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great to be with you on this christmas day. richard lui in new york city. it's been a busy 24 hours for president biden who signed 50 in new bills into law yesterday. a flurry of legislation covering everything from campus hazing to public corruption, designating the bald eagle as the national bird. the president vetoed a bipartisan measure that would have added dozens of new federal judges over the coming years. and earlier this week biden also granting clemency to 37 of the 40 people on death row, switching their sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole. that decision is stirring considerable debate among lawmakers like senator tom cotton, who on social media suggested it's a sign that the president is mentally incompetent, asking who is really calling the shots in the white house. joining us nbc news white house correspondent aaron gill grist. nbc news senior national political reporter jonathan

allen, white house correspondent for "the grio" april ryan, and professor of practice at columbia's school of professional studies, former executive director of the new york state democratic party and an msnbc political analyst basil smikle. aaron, when we talked yesterday it was a lot different. as i was mentioning, the white house busy in the last 24 hours. give us the background on this. >> you are right. president biden was busy monday. the white house says he signed 50 pieces of legislation impacting colleges, the environment, the border, several other things of course. a few that stand out. we mentioned colleges. they will have to meet new requirements for reporting hazing incidents on campuses. there are some new rules, too, now for contractors who provide certain services at the southern border. the president also signed a bill that creates stronger oversight on treatment facilities for minors, for teenagers. we know that celebrity paris hilton pushed for that legislation on capitol hill.

got widespread support there. you mentioned the bald eagle. despite the fact the eagle has been a well known symbol of this country for many, a long, long time, it was not officially our national bird. congress took up a measure this year and designated it as the national bird. it's worth pointing out, too, biden has 26 days left in office now. he still has more work to do. decide whether to block the sale of u.s. steel to nippon steel after a national security assessment ended without a decision this week. a few months ago he indicated he doesn't support that deal. we will see what he does. and there are sources, two sources told us that the president has been discussing preemptive pardons for people who have drawn the ire of president-elect trump over the last few years. so we will see if that happens. and the president is also likely to make his last diplomatic trip, visit pope francis at the vatican ten days before biden

leaves office. >> busy days despite it being the holidays. we heard this on christmas day that the president had done so much as aaron was saying since monday, was this a surprise to you when we look at previous presidencies as they look at their final days, final weeks in the white house? >> not at all. they are trying to get as much done as they can. they have more power it than anybody else in the world for, you know, aaron said, i think, something like 24, 25, 26 days left. if you are joe biden you want to use that power. of course, at the end of a legislative session, which congress has been -- come to the end of the legislative session. a bunch of stuff is backed up. the president has to make decisions on those things. i don't know how we would have made it through the holidays or next year without officially naming the bald eagle as the american bird. some of these are more consequential in terms of the treatment of young people with residential facilities, you know, that are, you know, really sort of substantive.

so, yeah, he is determined to use, you know, that power while he's got it. >> april, part of what we learned overnight, the president vetoing the judges act. that would have created a dozen new judge ships toies case loads only the federal court across the country. that bill had bipartisan support, although house republicans would not feet for vote for it until after donald trump won the election. what do you make of the time and the partisan jockeying over the courts and what we might see going forward on this? >> it's simple. this president, joe biden, didn't want to give president-elect donald trump a chance to add more conservatism into our courts. bottom line. i mean, you have so many people talking about how everything is weighed down right now. the white house on january 20th at noon will be republican. the house, the senate, what?

republican. and the supreme court leans republican. so this president wanted to ensure checks and balances. he is the standard bearer from what the founding fathers put in place. he wants to make sure everything goes well. and think about this. think about this. even though it wasn't a federal judgeship, think about what happened with merrick garland. think about the fact that merrick garland never got a chance to even have interviews with some senators. and because they rebuffed, they did not want to have a democrat on the u.s. supreme court. and in some ways this is that as well. this is trying to hold the line, to make sure once again that fairness and equal play and checks and balances are in place. >> basal, what do you make of this back and forth? you heard from our nbc team here as well as from april ryan. this is somewhat political. as you think about what the

democrats might be -- or the president specifically and what he is hearing from other democrats, like mike quigley of illinois saying, you shouldn't have done this in terms of rejecting this judges act because you have to let things go. to be more specific, actually, i'm speaking about the very issue that mike quigley was addressing, which is the clemencies. the dozens of clemencies announced as part of these latest developments. and mike quigley, and i'm just correcting what i said earlier, said autonomy was needed in the courts. is the president conducting himself in the way that's best for the country? >> you know, i take april's point. he is looking ahead. he is not just looking at the present. for those that want democrats to be a little more strategic and want democrats to have more of a spine, this is what you do. you say, you know what? i don't think that the next president is going to have the

country's interest in mind. he might have his own interests in mind. therefore, you know, until we can come to a point where we truly to have a system of checks and balances, not just on paper but in practice, maybe we need to hold on to this for a while. and that actually, you know, dovetails with another very important trend that there are a lot of voters in the country, particularly young voters, that have no trust in the institutions whatsoever, and that includes the courts and congress and the executive branch. and i think if democrats are going to think about the future and think about the country and put country first, maybe in is a way to and a first part of injecting a bit more truthfulness and reassurance, reassurances in that system that so many people feel uncomfortable with and don't trust. and this quick point. joe biden's actually set a record in the number of black judges that he has appoint to the court. so if anyone has any concerns

about his sort of interest in both fairness and equality on the court, you know, don't have to look any further than his presidency. >> aaron, what are you looking to see happen in the next, as you said, 26 days as president biden finishes out his time in the white house? one of those issues -- you were reporting on, judicial nominees. any more expected? what might we see in the coming two or three weeks? >> i think the white house has been somewhat keeping things close to the vest in terms of what actions we might see if the biden administration in the last few weeks that the president is in office. we do know that there are still serious concerns about what's happening in the middle east. even though there seems to is have been forward motion as it relights to the israel/lebanon, conflict with hezbollah as it relates to what's happening in syria, there is an effort by the administration to try to find a

ceasefire deal and a hostage release deal between hamas and israel. that's something that's still very much front of mind nor this administration. the president is very likely to stick with his typical tradition after christmas and head to the virgin islands with the first lady. he also typically keeps a very close eye on all of these international developments as they are happening and team in the last couple of weeks has traveled to the middle east to continue working on these things and there has been some reporting from that area there may have been some progress on the front of a ceasefire deal. so you could expect that this president will be very closely concentrated on that effort in the next couple of weeks here along with the domestic things that we have been talking about. >> basal, when you think about what the should be doing, theoretically still the leader the democratic party. as he looks at what he needs to do for the country, how might he split those objectives in the several weeks he has left? >> well, listen, i think in many

