tv Alex Witt Reports MSNBC December 14, 2024 10:00am-11:00am PST
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a very good day to all of you from msnb world headquarters in new york. welcome to alex witt reports. we are beginning with breaking news this hour. a spokesperson for palmer speaker nancy pelosi says she is quote on the mend after having surgery this morning in germany. we are going to head right to nbc's gary graham box with all the details on capitol hill. what happened, gary? what kind of surgery that you have, and what led to it? >> reporter: yeah, 84-year-old former speaker nancy pelosi was on a congressional trip to luxembourg to mark the 80th anniversary of the world war ii battle of the bulge, but she fell during an official event on friday. she was taken to a local hospital in luxembourg, and was airlifted from luxembourg to a hospital near ramstein air force base in germany. we have a statement from her spokesman here just this
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morning saying speaker emerita pelosi underwent a successful hip replacement and is well on the mend. speaker pelosi is grateful to u.s. military staff atlanta regional medical center and medical staff at hospital chris burke for their excellent care and kindness. now, alex, lentil is the hot artist american hospital outside of the united states, so she is certainly in good care. but no word yet on when she will be making it back to the united states. hip replacement surgery generally takes a few days to recover from, in terms of getting out of the hospital. certainly for an 84-year-old that will be the case, as well. >> yeah, absolutely. let me be clear, she fell at an event? do we know, was a downstairs? whenever we learn details, typically a lot of places, offices in particular, are not going to get a lot of details. but have you learned what happened specifically? >> we don't have any official details confirmed. it appears she was at some sort of palace in luxembourg for one of the events when this
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happens. the new york times reports it was a hard fall. we don't have that fully confirmed yet. but it does sound like it was something to that effect, and enough of an injury, certainly, to be airlifted from luxembourg to germany for an american air force base to be able to have her taken care of there. >> 100%. having hip replacement surgery is no minor matter. okay, thank you very much. as you get more information on her well-being i know you will bring it to us. thank you, gary. also today, just a few hours, president-elect trump will huddle with several allies of the army-navy football game and maryland. pete hegseth, trump's embattled pick for secretary is expected to be among those this week. facings deep opposition from republicans and democrats in hearings. >> it bigoted, outdated thinking that pete hegseth has exhibited. and i'm not talking 20 years ago when he was a college student. i'm talking in a book that he put out a year and a half ago,
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two years ago, maybe. allegedly he has been saying behind the scenes i would never do such a thing. but i don't trust him, and i don't trust the trump administration to not given to the far right. also attending today's game, daniel penny, the former marine who was acquitted this week in the chokehold death of a new york city subway writer. penny will be a guest of vice president-elect jd vance. and lawmakers today are demanding answers from the biden administration about the mysterious drone sightings across several east coast states . the white house and the fbi are downplaying the sightings, saying they is no evidence they pose a national security or public safety threat. >> we have not seen anything unusual. we have not seen any unusual activity. we know of no threat, we know of no nested nefarious activity. we have deployed experts to new jersey. that technology has not confirmed any drone sightings.
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>> let's bring in nbc's sam brock, following the story. what we hearing from officials today? >> sure, as the days and weeks go by, because it has been since november 18th the communities mostly in new jersey, but now it has extended all these other places as well, like delaware and maryland, have been reporting on a nightly basis, basically between 4:30 and 5:00 at night, and roughly 11:00 or midnight, drone activity. every single night. the issue right now is really the information back in. you have local official saying we are not finding out anything from the fbi, other than what you just heard from the secretary there of dhs, which is that they don't deem a national security threat. why is that? how do they know that? we just want more information, especially when some of them are saying they are seeing grid style formations of the drones, indicating that there is a level of coordination. so there's a lot of skepticism out there. in about 25 minutes or so, chris smith, who is in a
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central new jersey congressman, is holding an event in seaside heights where he says he is both going to be updating what is going on with the drones, but also legislation that will be unveiled. congress wanting to step in now and sort of figure out what kind of system there will be for pursuing drone activity, if there is a gap in that system. i also want to turn you for a second to sam morris. he is the mayor of new jersey, as well. he feels like even if there is no national security threat, something's going on here. here's what he told me. >> they want to be seen. it is almost like they are daring you to see them and come get them. so that tells me there is some other intent here. i don't know that it's necessarily a foreign country or anything like that, but there is somebody that saying hey, we are out here, and what are you going to do about it? >> so is it chilling if this is just an effort to try to expose vulnerabilities in the system? that is essentially what he is suggesting. as far as what the problem might be, here's how i understand from speaking at folks who work at the fbi and
