and yet they have a better mortality rate than we do. they don't use pesticides. they use its in an excuse not to take our farm product. we spent billions and billions of dollars on pesticides. and something bad is happening. again, you take a look at autism today versus 20, 25 years ago, it is like not even believable. so we're going to have reports. nothing is going to happen very quickly. i think you're going to find that bobby is much -- he's a very rational guy. i find him to be very rational. you're not going to lose the polio vaccine. that is not going to happen. i saw what happened with the polio. i have friends that were very much affected by that. i polio. i have friends that were very much affected by that. i have friends from many years ago and they have, obviously, they still are not in such good shape because of it. and many people died. and the moment they took that

vaccine, it ended. dr. jonas salk did a great job. i don't anticipate that at all. we're going to look into finding why is the autism rate so much higher than it was 20, 25, 30 years ago. it's like a hundred times higher. there's something wrong. we're going to try finding that we're also going to find out why are we paying more than other countries and we were in the process of doing that through transparency and other things. we were doing a good job in the first term and we brought it down. we got to $35, all of the different things. we got -- you know, we were the ones that got all of that done, every one of those things we got them done. i hope i win because otherwise somebody's going to take a lot of credit for what we did. but now what happens is we're going to have a big conversation on price. . why is it that germany and uk and other countries are paying so much more for the same box of

medicine, made in the same plant why is it that we're paying many times more? i know the answer because our government didn't do what they were supposed to do. what i put in place was terminated unexpectedly by the biden administration. and they shouldn't have terminated it. it would have a huge impact. >> one quick question on ukraine you mention fds some of the areas are already decimated. do you believe that ukraine should ede territory to russia? >> i'm going to let you know that after i have my first meeting. a lot of that territory, when you look at what's happened -- there are cities there's not a building standing. it's a demolition site. there's not a building standing. people can't go back to those cities. there's nothing there. it's rubble. just like when i knock down a building in manhattan, which is actually this is worse, actually, because we do it step

by step. this thing has just got -- demolished. in those buildings are many people. many people were in those buildings. when they said the number in ukraine is going to be a much higher number of death is going to be a much higher number than you're hearing, they're big buildings -- this is what i did well -- 15 to 20 stories high. massive buildings. i was surprised how big. flattened like a pancake. one or two bombs hit them and they collapsed. they say nobody was hurt. well, nobody knows who was in those buildings. there were a lot of people in those buildings. they're going to find that when they start doing the removal. many more people are being killed in the ukraine war with russia than is being reported. that includes soldiers. the soldiers are being -- it's a carnage we haven't seen since the second world war. it's got to be stopped. i'm doing my best to stop it.

>> please go ahead. >> you had a meeting with mrs. mrs. mrs. abe, japanese prime minister is hoping to have a meeting any time soon. >> i will do that. i sent him a memento a book. the prime minister. mrs. abe was very close with our first lady, melania. loved melania's book. called and wanted to know if she could have -- i was close to the prime minister. shinzo abe. he was great. he was a great man. and his wife wanted to know if it would be possible to have dinner. out of respect to shinzo. yes, i would love to see the prime minister. we will do that. i sent him a book. and some other things for him that you -- through mrs. abe. >> will that happen before the inauguration day. >> it could. if they would like to do that i would like to do that, yeah.

i have great respect for the position. >> mr. president, ordered japan will be george glass is that your final decision. >> highly respected man. he's been an ambassador before. did a fantastic job. we consider japan very important. he's highly respected. couple more. [ inaudible ]. >> which other world leaders have you invited to the inauguration? >>. >> the world leaders are calling me and some would really like to meet. literally, they're calling me. and i'll be seeing some of them. i think it's rude not to. hard to say i'm not going to see you. i've spoken to way over 100 where they called to congratulate on not only the election, but the size of the election, the extent of the victory. they were great. i spoke to over 100 countries.

you wouldn't believe how many countries there are. i i'm trying the best i can to get back to everybody. there are a lot of countries. literally everyone called. it was very nice. i i would see some if some felt it was an emergency. i've seen president zelenskyy he came to france while i was there. they had about 70 presidents and prime minister and in one case a king, and we saw some great people. i met with william, and i was very impressed by william. i think william is terrific. i was very impressed by william. as you know i met with him too. >> the border please, sir. >> did you invite zelenskyy to the inauguration? >> no. but if he would like to come, itds' like to have him. i didn't invite him, no.

