carefully planned operation. we've been there today. there are apartments all around. you're left kind of stunned that it was possible to do this in plain sight, if you like, but certainly it has left russian officials furious, jose. what they're not saying so loudly here, but which is, of course, a question, is how was this possible in the heart of moscow? >> keir simmons in moscow, thank you very much. take care. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. you can reach me on social media @jdbalart. thank you for the privilege of your time. a quick programming note, andrea mitchell will talk with homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas and what he knows about the mysterious drones flying over the east coast. "andrea mitchell reports" starts right now. and right now on "andrea mitchell reports" breaking news. the house ethics committee votes

in secret to release its report on one-time trump attorney general choice, former congressman matt gaetz. plus, a terror charge lodged against the man accused of killing the united healthcare ceo. he's been indicted for first-degree murder as investigators reveal new details about the alleged ambush. >> this was a killing intended to evoke terror, and we've seen that reaction. >> and russia says it has a suspect in the brazen assassination of a top general killed by a bomb in the heart of moscow. but first, outgoing homeland security secretary aljanuary grow -- alejandro mayorkas joins me about the drones, the hack into u.s. telecom systems, threats to the safety of the u.s. homeland, all of that and more. good day, everyone.

i'm andrea mitchell reporting from washington, and we begin with breaking news from capitol hill. nbc news has confirmed the house ethics committee has agreed to release that report detailing a multiyear investigation into alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use by now former congressman matt gaetz. gaetz denies all the allegations. sources telling nbc news the report will be released after the house votes on its continuing budget resolution which could happen later this week. a secret vote by the committee took place earlier this month. following the resignation of the former florida republican after he was picked by president-elect trump to be his attorney general. gaetz has since removed himself from the running for that job. joining me now nbc news senior capitol hill correspondent garrett haake and white house correspondent for the white house times. garrett, gaetz was quick to respond on x. what is he saying? >> it's pretty clear matt gaetz knows some of what will be in the report as he came out with a prebuttal of sorts dealing with several of the complaints about

him in it. he says he never had sexual contact with someone under 18 years old, which is the focus of the doj investigation into him for which he was never charged. he complains about never having the opportunity to confront accusers or get an opportunity to kind of plead his case in front of the ethics committee. that's only sort of true given the opportunities that he had during the ethics committee process, and he does say that he had some embarrassing, if not criminal activity in which he says he probably partied, womanized, smoked and drank more than he should have earlier in life. he says he lives a different life now. so i think that gives us a bit of a flavor of what we're going to see from this report but obviously no specifics yet until the ethics committee releases it. >> and, michael, even though gaetz has stepped down from congress and taken himself out of the running for attorney general, what does this vote signal to you? how significant? >> look, matt gaetz, no longer

under consideration to be attorney general, is an important voice in donald trump's republican maga movement and party. reports he's going to be an anchor on one america news and, look, he's still close to the president-elect, and i think that one of the things -- one of the big questions about this report had always been how willing are some members of the republican party to stand up to donald trump in the form of releasing a report that is likely not to be very flattering for one of the president-elect's key allies, and i think assuming this goes forward and the report actually comes out, it's at least a little bit of evidence that there is a line that republican lawmakers, that allies of the president-elect's are willing to cross in the

interest of doing what they think is right. >> so, garrett, also, i don't know what you were doing at 3:00 this morning, but the president-elect had one of his most tenacious political foes on his mind and echoed calls for liz cheney when she was the co-chair or vice chair. is there much of an appetite for that kind of retaliation on the hill? i want to ask you about something i saw zoe said they have congressional immunity from this kind of prosecution. >> well, that's something that may ultimately get litigated. a 8-month-old at home means i do see some of these posts in real time when they come out. >> congratulations to you for that. >> thank you, thank you. this one i didn't rez until this morning. look, there's not a lot of love lost between the remaining republicans and liz cheney but not the vitriol donald trump has