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really live in this world. you have a breakdown where the fbi is the one tasked with finding out is this where is this not a national security threat? since they deemed that it is not, who picks up the ball from there? the faa creates guidance and rules regarding drones, but they really don't have the mechanisms or resources for enforcing them. so what agency steps in and does something? right now that is where you are seeing congress at loggerheads with the fbi and other branches of the federal government in general, because i feel like no one is addressing it. it will be interesting to see what congress meant smith unveils later today. will it be specifically to that point? the bottom line is that some of these drones are the size of refrigerators. if they were to be shot down or if they did come down, that, in its own right, many of these folks are arguing, is a public safety risk. what are you going to do about it? that's where we stand right now. >> i did not know they were that large, but it makes sense. some of them were flying at pretty high altitudes, so to be able to be visible to the
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extent they are, that makes sense. i know you will be waiting to see what happens in this news conference, we are going to monitor it in our control booth, if there's anything really extraordinary to come out of it we will go live there, as well. there is certainly more to come on this story to that end. we have congressman robert garcia from the homeland security committee who will join me to talk about these drone sightings in just a few minutes. but let's go now to landover, maryland, where donald trump, along with a parade of his allies, will attend the highly anticipated annual army-navy football game. kickoff set for 3:00 p.m. eastern. nbc news campaign and bed joining us now from northwest stadium. welcome. i guess the question is what sort of political drama will be president-elect be bringing to the sidelines today up in that sweet? >> well, alex, there is going to be drama on and off the field this year. we have the army-navy meeting for the 125th time. the army attending its two your winning streak. on the sidelines you have the former president here, alongside vice president-elect jd vance, and they are going to see a host of names in their suite. among those names are daniel penny, who was acquitted earlier this week in the chokehold death of jordan neely. we will also see some of his cabinet members make appearance.
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one name you have heard is tulsi gabbard, donald trump selection for director of national intelligence, expected to be here in landover with the president-elect. she has been embroiled in some controversy herself, which of course be another signal of support for the president-elect for gabbard. another name we expect to see is pete hegseth , donald trump's selection for defense secretary. hegseth as been lobbying republican senators as he hopes to boost his chances of being confirmed by the senate as we know he has been embroiled in controversy himself. he was on capitol hill last week speaking to senators who have been a bit hesitant to support him, including the likes of senator joni ernst of iowa. among the senators he met with was of west virginia, she was on fox news today to discuss how she views hegseth's chances of getting confirmed. take a listen to what she has to say. >> i think if he gets out of committee, which i expect him to, i don't think he will lose
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any more than four. unless something arises in the background check that has not previously been disclosed. so he is worked hard, talking to a lot of people, he has the same vision for the dod that president trump has, a strong war fighting position, strength, let's get rid of all the other things that in diverting our military, and let's move forward with building a force that is lethal. because that is what we are going to need. >> remember, assuming all democrat votes together, hegseth cannot lose more than three republican votes. one thing we are looking for is how public the president-elect makes any appearances with hegseth today, as that can be interpreted as another affirmation of support. one other name that is worth noting to be here today is florida governor ron desantis, who weeks ago was floated as a potential replacement for hegseth. we will looking to see if he makes an appearance in the suite today, as well. >> keep your eyes peeled, and
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let us know. thank you so much. also some new reporting and how the trump administration may tackle civil rights. president-elect trump picking a lawyer and former vice chair of the california republican party to lead the department of justice civil rights division. joining us to breakdown the impact of this election, katie phang, and host of msnbc's katie phang show, and my really good friend to whom i go to for all these questions. one was among the most vocal supporters of donald trump's 2020 selection claims. also, ran for chair of rnc on a platform of voter suppression. what is the signal? >> it signals bad news for all americans. it's interesting, because i just spoke to maia wiley about this particular issue on my show. the emphasis that maia has and that we should have is that the doj civil rights division is supposed to represent all americans. it is the idea that your vote is supposed account. it does not make a difference who you vote for. you should be able to have
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access to vote. and when you have somebody who not only peddles a note my about the outcome of the 2020 election, but then also makes it a priority for voter suppression, you have to be concerned about the direction of the doj. so the doj civil rights division does not just handle voting civil rights issues. it is supposed to fight on behalf of american citizens to ensure that their voting rights are protected. so i, sadly, foresee a four year suspension of any type of advocacy on behalf of americans when it comes to voting rights. >> so, what happens? our civil rights organizations like the aclu preparing the pushback? because tradition holds that someone in this position is charged with doing exactly what you say. it is civil rights of all americans. so, do we expect a lot of pushback here? can there be losses? >> yes, and that is the reason why people should really sit down and look at organizations like the aclu and appreciate what they have been doing. it has not just been let's guard ourselves and prepare for
