(gentle breeze) - [announcer] eyes forward. don't drive distracted. i have one, too. i'd be so lost without mine. we are talking about mentor right yes. a mentor can guide you. support you. and unlock your potential. being a mentor can be just as life-changing. you can create opportunities. and inspire the next generation. helping someone find their path can transform your own. so find a mentor. or become one. wait, can i do both? you know what? let me ask my mentor. of course, you can. bring someone along on your journey. and see where it takes you. it is good to be back with you on this second hour of chris jansing reports. at this hour, making history.

president biden using one of the ultimate powers of his office, granting clemency to 1500 people, the largest number in a single day ever. and he's planning more to come. >> fake electors. real courtroom. a former trump attorney and aides face a wisconsin judge today. the latest legal development in one of the attempts to swing the 2020 election results. plus, the shot skirmish. what president-elect trump just said about the future of vaccines under an rfk jr. health department and what it might mean for our classrooms. it comes at the same time we're learning about fewer vaccinations and more deaths. the disturbing new numbers involving school-age children and why pediatricians dreading this flu season. our nbc news reporters are following all of the latest developments. now to that historic move at the white house. president biden announcing the biggest single-day act of clemency to date. nbc news senior white house

correspondent gabe gutierrez joins me now. what are we hearing from the white house on these commutations? >> reporter: as you said, the white house calling this a historic day. and announcing that around 1500 people have had their sentences commuted by president biden today. 39 people were pardoned. now, they were pardoned for non-violence offenses. usually drug charges. but white house press secretary karine jean-pierre just addressed the pardons at the white house briefing which is still ongoing. let's listen. >> the president has issued more sentence commutations at this point in his presidency than any of his recent predecessors at the same point in their first terms. he's also the first president ever to issue categorical pardons to individuals convicted of simple use and possession of marijuana. and to former lgbtqi plus service members convicted because of their sexual

orientation. >> the white house says these acts of clemency have gone to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, among those who were pardoned was a decorated military veteran from california, also, chris, a nurse from texas who participated in an emergency response for natural disasters in that state. now, the white house is also saying that the president and his team are looking at possibly more acts of clemency before he leaves office, and of course, all this comes just weeks after the president pardoned his own son, hunter. chris. >> gabe gutierrez, thank you. now to the midwest where three former trump allies involved in wisconsin's fake electors plot in 2020 just had their day in court. shaquille brewster is following this. what happened at the hearing, shaq? >> reporter: thesis were extremely quick hearings, only jim troops, donald trump's former wisconsin attorney appearing in court.

kenneth chesebro and roman appearing virtualliy, calling in to that hearing. the court commissioner essentially releasing them without bail, and this is as they're facing 11 felony counts connected to forgery. the state of wisconsin is alleging back in 2020, going back a previous election cycle, these men essentially, and i'm quoting here, by means of deceit, obtained the signature of ten gop electors in violation of state law. prosecutors arguing that those republicans that signed that document saying that donald trump had won the state of wisconsin despite joe biden winning the state, that they signed that document only after being told that document would only be used if a court overturned or invalidated the wisconsin 2020 election. despite that, jim troupes railed against the hearing. he railed against the charges he's now facing after that hearing we watched earlier today. listen to a little bit of what he said.

>> my children have been interrogated. my long held friendships and professional life have been destroyed. we had thought that this would end. the country asked for it to end in november. but lawfare in all its despicable forms will not end in wisconsin. >> now, there have been several motions to dismiss filed in this case. thosis were not considered by the court. today, and the next time we can expect to see these thee appear in court again is on january 28th, just about a week after the former president and president-elect trump retakes power. chris. >> shaquille brewster, thank you. president-elect donald trump is today casting doubt on whether his administration will stand behind childhood vaccination programs. let me bring in nbc's vaughn hillyard, what more can you tell us about this? >> reporter: exactly.