for her personally. the oversight committee spent the last several years investigating the biden administration has essentially nothing else that it wants to do and gets pressured by trump into investigating cheney and the january 6th committee? yes. trump has said he wants to turn the page on some of these things. i think it's a bit of an open question, candidly, whether he wants to take pot shots at cheney on social media and try to make her life miserable or if this is the bread crumbing suggesting there's criminality here hoping that perhaps his new attorney general or fbi director in the next term will pick it up and run with it. i just can't answer that right now. >> we don't know if it's going to be kash patel and whether he takes that suggestion and runs with it. >> exactly. >> that oversite committee's investigation was based on an fbi informant who recently pleaded guilty to criminal charges of lying about all of

that, the burisma money, the money that never did go to the bidens. michael, should we expect this is the beginning of the retribution campaign, that president trump has just sued the "des moines register," ann seltzer selzer, to sue for defamation is quite strange. >> right. if erroneous polls can create criminal liability, i think there's a lot of people across the country that might be sleeping nervously. look, i think that part of the point of these -- both the legal -- the lawsuits that he's filing against media and the potential claim of pursuing criminal activity, the point is probably not the actual result of those legal actions.

the point is sort of delivering to president trump's base what he promised which was revenge and retribution. it matters less to trump that what might happen in those legal proceedings a year, two years, three years from now, what matters more, i think, is that as he comes to power again for the second time, he demonstrates to people that support him so fervently, his word is good and he's going to pursue this kind of thing and helps to whip up that base, helps to submit the grip he has on both the party officials and also the party base and i think that my guess is that you will see a lot of saber rattling and some followthrough whether it's an actual pursuit of criminal charges against cheney or not

does seem unlikely given the congressional immunity she likely has. i do think it's not all just talk. i think they will follow through on some of this. >> andrea, can i add to that? >> yes, please. >> i heard from some sources there's this idea somebody is out there donald trump will want to make an example out of and it's not clear who that is. is it a prosecutor? is it someone on the january 6th committee? there are people close to trump who believe he was politically targeted with all of the investigations into him over the last couple of years and they want to make somebody pay to send a message. who that somebody is has not remotely been determined. >> that's a very good point, garrett haake. thank you so much. michael, thanks to you. with a friday night deadline looming, the annual budget cliff, congressional leaders may have a plan to keep the government funded three more months. our capitol hill team could see a vote on the continuation

resolution. the short-term package would start the dustup within president-elect trump's first 100 days in office in march. the compromises by mike johnson to make this deal possible have angered some of his members and could create problems for him during leadership votes just after the new year. the proposal does include a cost fl living bump for lawmakers, a provision set off the bells and whistles to put washington's rfk stadium under d.c. control that potentially clears the way for the washington commanders to move into the nation's capital from maryland. that was quite a behind-the-scenes battle. it looks like they may have straightened that out. and straight ahead, homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas joins me for a wide-ranging exit interview next. we'll be right back on "andrea mitchell reports" in just 90 seconds. stay with us. s. stay with us

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(cough cough) (sneeze) (♪♪) new alka-seltzer plus cold or flu fizzy chews. chew. fizz. feel better fast. no water needed. new alka-seltzer plus fizzychews. the nation has been seized by thousands of drone sightings in the last month causing widespread alarm, but the house intelligence committee reported yesterday there are no imminent threats or evidence of any involvement by foreign actors. president biden said there's nothing nefarious going on. joining me is homeland secretary alejandro mayorkas. mr. secretary, thank you very much. i want to talk about the drones because people are very

concerned about it. i know you've been on the record about this. you've said you know of no foreign involvement, there's no threat. the white house has said that, no national security threat. officials haven't told us what they don't know. you're going through all the sightings and a lot of these tips are false alarms. manned aircraft, regular landings, helicopters, commercial drones, delivery drones. and there is the change in 2023 that permitted night flying by drones and that means with the lights they're much more visible. is there something else going on that you're not familiar with, that is not explainable? >> let me restate what we've said previously. we know of no threat to people's security. and if we learn of any cause for concern, we will take action and

we will communicate immediately with the american public. there are and there have been thousands and thousands of drones flown across the united states for years. commercial drones, recreational drones, law enforcement drones. i spoke with an expert yesterday who has recorded over his home in california over the past six years more than 30,000 drone detections. and so this is not a new phenomenon. what we need in the federal government is our authorities to catch up with the development of drone activity over the last ten years. and so we have asked congress for not only an extension of our authorities but an expansion of them. >> what authorities do you need? >> we need the ability as the president-elect has communicated, the authority to