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what's happening. they've been fighting since the first trump administration. the aclu has led the battle and won many wars when it has come to the muslim ban, and the draconian immigration policies that were part of the first administration for trump. now they are preparing already to deal with how to buttress not only the states rights, certain states like california, that are preparing to make sure that certain immigration policies that are enacted by trump do not affect the residents of california. but they are also getting ready to make sure that when certain goals are proposed by the civil rights division, that they sue and go to the courts to make sure people's individual civil rights are protected. it is not just voting issues. it is lgbtq issues. the ability for women to have accurate and fair representation. it also deals with things like consent decrees. after michael brown, for example, in ferguson. the doj came in and said i detect a pattern and practice of
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violation of people's civil rights. and specifically people of color. so the doj comes in, they conduct an investigation, and the civil rights division says from now on, if you want to be able to continue to operate as law enforcement, you have to abide by the following. you are not going to see that under this doj. >> what about civil rights investigations against police department? we all recall during the trump first term, those were done away with. is that expected to happen again in term two? >> yes, and what is even more concerning is it is not just the lack of an action by the doj in terms of doing those investigations, but it transcends to are we going to win denies the civil rights division of the doj and maybe go after the organizations that speak of bei. harmony dylan has declared war on dei , which is a bad word for them, even though they can't define it, that that is something they are going to do away with. my concern is not just that we are going to ignore the bad
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cops. we are actually going to go after the good agencies, those that are embracing dei , and trying to make sure that there is fair and equal an accurate representation of what the community looks like when it comes to how they are dealing with the community at large. >> okay, let's switch to the united healthcare ceo killing, and to the defendant and his choice of attorney. defense attorney. this is a former manhattan assistant d.a., karen friedman. very powerful. knows every core door, knows every which way to work in the system. what do you make of that choice of defense attorney? >> he has picked a spectacular aminal defense attorney. that being said, my very first question is who is paying for it? my question is is it his family that's paying for it? has family that had no contact with him after all this time and then reported him missing after a while, and i was doing it? i want to know is paying for it. but beyond that, it's great that you have a good criminal defense attorney. but what is the strategy? is it going to be i am entering
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a not guilty plea and i'm going to try to suppress all the evidence that was found on me? is it entering a guilty plea but trying to say that there was a level of incompetency or? i mean, it's a little competent. it is still preliminary, but the retention of a skilled, local attorney who knows the ins and outs, is a good sign if you are a criminal defense lawyer. >> and we don't have to answer now, but when you have videotape chronicling the crime, good luck with that. >> maybe that's the only way you go with it. i don't know. >> all right, my friend. thank you, katie. >> all of you can watch katie phang on the katie phang show, saturdays at noon eastern, right before this program. you don't have to change the dial or anything. we are a dynamic duo. coming up next, what numbers of congress are being told about the drone settings. we are back in 90 seconds. for the whole family. vicks vapostick. and try new vaposhower max for steamy vicks vapors.
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it takes a heart for somebody to say, i have this extra that i'm willing to give to st. jude so that they can help save more lives. [music playing] the fbi and the department of homeland security, who are chiefly responsible for monitoring and being aware of what's up in the skies is not giving us a public briefing, not giving us enough information, telling us exactly where the drones are coming from. >> i'm going to call it total bull that no one knows what these are, and i think it's a slap in the face to the american people to say they don't know what this is. >> i think it is potentially our own government the maybe doing some sort of surveillance or counterterrorism, but then be honest. be honest with the public and let people know. because right now we feel like a bunch of carrot errors in war
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of the worlds. >> several members of congress commenting on the lack of information after multiple mysterious drone sightings across several states. joining me now is our friend, democratic congressman from california robert garcia. he is a member of the house oversight and homeland security committees. good to see you. let's get into this, with the fbi and the department of homeland security, they say they have no evidence that these reported drone sightings pose any kind of national security or public safety threat, or that they have a foreign nexus. as you heard, many of your colleagues on capitol hill are not satisfied with the official response, nor are many members of the public, i might add. you are on homeland security, have you been briefed on the sightings? are you satisfied with the information that is been made public? >> first of all, i'm not satisfied. i think a couple things are true that we know, and i think one is obviously that we know they are drones. when you know that they are not a national security threat. we know they are not an imminent threat.
