good afternoon. it's 2:00 p.m. eastern, 11:00 a.m. pacific. we'll start with breaking news about the passenger plane crash that happened christmas day in kazakhstan. early information shows a

russian aircraft system may have hit that flight. the kremlin saying it's too early in the investigation to make any hypothesis. we're getting new images of the plane itself as it was on the way down. warning, the images we're about to show may be hard to watch. you can see in this video the airlines flight on the left-hand side bound for russia carrying 67 people catching fire as it crashes into a field. 38 of the people on board were killed and amazingly here 29 survived. we'll start with nbc news white house correspondent aaron gilchrist. good afternoon, aaron. what are we hearing from u.s. officials about this incident? >> reporter: richard, the u.s. official i spoke to this morning made a point to say it's early in the investigation, as you indicated, but the early indications are that it's possible that a russian

anti-aircraft system may have hit that passenger plane as it was flying through kazakhstan and may be responsible for what brought the plane down. there's more investigation that needs to happen here. this u.s. official say if this was a russian system that impacted this plane, then it is a further indication of how russia has not been responsible in its actions in that air space, particularly as it relates to the war in ukraine. this as we noted, is very much under investigation and the russia, as you noted, pushed back on some of the reporting that's been out there as of late. we saw the images of the aircraft once it was on the ground. we saw the holes in part of the fuselage there and that's raised these questions about whether this was something that was a mechanical issues, whether it was something that was weather

related or if, in fact, this aircraft was impacted by some sort of weaponry and now that is a part of the investigation. certainly, richard, part of the conversation. >> aaron gilchrist at the white house, thank you -- white house correspondent aaron gilchrist, thank you for starting us off. i'm joined by nbc's danielle who has been following the story from london. what are you seeing about what we have learned from u.s. officials so far? >> reporter: well, what the -- they've sent up a commission to kazakhstan to gather evidence here. what they're going to be looking at is why this aircraft had to fly hundreds of miles off course, diverted across the caspian sea to attempt an emergency landing on the other side of the caspian sea. the russians said the

investigation is under way and it would be incorporate to make any hypothesis before the investigation is complete. in the early hours of this crash, russian state media was saying it was possibly weather, possibly due to a bird strike. as videos emerged and it's become quite evident -- there was speculation for the last 24 hours, but independent experts have looked at the footage. they listened to the testimonies of the survivors that said they heard a loud, hard explosion. they saw shrapnel pass through the fuselage in the cabin area and that has led them to conclude that this was likely, as you guys have said, the result of a russian air defense trying to shoot down an ukrainian drone in the area, something it's done in the past in that region of russia. >> danielle, thank you so much for that report. we're going to go to former faa

and national transportation safety board director and an msnbc aviation analyst. jeff, so many different parts to dig into. let's go straight to the video. when you look at what we see here, the angle -- this is specifically the video showing holes in the wreckage of the back part of the plane. what could this be? again, we've said it many times, it's early. what are some of the possibilities? what's the range? >> well, i have to tell you, as new information, new video comes out, this has all the ear marks of shrapnel from some sort of anti-aircraft missile or weapon. you can see the puncture wounds in the left side, left horizontal stabilizer and the vertical stabilizer. that's consistent with passenger

video showing the left side of the airplane with some of the wing having a chunk missing. it's also very consistent with the video of the airplane having controllability problems just before it crashed. it's consistent with the radar track of the airplane as the the airplane was attempting to come in and make this emergency landing. thoughts about a bird strike, a bird strike can't take down airplanes like this. usually bird strikes cause hazards associated with engine failure, not controllability problems. as you can see from the video, there's some problems with the aircraft's controllability, the pitch motion which is consistent with the damage to the tail feathers of the airplane. >> you're talking about the part

that forms a "t" and all three parts show the holes. when you look at the video as it's just about to hit the ground, what are you seeing? the engines appear to be in place, or at least one does. >> the airplane appears to be completely intact before it hits the ground. the landing gear is out. the engines are both on there. no major portions of the airplane are missing. when you observe the behavior of the airplane as it's steeply pitched down and attempts to pull up, it's similar to an accident -- the famous sioux city, iowa, accident where the engine exploded and sent shrapnel into the hydraulic system and the flight crew had to struggle with controllability as they tried to make a landing in sioux city.

this appears similar. fortunately the tail broke off and that's where many of the survivors were. it's preliminary, but everything coming out with regard to this event has all the ear marks of an in-flight malfunction, likely due to external forces that damaged the flight controls of this airplane. >> jeff, a top aviation security leader telling nbc the crash likely was caused by a misidentification. let's listen to that. >> at the time of this event, russian air defense forces in the federal district were defending against a ukrainian military grade weaponized drone attack. the examination of the damage to the aircraft, leads us to assess the likely cause of the event is

misidentification and damage sustained from that. >> jeff, what do you think about that particular piece of information from that expert? >> i think that information, again, is consistent with a shoot-down type event. here you have a conflict zone. you have a conflict with weaponized drones and the russians attempting to shoot it down and reports of these defenses occurring about the time of the accident. so, again, it's more consistent evidence piling on that this was not an aviation safety event. it was more of a likely -- move of a military misidentification. >> quickly here, so we have some reports of fog yesterday when we got this story in. second of all, could those holes be caused by an exploding engine, shrapnel? is that a possibility there? how safe is this plane -- is it

one of the safer ones? >> the e-190 is a very safe plane. fairly new design, came out in 2018. their entire series of built airplanes have an excellent safety record. with regard to fog, that happens every so often. airports can be fogged in and they'll divert an airplane to land in another area. it could be coincidental and the fog report could be inaccurate. again, the investigation will get to the heart of these issues. the downloading of the black boxes, looking at all the evidence. but, when you take a look at the piercing marks in that tail section, typically an engine burst wouldn't cause that type of damage in that tail section. it would be more towards the fuselage section. here we see it on the tail on the left side which is

consistent with an external event. >> jeff, thank you so much for your expertise on that breaking news story. the other story we're watching for you this hour, air strikes continuing today in the gaza strip. dozens killed in the last 24 hours. according to medics on the ground, at least five palestinian journalists. this despite progress in recent days, both sides saying both sides are slowing down a potential agreement. i'm joined by hala in beirut. good evening. what more do we know about the journalists killed? >> reporter: five journalists outside central gaza. we understand their vehicle was targeted. it was clearly labeled as press. the idf acknowledged the strike

and said it was targeting palestinian islamic jihad. the committee to protect journalists is saying the 141 journalists have been killed in the gaza strip since october 7, 2023. it's a record number of journalists killed in conflict zones since it began counting. the cpj denounces israel's killing of the journalists. the vehicle -- the strike on the vehicle that was clearly marked press means that nine journalists have been killed the last few weeks. we did a story on the killing of journalists in the gaza strip and southern lebanon. we asked the idf as well for its side, its version of events as