over the last three decades. robert f. kennedy jr., who donald trump has tapped to be his next secretary of health and human services, has been a deep skeptic of vaccines. and donald trump said he would allow robert f. kennedy jr. to do what he so desired on a myriad of fronts, including on vaccines. and in donald trump's new interview with "time" magazine, and his person of the year interview, i want to let you take a look at it, when he was asked specifically about the plans. quote, kennedy does not agree with vaxations. he disagrees with some, but we'll going to do what's good for the country. time asked, that could include getting rid of some vaccinations? to which trump responded, it could if i think it's dangerous. i don't think it's going to be very controversial in the end. this reflects comments made in an interview on "meet the press" with kristen welker where she

also pressed the president-elect on whether he would seek to remove certain vaccines from the market. he said that, for instance, the quote, polio vaccine is the greatest thing. if somebody told me to get rid of it, they're going to have to work real hard to convince me. when i talked with kennedy last month, he insisted he had no plans to remove any vaccines from the market and would not stop the fda from approving the authorization of new vaccines. at the same time, this is going to come to a head with his own cdc pick, donald trump's cdc pick, dave weldon, who goes back to the early 2000s as a vaccine skeptic, with robert f. kenardy jr.,had openly ed preservatives inside vaccines that they claimed linked vaccines to autism. science reports have consistently said there's no link between the two, yet robert f. kennedy has been given the green light to do his

investigations into the science and to ultimately come to him with recommendations. so that is where it's pertinent here, these continued questions of donald trump and the extent to which he would seek to potentially remove any vaccines from the market. chris. >> vaughn hillyard, thank you. well, speaking of vaccines, only a third of u.s. kids got their flu shots this year. that's according to brand-new cdc data. nbc's erica edwards is following this story. so i wonder, should pediatricians expect to see a lot of sick kids in the new year? >> reporter: when you talk to pediatricians, they always say they have a feeling of dread ahead of any kind of flu season because they know that they're going to see sick kids. what's unknown is how bad it's going to be. but there are some signs so far this year, as you mentioned, just over a third of kids so far this season have had their flu shot. that's lower than what we saw this time last year, and in fact, the rate of kids getting their flu shots is at its lowest in 12 years.

now, unfortunately, the flu shot is not perfect. you can still get sick, you can still become infected. and it's looking like this year, the flu shot is only about 39% effective at keeping kids out of the hospital. that's not reassuring, right? but experts say, number one, it's safe. number two, it's the best shot they have of keeping illnesses as mild as possible. now, last season, 205 kids died of the flu. that's a record high since before the pandemic. more than 80% of those kids had not been fully vaccinated, but chris, that's likely an underestimate because not all kids who die are ever tested for the flu. the cdc now suspects the true number of pediatric flu deaths last year tops more than 700. chris. >> erica edwards, thank you. in 90 seconds, as the oldest president in history wraps his term, one of the youngest

democrats is pushing to help lead the party. is there a generational shift in the works? oh! right in the temporal lobe! beat it, punks! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ tide pods ultra oxi one ups the cleaning power of liquid. can it one up whatever they're doing? for sure. seriously? one up the power of liquid, one up the toughest stains. any further questions? uh uh! one up the power of liquid with tide pods ultra oxi. asthma. does it have you missing out on what you love, with who you love? get back to better breathing with fasenra, an add-on treatment for eosinophilic asthma taken once every 8 weeks. fasenra is not for sudden breathing problems. serious allergic reactions may occur. get help for swelling of your face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. don't stop your asthma treatments without talking with your doctor. tell your doctor if your asthma worsens or you have a parasitic infection. headache and sore throat may occur. ask your doctor if fasenra is right for you.

(intercom) t minus 10... (janet) so much space! that open kitchen!ay occur. (tanya) ...definitely the one! (ethan) but how can you sell your house when we're stuck on a space station for months???!!! (brian) opendoor gives you the flexibility to sell and buy on your timeline. (janet) nice! (intercom) flightdeck, see you at the house warming. a generational shift is emerging in democratic leadership. 35-year-old alexandria ocasio-cortez is poised to make what politico called an unexpected assent to be the ranking member of the house oversight committee.