>> president trump can i ask you -- >> are you disappointed that china's xi won't be at the inauguration? >> i don't know that he won't be. i haven't spoken to him about it. i don't know that actually. i would say that if he would like to come i'd love to have him. but there's been nothing much discussed. i have had discussions with him, letters, et cetera, et cetera at a very high level. we had a very good relationship until covid. covid didn't end the relationship, but it was a bridge too far for me. but if he would like to come, i'd certainly -- he hasn't -- just so you understand he hasn't said one way or the other. people are saying he won't come, people think he will come, won't come. it's something we barely discussed. just about didn't discuss. but i have had especially through letters very good conversations. >> conversations with --

>> because china and the united states can, together, solve all of the problems. world. if you think about it. it's very important. and, you know, he was a friend of mine. i mean he was here for a long time right in that spot except sitting in a very comfortable chair. he wasn't standing like you are. but we spent hours and hours talking. and, you know, he's an amazing guy. >> have you spoken to -- >> the press hates when i say that, but he's an amazing person. >> president trump can i ask you about the uunitedhealthcare shooting. >> i think it's terrible. >> can you give us your thoughtings about that? >> what do you make your reaction around the suspected shooter? >> i think it's a terrible thing. really terrible that some people seem to ad mire him like him, and i was happy to see that it wasn't specific to this gentleman that was killed. it's just an overall sickness as

opposed to a specific sickness. that was a terrible thing. it was cold blooded. just a cold blooded, horrible killing and how people can like this guy is -- that's a sickness actually. that's really very bad. especially the way it was done. it was so bad, right in the back. very -- thing like that, you just -- you can't believe that some people -- and maybe it's fake news, i don't know. it's hard to believe that that can even be thought of. but it seems that there's a certain appetite for him. i don't get it. >> can you comment on -- i want to expand on the defamation lawsuits. could you see moving that to other people with individual platforms, social media influencers? people that -- >> newspapers, yeah. >> yeah. >> yeah. oh, i do. i do. i think you have to do it. because they're very dishonest. we need a great media. we need a fair media.

we need -- it's very important. we need borders, walls, need borders and we need fair elections. you look at california. millions and millions of ballots were sent out. they're still counting the vote in california with the machines. they're counting the vote. if you had paper ballots votes would have been counted four, three weeks ago. now you need fair elections. you need borders. you need a fair press. and the press is -- i see others. i have a few others i'm doing. i'm going to -- as an example we're bringing -- i'm doing this not because i want to. i'm doing this because i feel i have an obligation to, bringing one against the people in iowa, their newspaper, which had a very, very good pollster who got me right all the time and then just before the election she said i was going to lose by 3 or 4 points, and it became the biggest story all over the world because i was going to win iowa by 20 points, the farmers love me, and i love the farmers.

and it was interesting the way she did it. she brought it down two weeks before and said i was only going to win by 4. that was a big story. that was good. because she brought it down from 22 points to 4 or whatever the number was. way up. way up. easy win. never even thought to go there. i respect them. i love them. they understand there's no reason to go there. she brought it from way up, walked away, which it was, and it turned out to be in the election by the way, a win by many, many points, and then brought it down smartly to 4, couple weeks before, and everyone said wow, that's amazing. he's only up by 4 points. then she brought it down to where i was down by 3 or 4, whatever number she used. and that was the "des moines register" their parent, and in my opinion, it was fraud and it was election interference. you know, she's gotten me right always. she knew what she was doing.

she quit before. we'll probably be filing a major lawsuit against them today or tomorrow. we're filing one on "60 minutes" where they took kamala's answer, a crazy answer, horrible answer, and they took the whole answer out and they replaced it with something she said later in the interview, wasn't a great answer, but it wasn't like the first one. the first was grossly incompetent. it was weird. and that was fraud and election interference by their news magazine, a big part of cbs news. so as you know we're involved in that one. we're involved in one which has been going on for a while and very successfully against bob woodward, where he didn't quote me properly from the tapes and then on top of everything else, he sold the tapes which he wasn't allowed to do. he could only use them for reporting purposes, not for sale purposes, and he admits that, and i think we'll be successful on that one.

and we have one very interestingly on pulitzer because reporters at the "new york times" "washington post" got pulitzer prizes for their wonderful accurate and highly professional reporting on the russia, russia, russia hoax. well, it turned out to be a hoax and they were exactly wrong. people like many people, john solomon, sean hannity is not from pulitzer, sean hannity got it right, tucker, jesse got it right, laura, jenin got it right. they didn't get anything. they gave it to reporters that got it absolutely wrong. and now everybody admits it was a hoax. and i want them to get back -- take back the pulitzer prizes and pay big damages and i think we're doing very well on that one. they have no excuse it. gave a pulitzer prize to writers that got russia russia russia wrong and i think we're doing well. i feel i have to do this. i shouldn't really be the one to