take down drones when the situation so warrants. we believe our authority in that regard is quite limited. we believe that state and local officials, law enforcement officials, should have counter drone authorities with appropriate safeguards. we're hopeful in this moment because of the public's concern, win we well understand, congress will give us those expanded authorities. >> is there a danger to commercial aircraft with all of this increased activity of drones as from lasers, for instance? >> there have been times when drones are flown over restricted airspace that has impacted the course of aircraft. they've altered their flight plans as needed. and so we just have to be able to really respond appropriately when, in fact, drones often, most often just errantly are

flown in areas where they should not be. >> are we going to get to the point there are so many drones there should be limits on how many should be licensed? >> well, currently there are over 1 million drones licensed. there was a small drone that crashed into a home in new jersey. it turned out to be a recreational drone that a young person was operating and either misoperated or the battery failed, as is often the case in very cold weather. the faa will be looking at its regulatory regime as it always does as the landscape evolves. >> let me ask you about what is arguably a much more serious threat which has not received nearly as much attention which is salt typhoon, china, despite their denials, saying china has gotten into u.s. telecom

companies verizon, at&t and others, and this breach is ongoing. how did they get in and when these things happen there's a hack. the government and the companies tell us we found the malware, we found what it is. this is still going on. >> andrea, you correctly describe this as a very, very serious matter. china has, in fact hacked into our telecommunications providers. it's very serious and i should say in response to that we have taken action. we in the federal government have stood up, a group of a multiagency response to this hack. just today our cyber security and infrastructure security agency published mobile communication best practice that is everyone should read

especially people in positions of responsibility in the united states government. it's a very sophisticated hack. i can't speak publicly to how it occurred, but the telecom providers are focused intensely on it and they are working in partnership with us to remediate it. >> how long has this been going on? months? >> it is not an overnight hack. this is a very sophisticated one. >> and it's still going on? >> and it is still going on, and china is very active in this space. we have taken action. the president spoke publicly about the actions that are being taken. and so we do not just stand idly by. we respond both from a remediation perspective and also a response perspective to a nation state's actions that

impact the well-being of the american public. >> "the new york times" is reporting today that they've been able to access telephone numbers and map chinese intelligence assets within this country. >> i don't want to speak publicly. i don't want to in any way invade the province of classified holdings. i can assure you and the american public that we are quite vigilant in our response and working under the leadership of tremendous expertise. >> there's no denial there of what esteemed colleague david sanger at the "new york times" is reporting told -- >> esteemed colleague is correct. >> okay. on cyber and also the administration is considering, and it's under a 30 day -- >> review, a al with respect to china telecom. >> wouldn't that proposal be more symbolic than otherwise

since they've been limited by previous actions taken by china telecom, the bad actor here? >> it's very important to send a message and it has substance to it. it's not purely symbolic. >> at this point, let's talk also about the border. the numbers are the lowest they've been. actions that have been taken but the president-elect is talking about day one moving to mass deportations starting with criminals and mixed families, families that have legal citizens to prevent children from being separated again, he says. that's what he told kristen welker, my colleague on "meet the press." >> if i can, let's break it down. the number of individuals encountered at our southern border are below 2019 levels that has been the case month after month since the president

took executive action in june and that's very important to note. the incoming administration has spoken of the fact they will focus first on individuals who are unlawfully present in the united states who pose a risk to public safety. that is what we have done. we actually in the past three years, four years, have removed or returned or expelled more people than in the prior administration. and so we have been tough on enforcement, focused on individuals who pose a preliminary safety threat. u.s. citizens cannot be removed and we will see what the president-elect directs with respect to the deportation policies. >> let me ask you about the secret service, which is also under your purview. a loss has been written,

investigations of how there could possibly have been two attempts, one thwarted but one arguably a total failure in terms of against donald trump before he was elected. are you persuaded the agency has the sources it needs to not only protect the president, the vice president, the other protectees, but to also do all the other jobs that come almost seasonally to the secret service -- the inauguration, super bowl, other major events -- campaigns. there's a mid-term election coming. it just seems there's a rise and flow and that's part of the problem that you need more resources. the annual u.n. meetings, all these kinds of international visitors that you protect. >> the listening public is getting a sense of the tremendous expanse of the department of homeland security

from drones to cyber intrusions, by a nation state to the border, to the united states secret service. first on the secret service. it is the best protective service in the world. there is no question that there were failures on july 13th. the apparent attempt, the alleged attempt on the president-elect at the golf course in florida, it's a case that is currently pending, so i want to describe it as such, was actually the secret service's success interdicting an individual who apparently posed a threat to the president elected. july 13th was a failure. it was not a failure of inadequate resources. it was a failure of operations and the secret service has spoken quite publicly about that.

