tv Andrea Mitchell Reports MSNBC December 13, 2024 9:00am-10:00am PST
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fire in gaza and hostage release in the coming days or weeks, as national security adviser jake sullivan tries to nail down an agreement between israel and hamas. critical factors, israel's actions against hamas, hamas's patrons and allies in iran and lebanon. president-elect trump signaling publicly he wants a deal before he takes office. the collapse of the assad regime, a big focus for secretary of state blinken as he's shuttling between iraq and jordan today. all of this is breaking as the president has one of his final meetings now with g7 counter parts, and nbc news is reporting white house officials are talking to trump's team about ending the war in ukraine. also the president-elect's team pressuring senate republicans to approve their controversial cabinet choices as former intelligence officials argue against tulsi gabbard being in charge of the nation's top secrets. the test on
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drones, triggering bipartisan criticism from the pentagon on capitol hill. n on capitol hill good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. we begin in the middle east, a lot happening. president biden's national security adviser jake sullivan is shuttling between israel, egypt and qatar tonight, trying to bridge the gaps for a cease fire and hostage deal in the coming days and weeks. israel's prime minister, netanyahu, has signed off on the broad outlines of a deal in the last couple of days, according to u.s. and israeli sources. hamas, they say, has agreed that israeli can stay in key gaza quarters, temporarily, instead of withdrawing right away. hostages would be released starting with women, the elderly and the sick. hamas would finally give an accounting of the remaining hostages alive and dead. and would get a large number of their own prisoners from israel.
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jake sullivan meeting with israel's president, isaac herzog, this is secretary of state tony blinken making an unannounced visit to baghdad and meeting with iraq's prime minister for talks about the future of syria, now heading back to jordan. hours before, blinken was in turkey, and spoke about what a new syrian government could look like. >> one that is inclusive and nonsectarian. one that protects the rights of minorities and women. one that preserves institutions of the state and delivers services to the people. one that deals with any chemical weapons it may find to secure them and appropriately destroy them. one that rejects any alliances with extremist groups. >> and a short time ago president biden speaking virtually from the white house for the leaders of the g7. joining me now from da mascus i nbc's chief foreign correspondent, richard engel and white house correspondent for
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reuters, jeff mason joins us. as new leaders in syria are trying to find their footing, it's so complicated, as you know better than anyone, you have uncovered evidence that could prove helpful in the search for american journalist, austin tice, hopefully that he's alive. he's been missing for more than a decade. >> you know the tice family well and have been following the story for a long time. there have been tips and rumors about tice for the last decade or so. where he might be, what his condition s who's holding him. we have all heard them and followed up on some of them. what was different this time is i spoke to a former detainee and you that the regime has collapsed, everyone is seeing that the syrian rebels have gone into
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he explained to me how many steps he had to take to the get to the corridor. how long it was, where the security cameras , where the guard's positions were. he was there for several years, and austin tice fared quite a bit better. today, based on his information, we went to the scene to see what we could find out. >> we went to the location this morning.
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assad's former general intention prison. >> he said he memorized the location here. and he said you had to descend 27 steps to get to the right area. 26 and 27. it all checks out. he said the steps would lead to a row of cells about 100 yards long. >> this is the tiny solitary confinement cell where hoffman was kept in a tiny slot in the bottom, and just opposite, this is the cell where tice was kept. >> he said most of the prisoners in this wing were foreigners. >> the calendar, counting down days. and it would have been miserable to stay here. there were cockroaches crawling out of holes in the walls.