to why so many journalists are being killed by israeli strikes across the region. in some cases they say, well, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. in others they say, especially in cases of targeting of al jazeera journalists, one was killed several months ago as well, that they were hamas operatives. when you do a little bit of digging, some of the evidence doesn't always match up. certainly from the palestinian perspective there's a belief, a sense that some of these killings of journalists are deliberate. richard? >> hala, moving to what you're watching in the region, that's the discussions of a cease-fire, negotiations -- we got some reporting over christmas they were close again. what's the latest? >> reporter: unfortunately it does appear as though the

negotiations have stalled. there was a bit of optimism a few days ago when the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu told the parliament there had been, quote, some progress in negotiations. now both sides are accusing the other of using delaying tactics, of making additional demands. hamas, for example, is saying that israel is reneging on some of its promises to withdraw from the gaza strip. the israeli side is saying hamas is backing out on some of its earlier promises. there was meant to be a three-phase plan implemented. it's a plan that's been discussed for several months now. phase one would involve the release of 40 live hostages, israeli hostages in exchange for prisoners. right now it doesn't appear an agreement is imminent. >> on and off again as we have

been hearing. hala, thank you so much. coming up, the severe coast to coast weather threatening travel plans for millions nationwide and how to get ahead of the travel crush as you try to make your way home. you're watching msnbc. we're back in 90 seconds. 're bas ♪ with verizon, trade in any phone, any condition. 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.

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trip. you have snow, sleet and rain with millions under wind alerts in the west. wind and thunderstorms in the south causing a ground stop at dallas/fort worth airport. joining us now is marissa parra in atlanta. you've been at the airport all day. what are you seeing? are conditions getting better in the atlanta area and in the south? >> reporter: hey, richard. so i can tell you, having been here at the atlanta airport, it's busy and it continues to stay busy. i would say the worst of the delays that we're seeing across the country, ten fold coming from texas, specifically dallas, both airports bearing the brunts of cancellations and delays around the country. it's the misery map. that shows you the most miserable places to fly in and out of. you see, if we can go back to that map, you can see dallas taking the top spot there. closely followed by houston.

that's here we're seeing a lot of weather, richard. in atlanta, the delays and cancellations are for flights leaving from dallas. fog has contributed to some delays out of the midwest, including places like chicago o'hare. there's weather out of the pacific northwest contributing to delays. atmospheric rivers of course. we have our meteorologist that can talk more about the weather at length. really it's the severe weather out of texas that's really putting a damper, if you will, on travel. it's not just the airports. travel on the roads, something people need to be careful with when it comes to road travel. that's how the majority of people travel. yesterday, the day before, minimal traffic according to aaa. the majority of the people take to the roads and projections show today is when we see the

roads and traffic creep back up. however you are taking to traveling, whether the skies or roads, be safe or careful in those weather impacted areas. >> we're showing pictures of snow on the roads and it makes us get a little verklempt about what we're seeing. hopefully you won't see snow. marissa parra, thank you. >> joining us now meteorologist michelle grossman. you're the meteorologist that will tell us what's happening and everything goes that way. what's happening in texas is heading marissa parra's way? >> reporter: yes, it's going that way, west to east. we have a lot of weather. hi, richard. so good to see you. pacific northwest, we've had a series of storms moving on. we saw one system early and we'll see one tonight. we could see three feet of snow in the sierra nevada mountains.

also coastal rain that will accumulate to over four, five inches in some spots and windy conditions as well. then the south where marissa parra is -- she's in atlanta. in texas specifically, we're looking at some strong storms now in dallas and houston. that's the case as we go throughout all of this thursday. the day time heating time gives it the oomph the storms need. we saw hail earlier. that's still on the table for later this afternoon and the chance for heavy rain because we're seeing heavy downpours leading to flash flooding. the focus is on the pacific northwest, also the south. we're nice and dry for most of the east. a few showers in the carolinas. it's chilly in east, but they're dry. we're seeing delays at the airports in dallas and we're expecting delays also in houston. in seattle, also portland.

the rest of the country looks good. you can anticipate problems on the roadways with the blending of the rain in the south and that heavy mountain snow in parts of the pacific northwest into the inner mountain west. then tomorrow, a big day in terms of travel. that's gray expand. we're not just talking about texas, louisiana, arkansas. we're talking about the great lakes and the midwest, ohio valley, down to portions of the tennessee valley. you see the yellow, red and orange. that's where we're predicting heavy rain. a lot of people looking at widespread rain showers. the pacific northwest, you remain a mess. snow still falling. big-time travel impacts there in the pacific northwest and windy conditions. air travel, seattle, portland, and then we expand into chicago, kansas city, nashville, also new orleans. that's going to be a problem on

the roadways there as well. let's talk about the severe weather. you need to remain weather aware. we say that when we have a concern. there's a lot of moisture. we'll see day time heating. 13 million americans under the threat of severe weather today. we're seeing lots of lightning with these storms. the power is there. notice the orange shading, that darker color, livingston, houston, tornados, large hail, windy conditions. we're concerned about shreveport, tyler, brian, alexandria and now louisiana, arkansas and oklahoma where we could see strong storms. a few tornados are possible. we'll continue to track that for you. we have a tornado watch in effect until 7:00 where you see the pink. we have severe thunderstorm watch in yellow.

texarkana, tyler, shreveport. we nd it here, richard. back to you. >> the midwest and northeast not following the horror christmas holiday movie scripts this year. they're enjoying it. >> reporter: yes. we're like the hallmark movie. >> michelle grossman, thank you for that. very helpful. a tale of two holidays. very different messages from president biden and president-elect trump on christmas day. that's coming up after a quick break. tnf blocker like humira or enbrel, rinvoq works differently. rinvoq is a once-daily pill that can rapidly relieve joint pain, stiffness, and swelling as fast as 2 weeks for some. and even at the 3-year mark, many people felt this relief. rinvoq can stop joint damage. and in psa, can leave skin clear or almost clear. rinvoq can lower ability to fight infections. before treatment, test for tb and do bloodwork.