the secret service is in need of additional resources. there is no question about it. personnel, training facility and the like. the landscape, the threat landscape for which it is responsible in terms of protecting individuals in position of national leadership has only gotten more complex and more dynamic, and we need the resources accordingly. >> now you need so many resources, i mean, fema is also under your control, and there was a lot of criticism with carolina and weather conditions are changing and a lot of this is climate change, so this is another great challenge. are you satisfied that north carolina was adequately served during those crises? >> i am. fema responded very quickly. fema was actually

pre-positioned. the severity and frequency of extreme weather events is only growing. we don't see that abating in the future. fema does an extraordinary job in supporting state and local officials in preparing for, responding to and recovering from extreme weather events. i was pleased to see that in the house continuing resolution the funding for the short term that, in fact, the disaster relief fund that fema manages will be infused with desperately needed money. >> i just want to, given all the criticisms that you go through, the partnership for public service has said that homeland, after long being at the lowest rank of government agencies, is now the most improved. >> we are. last year we were considered by

the best places to work in the federal government, the most improved large department, the first time much we have perennially been last. we moved up considerably and this year, i should note, we moved up even more. we have the greatest workforce in the world. we have listens to our workforce. we have responded to our workforce. and supporting our workforce and working alongside them is the greatest honor of my life. >> let me also ask you, though, are you concerned about threats to the homeland now that syria has fallen apart? isis could become unleashed again. it's really a risk benefit choice here as to which way syria goes. we have isis prisoners guarded by forces allied with us but force that is might come under attack from one of our nato

allies, president erdogan of turkey, the turmoil could unleash foreign threats as well as the domestic threats you've been dealing with. >> this is a remarkable time. we have foreign threats. we have domestic threats. i believe the national security adviser, jake sullivan, spoke of the concern that will create for isis to re-emerge. it is our responsibility to meet these challenges, to guard against the foreign threats, to guard against the domestic threats and keep the american public safe and secure. yes, we are concerned. events in countries far from the united states can have consequences in the united states. i have spoken publicly about the increasing convergence of national security and homeland security. >> finally, your family came

from cuba. you have a remarkable story, and i know you've been through a lot leading this agency and served before as deputy at homeland, but just what are your thoughts as to your own background and some of the things that have been said about immigration and immigrants at the border and some of the things people are facing at the border? >> andrea, we are a nation of laws and we are also a nation of immigrants. i was driven to public service because of what this country gave to my family, including me, an opportunity. opportunities that my parents did not have. my mother was twice a refugee in her life. my father fled the communist takeover of cuba. lost everything, not much, but everything that we had there and america is a democracy and a land of opportunity and that it

shall always be. >> thank you for your service. >> thank you, andrea. happy holidays. >> same to you and your family. and the suspect in the assassination of the united healthcare ceo brian thompson formally indicted on first-degree murder and terrorism charges. how soon could he be back in manhattan? that's coming next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. it works on sweat from: stress, heat and activity. it provides 3x stress sweat protection. secret works. [♪♪]

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and we apologize. we had a massive control room failure in new york, several audio panels, and we apologize for what just happened, but picking up where we left off, a new york grand jury on tuesday indicted luigi mangione in the killing of united healthcare ceo brian thompson. he has been indicted and, according to a source familiar, will be waiving extradition from pennsylvania to new york. joining me now is andrew weisman, former top fbi official. andrew, forgive me, but we're trying to, of course, figure out when this might happen.