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he said that the detainee in dubai, he last saw tice alive with a shaved head, shaved eyebrows, which was customary for all prisoners to protect against lice. alive in july 2022. we don't know what happened to him, or i don't know what happened to him after that, but every time there is a clue, every time there is a piece of evidence, it is also something to be hopeful for. one clue could lead to another, could lead to another. and that facility had a lot of locked doors. there are a lot of possibilities here to be explored, not just searching for tice, but as syrians are looking for mass graves, looking for their loved ones, trying to figure out what happened to people under the brutality of the assad family dynasty that lasted over half a century. >> and, in fact, richard, we're
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also hearing from other media reporting that the rebel leaders are trying to cooperate with the u.s. and trying to find austin tice. obviously this would be a big bonus for them if they could cooperate with the u.s. at a time they're trying to get aid and the war lifted from gilani's head and delisted from the terror category. a lot happening. this is incredible reporting. thank you so much, we really appreciate it. and jeff mason, let's talk about the efforts for a hostage deal for hamas in gaza. i know we have been here before, but this time, both sides, israel and u.s. officials telling me today that they are getting close. they're not there yet. there are still things to be ironed out. but for the first time, hamas, obviously under pressure. they have been abandoned. iran is weakened. hezbollah, obviously hammered by israel and without leaders of the collapse of syria, importantly, you've got both iran and hezbollah on their back
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feet, and as a result, hamas does seem to be agreeing to key things that they had not agreed to before. my reporting is they have agreed to let israel stay temporarily in gaza, the philadelphia corridor, a couple of other places, locations as they go north. so they can stay as a security force while their attempts to build up some sort of a multiarab force to replace them eventually, and that's a key factor. there would be a hostage release, an accounting from hamas of the remaining hostages dead and alive, and prisoners released, palestinian prisoners released by israel, everything we have been talking about. this is a cairo proposal that originated, and serious enough israeli officials tell me that the intelligence leaders went to cairo in the last couple of weeks, and now jake sullivan is shuttling, he went from israel back and forth to cairo, and now to doha tonight, a key factor negotiating with hamas.
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one key factor, jeff, and you have covered both sides of this, the trump white house, this white house, one key factor, a senior u.s. official tells me is that donald trump signalled on truth social recently of course, he said he wanted hamas to make a hostage deal before he takes office, and that really seemed to move the ball. the u.s. is saying this, the biden administration is saying this. he said there will be hell to pay if they don't, and hamas no longer has patrons in the region, jeff. >> and you know what's interesting about that, andrea, politically is this may be one example of where the outgoing biden administration and incoming trump administration really are on the same page. not a whole lot of policies where you can point to that kind of agreement. on this one, they both have the same goal, and certainly it would be politically a huge victory for president biden as he's going out to secure this deal, and it would also be a big
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help to incoming president trump to have it off the table and to have something like this already done by the time he comes into office. extraordinary reporting by, by the way, from richard. really just amazing to see some of that, and i think the syria angle and the gaza piece now is just an example of the quick pace of things moving in the middle east and at a time when so much is in flux in the united states with a new government and the new administration coming in. i had an interview earlier this week in new york with john finer, the deputy national security adviser to jake sullivan, who underscored some o. things of the things we're talking about. also expressed optimism about a peace deal and hostage release deal. you're right to emphasize. again we have been here before.
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they have expressed optimism before, and it hasn't happened, the impetus of the administration coming in and the current administration going out has led in part to this flurry of activity in israel and they seem to have more reason for optimism this time around. we'll see if it actually happens. >> and all the points you're making, your experience at the white house covering both white houses is so valuable. i just got a text from someone on the shuttle, on the trip saying we're close, we're closer than before. it's possible before the inaugural, but we have been here before and disappointed. that's a good cautionary flag. we're dealing with the middle east here. jeff, let's turn to ukraine where nbc news is reporting that the biden administration is working with the incoming trump team to press for a peace deal with russia. what would it mean if there's a deal on ukraine before january 20th and this is a hot war, and
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infinitely more complicated in terms of getting that kind of an agreement. we know that viktor orban was in mar-a-lago, and, you know, there's a lot of speculation about whether he was or was not carrying messages. you would know better than i would. >> yeah, i mean,ening in terms of just practicalities and reality checks, it's really hard to imagine that that war would come to an end between now and january 20th. but the point is sort of similar to the discussion we were just having about the middle east. this is a shared objective between the outgoing and the incoming administration. they see it a little bit differently in terms of how peace could be achieved. i think president-elect trump has indicated more willingness to maybe have ukraine make some concessions than the biden administration has suggested. but if it leads to something, whether it be by inauguration or afterwards or even shortly there