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we don't know exactly what they are what they came from. i think is a really important questions that homeland security, the fbi, and others need to be able to answer. i mean, you have these drones, many of them reportedly quite large, actually. flying overhead. if you are out in your neighborhood and you are seeing these drones, you have a right to know what these drones are. and not just that they don't pose any immediate threat. i think we are hearing from members of congress where you are hearing from the governor of new jersey, we are hearing from a lot of local mayors and elected officials is that we need more information. so i actually expect that hopefully this upcoming week we are going to get more information, there will be more briefings, it does appear that homeland security in the fbi and others are trying to gather more information right now. but as far as what they know, as of this date, it is no more than what you reported. we just don't have enough information, except the fact that they don't pose a security threat. now, the question i ask is we know they don't pose a national security threat. but we got to know something about them.
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so i certainly hope that we learn that information the upcoming week. >> dhs secretary suggested these were legitimate aircraft and they were not drones. i am like dude, there are like 90 people from 90 sightings. they can't all be wrong a, saying that they are not drones. >> yeah, i mean, i think some clearly could have been aircraft. often time aircraft and drones are mistaken for one another. it is pretty clear to me that obviously we have drones in the sky. as far as where the government program, sure. the government have a right to know? absolutely. we are in an era right now with a lot of mistrust in government, mistrust in the media. i think the republic has a right to know. we have had numerous hearings on uavs, and the question continues to come up, that is
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transparency. and i think there are some in government the want to hold information back from the public, and that is not the right approach at this moment. transparency and honesty is the best approach and i have already been pushing on that through homeland security and oversight on this and other issues. so hopefully we will hear more soon. >> when you find out, let us know. but i have to say it has been interesting, only nighttime sightings, every day since mid- november with the exception of thanks giving. i mean, it could be amateurs just out there, who knows. we will see, you find out and let us know. let's move on to donald trump, and you know he has tapped the person to be the white house borders are, tom homan. they are elaborating on their mass deportation plans. trump told time magazine that he is going to use the military up to the maximum level of what the law allows to round up and deport migrants. any plans to ask congress to cover the estimated $300 billion bill to do it? is congress going to find the money and the support for these
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mass deportation efforts? >> not if we have anything to do with it. i think it is pretty clear that donald trump making his mass deportation and family separation plan, the very first thing he comes up with without the gate, that is really shameful as an american, we know that folks that are immigrants and that our migrants contributing greatly to this community, and i think the question that donald trump and homan and others need to ask themselves is are they willing to turn a police department across the country in the military forces? police departments are already stretched thin. so they can respond to 911 calls and respond to traffic incidents. and now we want to use them to round up our neighbors, a round of the people who are cooking and making our food at our favorite restaurant? round up people that are gardening, working in our homes, and their family members that are at our schools? that is just unconscionable, and i don't believe the american public is actually going to stand for that.
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so we are going to have to fight and push back really hard, and absolutely not provide money for these deportation plans, and these buildings of these private prison and detention centers that donald trump envisions. look, if the administration wants to talk about border security, about immigration, about strengthening the border, which democrats have talked about, that is a debate that we can have. but we are not going to support this mass deportation, cool plan that donald trump wants temperament. >> this could get pretty granular. because homan was asked about prior comments of if he would prosecute the mayor of chicago if he gets in the way of the administrations deportation plans, or quote knowingly harbors or conceals an illegal alien. here is part of what that went down as. >> so you will not only go after the illegal migrants, you may go after some mayors who are not helping? >> if they step over that line. they can sit back and watches, which again, i find incredible. you don't want to take a public safety threat to your community to help us? but there are laws on the books that we will prosecute.