she's up against 74-year-old gerry connolly, who has served 16 years on the committee, and if it does happen, it would mark the latest example of democratic leadership shuffle making way for a new generation. it's already pushed out two ranking members and is posing a challenge to a third. all of them, by the way, over 75 years old. those challenges come, of course, after joe biden's age became a liability, and democrats suffered across the board electoral losses. is this just the start of a changing of the guard? nbc's ali vitali is reporting from capitol hill. eugene daniels is politico's white house correspondent and an msnbc political contributor, tim miller is former communications director for jeb bush's 2016 campaign, host of the bullwort podcast and an msnbc political analyst. welcome to all of you. ali, what do these leadership challenges tell us about any kind of reckoning within the democratic party? >> reporter: they tell us, chris, about a reckoning that could perhaps be generational happening at the committee

level, but they also tell us a story about how hakeem jeffries is stepping into his own as the leader of this party, himself the result of generational shifts within the caucus that happened when nancy pelosi and the rest of her leadership ranks left their posts behind and seated them to the next generation. the trio that jefferies is now part of includes katherine clark and pete aguilar, but that was the first step. that's the first thing, frankly, jefferies talked to me about as an example of the kinds of changes his party is seeing, certainly at some of the committee levels. listen to what he said yesterday when i asked him about the jockeying for gavels we're seeing. >> house democrats have clearly been in the midst of a generational transition, standing on the shoulders of speaker emerita pelosi, steny hiier, and jim clyburn, along with other longstanding members who we continue to revere.

let me also make clear that house democrats continue to value the experience that many long serving members of the caucus bring to the table. as evidenced by the fact that earlier today, unanimously by acclimation -- >> and so what he is talking about at the end there is the fact that while these challenges are going on, on the other hand, other committee members are doing just fine keeping their position as ranking members. he pointed, for example, to the fact that congressman rosa delauro was unanimously put into the place she's been for many years. there is jockeying but there's also more that stays the same. the thing it tells us about jefferies though, and this is something he has long said, is the caucus will work its will. he's done a good job and made it clear unlike pelosi who ruled this group with an iron fist,

jefferies holds his personal opinion cards closer to the vest. and instead, allows his caucus to come to him with the wide range of opinions before he then weighs in. these challenges wouldn't be happening if jefferies hadn't tacitly allowed them to happen, so we're seeing the outbirth of that right now. >> so eugene, last week, you wrote in playbook, the topic of generational change was no longer simply hot. it's mag natick. it's urgency is undeniable, you wrote. i wonder if ocasio-cortez, young progressive right, is she a kind of test case in running against someone who is so experienced? and frankly, you know, has sort of been building toward this for a very long time. i wonder if she is successful with it, it opens the door for other young ambitious politicians. >> yeah, i think she is a test case, but she's not the only one. jared houseman, who is 60, so

not exactly young, is also -- >> watch who you're telling that to. >> you know, it's young on capitol hill, young in d.c. but when you're talking about the kinds of changes that the democratic party feels like it needs to do, it's not just youth. it's also new ideas and different ways of communicating. and frankly, better ways of communicating. i think a lot of folks feel like aoc encompasses all of that, and for a lot of different people. we'll see if her against gerry connolly works. this is a man who has been, as you said, working toward this, who has a lot of respect across the caucus and frankly across capitol hill, so this will be probably the hottest contested test case that we're seeing. but this is something that's not just happening on capitol hill. it's also happening across the country when it comes to the democratic party. we have the dnc chair race that is starting to kick off. but you also have democrats around the country trying to understand what are the changes

they node to make within the party to be in their eyes more successful, to win more elections. i think right after the presidential election, folks felt really nervous. i think it's starting to die down a little bit as we're seeing some of the ways in which the election wasn't as far apart as folks originally thought. but that means that there is a chance of overcorrecting, and huffman, when i had him on the podcast, talked about the possibility of them overreacting to these kinds of things, and to making changes that are too big and are much larger than the party might need to do, if they feel like they need to do tweaks. all of these post-mortems are happening right now in a time where the party also doesn't really have a lot of leadership. >> yeah, there are a lot of postmortems going on, right, tim? always happens when you don't have a great election. one of the things eugene just said which is what i have been hearing as i talk to state legislators, when i talk to people in leadership at the

state level and state democratic parties is finding a better way of communicating. this is no amazing revelation. but how to do it is the subject of a lot of discussions. i wonder how much trump and his ability to connect factors into this shift and whether more youthful voices will be seen as a way to strengthen the democratic party. >> yeah, i don't think there should be too much of a concern about overcorrecting if i was the democrats. i would focus on the correcting part. and look, i mean, yeah, having youthful leaders who speak in more authentically, who are comfortable on the platforms where people are consuming information, youtube, tiktok, social media, that's super important. the other things i would be looking at if it was democrats on the hill is thinking about how some other potential cultural changes might be helpful within the conference. for example, i don't know that all the leaders should be from new york and california.