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on christmas day the contrast between the president we currently have and will be getting is on full display. in a flurry of social media posts donald trump continued to rail against president biden for his decision to commute the sentences for 37 death row inmates to life in prison. the president-elect gave the world more insight into his stance on foreign policy taking aim at canada, greenland and panama. president biden left politics out of his holiday message, instead offering words of hope and compassion to the american people this holiday season as his term winds down. joining us now is alexa uchanan

and john nichols. lexie, the president-elect looking for the second day at least on the holiday day of christmas, focusing his interests on canada, panama. there's also the interests of acquiring greenland which is consistent with his first administration. as you know, denmark owns greenland. this sudden shift in foreign policy amid his holiday greeting is setting the tone for what's to come in his second term some might ask. what do you think is his purpose is? is it about manufacturing? is it about comparative advantage? is it about international security? why is the president-elect looking at these particular territories or countries? >> yeah, it's a great question and we have seen the ways in which he has almost tried to stiff arm or bully these

countries into capitulating and doing what he wants. we've already seen in his messaging with the president of mexico before talking about a back and forth of immigration and the border and seeing that world leader and others take to twitter and other social media platforms to correct the record leaving us in a he said/she said on foreign policy. president-elect donald trump has even taken office yet and we have to pars through what these things mentioned mean. he talked about buying greenland in his first presidency. it would be wise for us to assume that donald trump will do whatever it takes during his second and what will be his final presidency to establish a long-term legacy which is what a lot of these foreign policy moves are about, but more than that to do what he didn't accomplish the first time around

whether because of legal reasons or logistical issues or otherwise. we would be wise to assume he will do nothing to stop this time around. >> john, one of the items that the president did post on was who he will be assigning to be u.s. ambassador to panama. he was saying yesterday that he is looking at kevin marino cabrera to take on that assignment. he's been saying about panama that the fees through the panama canal are too high. they're about the same as through the suez canal and the president -- what do you make of kevin's background and his

potential to implement what the president would like to do what he wants to do by panama if he's approved by the senate to be the ambassador there? >> you're talking about a local elected official in dade county, in florida, who has good experience down there in dealing with some negotiations and some politics who knows the region, because if you've ever been in miami, people know latin america, central america, the caribbean quite well, at least if you're engaged politically down there. in some ways it seems like a credible pick, but the complexity here is that you're not picking someone who has been involved in the complexities of panama and latin america at a level that say a senior diplomat would. a president of the united states, if he or she at some point, is picking a diplomat to

go into an assignment in a country where you're asking really to upend very long-term arrangements and relationships, some of which intersect with not just the canal, but our relationship with china, south america, latin america, you would think you would want your most able diplomat in this situation. it's not the approach donald trump's been taking. in latin america and other parts of the world when he's picking ambassadors he's picking people he knows or likes or has had some contact with. it's much more of a personal selection on the part of donald trump, presumably picking someone that will go and do exactly what he tells them to do. we'll see how that plays out in panama and mexico and a lot of other countries in the region.

>> lexie, two things that we can take from in the past 24 hours is the president-elect has been working over the holidays, looking to fill out his team and, number two, he's working on specific individuals and communicating as he has in the past his divisions via social media. quickly on that because that's an indication how he'll be working in the future, weekends, holidays and through social media. >> it's going to be a busy time for everyone involved. we all remember the famous announcements where he would sometimes fire people from the white house administration, and that's the way we would find out. it included people like his chief of staff. we should expect those things to continue. donald trump is someone who likes to brag about how much he's working. when i was covering him the first time around, i reported on his unstructured executive time where he does a lot of this business we don't know about.

we can expect that this time around too. >> appreciate you both for showing up today. thank you so much. up next, the countdown to president-elect trump's second inauguration and what he's saying about how he'll use the justice department to push the federal death penalty. it's just nice to know that years after i'm gone this guy will be standing the test of ti... he's melting! oh jeez... nooo... oh gaa... only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ carl: believe me, when it comes to investing, you'll love carl's way. take a left here please. driver: but there's a... carl's way is the best way. client: is it? at schwab, how i choose to invest is up to me. driver: exactly! i can invest and trade on my own... client: yes, and let them manage some investments for me too. let's move on, shall we? no can do. client: i'll get out here. where are you going??

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with just 25 days until donald trump's inauguration, we'll see many of the people he

nominated for administration positions go before the senate for confirmation. one is trump's pick for attorney general, pam bondi. she has a controversial record as a prosecutor and former attorney general of florida. alex tappa explains what else we know about bondi. >> pam bondi is like a rocket ship. she's very popular. >> reporter: president-elect donald trump has chosen former florida ag pam bondi as his pick for attorney general. she studied at the university of florida and got her law degree from stetson university. then she was a prosecutor. in 2010 bondi was elected as florida's first female attorney general. as florida's ag bondi was a key figure in the fight against

obamacare. >> we believe it's unconstitutional. it's an overreach by the federal government. >> reporter: she courted controversy fighting and failing to keep florida's ban on same sex marriage. >> i put my hand on a bible and swore to uphold the constitution of the state of florida. >> reporter: for opting not to join new york's attorney general in an investigation into trump university over allegations of fraud. >> at trump university we teach success. that's what it's all about. >> reporter: that ultimately led to a $25 million settlement for trump university students. bondi spoke at the 2016 republican national convention attacking hillary clinton. >> lock her up. i love that. >> reporter: she was on trump's transition team in 2016 as speculation swirled she might be joining his first cabinet. >> i'm happy being attorney general of the state of florida. >> reporter: she served as the

chair of the america first policy institute, a conservative think tank and is one of trump's defense lawyers during his first impeachment. >> it's all about one phone call president trump had with president zelenskyy. they have not charged -- i have to be clear here -- they have not charged the president with a crime. >> reporter: bondi was among the group of republicans who appeared at a manhattan courthouse in solidarity with president trump. >> i've never seen anything like this. a judge is supposed to be a neutral arbiter. >> reporter: if confirmed, will she seek retribution for those who prosecuted president-elect trump? >> the prosecutors will be prosecuted, the bad ones. the investigators will be investigated. >> reporter: something trump he says he won't be directing them to do. >> pam bondi talks about investigating the investigators. do you want her to investigate

jack smith? >> i want her to do what she wants to do. >> are you going to direct her to -- >> no, i'm not. >> thanks for that report. joining us now matthew dowd and t.m. mitchell, her latest piece covers president biden's death row commutations. first, matthew, pam bondi, you saw our correspondent alex tappan and his report on bondi. what do you make of her probability of getting past the senate and what will she mean to the justice department? >> take the matt gaetz standard. she exceeds the matt gaetz standard. at least it's not an automatic rejection. my guess is -- i don't know this for a fact -- the republican senators who will hold the majority by three votes are going to defer to donald trump

in this. she has actual experience. she was state attorney general. she was, as the piece said, county prosecutor for more than 15 years. she has that experience. she also has a lot -- a ton of negatives, including this piece about the trump university where, you know, she accepted a contribution in the midst of her making a decision in order to not prosecute donald trump. i think because they jettisoned matt gaetz, she's get defense in this. the odds are she's going to be the next attorney general unless something is discovered over the course of the next few weeks. >> potentially matt gaetz softening the road for her is what you're saying. tia, i want to get to the piece you have on president biden's commutations. president-elect trump saying on social media, he said, in his