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afterwards, that would be a huge win. certainly for the incoming president but also for this outgoing administration. i think it's important to recognize the challenges. they are not all on the same page about territory, about what peace even means. president biden, a hallmark of president biden's administration since the beginning of the ukraine-russia war, since russia invaded ukraine has been to stand by kyiv and to harness the coalition, the western coalition and nato. mr. trump has a slightly different view about nato and has a slightly different relationship with vladimir putin and with russia to say it mildly. so lots of factors at play here. again, a common goal. >> jeff mason, really appreciate your being with us today, thank you. and joining me now is the president and ceo of the international rescue committee, former uk foreign secretary. david, thanks for being with us. so the irc has a new emergency
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watch list out this week. i want to start with syria, which is number four on your list. how does the fall of the assad regime impact the humanitarian crisis there, and what are the limitations on what can be done as long as the leader of the rebel forces and his part of this very diverse group is under sanctions for being on the terror list? >> thanks very much, andrea. gaza and west bank are number two on our watch list of humanitarian disaster awaiting us in 2025, and syria, as you say, is number four, so this is an absolute pivotal news that you are reporting, and has been happening, especially in syria, over the last ten days to two weeks. we have been working this committee in syria since the civil war began. we never bought the argument that war was over because the country was divided. there were 7 million refugees outside the country, and there was huge need inside the country. i think there was some immediate
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priorities. the border crossings that had been closed by the assad regime have been opened. that's a big step forward. there needs to be a whole of syria strategy for the distribution of humanitarian aid. that's a big step forward. it needs to be guarding against hyper inflation because that's an obvious danger to the people and humanitarian need, and obviously the health system in syria needs to be sustained because that's been under enormous pressure. all of that is possible even before you get to the question of recognition with the new authorities. as it happens, we have had experience over the last 12 years in the northwest of syria of working out humanitarian work has been going ahead with 450 staff. under the rule of those who are moving into control of the whole of syria. i can report to you they have allowed us to do our work without fear or favor. they have not tried to take our money. they have not tried to decide who we serve. i think that's very important, we think about the needs of the
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whole of syria going forward. >> let's turn to gaza, which as you point out is number two on your list. the u.n. says that the humanitarian aid situation to northern gaza is being blocked and has been for the last two months. this is an enormous area. it's an area where people were moving for safety. what needs to be done to get aid to the people who need it? >> yeah, when gaza has a population in total of about 2 million, as you know, there's been multiple displacement and the north of gaza is home to about 75 to 100,000 people we think now. we have partner organizations working there, and it's absolutely correct that it's the most dire humanitarian emergency. the very cautious part of the u.n. system that ranks places for food insecurity has put the north of gaza at catastrophic levels. i have to say that the center and south of gaza is also at high levels of humanitarian need. what you're reporting about a
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cease fire that would allow hostages to be released, allow aid to flow, allow aid workers to get to work. allow the injured to be treated inside gaza and those in great need to be tended to, that's desperately needed because it remains an absolutely critical humanitarian catastrophe happening in that part of the world. >> david, thank you very much, on a very busy news day, we appreciate your being with us. we're following breaking news concerning speaker emerita, nancy pelosi. her spokesperson says the 84-year-old california congresswoman was injured on an official trip, a bipartisan congressional delegation to luxembourg, she has been admitted to the hospital for evaluation. the "wall street journal" is reporting that she tripped and fell. that is not what we are reporting. we are working to get more details now. we're obviously concerned. she is, as i say, 84 years old, in very good shape. and we know she wears those high
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heels, but we're wishing her the very best of course. and in 90 seconds, the assessment of tulsi gabbard by former top intelligence officials concerned with her potential impact on national security if she were to become the director of national intelligence. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports," this is msnbc. nbc. that provides six-times more heart data than any smartwatch. and it detects three of the most common arrhythmias in just 30 seconds, including atrial fibrillation, bradycardia and tachycardia. get kardiamobile 6l for just $109 this holiday season at kardia.com or amazon. (♪♪) (cough cough) (sneeze) (♪♪) new alka-seltzer plus cold or flu fizzy chews. chew. fizz. feel better fast. no water needed. new alka-seltzer plus fizzychews. the first time you try bounce, it hits you.