ways, obviously, these last few days are about his legacy, a lot of which has been built up within the last six months. but, look, i think voters are going to be focused very, you know, they are going to focus on domestic policy. there is a trump 2.0 coming and that means there is a resistant 2.0 and that may look different from what we saw, you know, back in 2016. but it will likely occur, nonetheless. so i think he should be focusing on -- and with members -- democratic members of senate in the house really focussing in on how to shore up those institutions that i talked about earlier that a lot of voters have trust issues with and setting the stage for states and local governments can do to imbue the sort of democratic values and those national values into state and local legislation. i think really kind of just shoring up what, you know, his

vision for the future and giving democrats nationally and locally the tools to do that is very important. i would also say quickly, there is a dnc chair about to be elected in a few months, and, you know, it would be really interesting and important to see, you know, what kind of -- what he needs for that next chair to sort of build the party going forward. >> yeah, jonathan, on that note, how democrats may or may not have shifted compared to 2016-17, this time around have they recovered from their loss? are they going to be able to make that shift basal was alluding to a new leader being elected for the party. are they still licking their wounds? have they shifted and now being productive? where are we? >> i don't think they have recovered from the loss in early november. you know, i think aaron earlier was talking about the lineup of

actually everybody has been talking about the lineup of a trifecta for republicans in washington, a supreme court that remains tilted towards i think a trumpian view of the world. i think you are going to have a long running debate now among the democrats about what they need to do to sort of pick up the pieces and have a better message for the american public and have that message for the american public be based on things that the public wants. and so, like, that's a process that starts now. typically, what we see in the country is the out of power party is more agile, and that gives them an opportunity come the midterms to try to pick up seats and potentially power in congress. >> april, as you look at this very topic, obviously, we have been getting some criticism from president trump. he was one of many republicans to blast biden's decision to commute the steps of nearly every federal death-row inmate. he wrote in on truth social that

it made no sense, vowing to direct the doj to vigorously pursue the death penalty. that's what he wrote. what can you tell us in terms of how the president may have come to that decision and in addition to that any discussions that you are aware of at the white house right now about yet more of this very act in clemencies? >> yes. on both issues, you know, democrats have, for the last 20 or so years, about 28 years, so i remember back in the clinton administration when al gore was running for president and lost to george w. bush, he called for a moratorium on death row cases at the time because of so much controversy and concern. here you have donald trump, who believes in the death penalty, can you say central park five now the exonerated five? if donald trump had his chance, the exonerated five would not be today. and those men, one of those men happens to be a city council

person and the city of new york -- to be exact and he even asked donald trump at the debate that last debate in philadelphia with kamala harris and president trump, you know, if he would apologize, and he asked him, are you for me? and yusuf sal only, the city council person for harlem said no. and donald trump walked away. there is concern about issues about the death-penalty cases, and enacting that. donald trump again wants it. democrats are very concerned about the discrepancy when it comes to these death row cases. let's get into the issue of more clemency relief. we understand that there is more to come. this president is not finished being president until noon on january 20th. so they are still reviewing, and they are trying to determine -- i mean, you have got people out

there like marilyn mosby, do you think he will get a pardon. she cannot live her life properly. her ex-husband lost a city council seat because of this, because of something about their mortgage, they are paying a mortgage through money that she got through a covert relief fund. that's what that was. and there were so many pooh who did that that never got that same situation. so many people are reviewing, won't tell us how many they have reviewed and how many petitions they have. but there are quite a few. but listen to this when it comes to the preemptive pardons. this is where there is a concern. they are tracking this. they are not 100% sure that they will do this. one, because will it have teeth? okay? will it have teeth that donald trump becomes president of the united states because he overturns everything. so there are some who don't want it, who are having to be on that list, and they are tracking it.

they are trying to see what, if anything, if it has teeth. so we'll see what happens when it comes to the preemptive pardons, but he is not done being president and i expect more pardons to come. >> april ryan, aaron gilchrist, jonathan allen, basil smikle, thank you. coming up, search and rescue efforts continuing after a crash involving a plane carrying 67 people from azerbaijan to russia. we will bring you the latest on that. later, an intimate look at the royal family after a challenging year. we are back in 90 seconds. you're watching msnbc.

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breaking news out of kazakhstan where dozens are dead after a christmas day plane crash. we want to warn you. some of the images we are about to show you are hard to watch. the plane traveling from azerbaijan to russia, it had 67 people onboard. an investigation into what caused the crash is underway. joining us now nbc news international correspondent kelly cobiella. kelly, lots of reporting on how and why this happened. what are you hearing? >> the russian aviation authority are blaming a bird strike. the airline, azerbaijan airlines, which was running it that flight, said the pilots were trying to make an emergency landing in kazakhstan not far from an airport there on the edge of the caspian sea.

they have also issued a statement extending their condolences to the families of the victims saying their pain is our pain, and wishing a speedy recovery to the injured. and there were many, many survivors, richard. that flight had already been diverted. to a city 100 miles from grazny apparently because of flog. data appears to show the plane making a figure of eight close to the airport in kazakhstan. then sharply gaining and losing altitude in the final minutes of the flight before witnesses caught on tape the just devastating crash, the plane lurching in the air, falling to the ground, bursting into flames and breaking apart. a large part of the fuselage remained intact. there is quite a bit of evidence on the ground. there is also unverified video posted by russian state news agency showing some of the passengers seemingly able to

walk away after the impact, richard. >> kelly, we want to shift to another story you are covering. that is in the region as well. russia's launching a large-scale missile and drone attack on ukraine's energy supplies on christmas day. that also developing. what can you tell us about that? >> russia attacked the energy city with cruise and ballistic missiles and drones. president zelenskyy calling it an inhumane christmas day assault. those strikes wounded at least six and killed one. those are preliminary numbers at this point. ukraine says its air force downed more than half of the missiles and drones launched overnight but the barrage did quite a bit of damage. it left a 500,000 of people in kharkiv without power with temperatures just above freezing. there were also blackouts in kyiv and other parts of the country. russia for the part says that it did carry out a massive strike.

it said that it was targeting critical ukrainian energy infrastructure. richard. >> all right. kelly cobiella, thank you. still ahead for you, the rise of what's called the broel garky coming to washington, d.c., and what it means for the next trump administration. d.c., and what it means for the next trump administration. it's 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. what a deal. ya'll giving it away too fast t-mobile, slow down. oh... stuffed up again? so congested! you need sinex saline from vicks. just sinex, breathe, ahhhh! what is — wow! sinex. breathe. ahhhhhh! narrator: time is running out to give a year-end gift like no other, a gift that can help st. jude children's research hospital save lives. woman: cancer doesn't care how old you are, and it's devastatingly scary.