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>> you are the former mayor of long beach, california. should local officials comply with the administrations orders? >> well, of course not, because it's unconstitutional. first, i have a little bit of experience on this. i was mayor during donald trump's first term, he and his team said many of the same things they are saying now at the end of the day, police departments are local, you have a right to ensure that they are focused on local issues, and police departments cannot be turned into federal police departments. it is unconstitutional. can police department's help, obviously, in investigations? but there's a huge need already on the ground. all of this bluster is not possible, it's not what happened, and you are hearing from police chiefs all across the country that they have no intention in turning their police departments into these kind of federal forces. i think he will not have any success on that issue. i think the bigger issue in
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congress is making sure we are very loud, vocal, that we have some fight in us, and we are pushing back on all these plans. so we cannot allow them to separate families, separate kids, trample on citizenship, and take us backwards when it comes to the kind of country that we are. >> as you said, unconstitutional right off the bat. okay, thank you so much, it's good to see you, congressman garcia. have a great holiday if i don't speak to you again. thank you. what we know about the man accused of murdering a ceo. a . 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. why use 10 buckets of water when you can use 1 fire extinguisher. and to fight heartburn, why take 10 antacids throughout the day when you can take 1 prilosec. for easier heartburn relief, one beats ten. prilosec otc.
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to indict luigi mangione and possibly reveal new details on the investigation. nbc's priscilla thompson is in hollidaysburg this sunday night , priscilla, welcome. bring us up to speed. defense attorney, a possible indictment, and potential extradition. >> yeah, alice, i will start with the new details. we are now learning that while the nypd said they did not i.d. luigi mangione until after he was arrested, we now know that authorities actually contacted his mother the night before he was taken into custody, and that she told them the photos of the suspected gunmen could in fact be her son. identifying luigi mangione as the possible shooter of united healthcare ceo brian thompson four days before he was
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arrested. four law enforcement officials tell nbc news that san francisco police caught the man flashing his file in the manhattan hospital looks similar to the 26-year-old in this missing persons poster, and notified the fbi. one of hundreds of tips the nypd says it received in the days following the murder. mangione's mother filed a missing persons report in november after not speaking to her son since july, the report says. the new information comes as the fight to bring mangione back to new york intensifies. >> he should be, and i will continue to say be prosecuted here in new york city. >> reporter: manhattan district attorney alvin bragg says the 26-year-old may drop his fight against tradition from pennsylvania to new york. >> whether he's going to waive extradition, or contest extradition. >> we have learned that he has obtained high profile u.s. defense attorney as the
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district attorney and the manhattan d.a.s office. she has decades of experience in new york's criminal justice system as the case prepares to head back there. alex? >> okay, thank you very much. we appreciate that lab report, priscilla. joining me right now, we have forensic psychologist dr. chris. based on what we know so far, is there a profile that may have led him to brazenly killing thompson on a manhattan sidewalk? >> i think what we would see here is that we have a grievance. his grievance stemmed of likely from what we've learned about him. his own health issues with his back, that were life-changing for him, and his frustrations with that, and the way it changed his life. his friends and people who knew him said that there was a substantial turn in his personality related to that,
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things he was capable of doing and not capable of doing. that led them into different kinds of written materials that were against the healthcare industry and kind of the identified problems there, a couple of different publications in that regard. and likely other places that would have further made extreme his viewpoints about that. so there is a constriction of his viewpoints there. we have a guy with a grievance who likely had a significant change in his mental state, the fact that his mom filed a missing persons report november 18th and he was off the grid since july suggests that he has a substantial change that could reflect a deteriorating mental state, which could be part of his feelings of grandiosity and his sense about the need to quote smarter himself and see this as a mission. i think that's very much how he
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sees himself. >> let me pick up on that. because his murder has sparked thousands of americans to express their fury at the u.s. healthcare industry, and that has turned him into some kind of an antihero for taking action against the system that profits from denying care to patients. others are shocked over the support that he is getting for vigilante justice, in fact, here is what senator elizabeth warren said about it on msnbc. take a listen. >> when you turn this into the billionaires run at all, they get an opportunity to squeeze every last penny. and we will say it over and over. violence is never the answer, this guy gets a trial, who has allegedly killed the ceo of united health. but you can only push people so far. and then they start to take matters into their own hands. we need regulation, in part, to wean those guys in. >> let me add the war and later clarified her mark saying there is never a justification for murder. but chris, we are living in a moment of intense populist rage