do it. it should have been the justice department or somebody else, but i have to do it. it costs a lot of money to do it, but we have to straighten out the press. our press is very corrupt. almost as corrupt as our elections. >> are you worried about venezuela? sir? venezuela? >> for january 6th defendants, you have said in the first few minutes of your administration you want to issue pardons for january 6th defendants, will that be a blanket pardon? >> you'll find out, but it's going to go quickly. >> just to follow on -- >> sir, in terms of your mass deportation plans any preliminary discussions with venezuela where the gang is now popping up -- >> they'll take them back. >> they're all taking them back, yep. if they don't, they will be met harshly economically. okay. they'll take them back. you know, venezuela and other

countries were not behaving very well with us during my administration and within 24 hours they were behaving very well. they'll all take them back. >> jeff? nice to see you, jeff. this is like the old days. you actually look much better now than you did four years ago. what's he doing. go ahead. >> thank you, sir. the first day you mentioned you're in office i imagine you've got some orders you want to go through. >> we'll have a lot -- well -- i bet you can tell. you could say as well as i could. we have -- we'll have many executive orders and other things that we'll be signing on the first day. >> can you also just going back to my initial question, you said your conversation with prime minister netanyahu was kind of a review. >> we just had a very good conversation. and, you know, the real conversations will start on the 20th. but we had a really good conversation and i think we're going to be in a good place in

the middle east. i think the middle east will be in a good place. i think actually more difficult is going to be the russia-ukraine situation. i see that as more difficult. >> when you say -- >> i don't think they should have allowed missiles to be shot 200 miles into russia. i think that was a bad thing. and that brought the koreans in. north korea. who -- another man i get along with well. i'm the only one that does. that did a lot of bad things. i don't think that should have been allowed. not when there's a possibility -- and certainly not just weeks before i take over. why would they do that without asking me what i thought? i wouldn't have had them do that. i think that was a big mistake. >> will you reverse that decision? >> i might, yeah. i thought it was a stupid thing to do. >> when you say -- >> do you have any reaction -- >> when you say that there will be hell to pay if the hostages are not leased before january 20th, what does that mean? >> they have to determine what that means. but it means it won't be pleasant. >> mr. president --

>> it's not going to be pleasant. yeah. >> how was your meeting with apple ceo tim cook and did you talk about tariffs in that meeting? >> the meeting with who? >> apple ceo tim cook. >> i did have dinner with tim cook. i had dinner with sort of almost all of them and the rest are coming. and this is one of the big differences i think between -- we were talking about it before, one of the big differences between the first term. the first term, everybody was fighting me. in this term everybody wants to be my friend. i don't know. my personality changed or something. but i had -- as you know, i had sundar from google, but i had sergey, nobody reported that, sergey the owner, the primary owner along with his friend, as you know, and sergey was here also. i can't believe you didn't pick that one up. nobody picked that up. but i will tell you. it's a big difference. the big difference is that the first time everybody was

fighting me. on all fronts. and we had a great administration. we got the biggest tax cuts in history. rebuilt the military. too much was given away to afghanistan. stupidly given away. horribly given away. that's one of the reasons that putin ent into ukraine when he saw the stupidity of milley and these guys. very stupid people. if they didn't do such a bad -- we were pulling out of afghanistan but i would have pulled out with dignity and strength. they wouldn't be having parades showing our equipment that they left behind. we weren't going to leave any equipment behind. every screw and every bolt. so, yeah, the biggest difference is that people want to get along with me this time. they've gone through four years. it waengts easy for me, wasn't easy for them either. getting along is a great thing. tim cook was here. i think he's done an incredible job at apple and talked about

the future of apple. it's going to be a bright future. but we have many others. also and not in that business, and we do have jeff bezos, amazon, coming in. sometime during the week. lot of great executive s. the top executives, bankers, they're all calling. i don't know what it was -- it's like a complete opposite. in the first -- and the press has covered that fairly actually. for a change. the -- the first one, they were very hostile and maybe it was my fault, but i don't really think so. they were right from the beginning. and this one is much less hostile. it's really the opposite of hostile. >> will you -- [ inaudible ]. >> i know that you had some i believe involvement 18 years ago with the students at duke accused of raping and now we have this development -- >> i thought it was a hoax when it happened.