the democrats are actually lost some ground in new york and california but still doing pretty well there. i think brings in voices from other parts of the country, from people who won where donald trump was more successful, might be beneficial. another thing is in addition to where they're communicating, how they're communicating and how aggressively they're dealing with republicans. some of the leaders you showed at the beginning, all good public servants but come from an era where it's like the republicans on the other side where john boehner republicans. and you deal with them in a different way. >> bush republicans. >> bush republicans, speaking closer to home. you can make deals with these guys. you know? you can negotiate with them in good faith. that's not this current republican party. i think that the democrats on the hill could use some more hard knuckle tactics in dealing with this republican party rather than kind of the more, i think, old school behind the scenes kind of whatever elbow rubbing tactics that some of the

old guard leadership was more used to. >> i'm curious, eugene, to what extent you're hearing that. not just about getting young people who know where to go, but also who are willing to be more aggressive, who are going to look at what's coming at them and answer in kind, essentially. >> yeah, one of the things i heard all the time from democrats across the country, especially younger operatives were that when joe biden was at the top of the ticket, when he was seen as the leader of the party, he and his team were people who were playing a game by different rules. that the way the politics operates right now is not the way at all the way that the folks who are winning or are getting a lot of the attention are becoming part of the culture like donald trump. they talk and act and react differently. and that if you don't do that, you can't win. and we heard from voters when i was out on the road, i'm sure ali heard it all the time, tim as well, they wanted to see democrats who fought. they wanted to hear from

democrats about defending their rights in those kinds of things. and different types of rights and it means different things to different people, but they weren't hearing a fight in the democrats. you hear that in donald trump, whether people agree with his politics or not, everyone knows that he's a fighter. i think across the political spectrum, people understand that. that is what the american voters saw and that is what democratic operatives are looking at and saying like tim is, we need do that more and we need to do it in a way that actually breaks through to people. we can't just talk amongst ourselves about it and then go outside and have a nice little conversation. if you're going to be tough, do it all the way through. >> tim, to be fair, it's not just the democrats, right? you have jd vance who is going to be sworn in as vice president. he's 40. donald trump is 78. the next congress is going to see 82-year-old mitch mcconnell step down from leadership. so i wonder if part of what we're seeing is just the natural order of things or is it a

recognition that this is a country that seems to be tired of the leadership where in the senate, for example, i think the median age is over 65. several members are in their 80s. and they're looking for a congress that looks more like them. just to simplify. >> yeah. i do think there's two things that are happening. look, i like working. so i'm not taking any shots at any boomers who want to keep working past 70. i'm sure i'll probably want to work past 70. it does feel like people are staying around longer than in past times. folks might need to be nudged off the stage a little bit, rather than, i don't know, my grandparents' generation, my grandpa retired in '65 and was happy about that. maybe there's a cultural change that's happening. in addition to that, look, people -- we have had six straight change elections. every election since 2012 has been a change election. i think the voters are sending a

message they want change and it's hard to say that you're listening to them if you're keeping the same old people around. >> what do you think, ali? >> reporter: i think there's a generational shift that is clearly happening here, but then also, i'm hearing from members the other side of what tim is saying which is you have members like annie custer, dan kildee, who are leaving the house right now in part because they want to show other members there is life outside of washington, and start to make that a little built more of a habit as opposed to what we're seeing broadly. the only other point i would make and it's the counter i have heard from jefferies time and time again, is although the leadership apparatus in the top three is very coastal, they do have people like debbie dingell of michigan, who are in that leadership apparatus too, and they would point to thofact they were able to regain seats inplices like new york and california while also putting up a fight in other key places like michigan and pennsylvania, although they did lose one of the critical seats there in pennsylvania, so there is a

little bit of that back and forth that we're already seeing play out on the hill. >> ali vitali, tim miller, and eugene daniels, thong. style to come, new questions on how the accused shooter of the unitedhealthcare ceo got his hands on a ghost gun with a silencer. nds on a ghost gun wit silencer for us, it's eggs any s. as long as they're the best. eggland's best.