post telling the 37 inmates to, quote, go to hell. those are his words. what did you uncover in your report about these commutations, what they mean now and what they mean for the future? >> what they mean now is these men will not be put to death even though they're going to die in prison, the federal government will not execute them. donald trump can't reverse that. we should point out that president biden in his statement announcing the commutations made it clear he thinks these are bad people who did bad things. he might not have used the same language the president-elect used, but he made it clear that he's not forgiving them of their sins so to speak, he just believes the death penalty is not the way to go. it's not a sentence that the federal government should be carrying out. i think there are lots of religious and civil rights groups that agree, even some of the families have said they

don't agree with the death penalty, although we know there's some families who do not approve of the president's decision. that's where we are. trump can't reverse it. all he can do is -- his promise is to put more people, future defendants, make them eligible for the death penalty. >> matthew, it's been a busy week for the president. we talked about the commutations last week. we had many bills signed by the president. there's also the issue of more judges. he vetoed that bill. we have the bald eagle now officially the bird of the united states. what do you expect to see him do in the next three weeks of lasting effect? >> i mean, i think what he's trying to do is corner donald trump and box him in so he can do -- i think the biden administration and the president is trying to prevent donald trump from doing as much damage as he possibly could do, which he could do a lot as president.

i think joe biden is trying to box him in on this. i mean, speaking specifically to the commutations, which, of course, donald trump doesn't understand the difference between a commutation and a pardon. they weren't pardoned. it comes from the president's christianity and outlook on the world. me as a christian, i'm opposed to the death penalty. donald trump, it's amazing he's weighing in on this issue on christmas. he might as well said bah humbug. i'm amazed by donald trump's wrenching conflict on what the message of christmas is and what he tweets out. joe biden is trying to box in donald trump, i think that's his goal.

>> tia, love the paper being a former atlantan. the headline is georgia farmers have mixed feelings about trump's immigration proposals. we haven't seen any posts in the last week, but expect it. what's in that? >> it's very interesting, you know, president trump has promised on day one to begin the process of some type of mass deportation, some type of crackdown on illegal immigration. we don't know what that will look like. the agricultural industry, not just farmers and producers, but the meat packing industry, all of them are -- if there's a big crackdown on undocumented immigration, that could have an impact on their workforce. that's something where the industry leaders, the people who run these companies are supportive of trump, but they also know the companies rely on

undocumented immigration to a certain extent and you can't get around that. >> tia mitchell, you can catch your article on agc.com. matthew dowd, thank you as always. coming up, from brat summer to defying gravity, we'll look back at the defining pop culture moments of 2024 that had everyone talking and posting. you are watching msnbc.

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2024 was quite the year when it comes to pop culture. here it is for you in terms of water cooler talk for your new year's eve party. we remember the hippo princess who stole the hearts of millions and demur was named dictionary.com's word of the year and near, far or wherever you are, celine dion rocked with world with her epic comeback to the stage. that and more with savannah sellers as she has more on this year's top moments. >> reporter: 2024, where to begin. from arena tours to a zoo in thailand to packed movie theaters, pop culture was popping. just when it seemed the box office was in free fall, "wicked" popularity proved to be --

♪ you're gonna be popular ♪ >> reporter: the musical defied gravity smashing box office records and turning green and pink into the color combo of the year. >> you're green. >> i am. >> reporter: ariana grande and cynthia erivo were dancing through life. >> we were strangers. >> that's no lie. >> now we're besties. >> it's an extraordinary privilege to be trusted with these roles. >> very, very grateful there's space for us to breathe ourselves into these roles, this piece, not to take away from it, but grow it and expand it. >> reporter: many fans turned it into a double feature with "gladiator 2" aka glicked.

"dune 2" gave us zendaya in this outfit and ee chalamet in this look alike outfit. it was charli xcx and brat summer and if you're missing taylor, we have some espresso. a round of texas hold 'em from queen bey's first country album. a new era for celine dion making a comeback. the real star of the year, moodang, the baby hippo who stole our hearts. >> savannah, thank you for that. breaking news on the airlines crash. the early evidence that may show the plane was hit by russia air

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all right. it's 3:00 p.m. eastern, noon pacific. i'm richard lui in new york. we're starting this hour with breaking news unfolding right now after that deadly plane crash in kazakhstan yesterday. we're getting new information overnight. a u.s. official joining ukrainian leaders and top aviation security experts and saying that russian antiwar systems likely to blame for the crash that killed at least 38 of the 67 people on board. russia officials, though, who initially pointed to a bird strike say it's too soon to jump to conclusions. we have some new video, as well, that we're going to show you. we want to warn you that the following video could be hard to watch. here it is. video taken of the crash showing the plane as it plummets before catching fire and ultimately landing in a field.

other images showing holes scattered throughout the wreckage of the plane. the rear part of the plane. let's go to nbc white house correspondent aaron gilchrist for now. what are we hearing about the crash from u.s. officials? >> reporter: officially a spokesperson for the national security council told me that the nsc was aware of the reports out there yesterday about a plane possibly having been shot down. this morning a u.s. official told me there are early indications that the passenger plane here that crashed in kazakhstan may have been hit by russian anti-aircraft system. if that turns out to be the case, the official said it would be more evidence of russia's recklessness in its war with ukraine. the u.s. continues to be very critical of how russia is operating in that region. we did see a statement from president biden just last night blasting russia for targeting ukrainian energy infrastructure with missiles and drones on christmas day.