the indictment came from the d.a. in new york, d.a. bragg, the manhattan d.a., just late yesterday and how soon could there be a hearing? does it require a hearing if he's going to waive extradition? >> yeah, the next step if he's waiving extradition there will be a hearing in new york where he will make his way here in custody. of course given the nature of the charges and then there will be an assigned judge and there will be lots of discovery and it will be as all of our viewers know from watching various trials, it will be a while before he goes to trial. the unusual of this case in addition to the brazenness of the alleged crime which, you know, we've seen taking place before our eyes in terms of still photos is, one, the d.a.

having charged this, in part, as a terrorism offense, and so i would expect that we're going to hear about additional evidence that suggests that's why in the d.a.'s view mr. mangione did this. and i think from the defense perspective i would not be surprised if we hear about potential mental health issues just given the nature of the evidence so far suggests pretty erratic behavior. again, that's not by way of saying that's an excuse for the alleged crime but by way of explanation. i wouldn't be surprised if we hear that. >> and if there is a mental health defense, which understandably could be one of the options here given the nature of the evidence that's piled up against him, the evidence in this case, that he supposedly has, does that require him to acknowledge the

connection to the crime? that's the defense's, some sort of mental health problem or what we used to call the reason of insanity. >> it is possible in this sense when somebody raises a mental health issue, it can go to two things. one, it could go to a defense saying, yes, i may have done the actions, but i didn't have the necessary mental state to do this. that's a very hard showing to say that somebody is actually, you know, insane or close to insane, so those kinds of issues can go to guilt or lack of guilt. the other way in which mental health issues can come up is if there were to be a conviction, whether by trial or by plea, it's a way the defense seeks to mitigate any potential sentence with the idea of somebody who is suffering from severe mental

health issues is entitled to or could argue for a lower sentence. if we hear that, it's worth noting that this case is one where so far it appears this is sort of a tragedy all around from what we're hearing from the family of the defendant, obviously the family of the victim here, all of it suggests that this is just a tragedy by all accounts and it may be that we hear more by way of explanation in terms of the defendant charged here in terms of what motivated this and what seems to have been going on in the last few months in this man's life. >> it certainly is an extraordinary change in his earlier years, high school and collegiate experiences, post college, a masters degree. antonia hylton is joining us from outside the court in

pennsylvania, the courthouse in pennsylvania. antonia, are you hearing anything about when the hearing might be taking place and how quickly this extradition could happen? >> reporter: yes, andrea. right now the plan is for two back-to-back hearings to happen tomorrow morning. the very first hearing will be all about his state charges here in pennsylvania and then that second hearing, which will begin immediately afterwards, is all about extradition. and when we heard from the manhattan d.a., alvin bragg, yesterday, he made it clear new york authorities were prepared to bring him from this courthouse all the way to new york as soon as they have the opportunity. and because we know from a source that's spoken to nbc news and the indications have come from his team that he is going to stop this fight against the extradition process, that means that very likely this hearing that takes place tomorrow morning is what is going to wave the way for him very quickly to arrive in new york and for this story, frankly, to recenter from

a small community in pennsylvania that has been overwhelmed by this, frankly, back to the new york court system where he, of course, has high-powered representation. we've also learned more just about his experience as a pretrial detainee here in pennsylvania, andrea, including that people are sending him mail and emails. he has received 153 or so entries to his commissary account, and he can spend that money on things from toiletries to snacks. we know from officials here in the state that he is being given time outside, basically living the very typical life. we've been monitoring this online crowd funding platform that has allowed people who have started to see him as a kind of folk hero to gather money, they say, for his defense but it's not clear at this time that his team is accepting or using any of those funds in this extraordinary story. and so tomorrow morning is the

marker point when we're going to start to see this story shift and we're very likely going to be heading to new york, andrea. >> thanks very much to both you and to andrew weisman. russia says it has made an arrest in connection with the assassination, the brazen assassination, of a top general in moscow, the head of russia's chemical and radiological and biological unit. ukraine had accused him of war crimes. lieutenant general igor kirillov and his assistant were killed when a bomb was planted inside the scooter went off. a 29-year-old citizen of uzbekistan confessed and alleged he was recruited by ukraine. on "morning joe" national security adviser jake sullivan criticized ukraine for a targeted assassination in the middle of moscow. >> i can be straight with you, the united states does not support or enable operations like this.