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shows overwhelming distrust in the pick of tulsi gabbard for director of national intelligence. 21% of americans support her coordinating the 18 intelligence agencies. gabbard has never worked in the intelligence community. she has never been on one of the committees in congress. is she is facing push back on capitol hill, for embracing propaganda about ukraine, and meeting with now ousts syrian leader, bashar al assad. she is the focus of a "new york times" op-ed this week, headline, running spews is not a game for amateurs. this opinion piece was written by general michael haden, a decorated air force veteran who is director of both the nsa and later the cia, appointed by presidents clinton and george w. bush. his coauthor is john cipher, retired top level cia operator who ran cia operations in
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russia. he joins us now. thank you for being with us. it's a very impactful piece. general haden and you so ghly. you say it could jeopardize not only our relations with foreign partners, particularly the five partners, but also risk washington's vulnerability, our vulnerable human spy network. talk to me about that. >> yeah, well, i mean, a lot of the intelligence that the u.s. intelligent community gets is from working with foreign partners, not just allies. we work with foreign partners around the world to give us insights into what's happening in their countries so we can help protect the american citizens with. frankly there's going to be concern if the people they work with are not trained professionals that are just looking out for the health and national security but also, you know, partisans in working for one political party or the other. in fact, you know, we recruit sources around the world who are
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frustrated with their own governments cronyism and corruption and those types of things. if ms. gabbard or mr. rat cliff at cia or kash patel, they use this populism to get themselves into power with false narratives, if they then choose to run the organizations as professional organizations, the organizations will work hard for this new administration, but if they continue to disparage the work force, it's going to be a difficult challenge for them. >> is there any way the intel community can push back? if all 18 agencies agree on a particular piece of intelligence and gabbard disagrees, she can change the presidential daily brief, appoints the briefer, she has an enormous impact on what the cia produces. she's in between what cia is assessing, the pros, the professionals, and what gets presented to the president of the united states. >> right. there's just a massive amount of intelligence coming in every
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day. her bility to control all of that is going to be limited. however, there's going to be things that president trump, one of these people who wants to hear only what he wants to hear. most leaders, they want their assumptions challenged so they can make the best policy. we have learned that president-elect trump is not like that. he wants loyal people to tell him what he wants to hear. i think gabbard and radcliff and others plan to do just that. the intelligence is not just for the president. it goes to the secretary of state. it goes to our ambassadors abroad, our military leaders around the world, and so i don't think that she'll be able to control all of those things or skew that kind of intelligence. but it's nonetheless a real concern. >> what do you think are the missed perceptions that both gabbard and patel have about the agencies, they want to run, and we should not underestimate the role of the fbi on counter intelligence and on counter terrorism? >> yeah, in many ways, the misuse of the fbi is more
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dangerous for the american people. our intelligence agencies are focused only abroad in trying to provide the best intelligence for policy makers. the real problem here is, you know, in 2016, the oxford dictionary put out their word of the year was post truth, and the problem is, if you have organizations really focused on truth to power, but you have people who don't want to hear that truth to power, or even worse, nominees that have to accept a lie just to get the job. so if you have to accept a lie the 2020 election was stolen, for example, it's clear that truth is not the most important thing to you. that makes it very difficult for organizations that are focused on trying to present the best information, the best facts to the leadership. it makes it a very very difficult place for the intelligence community to be. >> john sipher, thank you very much. >> my pleasure, thanks. up next, a live report from pennsylvania where murder
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suspect luigi mangione remains behind bars while investigators reveal new evidence about how he escaped from new york city and got there. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. atching "andrl reports" on msnbc. when i hear cancer, i hear death sentence. every 15 seconds, someone will hear the words, “you have cancer.” at the american cancer society, we're here... to help people through their entire journey. and today, we're asking for your support. your gift helps fund important research that saves lives. [bell ringing montage] i owe it all to the american cancer society... ♪♪ we can't do this without you.