the duke situation. i didn't believe the woman as you know, and i -- you destroyed -- they destroyed the lives of these kids. they destroyed -- i don't care what they got. their lives have been destroyed. their lives have been shortened by what took place. and now the woman admitted that it never happened. that is a horrible -- and as you know, i took a lot of heat whei said this did not happen. those kids were beautiful kids with beautiful families and they were in some cases will never be the same. they will never be the same. >> if you talked to them by chance? >> your thoughts on the postal service? you mentioned bezos. i thought bezos would be a key person to streamline the logistics of the post office. they lose billions. >> there is talk about the postal service being taken private. you do know that. not the worst idea i've ever heard. really isn't. it's a lot different today

with -- between amazon and ups and fedex and all the things that you didn't have. but there is talk about that. it's an idea a lot of people have liked for a long time. we're looking at it. we're looking at that. any questions for howard, by the way. commerce. >> sure. do you see another trade deal with china coming? >> i think the president -- >> that's a tough one. >> right off the bat. >> easy for me. you're sitting next to me. it's okay. no. the president has very clear agenda for tariffs and i think reciprocity is something that is going to be a key topic for us. how you treat us is how you should expect to be treated. >> would you like to weigh in on that? >> reciprocal. if they tax us, we tax them the same amount. they tax us -- forget about the word tariff they tax us, we tax

them. and they tax us in almost all cases they're taxing us, and we haven't been taxing them. >> is there a deal already under way with respect to that? >> well let's just say this, we're going to make great deals. we have all the cards. and until i came along -- don't forget -- and howard was going over the numbers last night, we took in $600 billion and more in taxes and tariffs from china. no other president took in ten cents. not ten cents. not ten cents. and no, we'll -- we're going to be doing things treating people very fairly, but the word reciprocal is important because if somebody charges us -- we don't have to talk about -- if india charges us 100% we charge them nothing for the same -- they send in a bicycle and they send them a bicycle they charge us 100 and 200, india charges a lot, brazil charges a lot. if they want to charge us that's

fine we're going to charge them the same thing. that's a big -- you know what, the senators, some of them aren't necessarily business people. when i give that to them they say, that sounds fair to me. >> are you concerned that tariffs might hurt the stock market rise that you have seen in the economy more broadly? >> make our country rich. tariffs will make our country rich. >> won't they raise prices? >> well, i didn't have any inflation, and i had massive tariffs on a lot of things. we put tariffs on steel. if i didn't put tariffs on steel 50% and more, they were dumping steel in. china and others. i put tariffs on, and it stopped and we took a fortune. we made a fortune on it. tariffs, properly used, which we will do, and being reciprocal with other nations, but it will make our country rich. our country right now loses to everybody. almost nobody do we have a surplus with. there are a couple countries and

they're embarrassed by it. but almost nobody. tariffs will make -- i always said to me tariffs the most beautiful word in the dictionary. it will make our country rich. look at the 1890s, 1880s, mckinley and look at tariffs that was when we were at our proportionately the richest. go ahead. >> do you agree with the deal -- >> did you get to a good spot -- >> what should zelenskyy if anything be prepared to give up to end the war? >> he should be prepared to make a deal. that's all. got to be a deal. no. got to be a deal. too many people being killed. that is a war that's -- too many people -- got to make a deal. and putin has to make a deal too. >> do you think -- >> who has to make a deal and putin would have never gone in if i was president. if i was president we wouldn't have had inflation. our oil prices would have been lower. i had a good relationship with putin. despite the russia hoax which made it more difficult.

if we had that election, if it were an honorable election, we wouldn't have had any of the problems that we're talking about right now. putin would have never gone in. >> will you have to make that deal to give up -- >> will you ask -- >> make that deal before you take office? >> i might. i'm going to try. >> will you ask putin to give up assad? >> well, i hadn't thought of it. i think we have to get on with our lives. we'll have to see what happens. but right now, syria has a lot of -- you know, they have a lot of indefinites. nobody knows what's going to happen with syria. i think turkey is going to hold the key to syria. i don't think you've heard that from anybody else but i've been good at predicting. i want to thank you all and we're going to make america great again. thank you very much. thank you very much. >> good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. ing that, of course,

president-elect trump speaking for about an hour or a little more in a wide ranging news conference following an announcement on economic investments in the u.s. talking about extending trump tax cuts, the war in ukraine. you heard him saying zelenskyy has to make a deal. too many people are being killed. took questions and spoke about his choice to run the health and human services department, robert f. kennedy jr. making his first appearance on capitol hill today. trump himself saying moments ago he is a believer in the polio vaccine but going on to talk about debunked claims that vaccines in general cause autism which has been completely discredited decades ago and are supported by controversially by rfk jr. and some of his top advisors. joining us now nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard in west balm beach, capitol hill correspondent ryan nobles, "washington post" national editor phil rucker, co-author of two books about donald trump. usa today's washington bureau

chief susan paige. the president-elect saying he is a believer in the polio vaccine but in the same sentence going on to talk about connections, disputed, discredited connections between vaccines and autism and we know that rfk jr. is closest advisors, lawyer, just a year or so ago, applied to the fda to revoke its approval for polio. that would end vaccine distribution if they were to grant that. now the trump administration has its own rather controversial picks for all of these choices under rfk jr. if he gets confirmed as secretary at the fda at cdc and the like, medicare and medicaid. vaughn? >> exactly. he received quite a few questions about robert f. kennedy jr. specifically and the extent to which he would seek to block vaccines that are on the market from access to the american public. i want to let you listen to our