he called it outrageous, and he reminded us that he's directed a surge of weapons to ukraine from the department of defense here so that ukraine is able to defend itself and work toward an end to this war with russia, richard. >> so aaron, the president is aware of this, or has he been made aware of what's happening at the moment? >> reporter: so president biden just landed in st. croix where he's going to spend a few days on vacation with his family. he would have received his presidential daily briefing, the national security briefing that he gets each morning usually, and we know that he also travels with a full security package, if you will, an ability to communicate with all of his national security officials. there is a national security official from the situation room which is not just a room, it's a complex. there's someone who travels with the president. so as updates are necessary on any of these important matters happening around the world, there is someone readily available to brief the president and for him to be able to make decisions as needed about anything the u.s. might need to

take action on. >> white house correspondent aaron gilchrist. thank you very much for the very latest on that. we're joined by msnbc aviation analyst and form faa national transportation safety board investigator jeff gazeti. one of the reactions to the new video -- and we'll show some of that -- is that was this consistent with russian anti-aircraft artillery, number two what else could it be when we look at the holes that are in the rear part of this airplane? the video that we just got in? >> hi, richard. well, i think it is consistent with a potential scenario of a missile, something that shoots shrapnel at aircraft. other possible causes could be, you know, an explosive engine malfunction or a flight control

malfunction. but really with all of the information coming in, to include these videos of a smattering, a splatter of holes in the vertical stabler, the left horizontal stabilizer does make it more and more consistent with some sort of a -- a missile strike, a shrapnel strike that again is also consistent about the controlability problems of the airplane. >> now this is the rear part of the airplane, right? how important is this rear part of the airplane for keeping the -- as it moves forward, stabilized and moving straight forward in a controlled fashion? >> well, that portion of the airplane is literally called the horizontal stabilizer and the vertical stabilizer. it stabilizes the aircraft aerodynamically in flight. if there's damage to those tail feathers, the moveable surfaces

on that tail, it most definitely would cause significant controlability problems including pitching the airplane and rolling the airplane. and when you look at the video of the airplane just before it impacted the ground, you can see a steep pitch angle and then leveling off, and then a -- a -- >> let's look at that video. >> attitude in which it can't land safely, and then the explosion. so the tail in the coincidence of showing shrapnel on the left side of the horizontal and vertical stabilizers is consistent with a potential shoot-down. >> tough to tell as we look at this video which is hard to watch for many. the angle that it's descending -- not an aviation expert am i, but going straight down, what do you make of the achele -- angle of the descent and speed in all we have is this video. what do you make of it? >> well, i make -- it appears to

me that the crew was absolutely trying to set this airplane down and was having difficulty with controlling the pitch attitude of the airplane. and at that air speed, it was a fairly significant air speed because you've got to keep the airplane flying and wings flying. if you don't impact at the proper attitude on the landing gear, you can do a significant amount of damage, as we see in that video. fortunately the tail section broke off and was thrown there of the fireball -- thrown free of the fireball. that's, again, indicative of a crew that was attempting to land the airplane in an emergency landing in an uncontrollable situation. it looks very similar to the video you might have seen from the famous united airlines sioux city accidents where the crew had all three hydraulic systems knocked out and had to control the airplane with differential

engine power. that's what this video reminds me of. again, consistent with a flight control malfunction. >> jeff, when we look at this video, was the pilot and copilot, were they knows or is this not a possibility? when you look at the video you look as it hits the ground. it appears -- looked like it was possible. again, it's hard to tell. how close was the pilot to getting this down safely or, if you will, without the fireball? >> it's tough to say. but it does look like he was at a fairly level attitude. in fact, when you look you think it's going to set down in a level attitude, but it wasn't level enough. and they -- it's an indication that they attempted an emergency landing with some sort of major problem, but just didn't quite get it there. and this is an off-field emergency landing. so to me, it shows that the crew was dealing with some

significant problems, controlability problems. they almost got their but couldn't quite make it. still, to their credit, there were, you know, close to 30 people that survived. >> 29. remark on that, 29 that survived from this -- this plane hold about -- about 100, no more generally speaking. but if you look at a third of them surviving that, why did that happen? >> again, it's incredible. and i think the reason it happened is partly because it did not impact in a very steep, out-of-control attitude. there was some control to it when it hit the ground. secondly, the tail section was thrown clear of the wing section which contains the fuel. that protected it from the massive fireball that you see. again, very similar circumstances to the united airlines sioux city accident

that happened in the '80s. captain al haines was hailed a hero because a third of those passengers survived that event because they made their best attempt to set the airplane down in a flat normal attitude. crash dynamics and who was seated where sometimes determines who lives and who dies. >> thank you so much. meanwhile russia is continuing to fight for total blackout in the war against its neighbor ukraine, staying in the region. wednesday russia attacked ukraine's power grid causing significant damage. six people were killed by a missile strike in the northeastern city of kharkiv. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy says vladimir putin specifically chose christmas day. what he says was an inhumane attack. nbc's raf sanchez has the latest on the conflict.

>> reporter: president biden is vowing to continue surging american weapons to ukraine in his final weeks in office. that coming after a widespread russian attack on ukraine on christmas day. ukrainian officials saying around 70 ballistic and cruise missiles were fired along with more than 100 attack drones. they are saying the target here was ukraine's energy grid. president zelenskyy accusing vladimir putin of deliberately trying to cripple the power system, to cut off heat and light to ukrainian civilians in the depths of winter. ukraine says that some half a million people were left without power as a result of these strikes. those are mainly in the kharkiv region, in the northeast of the country, right up against the russian border. now this has been a difficult year for ukraine. they are continuing to lose grounds in the east. the toeholds that they had captured inside of russia itself

is under increasing pressure. putin throwing russian troops at it with a lot of support from 10,000 north korean soldiers who are fighting alongside the russians. hearing from president biden that he remains committed, but he is only in office until january 20th. and the big question then is what will the policy of the new trump administration be? you have heard president-elect donald trump say he is determined to make a deal. he said he thinks he can end the war within 24 hours. the big, big concern among ukrainian officials is that he may cut off the flow of weapons and support and effectively force the ukrainians to capitulate in front of the russians. back to you. >> thank you so much for that report. raf sanchez. the wicked holiday weather is threatening plans for the millions of people returning home after the holidays. a look ahead at the latest forecast to help you get ahead of the holiday travel crush. we're back in 90. we're back in 0

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under weather alerts there. then in texas, rain and storm conditions are not letting up, with the national weather advisory issuing a tornado watch until the evening. joining us now nbc news correspondent marissa parra. that means it makes it difficult to fly and get around if you're on the ground, in a train, you name it. you're at the world's busiest airport. what are you seeing there, and what are some of the ways that people are stay safe under these very difficult, severe weather warnings? >> reporter: hey, richard. good to be with you. so you can see behind me a lot of action. atlanta hartsfield-jackson airport living up to its moniker of being the busiest airport. i will say things do seem to be running smoothly in airports like atlanta. but when we look at the delays, if you look at what we call the misery map with flight aware, and hopefully you can see your screen because that's what i'm looking at now, you can see where you see the most red making up that circle, dallas,

houston, dal-iah, the acronyms for those texas airports. that is where we are seeing the worst of the cancelations and delays today. and that's because we're seeing some severe weather happening there. between thunderstorms, we know there's a lot of risks that our meteorologist is probably going to talk about in a moment. here in atlanta, when we're looking at the delays, the flight board, that is those flights to dallas that are delayed, and that makes sense. that's what we're seeing across the country. of course we have weather happening in the pacific northwest, we had some fog in the central part of the u.s. we did, of course, see some delays and slowdowns there. but otherwise, we were looking at the tsa app and seeing, of course, some high traffic going through tsa lines. that's to be expected. the busiest day for air travel, though, is tomorrow and monday, in terms of what's ahead. on the roads, yesterday, the day before, minimal traffic on the roads. this is the preferred method for