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that mangione's years of severe back problems may have played a role. >> posted x-rays of screws being inserted into his spine, so the injury that he suffered was a life changing, life altering injury, and that's what may have put him on this path. >> and that was an interview with our jonathan dienst of wnbc. the ceo of the insurers parent company, unitedhealth group is making his first public comments since the murder sparked a swath of public outrage, writing in the "new york times," quote, while the health system is not perfect, every corner of it is filled with people who try to do their best for those they serve. joining me now, our nbc news correspondent, george solis, and former u.s. attorney, barbara mcquade. thanks to both of you. george, i don't have to tell you, we don't have to tell anybody, you know, the breaking news that the health system can be a mess and that we all have been on hold for insurers, and it's an experience that every
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consumer has, that doesn't say that violence is in any way ever suggested and the public outrage in the online filing rhetoric has been really shocking. the nypd also says they have new details on how mangione was able to evade police for days. tell us about all of that, the time line. >> reporter: yeah, andrea, good to be with you. we'll start with the latest as far as what we know. the mangione time line in court looks like. we're here at the blare county courthouse. he has two court dates, the 23rd where he is going to appear before those gun charges here in pennsylvania. then you have the 30th, which is essentially the extradition hearing and we learned all of that yesterday after he had a meeting with his defense attorney. now, as far as that time line you're referencing, thanks to our colleagues at wnbc and jonathan dienst, we know that the suspect, luigi mangione may have been in new york longer than initially thought. you'll recall some of the
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thinking early on was maybe he got on a bus and was heading towards atlanta. he arrived in new york at least ten days before the murder of ceo brian thompson. so, again, according to the nypd top brass, we know that luigi mangione, according to him and the time line they are providing us around 6:46 in the morning, thompson was shot outside the hilton hotel, 6:48, luigi mangione, the suspect is seen riding a bike into central park, a few minutes later after that, he's seen on west 85th street, and it carries on until you see him enter the gw, george washington port authority bus station. here's where it gets interesting, andrea. they now are saying that he actually gets on a subway, and heads back towards penn station. at that point, it's presumed he gets on a train and ends up in the philadelphia area, from there, pittsburgh, ultimately being found here in altoona, pennsylvania. that is the time line that they're working on.
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and, again, all of this happening as that trail of evidence is building in the case as they await extradition here in pennsylvania to face those charges in new york. andrea? >> george, thank you so much. and barbara mcquade, without specific evidence connecting mangione with the ceo, is this difficult to mount an argument against the suspect based on circumstantial evidence, or is the circumstantial evidence the shell casings, connected to the gun that he was found with, his own writings, you know, the fingerprints on the water bottle, the snack that he had bought. isn't that very solid evidence? i know what the defense would say. >> yes, i believe it is. of course, you know, every defendant is entitled to a presumption of innocence, and it will be the government's burden to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt. i think this evidence is very strong, and one thing that's very important to note, andrea, is that motive is not an element of proving a criminal case. people often are curious about a motive.
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sometimes it's useful for a prosecutor to be able to share with a jury a motive, people want to understand a story, they want it to make sense, but a motive is not an essential element. with these things, the real question is did he do it and did he intend to do it? those are really the elements of the crime here, and i think if you look at the matching of the shell casings with the gun that he possessed, what he wrote in the notebook that was found in his possession, the fingerprints, as you say, and all of these very good surveillance videos i think is going to make this a very strong case for the prosecution. >> barbara mcquade, thank you very much. and next, the pressure campaign on republican senators to throw their support behind some of the president-elect's most controversial choices. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. mitchell reports" on msnbc. it gets a little old. ugh. i really should be retired by now.
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some senate republicans are pushing back against the pressure campaign from trump allies about the questions being asked about controversial cabinet picks who might have trouble getting confirmed. in forceful new comments on thursday, republican senator lisa murkowski spoke about the threats of getting primaried if republicans oppose pete hegseth. trump's defense choice who has been meeting with senators all week. >> the approach is going to be everybody tow the line.
