, iran, lebanon, it shows hamas is isolated. no one is going to help them. they have to decide if they want to die or negotiate with us. >> ambassador, thank you very, very much. next, we'll go live to southern california where a massive wildfire has large communities in malibu on alert.

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dangerous fire conditions have put millions under red flag warnings. that number is growing at the franklin fire spreads. it's burned nearly 2,000 acres overnight. conditions were made more dangerous by strong santa ana winds. forecast to hit 30 to 40 miles per hour today. joining us now, nbc news correspondent, dana griffin in malibu for us. that sounds like a terrible recipe for more evacuation, more people being in jeopardy. >> reporter: absolutely, andrea. and right now on the ground, you're not seeing those active flames we saw when we first arrive and we could see this orange glow all throughout malibu, but you are seeing more apparatuses like this showing up

here in malibu. as you can see, we'll see if we can see it on the side of the equipment here. this is from santa barbara county. that's a couple of hours north of here. there's some 700 firefighters that are now in the area trying to battle this blaze and i just want to show you a pan of the scene here in malibu. this was all orange and a lot of spot fires were popping up overnight. when we got here after 2:00 this morning and now it is just a smoking haze. nearby is pepperdine university where you've got hundreds of students still sheltering in place. that was an order as hundreds of others evacuated because they have some fire protected areas on that campus so they felt the best thing for the students there was to keep them all in one place. we saw several videos of students who were hunkering down. many wearing masks and you could see this orange glow through the windows of the library there. right now, this fire has grown

to some 2200 acres and zero percent containment. the red flag warning is going to continue throughout the day. we could see wind gusts up to 45 miles per hour so that could send embers and flames anywhere. that's why they're reminding people to be very diligent during this day and through tomorrow. andrea? >> thank you. and next, president-elect trump's cabinet picks trying to lock in republican support on capitol hill. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. u're watchingl reports" on msnbc. y'all see this, patrick mahomes is saying goodbye! patrick! patrick! people was tripping. where are you going!? he was actually saying goodbye to his old phone. i'm switching to the amazing new iphone 16 pro at t-mobile! it's the first iphone built for apple intelligence. that's like peanut butter on jelly...on gold. get four iphone 16 pro on us, plus four lines for $25 bucks. and save on every plan versus the other big guys. what a deal. that's a lot if you ask me. ya'll giving away too fast t-mobile, slow down.

president-elect trump's picks for his new administration are back on capitol hill today meeting with key senators. pete hegseth, the embattled pick to lead the defense department is drawing the most scrutiny for his reported excessive drinking

and sexual assault allegation, both of which he denies. joni ernst sounded more positive about hegseth after their second meeting on monday calling their conversation encouraging. she spoke to the press afterward. >> it was a very productive meeting though. i think we're, we're just moving through the process. >> did he commit to keeping women in their current roles in the military? >> he is very supportive of women in the military. >> joining us now is msnbc news capitol hill correspondent, ryan nobles, ashley parker and "new york times" chief washington correspondent, carol holtz. so, ryan, now significant is the change in tone? taking your temperature day by day and that's a little difficult as a reporter. one thing i noted is there were anti ernst tv commercials in iowa over the weekend by maga

people. and she's up in '26. >> yeah, i do think there's a pretty heavy pressure campaign on senator ernst to support the hegseth nomination, but i don't know if that necessarily is going to have an impact on how she decides about this confirmation process playing itself out. and while we would certainly put her in the camp of potential senators that could be skeptical and hegseth's nomination, i think you're right there's been a shift in her public tone about the course of action as it relates to this process. what we see happening now, different from the matt gaetz nomination, is there doesn't seem to be an early exit ramp for pete hegseth where he pulls himself out of the running before he gets to the process of a confirmation hearing or gets the opportunity to answer questions from senators in a public setting. and hegseth does seem encouraged by these meetings he's having with senators. listen to what he said today. >> mr. hegseth, how impactful was that statement from senator

ernst? >> we're grateful that she said she's going to support us through that process and that's what she talked about. it's been substantive and meaningful. her background is significant on all these issues and i welcome all the con ver. >> reporter: that doesn't mean he is going to be the next secretary of defense. there's a long way to go in this process and there are a number of land mines that could still pop up before, if and when his final votes get to the floor. he's agreed to an fbi background check. the jurisdiction said they're going to look into these accusations against him and allow those who have made accusations to come forward. so there is a real possibility he does not make it through but the good news for hegseth is that senators at least seem to be open to allow him going through this process. something they clearly were not from matt gaetz.

>> ashley on a podcast in november, hegseth said quote, i'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. on fox news last night, he claimed his words were misconstrued. >> i want an opportunity here to clarify comments that have been misconstrued that i somehow don't support women in the military. some of our greatest warriors, best warriors out there are women who serve, raise their right hand to defend this country, love our nation, want to defend that flag and do it every single day around the globe. >> so it sounds like a walk back, but there's a distinction between women in the military and women in combat. if you're not in combat, you can't be promoted to leadership roles. one of the remarkable signs of you know, of recent year, decades, is women are now in major leadership roles including working at the joint chiefs. >> that's right. i mean, he, again, he did seem

to try to walk it back a bit, but he did not say in that statement or those comments that he thinks women should specifically be in combat roles. when you look at his previous comments on this issue, he's made quite clear that he believes that putting women in combat roles was complicating, that it led to more casualties, and that it let to a lowering of standards overall. he signalled perhaps that if the standards were not brought down in his view, he would be open to that. but again, there is a distinction but i think we are going to see him try to become as palatable as possible to the people he needs like senator ernst who of course is a likely person to be skeptical of him but is coming around. in part because of a lot of real political pressure on her.