garrett haake's questions who was in the room there at mar-a-lago and was able to ask kennedy one of those questions about not only those folks who are concerned about their kids' access to vaccines, but also the extent to which the polio vaccine specifically is under threat. take a listen. >> what do you say to people who are worried his views on vaccines will translate to the policies that will make their kids less safe? >> i think it's going to be much less radical than you would think. i think he has an open mind or i wouldn't have put him there. he's going to be less radical, but there are problems. i mean, we don't do as well as a lot of other nations and those nations use nothing. >> what about the polio vaccine? >> well, i'm a big believer in it. >> i think it's an understatement to say he was very noncommittal about exactly how he would handle vaccines. he said kennedy would provide him a report. if kennedy were to be confirmed

as hhs secretary would have a big portfolio seeing 13 different agencies. he did have dinner last night or last week with kennedy as well as the heads of pfizer and eli lilly. for donald trump this is clearly unlike many other issues, one that he has or exudes less confidence about his own understanding of, but i think that it's one of those for him, he is -- is expressing quite deference to robert f. kennedy jr. in the months head to come back to him with his suggestions on how vaccines should be handled. there are a lot of serious conversations about the extent to which donald trump and kennedy have potentially linked autism to vaccines as opposed to the u.s. health being able to better diagnose autism in the united states. >> and so ryan nobles, let's talk about rfk jr. on the hill.

there is no evidence linking autism and vaccines. there's no question about that from every doctor, from all branches of the scientific community, but has created incredible strength and trauma, dividing families, because of the growing diagnosis and, you know, the diagnosis of autism in children in recent decades. particularly young boys. >> that's right, an tree ya. i do think that the access to vaccines is going to be a major concern for senators during the rfk jr. confirmation process. it's important to point out how the rfk team has pushed back on this effort that was made by his lawyer to revoke a form of the polio vaccine, and it dovetails the president-elect's language in this press conference we just heard. he just said that he was very

supportive of the sulk vaccine, the initial breakthrough, the modern medical miracle that led to the saving of millions of americans' lives, and what he sought to revoke, this being rfk jr.'s lawyer and the action group was a different form of the vaccine, an improved form of the vaccine, many medical experts believe, that was denied. it's important you see how trump handled this. he left open the possility that other forms of the polio vaccine could be reviewed. i think that's part of what we'll see play out in the senate in this confirmation process with rfk jr. they want to know specifics behind what he would plan to do as a director of the department of health and human services, the secretary i should say. because it has a wide range of power and oversight over many of these issues that americans deal with on a day-to-day basis. you have in the form of mitch mcconnell a very powerful and a

very -- a person with a very direct and personal connection to the polio vaccine. he is a polio survivor. he put out a pointed statement on friday afternoon where he doesn't mention rfk jr. by name but states clearly that anybody going through this confirmation process needs to make it clear that they support the widespread availability of these vaccines that have saved so many lives over the course of the past few decades. so the -- i had it described to me about the kind of pitfalls in the robert f. kennedy jr. process is he has a number of different issues that could lead to problems within the republican senate. obviously, the vaccines' component is one where there are a lot of people with questions about it, but also is a prominent supporter of abortion rights. a pro choice person. always has been a pro choice person. the senate republican caucus is

pro life, anti-abortion. how does he take control of the department of the health and human services which has a lot of pur view over abortion acces and reconcile that. the issues about food processesing and reforms there, there are senators that have strong beliefs about that and represent many of these states with a strong ties to the agriculture community that may be concerned about how quickly these issues may be implemented. there isn't just a straight line here to understand the challenges that robert f. kennedy jr. is going to face and we're going to see them crystallized here as he makes his way to the senate for the first time this afternoon. andrea? >> indeed. phil rucker, so many issues with rfk jr., raw milk, for instance, there was an outbreak of disease in california recently, you know, a lot of his food issues go against the agriculture states, the farm lobby. it's -- there are lots of cross

currents, you know, as ryan was pointing out. i did sense -- and you know far better than i after writing two books on donald trump -- he's trying to find a middle ground and avoid the harder edges of these controversies by saying he's a supporter of the vaccine but the commonly used versions now, used around the world because they're more easily distributed, are some of the other forms, the oral vaccine, for instance. >> yeah. andrea, i think that's right. you can see president-elect trump in his public statements trying to carve out a much more moderate middle of the road space on some of these controversies. what's really going to matter is what the nominee himself, rfk jr., says in these private sessions he's starting to have this week with key senators and then more importantly what he says when he's pressed on these policy matters in the open hearing that would be public on the record and really the body of work that senators would then

review as they decide whether to vote to confirm his nomination. so, you know, it's one thing for the president-elect to say something at a news conference about what he thinks of a policy. it's another matter to have this incoming, you know, potential incoming secretary of this huge sprawling and powerful government agency lay out his own firm views. senators are going to be voting on the nominee's views as opposed to trump's viewings. >> and health and human services is i think second only to the pentagon in the size and scale of its spending. it's medicare, social security, it covers just about every aspect of cdc, fda, well fda, and i guess that's under agriculture most likely, but food safety is under rfk jr. susan page what did you make up?