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president-elect donald trump naming two unelected washington outsiders to run a new

department of government efficiency, which you may have heard of. elon musk and vivek ramaswamy have already vested capitol hill, laying the groundwork and meeting with members of congress who could help them in their mission to reorganize federal bureaucracy. hallie jackson has more on that. >> billionaire, titan of industry, political megadonor, elon musk has plenty of titles, but critics say he is earning a new one. broligarchy. >> broligarchy is ruled by these unelected male billionaires, mostly from the high-tech and financial services sector:the trump administration has been bringing them in en masse to do all kinds of important things like restructure the federal government. >> reporter: the so-called broligarchy, a reference to russia and the oligarchs there who rose to power after the fall of the soviet union, rich men who used their cozy relationship with the state to try to control major industries, energy, the

media, the banks. now some experts fear a new americanized version, not just to lobby on policy, but to directly influence it. >> we are headed on a slippery slope to a russia-like situation. >> reporter: during the biden administration the white house made moves like stepping up antitrust enforcement, cracking down on crypto and empowering the irs to make sure the wealthy pay what they owe. >> make all the money you want. just begin to pay your fair share. >> reporter: but moves like those, one reason why some one-percenters soured on the biden administration. >> the biden administration just like flat out tried to kill us. and they tried to kill crypto and they were on their way to kill a.i. >> reporter: now president-elect trump pledging a 180. >> the largest regulatory reduction in the history of our country. >> reporter: and the tip of the spear for that may be elon musk. >> the future is gonna be amazing! >> reporter: a man who has plenty of his own interests at stake. he spent more than $100 million

to back mr. trump during the campaign, an investment appearing to pay off as musk's network surged since election day. he is celt to create and lead that department of government efficiency, an advisory role, with perhaps unprecedented proximity to the president. musk expected to promote policies that could help him and other super high earners like fewer restrictions on a.i. and the crypto industry, a less aggressive approach to potential monopolies and most importantly, some experts say, massive tax breaks. he is joined by vivek ramaswamy, paypal's peter thiel and venture capitalists like david sacks throwing their support behind mr. trump, even some billionaires who shied away from endorsements in the campaign may be coming around like mark zuckerburg, once threatened with life in prison by trump, now dining at mar-a-lago as he reportedly seeks a so-called active role in the incoming

administration's tech policies. jeff bezos has been more explicit about what his role could look like. >> he has a lot of energy around reducing regulation, and my point of view, if i can help him do that, i will help. >> reporter: still for some who study the broligarchy, the sirens sounding about what a musk-led tech titan takeover could mean. >> they have been very clear and public about their belief that they see themselves as the only people who are fit to rule us and that they don't think democracy has a future. >> all right. joining us now, david, author of in trump's shadow and senior writer with the dispatch. thanks for joining us. adding numbers to the faces we saw in hallie jackson's report there, $1 million from jeff bezos, amazon. mark zuckerburg and openai's sam altman to help donald trump's

inaugural committee. that's a separate topic here, but they are also supporting this president. how do you reflect on not only this idea of this department of efficiency and also supporting the inauguration? it seems like we do have a lot of, according to what hallie said, the broligarchy leaning in on this president. >> look, it's really not that different than we've seen really over the course of the history of our country. wealthy businessmen with interests in what the government does and what the government regulates have always wanted and have always had proximity to presidents. i think elon musk is a little bit of a special case here. i think that's worth looking at. not just because of the amount of money that he invested in president trump's re-election, but because he has sort of extra close proximity. he is spending a lot of time at the president's side in mar-a-lago and he seems to have

more interest than normal. on the one hand, findnia businessman or woman to doesn't want to see their industry deregulated and without the shadow of the federal government dictating how they do business. you can't find one that doesn't want that in some way, shape or form. it's very normal. president trump during his first term was big into deregulation. i'd expect that in the second term no matter who was surrounding him. and arizona for the inauguration, it's natural to see corporate interests give to inaugurations. what i'm saying i know a lot of people are concerned and i understand why. this isn't that much different as far as the department of government efficiency, the so-called, the reason it exists is because members are congress who are empowered to make government more efficient and cut spending don't want the responsibility for coming up with the cuts. as usual, as we see this every ten years or so, they are trying to shuffle their responsibility

to do something they can do to an unelected panel in the thinking that they will come up with it and it won't be my fault or they will come up with it and we don't have to do anything about it. >> david, is just this -- is this just the way, if you will, corporate america and the ceos and some cases we just discussed, the way they show for is either by, in this case there is doge, again as vivek ramaswamy as well as elon musk is doing, but when it comes to the inauguration committee it's a slippery slope when they say i want to be a part of where this economy is going and i want to be a part of this new administration which happens to be donald trump. this is to be expected because this is the way they curry favor along the way is what you are saying? >> yeah. i mean, it's how you establish relationships. it's how you ensure that you have some level of access. americans don't like it. they always complain about it. i know for a lot of people donald trump is not a normal president. but it is not abnormal in terms of what is happening and how

people are trying to curry favor with him. it's really a tale as old as the republic. >> let's look at the numbers specifically. when we look at donation to trump's first inauguration, it broke records. look at that 2017 number. compare it, as we have on screen, to the 2021 joe biden number. you know, a difference of here $45 million. why the difference here, david? >> it's hard to say and we will have to look into it. it could be that joe biden was inaugurated in the middle of a pandemic and there were simply fewer festivities, fewer things to fund. there could be other reasons. one thing we know, and this is different than joe biden or barack obama or george w. bush, is donald trump wants to be at the center of most of the decisions that his white house makes, and does not want to depend on deputies and processes for decisions where only the

most important choices rise to the level of commander and chief. everybody knows this after a decade of donald trump in politics, if you want something done get to him. one of the ways you do that, donate to his causes. and even though this has been true of previous presidents and i just mentioned a few of them, it's more so with trump than others. my broader point here though is that, you know, one president may bring in more for their inaugural or their campaign committee, but it doesn't necessarily mean that what is happening is snesarily that alarming. other than the fact that if you think the whole way things work is alarming, that's fine. i understand that. but, i mean, look, the vice president. united states, kamala harris raised over $1 billion for her campaign. nothing wrong with that. she had a lot of support. money goes to where the interest is, and people wouldn't to help