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everybody line up. we got you here. and if you want to survive, you better be good. don't get on santa's naughty list here, because we will primary you. my friend, joni ernst, who is probably one of the more conservative principled republican leaders in the senate right now is being hung out to dry for not being good enough. and you're going to get primaried. >> joining us now is nbc news capitol hill correspondent ryan nobles, republican strategist, susan del percio, and former democratic senator doug jones. thanks all. ryan, those are really interesting comments from senator murkowski, pulling back the curtain on what you have been reporting, what we know happens, we know is going on. the advertisements against joni ernst last weekend in iowa who joni ernst being up in 2026 and the changing joni ernst tone from friday to monday, after all
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of that had happened. it's interesting, murkowski, who has, you know, proved that she can withstand pressure and primary challenges in a write-in vote the last time, right? >> reporter: yeah, and i do think this pressure campaign is going to be more effective on some members than it will be on other members. and you do have to imagine that joni ernst is somebody who would be the biggest target given the fact that she is up for reelection in a state where donald trump is very popular and where a primary challenge could be something that could be problematic for her. but that being said, i think that there is a real test that this group of senators is undertaking right now about their willingness to exert their possibility as a coequal group of government, and serve in this advise and consent role, and whether or not they're going to roll over and give donald trump kwhofr whoever he wants in these key positions. i think they're wrestling with
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this. they view a lot of these candidates as being problematic, trying to force them out before the process begins, they're letting it play out, and then allowing donald trump to see in realtime just how difficult it's going to be for some of these members to get through, and that's why i think you're going to see a real effort now to just try and stay above the fray as much as possible, but then allow these fbi background checks to come in, allow the open questioning to take place in these public hearings. allow all of the information that goes through this vetting process to come to light, and then, if it's still problematic, that, a, gives senators who want to vote no some cover but also gives donald trump the opportunity to reassess this situation and decide whether or not he wants all of these picks, wants one or two of these picks or maybe doesn't want any of them at all, which all of that is a real possibility, at least where we stand right now in the middle of december. >> yeah, we haven't seen the fbi
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reports, so what the fbi can say publicly. we haven't seen confirmation hearings. susan del percio, you've watched these kinds of dramas before, both inside and outside. what is the over/under now on whether pete hegseth makes it through? it's really too unpredictable, all of this is too unpredictable. but there is a decided change in tone once he started fighting back, and we now know that donald trump, the president-elect was losing, you know, confidence in him, but switched gears, and we saw him coming out publicly, and declaring for him. and now we've also seen a lot of members of the judiciary committee falling in line behind patel who's perhaps even more controversial. >> that's right, andrea. and i think part of donald trump speaking up more in favor of hegseth in the last few days was more people around him saying, you can't let this go, you know, you're the man, donald, get it done. there's so much time between now
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and that confirmation vote, and i think ryan laid it out really well, the time that the nominees or the potential cabinet members are out there, that's against them. trump put them out really early. we have the first wave of investigations by reporters and such. matt gaetz was a special case in that he was so widely disliked among republicans specifically with his nomination, this is something he cultivated, had nothing to do with his inexperience or lack of qualifications. so i think the senators, republican senators are very wise to let time play through. let those fbi backgrounds go through. let it play out in the public hearings, they may not have to take a vote if some of them are pressured enough to withdraw, and i think specifically one of the weakness links that i have been made aware of is robert f. kennedy jr. he is someone who's very worried about standing up to a full
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background check, and again, that's why a month ago, we were reporting how the trump campaign didn't want to subject its nominees to background checks. now they felt the pressure from the senate. the senate republicans said you have to give us this. we're not just going to fall in line. so there's enough time there for decisions to be made and people to drop out. >> and, doug jones, as a former u.s. senator and u.s. attorney, you were a sherpa with merrick garland had his ill fated attempt in getting mitch mcconnell to give him a hearing. have you ever seen a nominee walk through the halls accompanied by his wife? it does seem to be a particular case that hegseth is trying to emphasize his marital status when he's been accused of sexual misconduct.