>> carl, you've spent so many years up on the hill. i'm going to ask you about tulsi gabbard because i cover the intelligence community and the concerns there are because the role of the dni is to edit and approve the presidential daily brief, which is handed over every day by the cia and to appoint the briefer so she gets the last word on what the president will be seeing and she has spouted conspiracy theories that are helpful to the propaganda interests of russia and now syria. syria, which is so important. nobody credibly the talking about her being a willing asset, but she has got some very strange ideas. >> i think that's that's been percolating much more quietly on capitol hill. the people involved in intel as you say. they're behind the scenes but there's some real, real concerns on her. you know, what's going on in

syria has just put that into the forefront. it's going to be another difficult confirmation. ernst, there's a lot going on with her. she's up for re-election next time. her brand is women in the military and against sexual assault. one thing that's been interesting to me this whole time is watch the democrats. they've been laying low on this and they want the fight to be among republicans. and they don't want to get in the way of that fight. but at some point, they're going to be coming out, too. they're flabbergasted, really, that their republican colleagues are considering putting some of these people in. so, you know, as things play out here and we get closer to hearings, i think you'll hear more from them. i think ryan's right. a long, long way to go on this. hearings can be very explosive. >> let me ask you about that and the procedural questions here. there were times during the kavanaugh hearing where the fbi put things out but was not very helpful to what the democratic

critics wanted. the fbi tends to sort of be a vacuum cleaner so they put out things that include unchecked allegations. that gives republicans in this case and the candidate, the nominee, a chance to say, you see, that's not accurate. then everything gets thrown out. so there's a lot of peril in that. do the democrats call witnesses? >> i think they would definitely try and call witnesses. >> would they be overruled? >> they're going to be entitled to witnesses at these hearings. say when you look at armed services committee, i think there's a pretty good relationship, really, between roger whittaker and jack reed. i don't think the democrats are going to get run over by the republicans in the senate on this. they're going to get their chance. now, what the incoming administration feels about that, you know, that's the question. do they try and go outside or through a recess appointment

situation. i think you can see the democrats when they get their opportunity, they're going to zero in on things. it's not just going to be with pete hegseth. not just his behavior, but it's about his ideas for the military and you know, the cleaning house over there. i think that, you know, you'll find some real questioning from the democrats. but of course, under the changes in the senate rules, it's just a majority vote. >> and it's alleged mismanagement in these military groups, veterans groups. small groups. not the -- >> i think you'll see a lot of emphasis on this. i even hear from republicans, you know, who are not way out in front on this that one of their big questions about all their nominees is managerial competence. this is a thing they actually care about. pete hegseth, that's like one of the biggest things in the government to be running. one of the most important jobs and i do hear that from republicans saying these people, rfk jr., these people have to be

able to present some kind of convincing case that they can manage these huge agencies. >> so good to have you here. thank you. and ryan nobles, thanks to you and of course, ashley parker. and next, a new report indicating how the first trump justice department was secretly gathering text messages and phone records from government officials in the media and you won't guess who one of their targets was. and we're monitoring president biden's remarks on his time in office as his time winds down and we'll bring you any headlines. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ♪ like a relentless weed, moderate to severe ulcerative colitis symptoms can keep coming back. start to break away from uc with tremfya... with rapid relief at 4 weeks.

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in a report out today, the department of justice's inspector general is criticizing the doj under donald trump. this new report laying out how in 2017 and 2018, the trump justice department secretly and improperly obtained phone and text message logs of two members of congress, dozens of congressional staffers, and then in 2020, got similar records from members of the news media. among the staffers whose records were seized, get this. kash patel. president-elect's choice to take over the fbi. he was working various security roles then. the report finds they failed to take account for separation of powers using subpoenas and gag

orders and third party providers including apple to keep those companies from telling their customers. for more, we're joined by ken dilanian. ken, this is, the secrecy involved here and the fact that they were doing it on some of their own people and members of congress. >> i think the most important thing about this report is that it serves as a warning as a second trump administration is about to take office with a new trump appointed attorney general about just how powerful the justice department can be, what kind of records it can get and the secrecy it can deploy in going about getting them. now, in this case, there were some leaks of classified information into news stories in 2017 and 2018 and russia investigation and prosecutors went off in bull in a china shop

fashion and grabbed text message logs of staffers. adam schiff and eric swalwell. there are now rules that say top officials of the justice department would have to be notified if something like that happened, but the ig found that later under bill barr, the policies were violated when it grabbed up the same from reporters at "the new york times" and "washington post." there's now a policy in place that says that can't happen anymore. the doj will not subpoena records except in emergency circumstances. but that's just a policy. that can be rolled back by the trump attorney general. that's the real warning not here that this report the finding. >> who was the gentleman when it first started? >> jeff sessions, but he was

recused. he was not found to have been involved. that's the bizarre thing about this. the subpoenas to the members of congress and staffers were done by line prosecutors, sort of the work a day mechanisms of the justice department without real consideration that this is a separate branch of government. they could have whistleblowers calling them about the department of justice and maybe the doj shouldn't have access to those records. >> i think we found the deep state, the first trump administration doj. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." chris jansing starts after the short break. eports." chris jansing starts after the short break. . taste so deliciously fresh. with better nutrition, too. for us, it's eggs any style. ( ♪♪ ) as long as they're the best. eggland's best. ( ♪♪ )

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