politicians that they support. there are a lot of businessmen and women who support trump's regulatory agenda, his tax agenda. >> right. >> his approach to the business community, and they want to be able to tell him what they think is best. they also just want to support him because they support that element of his agenda. >> yeah, and many corporate leaders and corporations do the same thing, support causes, ngos along the way. potentially you could say this is the way they do business for a lack of a better term. speaking of which, you talk about trade policy, you intimated that, president-elect trump has broadcast and discussed his plans for tariffs on europe, canada, and mexico potentially others. something that could cause carmakers to lose up to 17% of their combined annual core profits. that's a big number as you know here, david. how likely is it that maybe as we have been discussing these donations as well as how closely

some of them are working with this president and the administration unofficially, at least we're hearing, how likely is it that this may end up in a potential different policy outcome for this president in terms of what he is deciding? >> well, it's always very possible with him. look, he is generally a transactionalist. there are few things he believes in. border security, you know, trying to control illegal immigration. he believes in tariffs. at times he has shown flexibility. he will talk about wanting to slaptives on a particular country. he talked about that in the first term with steel imports from australia and ended up not doing it after he was either take your pick, talked out of tv or reconsidered the issue when given more facts and decided not to do it. and so particularly with the automobile industry that is under such financial pressure, we will see a potential merger now between honda and nissan.

you know, i'm sure he will hear a lot of the stakeholders in that industry about what is best for them. there are a lot of eun none workers who build cars in the united states and they have -- many of them if not a majority voted for donald trump and i am sure he will hear from them as well. so he likes to stakeout a position. sometimes it seems extreme then it's a matter what the follow through looks like and what the feedback is. >> and the eyes looking at that $1 million that toyota has committed to the inauguration. so this is all relevant. we are talking about cars and the honda/nissan deal. david, thank you for your time. have a great holiday. >> merry christmas. thank you. >> thank you. coming up, subdued christmas celebrations under the shadow of israel's war in gaza. nbc's raf sanchez visits bethlehem to see how faith leaders and residents are marking this holiday. chapter vi. ...follows her example.

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today in bethlehem the birthplace of christmas the celebrations are more somber than previous years as palestinians mourn the loss of over 14 months of war this gaza. raf sanchez spoke with some of those observers in bethlehem and he joins us now from jerusalem. good day to you, my friend, raf. thanks for reporting today. huge crowds usually at the biblical birthplace of jesus on

this day. what are you seeing? >> reporter: yeah, richard, happy holidays from the holy land, bethlehem, considers itself to be the capital of christmas. literally the birthplace of christianity. this is the most festive time of year normally in that holy city, but when we were there yesterday and earlier this week it was a city where they were grappling how to mark the holiday amid ongoing war. in the little town of bethlehem, christmas is barely a whisper. palestinian scouts parading the streets but without their traditional instruments at the end of a difficult year for this holy city. christmas usually looks like this. the main square dominated by a towering tree. this is where that tree should be, but with the war in gaza still raging and few tourists, the festivities are canceled this year. church leaders calling for

public signs of christian hope, but muted celebrations. >> bethlehem is the capital of christmas. it's supposed to be the best time. year. none of that is happening because we are mourning. >> reporter: the reverend is the pastor of bethlehem's evangelical lutheran christmas church where this nativity scene reminds people of the thousands of children killed in gaza since last christmas. >> we see children pulled from under the rubble. >> reporter: we walked to the home of a christian born in gaza, she still has two surviving siblings there. >> that's why i didn't put the christmas tree. i not feeling well if i did this while they are suffering there. >> reporter: reaching them by phone, impossible some days. no connection. but the next morning our team in gaza found her brother and sister at the church where much of the strip's dwindling christian community is

sheltering. my greetings to all, rejoice as much as you can, they will tell them. in bethlehem, there are still moments of christmas joy. how to you feel in bethlehem? >> so blessed. >> reporter: foreign workers living in israel, thousands of miles from their families, gathering at the church of the nativity. normally, in the run up to christmas you'd have huge lines of pilgrims from around the world waiting to get into this holy place. instead, you can see today we have it pretty much to ourselves. the church built on the spot where geezition is said to have been born, a refuge in a turbulent world. worshippers drawing strength from centuries of tradition and comfort from the light of their faith. so, richard, you heard there is grief but not despair. there are a lot of people drawing resilience, inspiration from their faith at this

difficult time. i got to tell you it is a similar story among the families of the hundred or so israeli hostages who remain in gaza. when this began back on october 7th, 2023, nobody in gaza, in israel thought that we would be marking a second christmas, a second hanukkah period with the war still going, with the hostages still in captivity. hanukkah, of course, is a festival of lights, it is a time when families here in israel are all together, and for this now to be spilling over into a third calendar year, 2023, all of 2024, and it is looking now despite this progress in the ceasefire negotiations like this is still going to be unresolved in 2025, is a heavy, heavy burden for families of the hostages to say nothing of the palestinian civilians inside gaza. richard. >> raf sanchez, thank you so much. up next, it's been a year that the prince of wales called

brutal for the british royal family. a look at the challenges they faced and how they will spend this holiday after the break. hek dayquil vapocool? it's dayquil plus a rush of vicks vapors. ♪vapocooooool♪ woah. dayquil vapocool. the vaporizing daytime, coughing, aching, stuffy head, power through your day, medicine.

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illness, and have helped provide the strength, care, and comfort we have needed. i am deeply grateful, too, to all of those who have offered us their own kind words of sympathy and encouragement. >> all right. the royal family typically delivers that annual holiday speech from the palace or the castle, but this morning king charles breaking with tradition by delivering that message you saw at a former hospital chapel. a decision that was likely inspired by his ongoing battle with cancer. but as health challenges were not the only obstacle that the british monarch faced this year. prince william called 2024 a brutal year for his family. meagan fitzgerald has more. >> reporter: after a rough year, the royal family is ready to ring in a new one. >> an unprecedented year. a turbulent year. i think a year that has really exposed the royal family for being quite vulnerable. >> reporter: the difficult year

started in january. the princess of wales was admitted to the hospital for abdominal surgery. the king going to the same clinic at the same time for a prostate procedure. then in february everything changed. the palace announcing the king had cancer. one month later, another shock. >> it has been an incredibly tough couple of months for our family. >> reporter: the princess of wales saying she was diagnosed with cancer as well. both royals stepped back from public duties leaving a monarchy in potential crisis. >> i think that really just exposed this isn't a deep bench lined with substitutes. >> reporter: but in june, in time for the king's official birthday celebration, the princess of wales made a surprise appearance joining the king and her family on the iconic balcony. >> the cancer journey is complex. scary and unpredictable for everyone. >> reporter: it was this intimate and deeply personal video released in september with

the princess of wales telling the world there is light, even in the darkest of times. >> i cannot tell you what a relief it is to finally complete my chemotherapy treatment. >> reporter: now the princess of wales is making her slow return to work attending events as she feels well enough and as the royal family celebrates in holiday season they will be hoping this coming year will be far better than the last. meagan fitzgerald, nbc news, london. and thank you for that reporting. in the next hour, a look at the 50 bills president biden signed on christmas eve, including legislation supported by paris hilton. plus, a ban on chinese drones that are widely made in the u.s. more msnbc coverage after the break. r the break. it's your last chance to get iphone 16 pro, on us. and ipad and apple watch series 10. all three on us. only on verizon. with dexcom g7, managing your diabetes just got easier.