foreign policy, defense, support for hegseth. he with both hegseth and tulsi gabbard at the army-navy game a strong show of support. i didn't hear him being asked about tulsi gabbard but a lot of conversation within the intelligence communities and agencies and i've heard a lot of people resigning. i've been speaking to foreign policy professionals and you're hearing from the intelligence agencies to the fda a lot of senior officials submitting their resignations in anticipation of the trend that they're seeing in some of these choices and that is going to cause a severe brain drain. they would say that's eliminating the so-called deep state. susan? >> to call this news conference is wide ranging does not do it justice. he was entertaining questions on all sorts of the most controversial issues that he'll face with his inauguration and making news on a lot of fronts. maybe he can still get a deal between ukraine and russia

before he takes office. he issued another threat force the release of hostages in israel. he talked about north korea and china, and he endorsed tariffs, and he also talked about his intention to go after the news media. he had a victory against abc in his suit against them for how he was characterized this week. he said he's going to go after "60 minutes" and the "des moines register" for its poll, not clear why there would be action to take against the reporting of a poll, but he tiz feeling in a great mood. he's feeling expansive, confident, and he's noting how different this reception is from the one he got eight years ago, including from all these business leaders who are now knocking on his door. this was really an extraordinary news conference, andrea. >> well, vaughn hillyard, ryan nobles, phil rucker, susan page,

thanks. all of you, obviously, there's a lot to pick up from that and we'll have to do our own fact-checking saying that no one had put a tariff on china before that's not true, i think he said, not true. he said that there's been no decision yet that he knows of, whether president i jinping is coming or not coming to the inaugural, it's been widely reported the decision from beijing you as not to attend. within 100 leaders have congratulated him and talked to him. that we haven't verified. also saying that there were no wars going on. very strong, strong pressure for zelenskyy to make compromises and give up, you know -- he said before, give up what they have now -- the territory, the russian territory in ukraine. a lot to chew over. thank you so very much. meanwhile rfk jr. is on capitol

hill starting today meeting as i say with republican staffers of the senate health education labor and pensions committee thursday and joining me now is democrat that serves on that committee and is chair for the subcommittee on primary health and retirement security, massachusetts senator ed markey. senator, hard to know where to start, but let's talk about donald trump on autism, vaccines. here's part of what he has said. >> something bad is happening. again take a look at autism today versus 20, 25 years ago. we're going to have reports. nothing is going to happen very quickly. bobby is a rationale guy. i found him to be rationale. you're not going to lose the polio vaccine. that's not going to happen. we're going to look into finding why is the autism rate so much higher than 25, 30 years ago. it's like 100 times higher.

there's something wrong, and we're going to try finding that. >> senator markey, part of the reason there is more autism being diagnosed, there's more medical information. but give us your thoughts? >> there is no scientific evidence linking autism to vaccines. none. and so when this misinformation continues to be spread, it is a disservice because it puts a cloud over families' decisions to have their children vaccinated against deadly diseases. it's irresponsible. the same way that robert kennedy said that covid-19 was the most dangerous of vaccine ever issued when he raises questions about

the polio vaccine. when he raises questions about the measles vaccine. when he raises questions about all of these public health initiatives which have transformed our country and the rest of the world. in the 1900 the average age of death was 48 years. we've added 30 years over the last century and it's largely because of public health interventions like vaccines and other public health strategies, which have transformed not only our country but the whole world. what robert f. kennedy jr. and what donald trump is doing is casting a shadow over all of that progress without any evidence to back it up whatsoever. >> and people of a certain age who, you know, lived during the fdr and world war ii years

before the salk vaccine like senator mcconnell, know very well the tragedy of polio and the fear of polio. i know it in my own family. prominent journalist like ben bradlee, "the washington post," there were many people of that era who had childhood polio and it was devastating. children were taken from their parents and quarantined. some cases for years. >> it is outrageous that questions are being raised about the polio vaccine. it is safe. people should have confidence in it. we don't want hundreds of thousands of people a year infected with the polio germs, with what can cause them great, great harm. again, we don't want people around the world to think that the united states is questioning the safety of polio vaccinations

because it would make it unfortunately inevitable that we would see a recurrence of polio somewhere in the world. we have to be the global health leaders on public health initiatives. mitch mcconnell is a good example of someone who suffered from it, but again, our gl should be that children have to look to the history books to find that there ever was such a scourge as polio or the measles or these diseases which are openly being questioned in terms of the vaccines which helped to prevent them. >> and it was always taken as an article of faith that before your child goes to public kindergarten or i'm sure in private schools as well, there would be the rubella and childhood vaccinations. there was never controversial until this autism issue was raised. what do you think is going to be the hearing for rfk jr.?