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manhattan d.a. alvin bragg now tells abc news as they learn more about a motive in the shooting of the health care ceo, there may be additional charges against the suspect. the nypd says they have matched the gun allegedly used by luigi mangione to three shell casings found at the scene of the crime. there have been growing concerns about whether that gun was 3d printed. those guns are, as "the new york times" puts it, an exceedingly rare variety. and one former atf official even points out it is especially rare to recover a 3d printed gun used

in a crime. quote, if true, this would be the highest profile crime ever committed with a 3d printed gun. and one of only a handful documented. joining us now, former u.s. attorney, professor at the university of alabama law school, and msnbc legal analyst, joyce vance. and former associate deputy director of the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms and explosives who is quoted in "the new york times" article, tom chitm. good to see both of you. joyce, i want tastart with d.a. bragg saying there may be additional charges. there's already murder. what else might be possible? >> right. there may well be charges related to the gun itself. you know, ghost guns are a hot ticket. atf has a case currently in front of the supreme court involving the regulation of ghost guns. there could be something that lies in with that. as well as with transportation across state lines. but as you point out, chris, none of those charges will be more significant than the murder charge. they may permit prosecutors to tell the story more completely

or even offer some fodder for a plea deal. >> so tom, let's talk about this alleged murder weapon. the nypd chief of detectives said it could have been 3d printed. first of all, is it easy to figure out whether it was? how does someone even do that? or is it more likely that they could buy a 3d printed gun if they didn't make it? give us your expertise. >> so many people when they hear the term ghost gun or what the government calls privately made firearms, they may assume 3d printed. the reality is, though, this phenomenon that has emerged in the last few years of privately made firearms, mostly involved commercially made kits that require just a little bit of machining. it's actually very rare to see a

3d printed firearm. to your question about how they will determine that, physical examination will reveal that. and as i understand it, only the frame of this firearm was 3d printed, and it was assembled probably with a commercially made aftermarket accessories like the slide and the barrel. >> so when the nypd chief of detectives says it could have been 3d printed, is -- do they already know more than they're saying, i guess? >> well, so if i can show you, what i'm holding up here is a complete commercially made glock pistol. this is, of course, a firearm under federal law. this is a glock frame. this also is a firearm in and of itself under the law. and it's the only component

that's regulated. the other pieces of the firearm, like the slide and like the barrel, they are not regulated. and so a person could 3d print the frame and then use other pieces that they purchased commercially to assemble it. it looks like that might be what has happened here. >> so would that make it incredibly difficult to trace or no? >> well, that's interesting. so we know that the authorities have matched the ballistic evidence left at the crime scene, the cartridge cases, to a test fire of the recovered firearm. so the 3d printed component does not diminish their ability to make a forensic match. the one thing that is may thwart is their ability to identify the source of that firearm. and if you look at a federal gun law, the gun control act, it has two broad goals, to keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have them, and to give law enforcement leads on

tracing the origin of the firearms when they're inevitably recovered in crimes. in this case, i haven't seen anything that suggests the suspect is prohibited from possessing firearms so he could have gone into a gun store and purchased one. if his reason for having a 3d printed firearm was to eliminate any connection or any paper trail, then one has to wonder why he still possessed this very incriminating piece of evidence five days after he used it to commit murder. >> yeah, that is another fascinating question here. joyce, when you talk about using perhaps other charges to build a case, to help a prosecutor tell a story, maryland, new york, and new jersey all banned ghost guns. pennsylvania does not, though, and i wonder if that could play into potential charges here. >> sure, that's absolutely a possibility. prosecutors are always thinking in terms of backup charges or

charges that might let them leverage a plea deal. but here, this stand-out charge will be premeditated murder which will carry the strongest penalty. the point that tom is making about how the gun is manufactured and how that impacts law enforcement's ability to trace it is really important here as well, because when the solicitor general argued that ghost gun case in front of the united states supreme court earlier this year, she made the point that people only get ghost guns for one of two reasons. either they're prohibited persons, which mangione does not appear to be. that might be, for instance, a convicted felon who can't legally possess a firearm, or they get these guns because they intend to use them to commit a crime. they don't want the gun to be traced back to the source. holding on to a gun like this might suggest that there are future plans that an individual has. i don't think we have seen any evidence of that here, but that has to be a consideration for

law enforcement. >> joyce vance, tom chitham, fascinating conversation. thank you both. still to come, with the future of the fbi all but certain, can democrats convince republicans to abandon trump's bick to lead it or do they have to take pre-emptive steps to protect joe biden's allies from political retribution. senator sheldon whitehouse is standing by. easier for you to hire them. visit indeed.com/hire right now across the u.s., people are trying to ban books from public schools and public libraries. yes, libraries. we all have a first amendment right to read and learn different viewpoints.