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and good to be with you. we are days away from the start of the 119th congress. the first meeting takes place january first. 61 new representatives. the new congress has their work cut out for them, including a funding bill. the 11th hour deal struck by the current congress only funds the government through march 14th. something that was not included, donald trump's demand that

congress lift that krielg. that will cam back into play. the 118th congress could not get lindsey graham saying his top priority is to secure the broken border, citing from the incoming deputy chief of staff for policy miller. all of these require unity from republicans. something we did not see over the last year in congress. join us now msnbc congressional correspondent julie tsirkin. good christmas to you. first off, how are congressional republicans getting ready for some of these things that we just discussed and more in the new session? >> yeah, happy holidays to you, richard. to borrow a quote from speaker johnson, he told me before the break that his members are going to go home, get rest because when they come back they will be

prepared to do the hardest work of their lives. you ran through that list. i don't have to tell you how much they have on their plate the next two years. a republican majority in the house, the senate and the white house. the margins are slim especially in the house. that agenda will take republican unity as you pointed out. we have not seen it the last two years. we will see if they can get it together the next two. certainly having somebody like trump, especially elon musk in his corner having x, that pressure from voters, from americans who then have to call their members who can bang down their doors and get them to do what trump and musk wants them to do, that will help. as happened in that chaotic 48 hours when they tried to fund the government, trump had last-minute demands, close to 40 republicans voted against the thing trump wanted to do, it won't be easy. i bet it will get even harder. >> as we think of speaker johnson right now, julie, trying to enjoy the holidays, he has

got to be thinking occasionally because he is getting close to d-day, thinking occasionally here of will he be speaker again, as you covered, and you have been watching so well. the vote and the rounds, you know, kevin mccarthy, 15 rounds of voting before he was elected speaker. what are you hearing right now? >> i don't think it's something i or anyone will ever forget. what makes this different, i don't want to speak out of turn, that of course president trump knows that he has an ambitious agenda to get anything done, you have to have a speaker in place. without a speaker, they can't do anything, can't even certify the election on january 6th. i think it's in trump's best interest to have that happen. that said if trump fires out a truth social post and says he doesn't want mike johnson to have the gavel, i bet that mike johnson will not have the gavel and that is in part because he only can lose one republican as it is, and still hold on to the

speakership. that's if all democrats vote for hakeem jefferies. that means he needs all republicans to vote for him. again can only lose one. we don't know what trump's gonna say. johnson has been working very hard to be in trump's good graces. he wasn't to mar-a-lago. we saw him in nicolas maduro. he went to a ufc fight with trump. he has been trying. what we saw happen in the chaos before they left for the holidays and funding the government mike johnson knows it's going to get challenging for him. i asked him if he even wants to be speaker before he left for the holidays and he said it's not a job that's fun all the time, but it is an important one. i think there are some lying in wait if johnson doesn't get the gavel. certainly nobody that can get to 18 votes. >> if not him, who are the others being watched right now? >> somebody like jim jordan. he is the chair of the judiciary committee. he is somebody who was an ally of pump, a firebrand from ohio. he likes his position atop the

judiciary committee. if they see johnson having trouble, he might just pop up as the fy to get the 218. i don't think he will get there because jordan already tried this before mike johnson wound up as speaker. when kevin mccarthy was removed they had a month period where we didn't know who was going to be speaker and we spent a long time staking out those votes, republicans just couldn't get to that magic number, finally johnson emerge as the victor and the unifier. i don't know who else can. >> busy days ahead for congress and julie tsirkin on the hill. thank you. have a good one. >> joining us now former congressman carlos, former press secretary to the speaker of the house brendan buck and democratic strategist and professor at columbia university basil smikle, also an msnbc analyst. carlos, you saw this discussion. you have seen the list of the to

dos for congress. i want to pick up with the speaker. she was saying nothing can get done. you remember the days had you were in the house without the speaker and without a mandate, if you will, of the speaker. maybe i shouldn't use that word. not much gets done. what's your thought on who will be speaker? will it be again johnson? >> richard, good to be with you. merry christmas to everyone. i agree with julie. i think mike johnson will likely be the next speaker because the other candidates for speaker are potential candidates, they have already run, and have not been able to secure the amount of votes necessary to become speaker. jim jordan, who she mentioned. tom emmer, the whip. steve scalise. all of these gentlemen tried to become speaker after kevin mccarthy was ousted and they were unable to unite a sufficient number of republicans behind them. so mike johnson is kind of the default choice here. he was the guy who had the fewest enemies.

he really had no real enemies, which is why he became speaker, and even though he has ruffled feathers she by negotiating with democrats and with this last bill he put together a week ago, maybe there is some people who are angry at him, but there is really no obvious alternative for republicans right now. so that really works to mike johnson's benefit. >> all right. going to you, former press secretary to the speaker of the house, one of these things maybe we think about every four years. if we don't have a speaker can we certify the election because it's a joint meeting, right? and if you don't have a speaker, generally you don't have a joint meeting without a speaker. is that right? is that the way it works? >> it's not a joint meeting. the house and senate have to meet to act. yes, under the electoral count act on january 6th, every four years, the house gets together and counts the votes. and they certify the election. that's, obviously, what trump tried to disrupt after his

failed election. now, we are in uncharted territory if we don't have a speaker at that time. that's never happened before. kevin mccarthy, it took him about a full week to get the votes that. was after a midterm. so there wasn't any business to be done. but there will be, i think real questions whether the house function at all on january 6th as is required to do to certify the election. i would like to tell you, like, here's what you do if that happens, but we never faced it. i think there are some workarounds. the house can, as we saw before, appoint anybody to be speaker for a certain period of time if they choose. so i imagine if they got to this scenario, and if this doesn't serve enough as a backstop for them to pick somebody, i think that's probably what happens, if they haven't picked somebody by january 6th, i would probably advise them to put forward a resolution that says, you know, generic member, you are speaker of the house for the purpose of counting this ballots for this