will democrats get republican support? will mitch mcconnell be a key factor here? >> it's very clear that robert kennedy is unqualified, unserious and dangerous in terms of his views on public health in our country. my hope is that republican senators will come away with that same conclusion as they look at his record, as they look at who he most closely associates with, including his own lawyer, who is asking for a withdrawal of the polio vaccine from the marketplace. these are very dangerous things to go right to the health of every family in our country. and i hope that the republican senators question closely because there is no democrat or republican vaccination. it affects everyone and if, in fact, it -- any of these vaccines are withdrawn from the

marketplace, it would be very dangerous. in fact, what robert kennedy said was that he was going to lay off 600 people at nih and give infectious diseases an eight-year break. that's his own quote. that's just dangerous. and it is irresponsible. it's outrageous. and he is not qualified to be the secretary of health and human services and my hope is enough republican senators will see with clarity the danger that he poses and he will be rejected for this very important post. >> senator ed markey from massachusetts, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> and next the [ inaudible ] to fill the pour vacuum in the middle east a week after the fall of the assad regime. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. get a next level clean... ahhhhh with listerine.

feel the whoa! new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. when you sponsor a job on indeed, it's easier for talented candidates to find it. which makes it easier for you to hire them. visit indeed.com/hire it's a lot to be a caregiver and a daughter. because you kind of have to take a step back. getting some help would be a great relief. from companions to helpers to caregivers. find all the senior care you need at care.com [♪♪] from companions to helpers did you know,. serums are concentrated with powerful ingredients to visibly improve your skin? try olay super serum. for five powerful ingredients in one, it hydrates, improves texture and evenness, while also firming and smoothing. try olay super serum. it's time. yes, the time has come for a fresh approach to dog food. everyday, more dog people are deciding it's time

to quit the kibble and feed their dogs fresh food from the farmer's dog. made by vets and delivered right to your door precisely portioned for your dog's needs. it's an idea whose time has come. ♪♪ i won't let my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis symptoms define me... emerge as you, with clearer skin. with tremfya®, most people saw 100% clear skin... ...that stayed clear, even at 5 years. serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections may occur. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms or if you need a vaccine. emerge with clear skin. ask your doctor about tremfya®. ♪♪

what if your mobile network wasn't about tremfya®. just built to work out here... ...but was designed differently to also give you blazing fast wifi where you are most of the time? reliable 5g, plus wifi speeds up to a gig where you need it most. xfinity mobile. xfinity internet customers, ask how to get a free 5g phone and a second unlimited line free for a year.

the rebels entered the capital and russia carried out his evacuation. this comes after u.s. secretary of state antony blinken says the u.s. made direct contact with the syrian rebel group hts that led the overthrow of the second-degree regime despite the u.s. having designated it as a terror organization because of its past roots with al qaeda the leaders trying to transition to a legitimate government authority. the u.s. is talking to them. israel has been conducting an intensive bombing campaign. it says to eliminate the assad regime's weapons stockpile including chemicals. including dropping a powerful

bomb overnight what it says was an ammunition depot in syria and establish settlements in the golan heights the buffer zone that's disputed territory. joining me international correspondent matt bradley. there's so much there. israel's bombing campaigns a lot of nervousness about that. turkey is a concern to the u.s. and other countries because even though it's a nato ally, they have campaigns against kurdish rebels they consider terrorists in the northeast but the concern among the administration side is that the u.s. supports the imprisonment of isis prisoners who are guarded by other factions, the sdf who are our allies in that same area? matt? >> that's right. yeah. that's right, andrea. two allies against each other. the sdf, the syrian democratic

forces, mostly kurdish but arab fighting force that has been instrumental in fighting against islamic state and destroying their so-called caliphate just about five or six years ago. they are fighting or taking blows directly from turkey. turkey considers them to be terrorists. they make no distinction between them and the fighters in the cuddish parts of turkey who are trying to, you know, fight for liberation or kurdish state in the region. so now [ inaudible ] allies with the americans. the americans who are allies with the ypg or syrian democratic forces in northeastern syria. it's a complicated pattern. syria has always been this way. it's always been, you know, one of these calculations that defies the notion that the enemy of your enemy is your friend. doesn't work that way here. that's why when we see bashar al assad leaving things have gotten simpler but there still is a lot of conflict between different