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against the government, against income inequality, against elites. has this led to public sympathy for mangione? >> 100%. there are so many people that have their own grievances against the healthcare industry, when you look at united healthcare, for example, they are the highest in terms of denials. that is no justification for violence, but unfortunately, it is touching a chord. and you combine that with the attention that he's getting, which a lot of people identify with him. this is definitely the wrong thing to do. but there are many that identify with this, and then you have the potential for what we call contagion or copycat incidents, like we have already seen people making reference to it and getting themselves legally jammed up. the next two weeks to one month after a whole private olives incident like this, you have a
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great likelihood of having copycat events with people that are inspired by it, and because this is such a significant issue the impact of this could be something we are fighting with for years to come. that's an unfortunate thing, but we seen it with things like columbine, this offender identified with ted kaczynski. so the media need to be very careful with how they present him, and very careful with the messaging so that they are not part of the problem, but part of the solution. >> thank you for that advice, and your assessment of all of this. chris, thank you. coming up next, the new steps being taken to bring an end to the war in ukraine. in . ♪ over 600,000 usps employees working in sync to ensure everything sent on its holiday ride ends with a moment of joy. ♪♪
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new satellite images from syria showing the russian military packing up and leaving the country nearly a week after rebel groups overthrew the assad regime. russia was a longtime supporter of that relationship. this is antony blinken finishes his trip to the middle east today hoping to ensure a peaceful future for syria. join me now we have matt bradley in damascus for us. matt, welcome. so assad was granted temporary asylum in russia. what are these new images signal about russia's future in the region without the key allies? >> reporter: it is unclear, this really signals another fall for a killer that held at the assad regime over the past several years. the russians have intervened militarily back and 2015, but
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the bases had been there. and there is still reportedly some conversations going on about what to do with those bases and whether or not the russians will be able to continue to inhabit them. but it looks as though they are packing up at least some of their stuff. and it is important to note, determined that they are actually vacating entirely. it does look as though they are walking away a bit. >> what about secretary lincoln? what you know about his travels and with him he has been speaking? >> yeah, he has been speaking with the leaders in turkey, in jordan, and in iraq, where he made a surprise visit. the real issue here is that the interesting thing is he admitted that he had also been speaking to the islamist group number which is a designated u.s. terrorist group that has taken over damascus, taken over all of syria. as i said, this is a designated terror group, so he that would not be speaking to them directly. but he has been trying his best, and so has hts, to kind of reinvigorate their image in
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front of the international community, to try to stylize themselves as more liberal and inclusive, and that was one of the messages that secretary of state antony blinken has been spreading and going around all these different countries that share borders with syria, trying to basically shore up u.s. partners in the region and trying to ensure that there is a peaceful transition at the people who inherit powers, this islamist militant group, that they do sort of walk the walk as well as they talk the liberal talk that they have kind of been espousing for the past several years. >> okay, thank you so much for that, i appreciate that report. we will check in with you again. meanwhile, everyone knew today, we have team trump in the talks with the biden administration and ukrainian officials about ending the war with russia. we are going to go now to nbc's aaron gilchrist with the white house. so, aaron, and welcome to you as we turn to the white house.
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what can you tell us about these discussions? >> president trump and coming national security advisor say that the current administration and his team are in lockstep on national security issues during this transition period. now, multiple sources with knowledge on the matter have told nbc news that trump's national security team has held discussions with the white house and with ukrainian leaders about finding a way to end the war with russia. if we take a step back here, you may remember that trump had vowed to end the war in ukraine before he takes office, he said that on the campaign trail. at the same time, sources tell us that his team has not yet presented a concept or a plan for peace to the ukrainians at this point. trump has suggested that he has the ability to reason with vladimir putin, and we did see him just a week ago with ukraine's volodymyr zelenskyy in france. but how he brings a two to the peace table just is not clear at this point. his and coming national security advisor mike walsh we know has held several conversations with president biden's adviser, jake sullivan. a senior administration official
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says that those calls are really to ensure that trump's transition team is not going to be surprised by anything that the current administration is doing on ukraine. the most recent action we know has been this security assistance drawdown, artillery drones, things of that nature. there's a $20 billion loan to ukraine that would be repaid with interest from frozen russian assets. there's also these concerns that president elect trump might pull support for ukraine. we know that his new envoy to ukraine, general keith kellogg, has held phone calls with zelinski's chief of staff. kellogg in the past is floated the idea of pushing ukraine and russia into peace talks by threatening to cut off aid to ukraine if it does not come to the table, or ramping up weapons ukraine of russia does not come to the table. not a plan that the trump team has endorsed relegated in any way.