day. doesn't sign them up to be speaker for the entire congress so they can avoid that. here again we have never done this. we are sort of making this up. i think it would create a constitutional question of what would happen at that point. uncharted territory for sure. >> boy, that uncharted territory here, basil smikle, hakeem jefferies on johnson's future saying so far, you know, he saying there will be no democrats available to save him. consistent certainly in the last congress. should some democrats help? >> well, you know, first of all, what struck me, something that carlos said about mike johnson's enemies. it's amazing in washington you probably are measured not by how many friends you have, but how few enemies you have. i think that's the best way to answer the question. you know, hakeem jefferies and the democrats are not looking to be friends with republicans and try to get anything done necessarily. i don't know that they are trying to save them, but they do

focus on governance. and i think that's what you saw particularly going back to, you know, when mccarthy was elected. that split-screen was important. the chaos on the republican side. the unanimity on the identify of the democrats and their ability to actually stay cohesive. i mean, what you have seen over the last several years under hakeem jefferies' leadership and prior to that nancy pelosi is that you have seen a unified democratic party in congress. and i think that's what you will see going forward. whether there are times -- and there will be times where they will have to -- where they will have to act to make sure that the government is continuing to run and function properly. but the one thing that i will say is that i don't think even with chaos on the republican side, i still think you see an agenda. that agenda may not be generated from congress. but it may be generated by, let's say, the heritage

foundation. a policy that that folks within the administration are able to carry it out. the question then becomes will congress do anything on behalf of the people? and that's where i think democrats can step in and show that they can govern. >> carlos, going back to that to-do list that we were going through with julie, this is just of course partial. but some major things here hurricane hilary keeping the government -- keeping the country moving along. we talked about the house speaker election. let's look at the debt ceiling. and others related -- the trump tax cuts. these are big money issues. what stands out to you in terms of what will be a major discussion point, debate point where republicans may not be able to get the votes they need to alone pass? >> richard, i think that immigration is probably the only issue where republicans could act unilaterally. they would be able to bring

everyone together. they may even get some democratic votes because they are on defense on the immigration issue after everything that happened over the last four years. other than that, i really see scenarios where speaker johnson presumably, if he makes it, has to go to democrats for votes, especially on funding the government, on raising the debt limit. so donald trump ran a pretty partisan campaign for president. i think if he is smart here in the first few weeks of his administration he will reach out to democrats because i think even for something like tax reform, they might need some democratic votes. and, hey, in the 1980s, we did tax reform on a bipartisan basis and it was celebrate add and it was something that was good for the country. so i really do think that with this tiny majority, it behooves

republicans to try to make some democratic friends and to try to make some progress on some of the big issues that the country faces in a bipartisan manner. >> you know, brendan, building on what car los was saying on that to-do list, what do you think speaker johnson should go through? the tough wins first? the budget first, but what in terms of -- is there an easy win in there for his party and how will he get it done based on the way this president-elect typically does deal with congress? >> yeah, i agree with carlos that immigration is the lowest hanging fruit and they could probably get that done relatively quickly. everything else is a huge question mark. tax reform, maybe they could do that in a bipartisan way. carlos knows better than i. that's not going to be the sentiment of the recommend conference. they will want to do it their own way. the debt limit really sticks out to me. donald trump i think woke up to the reality in the last couple

of weeks that his administration is going to be distracted by increase the debt ceiling sometime mid next year. that's always the toughest vote that republicans take. and he wanted johnson to sort of clear the decks for him at the end and he was unable to do it. that will be a big moment where johnson, whoever is speaker, has to turn to hakeem jefferies, try to negotiate something in a bipartisan way. i don't know what it's going to look like, but it will be very unpopular with a lot of republicans and that will be a big moment whether johnson, whoever is speaker, will get through that without the same type of consequences that happened with kevin mccarthy and now facing mike johnson. there is things that republicans want to do. immigration. taxes. the stuff that they have to do, any majority has to do, debt limit, government funding, continues to cause a lot of problems for the speaker because there is a lot of members in the conference who won't accept anything that achievable. anything that's achievable, they just won't accept. >> you know, what do you think of the point made about

immigration for democrats and republicans potentially you might get some dems going with whatever, we don't know the details of the exact bill yet, is that the democrats might cross the line on or be bipartisan on or are there other issues and other bills you think they might do that on? >> well, there could be other bills, but on the immigration specifically, remember democrats did support a bill. there was a bipartisan bill. it didn't make everybody happy, but it was a bipartisan bill that trump himself had squashed through the republicans in congress. i would be curious to see if some version of that comes back now that he will be president and that he can sort of take a victory lap on and say, look what i did, when he actually thwarted the last one. i am curious about the tension that's going to be sort of prevalent there because if congress can't act on something related to immigration, the ways in which he talked about it on the campaign sort of doubling down in some very, you know,

racist and -- racist ways and he talked more about what haitians eat than the price of eggs, the fact he is so doubled down in that anger and vitriol towards immigrants, will it force him to act like in 2017. remember the so-called muslim ban where he sort of acted unilaterally from the oval office. so will that -- will any frustration with not being able to do something in congress actually force his hand in that way. frankly, if that were to happen, then i think you see a bigger problem on their hands of the administration. i will just say quickly, one thing that i think members of congress and the senate don't want to have to do regard of the policy is have to answer to an unaccountable billionaire in elon musk. you know, based on your conversation with julie earlier, you know, the question is how much does elon musk put in his -- in trump's ear? and how much will the members members of congress sort of push back on that because they have

their own legacy to think about. >> basil smikle, carlos, brendan, thank you for starting us off. >> thank you. up next, how president biden is approaching his final stretch in the oval office and what he and democrats are doing to leave an imprint on the court system. and later, another crackdown on drones. why congress is considering a ban on some of them. we're back with those and more in 90. 0. e in a parade. everyone customize and save 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. ♪ knock, knock. #1 broker here for the #1 hit maker. thanks for swingin' by, carl. no problem. so, what are all of those for?