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another key agency head is now stepping down, way before their term is up. faa administrator mike whittaker announced today he will resign on january 20th at the start of president-elect trump's term. whittaker is just 13 months into a five-year term. in a letter to the faa, he wrote, as i prepare to hand over the reins, our mission continues and its importance has never been greater. donald trump will now have a chance to choose who will replace whittaker, who had bipartisan support, i should add, and a unanimous confirmation vote. >> today, the resignation of fbi director chris wray is putting new focus on kash patel. a controversial trump choice who had been overshadowed by all the attention given another embattled pick, pete hegseth. many republicans are supporting the change at the bureau. >> i think that's a good move, smart move. >> does it worry you at all, they serve ten-year terms for a reason. >> it doesn't worry me. look, something new is happening. it's a new day in america.

we need a change at the fbi. i was on judiciary, as you know. we used to investigate all the what i regarded the abuses there, and it's time for new leadership. i think that was a smart move. >> so do democrats now have an opening to launch a stronger fight against patel? joining us now, democratic senator of rhode island, sheldon whitehouse, a member of the judiciary committee. good to see you again, senator. look, donald trump said just today, i think, patel is the most qualified nominee to lead the fbi in the agency's history. so i wonder what you're hearing from republicans who will ultimately determine his fate. and do you think he can be confirmed? >> first, just a word about the ingratitude to director wray, who covered up the bogus fbi investigation into justice kavanaugh and helped usher him

onto the court, which was a huge republican priority, and now what does he get for that but being own the door? i think the spotlight properly belongs on kash patel. trump has a history of falsehood and exaggeration, so his comparison of patel to other fbi chiefs obviously needs to be taken with a huge grain of salt. two things you worry about with fbi chiefs. one is that they'll abuse the powers of the fbi to quell dissent. in fact, even perhaps to go after media outlets that challenge the administration. well, patel has actually said he will do that. this is not a hypothetical. the other is that he'll come with an enemies list and not allow the process of justice to be deployed fairly, but to use it to pick on people who have

annoyed the trump administration or the trump family. again, we don't have to surmise about this. he's published the enemies list that he plans to attack. so he's disqualified on some very, very important basic levels that have to do with the morality and integrity of the prosecutive function in the united states. >> what is your level of confidence that he will or will not face, first of all, face a confirmation hearing or get through a confirmation hearing? >> yeah, it's a little hard to tell. if you look at what's happened to senator rnest once it became apparent to the flying monkeys of the far maga right that she was an obstacle to hegseth's confirmation, she was really brutalized. ads went up. big money from the billionaires around trump went in against her. the internet lit up, the savage

flying monkeys, the wizard of ozanalogy of the far right. so the trump administration is doing its very best to cow republican senators into obodeiance and using powerful and thuggish tools at their disposal to do so. that's the a in which this is playing out and it's hard to predict whether the thuggery wins or whether this guy's evident disqualifications prove to be disabling. >> so i don't want to overstate what you're suggesting but are you suggesting that both kash patel and pete hegseth could indeed be confirmed? >> i would not rule that out at this point. it is certainly the intent of the trump administration to deploy its very considerable powers of brutality, influence, and persuasion to try to make this happen.very troubled and

inappropriate nominees through. this is also about conditioning the republican senate to be an obedient body and once they have broken them on this, it becomes easier and easier to force other unpalatable things through the republican senators. >> i only have a minute left, but i want to ask about this new interview with "time" magazine where the president-elect says he won't just pardon some january 6th convict on day one but he said in the first hour. although he did say they would be nonviolent offenders. he also said he would begin the process of deportation. is there anything to prevent him from doing either of those things in hour one? >> the pardon power is highly exclusive to the executive branch, with very little role for any of the other of our separated powers, so yes, he

could do that right away. and we will try to make sure that both, as to deportation and as to pardons, that he's being held accountable for improper use of those powers, because i don't think that is why a lot of people voted for him, was to let particularly if he goes to violent criminals for pardons and nonviolent criminals to deport. >> senator, always good to see you. thank you. coming up on chris jansing reports, national security adviser jake sullivan in israel. what he's pushing for from benjamin netanyahu. that's next on north korea. and ipad and apple watch series 10. all three on us. only on verizon.