holiday travel. those gas prices looking pretty costcosm -- comparable to last year. traffic volumes are going to creep up starting today. hope you enjoyed the empty roads while you had them because it looks like you're going to be sharing the road with a lot of people. pack the professional ial -- th patience and have a play list with you. >> or two play lists. right? you're going to need it. joining us, meteorologist michelle grossman. michelle, the misery map got worse over the last hour by flight aware. i was watching the dallas ware, the circle, get bigger as well as in houston. the unfortunate thing, she's in atlanta, is that storm, that green stuff, is it headed toward atlanta? does that mean we're going to have tough travel days out of the world's busiest airport? >> so she will be -- she could see showers and thunderstorms, not today. there are showers and thunderstorms in parts of the southeast. i'll show you that in a minute. most of the weather now is

really confined to texas, louisiana, arkansas, and also oklahoma. of course the pacific northwest. those are two separate systems. will eventually make its way to the west the next several days. let's start with the active weather rapping now. we're looking at 13 million americans under the threat for severe storms. that could mean destructive winds. winds gusting over 75 miles per hour. that's going to slow down or stop air traffic. we're looking at damaging hail, as well. we saw hail earlier with some of the storms. also, a few tornadoes, especially where you see that orange shading, that includes livingston, also houston, that is the likeliest spot for seeing stronger thunderstorms. we could see tornadoes that are ef2 or greater there, hail, strong winds. the yellow shading is a risk where we're talking about shreveport, tyler, alexandria, down to houston, port arthur, as well. we are looking at that storm system really impacting the area. this is what we're looking at now. this popped in. where you see the red box, that is a tornado warning. now we're starting to see the

atmosphere come together because this wasn't here two minutes ago. we're starting to see the daytime heating kind of giving power to some of these storms. we have a tornado warning in portions of texas. we have a tornado watch meaning conditions are right for the chance of tornadoes and strong storms through 7:00 tonight. that's in the pink area. a severe thunderstorm watch in the yellow, that includes texarkana, shreveport, tyler, in effect until 7:00. notice the lightning, too. we're seeing heavy downpours. lots of moisture with these storms. we're seeing flooding on the roadways. that's going to be a concern as we go throughout rest of thursday. it's a large area. we're talking about oklahoma, arkansas, into portions of mississippi, louisiana, also texas, especially where you see that blue area could see flash flooding. that is the overall picture. we don't want to ignore the pacific northwest because we have tough weather. we had a storm system move on shore, a parade moving on shore the past couple of weeks. we'll see another storm system move on shore tonight into tomorrow. that's going to bring heavy

rain, and through the weekend we could see five inches in spots. gusty winds, as well. and heavy, heavy mountain snow. we could see up to three feet in spots. in the middle of the country, we're looking at severe storms. cold and sunny, dry in the portions of the northeast. we are seeing a few showers pop up in the southeast. it's scattered and not so widespread. as we look toward the air today, where we're expecting delays, dallas, marissa talked about that, also houston with the strong storms. seattle, portland, that will be the same story as we go throughout tomorrow, as well. where you see the air delays, going to see slowdowns on the roadways, as well. that includes the northwest and south. played like i-9 -- places like i-90. tomorrow is a busy day, and notice the widespread showers from the great lakes to the gulf coast states. back to you. >> all right. northwest, people are waxing their boards getting ready -- their skis, as well. >> i was thinking the same thing. yeah. >> there we go.

michelle grossman. thank you. a tale of two holidays. the very different messages from president biden and president-elect donald trump this holiday season. plus, what we're expecting from the next congress with less than two weeks until the new session starts. starts ♪ with verizon, trade in any phone, any condition. 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.

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turning to contrasting presidential holiday messages from president joe biden and incoming president-elect donald trump yesterday. president biden posted a message of hope, love, and kindness as

he commemorated his last christmas in office. the president-elect marking the holiday as he was up against his political rivals and death row inmates and decisions made about that, offering a wide range of foreign policy ideas. joining me former republican congressman charlie dent of pennsylvania and olivia troy, former senior aide for then-vice president mike pence during the first trump administration. olivia, let's start with you on this. as you look at some of the statements made by the president on social media regarding canada, he's also mentioning panama, and greenland in his holiday social media posts. while they were not mentioned during the campaign trail, this is not inconsistent with the way the president-elect has made his decisions and communicated them in the past. what do you make of why he's making these decisions now? >> i think this is typical

donald trump. he is a combative style when it comes to foreign policy endeavors, and that's been sort of giving a warning shot across the bow to these countries of his intent or how he views things. i would say he's not technically guided by his own actual knowledge of foreign policy and strength. it's whatever adviser got in his ear beforehand. sometimes me miscon industries things and delivers -- miss construes things and delivers them that way. it's the unpredictability of donald trump, and we saw it in his first administration. many in national security had to figure out how to navigate it. i think we're going to see it more emboldened this time around. >> so as we look at this here, congressman, there is the issue of the communication style, and then there's the other side, the practical notions below it which is, number one, you know, are the fees too expensive at the panama canal? two, when you do look at greenland and its proximity to

russia, that strategically for the united states, does that make sense? the united states has twice tried in the last 150, 100 to 150 years, made an attempt to purchase greenland in the past, perhaps for the same reasons. what's the practical side when you look at international security as well as comparative advantage, when you look at the economic responsibilities? >> it strikes me that donald trump really doesn't distinguish between friend and foe. when we talk about denmark and by extension greenland, these are nato allies as is canada. our military, we have a base out there. we have access to greenland. it's not on the -- it's not really neutral in that sense. and so i can't understand why he would pick a fight with denmark which -- a country that has been very close to us as has been canada. again, there doesn't make a lot of sense -- i think it's a bullying tactic if anything

else. maybe he's bloviating. i think he's trying to assert himself. the panama canal zone is professionally run. eye been down there -- i've been down there. they charge transit fees, if you will. i believe everybody ad charged the same. it's not like we're being charged more than others. china does have influence in panama. the part of the reason why china has influence in panama and other countries in latin america and sub-saharan africa is because the united states doesn't show up. we talk about this great competition with china. but you go to many of these countries, it's not a competition, theed which are here and you're -- the chinese are here and you're not. the panama canal zone is run well. there's no need to take it over. i think it sends some bad signals to our friends around the world that america might not be as reliable as we once thought. >> olivia, you were a counterterrorism and homeland security adviser to vice