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power of the pen in his final weeks in office. this week he signed 50 bills into law as well as vetoing a bipartisan measure to add dozens of judges to the federal court and granting clemency to federal death-row inmates. joining us white house correspondent aaron gilchrist. what can you tell us about all of these new bills and how president biden plans to approach the future days and weeks ahead before he leaves the white house? >> reporter: yeah, a lot of worker has done the last several days and a lot more work to do here. the president was busy monday. he signed those 50 pieces of legislation impacting colleges, the environment, the border, several other things of course. a few that stand out, colleges are going to meet new requirements for reporting hazing incidents on campuses. there are some new rules for contractors who provide services at our southern border. he also signed a bill that creates stronger oversight on treatment facilities for minors,

teenagers. we know celebrity paris hilton pushed for that legislation on capitol hill. it got widespread support there. the president also signed a bill that congress unanimously approved last week. it designates the bald eagle as the national bird. i know most of us thought that it was that. but now it is legislatively. and president biden in his last 26 days in office does have more work to do. he will have to decide whether to block the sale of u.s. steel, japan's nippon steel. there was a national security assessment that ended without a decision. a few months ago the president indicated he doesn't support it. we will see what he does there. two sources told us that the president has been discussing preemptive pardons for people who have drawn the ire of president-elect trump over the last few years. of course, the president is going head to the vatican. he has been invited by pope francis. that official trip ten days before president biden leaves office. >> you bring up the bald eagle. you are right.

who would have thought it was not? i was thinking what other birds were in contention. that's a different segment. how much of what you have been seeing here as you have been covering the white house, what biden is doing in the final days and weeks is about his legacy and solidifying that? >> reporter: i think that is a real thing that this white house and this president have been trying to make sure people are aware of what he has done as president. obviously, earlier this year he expected to be winning a second term, and now we see him out in public trying to talk about the economic worker has done, the infrastructure legislation that he got through congress, the money spent to help communities all around the country to help workers all around the country. i was with him in angola earlier this year when he went really to highlight the work that the u.s. has done to help that country and some of the surrounding countries build out a railway system to help get minerals from central africa to the coast more

quickly, so out into the market where the minerals are used in all different production ways. so this president in the last several months in particular has been trying to make sure people are aware of what he has done, trying to solidify his legacy as you say, richard, for years to come. >> in the last hour you were telling us about his final visit. how much is this a part of legacy as well as being personal for him, too. >> reporter: you know, as a catholic president this trip to the vatican i imagine is personal on some level. he has met the pope before, but this is something, obviously, ten days before he leaves office is significant that he would decide to make this trip. it is a little bit unusual for a president to do so, so late in his presidency. he is also going to meet with the italian prime minister while he is overseas. giorgia meloni, of course, the leader of the g7 this past year. as we understand it, he wants to have face to facetime to thank her for her work, particularly

as it relates to what the g7 has done in support of ukraine, richard. >> all right. at the white house for us, aaron gilchrist, thank you. joining us now, democratic strategist julie, thank you for joining us. you heard the reporting coming from aaron. any surprises on the flurry of new legislation from the president as part of that also the clemencies that were announced this week? some democrats not happy that he had done that, again citing the idea that there are separate branches of government and they should operate as such. >> well, look, you may not be happy with the fact that the president has the power to grant clemency or pardons. i don't love that part of our constitution. but it is his constitutional right to do that. i have no problem with him exercising those rights. look, a lot of what he is is important. but it's not legacy building. i don't know that the bald eagle

is something that the rest of us will look back on 100 years from now and say, thank god joe biden did that. i would love for him to publish the equal rights amendment. it that would be a huge legacy for him and has would democracy prove to some extent anything that donald trump may do with respect to gender, hopefully, in the next four years. so from my perspective this is a good start. i think the president in the month that he has left, a little less than a month, has long ways to go to try to help as many people as possible before somebody who is antithetical to everything he stands for comes into office. >> as part of what he might do still as president, as you were mentioning, he is still serving at this moment and as the leader of the democratic party, is there something he can do to mollify what might be a hurting democratic party because of the outcome of the election? are there things he is doing to gather the democratic troops, if you will, to ready themselves as you were just intimating for the

next four years given that they are no longer at least in the white house? >> well, look, joe biden is not going to save us and nobody who is in office is going to save us. i think democrats needs to understand that the fight needs to start anew and needs to start in the states and at the grassroots level. we can't rely on this white house to save us, especially in the next month. it's over. whether we like it or not. and so rather than looking to joe biden to do what he can do, there are things he can do. i mentioned era. there are other things, send more weapons to ukraine, for instance, to show our nato allies that the united states is serious about protecting democracy abroad as well as at home. but from a larger holistic standpoint i think democrats need to understand we can't look to a savior to come save us, that all of us need to work on our own, communicate on our own, speak to our friends, to our neighbors on our own to rebuild this party. this party desperately needs to

be rebuilt. i don't see anybody on the horizon who is going to be doing it except for the people, hopefully, listening now and everybody will be strong about rebuilding the party. >> you are saying unlike previous presidents leaving power, he may not be as involved in building and mollifying that collaboration as maybe other presidents have done in the past? >> look, i think every lame duck president leaves without much to do, to build the party, because the future is not about the lame duck president. it's about somebody else. that somebody else right now, we don't know. i would submit that the somebody else is all of us, and that joe biden any more than barack obama at the end of his term, which were two successful terms, ronald reagan at the end of two his two terms when george bush was coming in for the republicans can build a legacy. it is up to all of us to build that legacy. we cannot look to joe biden to

do it. as i mentioned, there are things at the margins and they are important and he hope he does them, domestically and internationally, but certainly there is nobody should be looking to the white house to say that joe biden's gonna do something the next month that's going to suddenly reinvigorated democratic party any more than our leaders in congress will be able to do that. they haven't done it yet. we need to do it ourselves. >> julie, appreciate you. thank you for spending time with us. >> happy holidays. >> all right. there could be a new crackdown on chinese made drones amid national security concerns. the national defense authorization act, one of the 50 bills president biden signed into law monday night, mandates investigation into the two largest chinese drone manufacturers, but also calls for the d.o.d. to regularly disassemble, analyze the components of these very drones. ken dilanian has more.