fighting groups who still control their own different parts of this country. now whether or not there is some sort of resolution whether or not the new regime here in damascus is able to resolve some tensions with the syrian democratic forces in the mostly kurdish forces that will help determine whether or not there's some kind of stability to satisfy all these -- a lot of fighting groups across this country. there are still elements fighting against this new regime. isis elements, al qaeda elements. it's all still fraught with danger. >> matt bradley, thank you so much in damascus. joining us now retired nato supreme allied commander admiral james. during the president-elect's press conference he spoke out about assad. let's watch. >> i can say that assad was a

butcher. what he did to children. i attacked him with the 58 missiles, unbelievable missiles coming from ships, 700 miles away, and every one of them hit their target, but i did that. that was the red line in the sand. >> now the other big question for americans, for the administration right now, is debra tice and what she said to kristen welker, austin tice believed to be alive by the administration. excuse me. here's what she said to kristen welker about whether the u.s. is doing enough. >> we have incredible respect for the people that are going in to the cells in the prisons. that must be very challenging. but we do -- we do have some feelings about what richard saw and we're just -- we're just so

glad that he went in there and so glad he filmed it and -- it matters. it mattered to us hugely. >> should the u.s. government be there? >> what do you think? >> we'll take your silence as your answer there. >> i thought that was very telling as well, when kristen asked that question, because the fact is that the french are now sending people in, but as far as we are told, the information is talking to the rebels, but doesn't have anyone on the ground. we know how dangerous it is, but what debra tice was talking about, richard engel and debra tice confirmed the accuracy. richard engel went in and found through his sources someone who had been an eyewitness at least back in 2022 to austin tice in an adjacent, you know, cell and richard got into that cell. >> yeah.

there is no question that at the earliest stage possible the u.s. government should be putting people on the ground. i am certain that conversation is happening. my hat is off to richard engel and other intrepid journalists who are doing exactly the same thing. you see different stories about people going into these prisons, and i suppose for the tice family, it must be heartbreaking not only to see those doors opened and not see austin's face coming out, but wondering could my government be doing more. i know antony blinken, i know lloyd austin, i know jake sullivan. they are leaning forward and doing all they can. perhaps they don't want to show the u.s. government faces on the ground there, but in my heart i think they are engaged, and i certainly hope that they are. >> let me also ask you about the

whole question of what israel is doing. israel is hammering syria and now talking about settlements in the golan a disputed territory. understandable they needed that with lebanon. they weren't satisfied at all and it was proved correct in terms of the weapons that were being buried on that supposedly dmz. they weren't satisfied with the u.n. forces there. but how do you see israel's continued bombing attacks taking out weapons depots but how complicated is that? >> well, first and foremost, i think it's in the u.s.' interest, israel's interest, and the interest of the west, that wmd, weapons of mass destruction, are destroyed and i think that is israel's primary target. they're also going after some of the conventional military capability of syria and i think that's also appropriate if you are a decision maker in

jerusalem. from a u.s. perspective, we want no wmd, weapons of mass destruction, notably chemical weapons. number two, we don't want terrorism to reflash there. number three, we want our allies, israel, turkey to the north, that's a nato border, we want whatever level of stability we can achieve and number four, any americans that are caught in this crossfire like mr. tice, we want them home. so we've got some pretty clear objectives here. i hope the administration continues to support that approach into syria because as you're showing on that graphic, it's a huge country in the middle east. there's a big population, 21 million. there will be more people coming back now that the regime has collapsed. there's going to be a lot of chaos there, andrea. we have to worry about that and we ought to be doing all we can to rally the international community to encourage these

rebels to have a peaceful transition into control of syria. >> we just scratched the surface because we don't have more time, but i hope you'll come back to talk more about that and hamas and gaza as well as potential israel -- israeli strikes against iran. thank you, admiral. and we are following breaking news now. a school shooting in madison, wisconsin, reported. local police saying there are multiple injuries at the abundant life christian school kindergarten through grade 12. emergency teams are on the scene along with parents desperate to reunite with their children. we'll bring you more details as we get them. that does it for this edition of andrea mitchell reports." this f andrea mitchell reports. prilosec otc.

what's up, you seem kinda sluggish today. things aren't really movin'. you could use some metamucil. metamucil's psyllium fiber

helps keep your digestive system moving so you can feel lighter and more energetic. metamucil keeps you movin'. and try fizzing fiber plus vitamins. ♪ (animatronic santa) ho, ho, ho! (vo) time to move? make it easy with opendoor. sell your home in any season, for any reason. (animatronic santa) look at me! i am festive! good day. i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city.