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and we simply know that the talks about resolutions are happening between team trump and team biden, and the ukrainians. they are talking. >> okay, that is something, at least. we appreciate you getting the details for assessing find them out. thank you. rfk junior and the polio vaccine. why one senator with a lot of influence is already speaking out about this. about this. hundreds on car insurance with liberty mutual. customize and sa— (balloon doug pops & deflates) and then i wake up. and you have this dream every night? yeah, every night! hmm... i see. (limu squawks) only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ leo! he's there when we wake up, he's there when we leave, he's there whenever we come back home from school, he's just there always. mash it up doofus. ever since we introduced him to the farmer's dog, his quality of life has been forever changed. he prefers real, human-grade food. it's... ...like real food!
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harry and david is small batch, gourmet, and delicious. so, of course they run out fast. whether you want to say, "thank you", "i love you", or just "happy holidays" - send something special, beautiful, and delicious. order your harry and david favorites now before they're gone. right now we are awaiting donald trump's arrival at the army-navy game in landover, maryland. donald trump is expected to be joined by some key allies and
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cabin nominees, so we are keeping our eyes peeled their. this will be at the merrill touchdown club. joining me right now, we have peter baker, msnbc political analyst, chief white house correspondent for the new york times, and co-author of the divider, trump and the white house 2017 to 2021. welcome, my friend. let's talk about daniel penney. that is the man who was just acquitted in the 2023 chokehold death of jordan neely on a new york subway. he is going to be the personal guest of vice president-elect jd vance at today's game. what message does this send? >> well, daniel penny has become a personal cause cilhbre. he choked to death a rider on the subway that he said was a threat to other passengers, the man was unarmed but he was seemingly mentally unstable. and he was put on trial and physically cleared, essentially, of criminal negligent homicide and manslaughter. his case has been a favorite of people on the right going against the prosecutors in new
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york, saying that that was overcharged, he was simply performing a public service, defending other people, and so on. so vance it has basically said himself that penny was unfairly targeted and was part of the mob justice of the new york district attorney. so they are turning this case into a political case. not turning, it has already become a political case, bringing the this game, they are highlighting which side of the equation they stand on. >> yeah, speaking of controversial invitations, donald trump has announced that he invited chinese president xi jinping to attend his january inauguration. it is unclear if he will rsvp, let alone attend. but what has been washington's reaction to this? >> that is pretty unusual. it is one thing to have diplomatic, ambassadors and so on him to an inauguration. but to have a foreign head of state, particularly one from a country that we consider to be something of arrival would be a different order of magnitude,
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for sure. and it's very curious, because trump, throughout his campaign, has talked pretty tough on china. he is going to slap tough tariffs on them, even since the election he has threatened to put tariffs on them from the beginning of his administration. at the same time he said he had a really good relationship with xi jinping, that they are kind of close to each other, and so on and so forth. so it is a dance that i think trump likes to play, especially with some of these autocratic leaders like xi jinping. i don't think xi jinping is likely to come, but i think it does a something of the person who chose to invite or wanted to invite was xi jinping, as opposed to, let's say, the leaders of britain or france or germany or canada, traditional allies. >> so, your colleagues at the new york times report erin siri, the lawyer who is helping robert f kennedy junior pick federal health officials for the incoming trump administration, that he has
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potentia and the government to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine. and one more time, to be clear, the lawyer petitioned to revoke the polio vaccine. senator mitch mcconnell, who is a polio survivor, has called this petition dangerous. is there any medical or political consensus that the polio vaccine should be removed from childhood protocols? and i am concerned how his top advisory role affected kennedy's confirmation prospects. >> all of the mainstream scientific efforts will tell you that the polio vaccine is one of the most singular successful innovations of modern science, and in the last century. it can transform what had been a death sentence for a lot of americans, and for senator mcconnell, a lifetime of struggle at times. into a nonexistent threat. and now, suddenly the idea that we are reopening the door to that on some conspiracy theory that the vaccine isn't safe is
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a rather striking testament to where things are going with this new administration. debates that we had thought were settled, issues that we thought were consensus in this new administration clearly are not. we'll see if it affects his confirmation, but it reinforces just how out of the mainstream rfk junior, no medical expert himself, by the way, really is at this particular time. >> yeah, consensus settled by decades. all right, peter baker, hope to see you next saturday. thank you very much, my friend. at the top of the hour, will we just learned from authorities about the mysterious drone sightings. . that's noom smart. noom. the smart way to lose weight.
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