>> joining me from moscow, nbc news chief international correspondent keir simmons. keir, it's just remarkable, and were you right at the scene this morning, all of this is just incredible. obviously ukraine proudly claiming responsibility and the national security adviser of the united states criticizing them of doing something beyond the battlefield. >> reporter: that's right, andrea, and the man under arrest in russia, akhmad kurbanov is a 29-year-old uzbek man, according to russian officials, his name has been put into the public realm by the russian media. according to russian officials, though, they say that he was given the explosives, put it on the scooter, also rigged a camera. you're seeing video there. there's another piece of video that appears to be from a car, rigged the camera into the car that then, according to russian

security official s live fed th pictures back to ukraine. we were there on the sidewalk. you can see the damage, the broken metal and bricks. it is really impactful because you see there were just seconds for the lieutenant general to go from the entrance to his apartment to the car that was waiting for him. just second s for these explosives to be detonated. it clearly was an operation that was carefully planned. there are apartments all around, high-rise buildings. this happened in plain sight. russian officials furious. what's not being said so loudly here in moscow, question, how did this happen in the heart of the capital? >> keir simmons in moscow, thank you so much. and moving to syria, will

the rebel leaders there live up to their promise to create an inclusive multi ethnic, multireligious government or revert to their terrorist roots? joining us is retired four-star general, the former commander of u.s. central command, now a distinguished senior fellow on national security at the middle east institute. general, thanks very much for being with us. jake sullivan said today that there is some opportunity obviously in syria with the fall of the butcher assad but there are enormous risks of the resurgence of isis. how concerned are you? >> i think everyone should be concerned about terrorist organizations that will rise up into these positions. that said, what we've seen is over the last week or so we've seen fairly moderate actions from them, and having just returned from the region, what i've been asking of our partners, they're watching this very closely, so they will be looking at what the next 90-day

agenda looks like. they'll be looking at how they apply some of the principles that were discussed last week and how they approach multiparty discussions so we really need to see actions before we begin to make different judgments about hts. >> how quickly do you think, if he persists in his moderate stances, inclusive stance, he's abandoned his previous uniform, he's in civilian dress -- how quickly should we delist him as a terrorist, which he is, according to us in the united nations, and should he be on the ground, which is a big issue, the french and the brits are going in. >> right now i'm not sure our classification of hts as a terrorist organization is preventing him from doing what he needs to do on the ground here. certainly it is limiting some of

our interaction with him. we can make that call whenever we want. i do think it's important to be cautious here and to make sure that we are seeing a continuation of moderate stances by mr. jelani, by hts, the interim government as they move forward here. whether we should be on the ground or not, that's really kind of a political decision. we don't actually have to be on the ground to communicate with them. at this do recognize other western powers have gone in there. i think being a bit cautious, i think, is probably the right approach at this point. >> one of the concerns is also about a nato ally, turkey, one of the big winners here. are you concerned that the courageous syrian/kurdish fighters, allied with us who helped defeat isis, guarding isis prisoners, how concerned president erdogan goes after them as he has other kurdish figures, the pkk?

>> i'm very concerned. >> it appears there's a temporary ceasefire that's been put back in place until the end of the week. there's been an extraordinary amount of posturing, not just by the turkish military but by the syrian national army and supported around the town of kobani which is an ideological center and really one of the main population centers for the syrian kurds. and it's right up against the turkish borders. reports of dismantling the border wall. these are not great signs, so i think if there's an area of the united states and others ought to be pressing on, it is on this one making sure that we don't allow our kurdish partners to be overwhelmed by the turks or by their partners on the ground. >> financing me, we have only 20 seconds left. how hopeful are you of getting a ceasefire in gaza and release of the hostages given that burns is

in doha and israel is saying they've agreed? >> most of the reporting is saying they're positive. keeping forces on the ground and that's a good thing. so i'm moderately positive about a ceasefire this time around. >> general votel, as always, thank you so very much. appreciate it. >> thank you. good to be here. >> that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." chris jansing reports starts right now. rts. chris jansing reports starts right now. one job two very different ways of doing it. the stark contrast between joe biden and donald trump's approaches to the presidency on full display in these final weeks before they change places.