president pence earlier. were these tonics brought up -- topics brought up in his first administration for reasons regarding what i discussed, national security, comparative advantage economically, or other? >> certainly greenland was discussed over and over again. that's something that donald trump brought up during the first administration. i think the china influence has been brought up in terms of latin america, but it has also been brought up in terms of africa. but they chose to completely disregard africa and didn't want to do anything in connection to the continent. for those of us in national security who really care about counterterrorism, that was a top priority. i was pleased to see that actually president biden made trips to africa. so -- and people in his administrations. so i think this is something i think -- something that will remain to be seen. i think like charlie said, i think it definitely is a signal to our international partners, allies, and also adversaries that this trump 2.0 is going to

be somewhat of a roller coaster, unpredictability in terms of what to expect going forward. >> going forward. congressman charlie dent, as you respect those days and working with the white house, this is a question we kind of know the answer to because we were just talking about his first administration. we're looking at the 119th, we are definitely looking at a different construct in terms of the ruling party in congress. we have speaker johnson, who we don't know whether he will still be speaker, whether he'll get the votes, right? he has a margin of advantage here of just five seats. will he maintain speakership? and number two, will and how will he work with the president on the various things that the president would like to get down? we were mentioning the countries he mentioned the -- last couple of days. >> it's not whether or not speaker johnson will keep his position the next couple of

weeks tx unclear. they're -- weeks, it is unclear. they're walking into the house and tom massey said he's not going to support speaker johnson. now you're down to 218. he could -- i guess the speaker could lose one more. he loses two more, he's done. and of course i thought elon musk and donald trump really did speaker johnson a disservice by torpedoing the bipartisan continuing resolution that made johnson look weak. they -- a few days later they passed something similar. right now johnson is in a perilous position. if donald trump between now and the speaker vote endorses johnson and urges republicans to vote for him, i think he should be okay. again, with donald trump, he's just -- so unpredictable in that regard. we don't know. of course, how is trump going to work going forward with johnson? we'll see with this very narrow

majority. you know, johnson's got a tough enough job just dealing with his own members and having to deal with donald trump on top of that will be a challenge because we do know that speaker johnson will need hakeem jeffries and house democrats to assist him in passing must-pass bills on continuing resolutions, appropriations bills, and debt ceilings. we know that. they're always going to be about 30 some votes in the republican conference to vote against those things. johnson is in a fairly weak position going in. frankly, no fault of his own. >> congressman, what do you think will happen because one of the discussions that have been out in the reporting in the last several days is what if it takes a week, which was not uncommon in the last congress, to ratify the next speaker of the house? and if that doesn't happen, will they be able to ratify the election results which happens on the 6th? if it takes more than a week, they may not have a speaker. how would this happen? >> well, that's a great question.

if there is a protracted speaker fight like we saw last time it takes time, it will move past the date, i think it's january 6th again. >> yes. >> it will move past the date. it will move past the date of the certification where the house and the senate must certify the election result. and so i suspect that might motivate donald trump to basically get the house republicans to rally around one candidate, presumably johnson. i suspect trump would like to have his own election certified. and if there's -- if there is turmoil in the house, that could disrupt it. we're in some uncharted territory. the most -- i always thought the years vote for a member of congress was the first one. the speaker vote. but again, with the house republican conference, it has been very -- been very fractured for some time now. the basics of governance have come very difficult. the easiest thing of liking the speaker is hard for them, passing funding bills has been excruciatingly difficult for them.

many times last session they couldn't pass rules to bring up a bill. that's another functions of the majority party. you can't do it. >> and again, charlie dent saying all that very wistfully, right? thank you so much, charlie dent, thank you so much olivia, troy. we appreciate your time. still to come, the big winners and losers at the box office and why the fierce competition is great news for movie lovers everywhere. first, remembering the deadliest natural disaster of the past century. an update from from some of the survivors 20 years later. s 20 yr patrick mahomes is saying goodbye! patrick! patrick! people was tripping. where are you going!? he was actually saying goodbye to his old phone. i'm switching to the amazing new iphone 16 pro at t-mobile! it's the first iphone built for apple intelligence. that's like peanut butter on jelly...on gold. get four iphone 16 pro on us, plus four lines for $25 bucks. and save on every plan versus the other big guys. what a deal. that's a lot if you ask me.

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the century's deadliest natural disaster so far happened 20 years ago today when a tsunami crashed into coastal communities around the indian ocean. commemorations of the tragedy are under way across southeast asia as the lives of the estimated 230,000 people killed are remembered on that day. nbc's janis mackey frayer spoke to survivors about that day. >> reporter: it was the day after christmas, 2004, and resorts here in thailand were busy with tourists. >> it was a beautiful day. we had gone kayaking that morning. >> we walked up to the beach, and it was a few steps up, about six steps. >> reporter: by then disaster

had struck across the indian ocean. a magnitude 9.2 earthquake under the sea in indonesia lasting ten unrelenting minutes. the power of it felt hundreds of miles away. there are hotels and resorts all along here, and people were doing what they were at the beach, in a swimming pool, unaware of what was going to happen. first the ocean pulled back from the shore revealing the seabed. then a mountain of waves came crashing in. captured on video by people who made it to higher ground -- [ screams ] >> hey! >> reporter: two american survivors vacationing at different resorts in thailand that day can still recall every detail. >> it was squeezing me, and i can't quite describe it.

i heard after that the water was traveling 250 to 500 miles per hour. >> my body was being crushed and contorted. my right hand was essentially amputated. and then it was just an unbelievable moment to realize this is happening to you and that you're going to die instantly. >> reporter: wave after wave, at times higher than 100 feet, demolished coastal areas in 14 countries. within hours, an estimated 230,000 lives were lost from indonesia to sri lanka, india and thailand. >> i was calling out for my good friend, ben ables, and didn't hear anybody's voice. everything was silent. >> reporter: ables, from chicago, didn't survive. 20 years on, life has in many ways recovered. and a shelter set up in the

tsunami's wake for orphaned children is now a permanent home for kids in need. "this is a place that has given me everything," he says, who was 12 years old when the tsunami changed the course of his life. now with two college degrees, he is running the orphanage where he grew up, raising 93 kids with help from donations and fundraising. "i remember the goodness," he says, "of the past. i always tell the children if the tsunami didn't happen, we wouldn't have this home to stay together." the worst tsunami in recorded history. survival brought unexpected second chances. >> i was 34 years old. i mean, i had a life to live. i did not want to be disabled in any way. i'm an avid skier. i'm the mother of three teenagers. i've had a wonderful life. >> i think one of the biggest things is to not blame yourself

if you have that survivor's guilt. you've got to let it go. you truly were allowed to survive for a reason. >> reporter: here every december volunteers gather at the cemetery for tsunami victims who were never identified. they sweep, clean, and remember the day the water changed everything. janis mackey frayer, nbc news, thailand. >> thank you for that report. next, rising rents and costs of businesses are putting serious pressure on chinatowns across the united states. their uncertain futures and what's being done to save them next. to savthe em next have you always had trouble with your weight?