>> good morning. >> i'd like to know you of a usa drone operation happening today. >> reporter: on the rocky slopes of this california vineyard, the team uses drones to spray pesticides on grapes. >> the computer controls the rate per acre, which is very important to us when we are putting on nutrients or pesticides. >> reporter: making it faster and safer than applying the old way. >> there is not the trip and fall issues. there is not the knee injuries. all the things that we worry about with hand application. >> reporter: from farms to electric utilities to police departments, drones have become essential for government and business, including nbc news. the vast majority are need in china by one company, dji, inside this futuristic factory, but the pentagon called it a chinese military company. >> that software is being originated in china and controlled by the communist part

party of china. that drone could become a liability. >> reporter: congress passed a bipartisan bill that paves the way to ban the sale of chinese-made drones in the u.s., including consumer models used by millions of americans. after a year, sales of new chinese drones would likely be halted but existing ones could still be used. >> we are going to be safer if these drones are made somewhere other than at the end of the day controlled ultimately by the chinese communist party. >> reporter: in january, the fbi warned that the threat from chinese-made drones poses a significant risk to critical infrastructure and u.s. national security. the fear? that images and data collected by the drones could secretly be sent to china. dji strongly disputes any connection to the military or the chinese communist party and says it's hadding to work with u.s. leaders to prove its drones are harmless. >> we asked for evidence that there is some sort of back door

or data security issue with our products. all we have gotten in response is hypotheticals about what our products could do. no evidence of wrongdoing. >> reporter: al stalely says for him the ban would be a setback. and nothing on the market is as good as dji's drones. >> there are some american-made the weightless is extreme, costs a lot more money. what is the risk to society if china knows what i'm doing in my vinnard? >> reporter: ken dilanian, nbc news. next, what we know about a deadly christmas day plane crash in kazakhstan. the latest on that on the investigation into how it happened after the break. you're watching msnbc. u're watc. can get with any sportsbook. ohhh! the highs! no, no, no. the no, no, noooos - oooooooo! the oh, oh, ohhhhs! now whatcha wanna do with this? but the feeling that, no matter what, you're taken care of. ohhh, i just earned a hotel suite! hee! you only get that here. at the sportsbook born in vegas, where they know how to treat you right.

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dozens are dead after a christmas day plane crash in kazakhstan. some of the images you are about to see are hard to watch. the cause of the crash is being investigated. questions have been raised a possible bird strike. 67 people were on board as the plane traveled from the capital of azerbaijan to grozny in russia. 32 people survived. joining us nbc news international correspondent kelly cobiella. what are some of the early theories? there has been a lot of things out there in terms of how and what happened before this accident. >> reporter: and an awful lot of speculation online already as you can imagine, richard. russian aviation authorities are pointing at a bird strike as the

most likely cause of this air crash. azerbaijan airlines has said that the pilots were trying to make an emergency landing in kazakhstan not far from the airport there on the edge of the caspian sea. they had issued a statement offering condolences to the victims' families. the flight had been diverted to a city east of grozny which was its original destination. apparently, there was frog in grozny and that was the reason for the diversion. there is some data on flightradar24 appearing to show the plane making a figure of eight close to the airport where it was diverted to, and then sharply gaining and losing altitude. also some video coming in from inside the plane showing passengers very calm. oxygen masks down and some life vests in the cabin, but no panic. so question remaining, richard,

what was the actual cause? other theories are being floated, but right now russian authorities are thinking bird strike and investigators are cautioning people not to come to any conclusions until they can actually perform an investigation. richard, there is a lot of evidence on the ground still intact despite that fire. >> very early on. can you tell us about the people onboard and the survivors? >> yeah. so officials say all of the passengers and crew were from central asia and russia, citizens of those countries in central asia and russia. there has been some conclusion over the nationalities of three survivors, but still trying to sort all of that out. in all, authorities now say 38 people have, sadly, died. at least 32 they think have survived b but they say that number could change. there are some pretty critical injuries among those survivors. but among the group of survivors, richard, are three

children authorities say, 111-year-old, a 14-year-old. the two of -- two of them at least were taken into surgery earlier today. we don't have an update on their conditions. richard. >> all right. kelly, thank you so much for that reporting. coming up, how volunteers at an assisted living facility in atlanta are bringing holiday cheer. a live report on that next. chee. a live report on that next 16 pro at t-mobile. it's on them. families save 20% every month. what a deal! new and existing customers, trade in your busted old phone, and we'll give you a new iphone 16 pro with apple intelligence on us.

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for more than 40 years the pinch hitters program has given jewish atlantans an opportunity to give back on christmas day. they serve in non-medical roles at hospitals and nursing homes in the atlanta area so health workers get a day off. joining us marissa parra in atlanta with the story. >> reporter: hey there. i want to show you some video of what this room looked like an hour ago. i am in an assisted living facility and in the video you see people wearing bright green shirts. every single person in one of those bright green shirts is someone who is a part of what they call the pinch hitters program. this is an international jewish organization. local atlanta area, there is this program where jewish volunteers can sign up to step in, if you will, and relieve people who want to be home for christmas at any type of health care facility, nursing homes,

assisted living facilities like the one i am in, with non-medical roles. here to tell me a little bit more about it because he has been kind of leading the charge here, we have matt greene. you have been coordinating the efforts with this local program here in the local atlanta area. matt, tell us, what did we see today at this assisted living facility? we have some video playing of what you had. >> we saw a total of about 50 or 60 different jewish and non-jewish volunteers from across atlanta. >> reporter: you guys were singing. i see you handing out food. >> yep, we were handing out food. some of them were back there chopping salad, getting ready. >> reporter: you guys have big smiles on your faces. >> oh, yes. we love working the residents. they thrive on our talking to them because they are not with

their families. >> reporter: but they were with you guys? >> they were with us. that's what we to. >> reporter: for the first time since 2005, hanukkah falls on the same day as christmas day. >> that is correct. something like the fourth or fifth time in the history of, you know, hanukkah that is that way. >> reporter: right. and so this is something that you guys are giving your time for the people who want to celebrate christmas. you guys are giving your team, even though your own holiday falls tonight, you know, comes sundown. tell me why you do what you do. tell me why you were still here today, you showed up. what does this mean to you? >> like you said, talking to please people that don't have their families with them, it's, you know, very emotional. you know? it's heart, you know. we just love, you know, doing it. i have done it for over 30 years at different places. >> reporter: 30 years? >> yeah.

i have done hospitals. i have dressed as an elf and delivered the kids presents that were donated. i have worked at different, you know, hospitals. >> reporter: and you have always done it with a smile. in all the photos i have seen you in, i look forward to seeing you next year with the elf ears. >> i don't know about that. >> reporter: thank you for being here with us. thank you for what you do. >> thank you for talking about us. >> reporter: the season giving. you celebrate hanukkah or christmas, certainly is at the season of giving and we love to high tliet that, richard. >> helping millions of paid caregivers across the country. thank you to you. and we'll be right back. thank you to you. and we'll be right back. new alka-seltzer plus cold or flu fizzy chews. chew. fizz. feel better fast. no water needed. new alka-seltzer plus fizzychews.

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