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>> i was the sherper for justice ketanji jackson, not merrick garland. what's happening right now is a lot for show. clearly the initial allegations against hegseth were over women, and his treatment of women. so obviously when you have some, you know, you can get your spouse to accompany you, that says a lot. there's no question about that. i think the bigger question, though, is not just the issue of women and women in combat, but there's also his just lack of qualifications of running a business, of the veterans organizations that he ran into the ground and forced to file bankruptcy, the mismanagement of funds. there's a whole -- there's a whole thing of allegations against him that are going to come to play. you know, what's interesting to me to watch is that the democrats are being very low key on all of this right now. they're letting this all play
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out among the republican caucus, and it's splitting the republican caucus. you've actually got some senators publicly saying we're going to go after a colleague in our caucus if they fight these nominees, so i think these hearings are going to be really important. the fbi background checks are going to be very very important, and the hearings will be important because democrats will come loaded. it will not be a love fest, and that will also give republican senators the cover that they need sometimes to push back and to vote against. at the end of the day, they got to decide whether or not they're going to follow the institution and their duty or just fall in line. >> and ryan nobles, let me circle back to you. we're going to see rfk jr. up there next week. that will be another whole issue. let me ask you about speaker emerita, nancy pelosi, you know the situation there, and she was traveling in luxembourg with a
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congressional delegation, bipartisan delegation led by house foreign affairs leader mike mccaul and apparently was hospitalized for some treatment. do you know anything more? >> reporter: according to her spokesperson, she was injured, and i think the use of the word injured is very important here. it would indicate that perhaps it wasn't the result of a medical emergency but a trip or a fall or something along those lines. she was taken to a hospital for treatment and to be evaluated. it does appear that she's not going to rejoin the codal, which is still going to be in luxembourg for a few more days, but instead will travel back to the united states. the sense we're getting, this is not an urgent issue, but it is one that required immediate attention, and that's why she was taken to the hospital. so, you know, we continue to think about the speaker emerita as she's on this trip, but she's still out there and an active part of the delegation, even though she's no longer the top person in the house democratic caucus, andrea.
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>> having watched her in munich over the years, more recently when she was the speaker emerita this past spring, you know, she may not be leading the delegation, but she is the most active member and the person everyone wants to talk to because of her background in intelligence and foreign policy. thank you. thank you, ryan. and next, the mysterious drone dilemma raising concerns across new jersey and other states and now a real problem for the white house ahead of the holiday season. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. reports" on msnbc. ( ♪♪ ) the best moments deserve the best eggs. especially when they're eggland's best.
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there are ships off the coast that are launching these drones. we need to know who is controlling those ships, whether they're foreign adversaries, the d.o.d. has said they don't have any evidence of a specific iranian ship. we don't have any evidence that they didn't come from a ship. and we don't know who's building them and flying them, and we don't know their purpose. >> that was senator kyrsten gillibrand on our show yesterday before more unexplained drone sightings were reported overnight in new jersey. and now the white house says some might not even be drones. joining me now is nbc news senior investigative producer, laura laura, who has been all over this, separating fact from fiction. a lack of evidence between lawmakers. they were not satisfied frankly with what the white house and pentagon were telling them. >> exactly. and what we know now is the white house, the pentagon, as you said, andrea, even dhs, fbi,
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they're all saying they have no evidence that reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign connection. and they say that over time, there have been many cases of mistaken identity, where drones are, in fact, manned aircraft, but at the same time, we have maryland governor larry hogan saying today he's seeing dozens of large drones in the sky, flying over his house for at least 45 minutes. we have the governor of new jersey who wrote the white house asking for more federal resources, as well as the new york governor now saying that they're investigating. former new jersey congressman andy kim is now saying he went out with local law enforcement last night and saw drones. he's posted a video as well. and drone experts that we're talking to are pointing to a relatively new regulation from the faa that could apply here. and perhaps provide some answers. as of 2023, drones must broadcast signal as they fly, called a remote i.d. it's like a digital license
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plate. it sends out a unique i.d. number, the location, the altitude, as well as where the drone took off from. then ideally if a drone is flying in an unsafe way, authorities such as aviation safety inspectors, law enforcement, and air traffic security specialists could request more information from the faa about a drone. i heard from one sheriff's office in new jersey, they have not been using this technology, and state law enforcement are just referring us to the fbi. so we will stay on it and keep you posted with what we learn. >> thank you so much, laura strickler. also before ever closing, i want to join the chorus of tributes to my wonderful colleague, jose diaz-balart, 40 years of journalism. he's always delivering news
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fairly and with empathy during the week on msnbc, saturday night on "nightly news," there's no one like him. we thank him for the privilege of being your friend. jose, and that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports," that does it for this week. enjoy parts of this preholiday weekend, i hope, shopping, whatever. remember, follow us on social media @mitchellreports, you can rewatch the best parts of our show anytime on you tube, go to msnbc.com/andrea and the big army navy game in our own stadium. "chris jansing reports" starts after a short break. ts after a short break. get four on us. only on verizon. do i smell okay? [sniff] mhm. why are you shimmying? oh! unstopables now has odor blocker so i'll feel fresh all day, even after a red eye. we all use unstopables. looks like he does to! smell unstopable.
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