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ever since the pandemic, chinatowns across the united states have been struggling to stay afloat due to a lack of customers. the restaurants and small businesses that make up these vibrant neighborhoods were especially hard hit during 2020 and are now facing even more closures amid rising rents and food costs. vicky nguyen has more. >> reporter: step into your local chinese restaurant today, and you'll probably find it packed denser than a takeout bag for a dozen. a holiday haven for the hungry, including supreme court justice elena kagan. >> where are you at on christmas day? >> you know, like all jews, i was probably if a chinese restaurant. [ laughter ] >> great answer.

>> reporter: lately what hasn't been great, the challenges for business owners still feeling the aftershocks of covid-19 and perhaps none have been hit harder than those in america's chinatowns. >> during the pandemic we lost so many legacy businesses. that really scared me. >> reporter: grace young is an author who made a career out of writing chinese cookbooks, but she's become an advocate for the 80-plus chinatowns including new york city's after the pandemic hit hard here. >> we lost a restaurant that was over 65 years old, a bakery that was almost 50 years old. little mom and pop businesses which are struggling with rising rents, rising insurance, and the cost of their goods and food is increasing. >> reporter: according to a study by grace's nonprofit welcome to chinatown, between 2019 and 2021 investors to new york city's championtown fell by 50%. >> all across the united states, the historic chinatowns are seeing less foot traffic and tourism.

>> reporter: alice nu owns grande tea, a business started by her mom and dad. why did you decide to carry on the traditions? >> i grew up like every immigrant kid helping in whatever business venture my parents did. so i was always a part of it. >> reporter: then came covid. >> we kind of went into a crisis mode in the middle of a crisis in the middle of a pandemic. i had to figure out how to help my parents navigate through this. >> reporter: curtis chin grew up in detroit and he wrote "everything i learned i learned in a chinese restaurant," based on his experiences at his parents' famed eight ry -- eatery. >> the margin between success and failure is sometimes as few as a couple dozen customers per week. >> reporter: even after the pandemic visitation is still down. >> new york city's chinatown used to be open until 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 a.m. in the morning. nowadays, many restaurants are closed by 7:30 or 8:00.

>> reporter: across the country the asian populations living in some of the most prominent chinatowns declined between 1990 and 2020. but families are not giving up. business owners like alice are focused on the future, making changes to modernize, accepting credit cards, launching a website, getting the word out on social media. looking forward without losing what makes their communities special. >> chinatown offers so much more than just restaurants. if you want to enjoy like chinatown to the fullest, you have to dig deeper than that. >> reporter: how important are these chinatowns to the cultural fabric of the entire community? >> chinatowns are actually really quite diverse. not just with chinese but southeast asians and different asian groups, too. i think that just america as a whole being a multicultural society, these chinatowns do represent the best of that. >> why else can you -- where else can you go that tells a story of how immigrants have gotten a foothold in this country and been able to experience the american dream?

>> reporter: a dream that matters far beyond chinatown on christmas day and every day. vicky nguyen, nbc news. up next, the big winners and losers this christmas at the box office and why this year's fierce competition is great news for movie lovers. for movie loves ) (♪♪) new alka-seltzer plus cold feel better fast. no water needed. new alka-seltzer plus fizzychews. (♪♪) (♪♪) (♪♪) start your day with nature made. and try new zero sugar gummies.

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according to deadline, disney's "mufasa" was the king of the box office on christmas day, raking in $14 million. it wasn't a bad day either for the third installment of "sonic the hedgehog," bringing in $10 million in terms of paramount. and universal's "wicked" is still casting a spell on viewers, viewers spent $5 million to attend the sing-along version. we have more, those are a couple, what are some other ones you're watching? >> i want to talk about "nosferatu." not a family-friendly movie. a dark horror film. that is shaping up to do well at the box office over this christmas break. people are going out to see that, "mufasa," like you said, and paramount so bullish on "sonic the hedgehog" because it's performing so well over last few years. this is the third one. my kids, they love it. they've said they're bringing it back again for another sequel in 2027. so look at that. and then a complete unknown

starring timothy shall pay. that's -- timothy ee chalamet. he's getting oscar buzz. >> anything with him in it, i think it will do quite well. you've been talking about -- this is a family year, isn't it? and folks are going back to the theaters. this is just an example of a great season and a great year. >> i want to talk about thanksgiving. feels like it was a long time ago, but it wasn't. it was just last month. >> yep. >> that had the highest amount at the box office in box office history for thanksgiving weekend. so that's a mouthful. basically a lot of people went to go to the movies over thanksgiving weekend. we don't have all the numbers yet for christmas weekend, hanukkah weekend. i will say that a lot of people are getting off their couch even in the age of streaming, and they're still watching netflix and amazon or peacock. they're spending the money. that's meaningful because it's very expensive to go to the movies, especially as a family of four like mine. if you're going to get concessions, too, i mean, it's an expensive day. and it's really cool to see

families getting out there and doing it. and you know, when you look at all of the movies, there's obviously a lot for the family right now. it says something really good about the economy. we didn't have a big "barbenheimer" moment but we had "wicked." i want to point out also part of universal, our parent company, crossed the $400 million mark. it is one -- >> big numbers. >> it actually just made the top 50 highest grossing movies domestically of all time. >> wow. >> it's the biggest broadway adaptation musical movie ever in terms of financially. it's done so well, there's going to be another "wicked" movie next year. and i don't know if you've ever seen it yet, but people -- >> i've seen 15 minutes of it. >> people are singing along to the "wicked" sing along at the movies. fun. >> a new tradition going forward. >> you're not going to see me singing at the movies. maybe in my shower, but you're not going to ever, ever see me singing in public. >> we got some time. and there's the awards season coming up. you're going to be very, very busy.

>> golden globes are first. >> yes. >> it's very, very exciting. >> all right. going like this right now. chloe, thank you so much. that's it for me today. i'm richard lui in new york. thank you for spending your time with us today. happy holidays. "deadline white house" starts out in. ♪ ♪ we begin with a tale of two very different holiday messages. yesterday, for his last christmas in office, joe biden writing on x, my hope for our nation today and always is that we continue to seek the light of liberty and love, kindness and compassion, dignity and decency. he posted a picture of himself and the first lady, calling service members around the world to thank them. and then, there was