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. a terrifying scene from the israeli occupied west bank, after a palestinian gunman opened fire on a bus. a 12-year-old israeli boy was killed and several others injured. the attacker initially fled the scene but later turned himself in to israeli forces. in jerusalem today, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu met with u.s. national security adviser jake sullivan amid a push for a cease hp fire and hostage release deal. nbc's raf sanchez spoke with sullivan. he joins us with the very latest. what more can you tell us? >> reporter: so chris, two main topics of discussion between sullivan and benjamin netanyahu. one, the situation in syria, and two, the prospects of a cease-fire deal in gaza.

starting with syria. israel has moved very quickly and very aggressively since the fall of the assad regime. they have launched hundreds of air strikes in syria, destroying not just assad's stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons but pretty much wiping out the entire syrian military infrastructure that was left behind, destroying jets, helicopters, almost the entire syrian navy. sullivan indicated the u.s. was comfortable with that, but they felt israel was removing a threat, making sure those weapons don't fall into the hands of extremists. i asked him about israel's move into a buffer zone in between israel and syria, and then actually, israeli forces advancing into syria itself, prime minister netanyahu has insisted this is a temporary measure, and i asked the national security adviser if he took the israeli prime minister at his word. take a listen. >> we do have every expectation that it will be temporary. the prime minister, the israeli

government, have made that point not just to the united states but made that point publicly, and we take them at their word that is the intention here as we work through a new arrangement that can insure israel is secure in light of the risks. >> reporter: now, the concern among many syrians, among arab states is once israeli forces are entrenched in syria, they're not going to leave, but you heard the u.s. saying they do expect forces to withdraw. on gaza, chris, there does seem to be some quiet new momentum towards a possible deal. i asked sullivan what had changed given that these negotiations seemed to be so badly stuck, and he said one thing is the recent agreement that ended a year of fighting between israel and hezbollah in southern lebanon seems to have changed hamas' dispossession at the negotiating table. hamas is now open to talks now than they were when the fighting was going on.

reassuringly, he did say the effort to get to a deal is bipartisan and the biden administration is working with the incoming trump administration to get this deal over the line before trump is inaugurated on january 20th. chris. >> raf sanchez, thank you. still to come, the defense department is now pushing back on some theories over what is in the skies over new jersey. who is and isn't behind those drones? d those drones ♪ [music] i could lock up every door ♪ ♪ check again just so i'm sure ♪ ♪ watch ziggy from the plane ♪ ♪ ♪ my garage i could open ♪ ♪ while i'm hiking in wyoming ♪ ♪ if my home just had a brain ♪ it's payback time. all these years, you've worked hard. you fixed it. you looked after it. maybe it's time for your home to start taking care of you. we've invested in our home, we've worked on it,

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absolutely unacceptable. >> we should know what's going on over our skies and i have asked for a lot more information. >> it's a bit embarrassing given the length of time and number of sightings that we don't have information. >> nbc's gadi schwartz digging in now to the expanding controversy. >> reporter: in the skies above new jersey, trying to get to the bottom of a mysterious wave of suv-sized drone sightings that so far have proved impossible to identify or to stop. >> the minute you get eyes on them, they go dark. >> reporter: reports of mysterious drones and lights in the sky are growing. from over the warships of the west coast to nuclear sites across the west to langley, virginia, and mose recently, to new jersey. the pebt gone says there is no evidence that drones are coming from a foreign adversary, but lawmakers on capitol hill are demanding answers from the fbi. >> i don't have an answer of who is responsible for that, of one or more people that are

responsible for those drone flights. >> reporter: those who have sent drones up to give chase like local sheriff's departments say they have never been able to see where they come from or where they land. a mayor chased this one down in his car and thinks the military should consider shooting them down. he says 11 drones have flown over military site in new jersey recently. >> those drones should have been blown out of the sky. >> reporter: as more people start to look up at the night sky, the fbi is asking anyone with credible video to send them in for analysis. >> it's 2024. are you telling me in this day and age, somebody can fly drones of this size, the size of a car, if not bigger, and we have no idea who is doing it? >> for now, another growing mystery in the sky. gadi schwartz, nbc news, morristown, new jersey. >> that does it for this hour. our coverage continues with katy tur reports now.