♪♪ good afternoon from msnbc, in washington, welcome to alex witt reports. i'm christina rafini in for alex. we begin with breaking news. an apology from vladimir putin to the president of azerbaijan. but putin stopped short of taking responsibility. nbc's meagan fitzgerald is in london. meagan, what exactly did putin say about the crash today? >> reporter: well, look, we are seeing a very rare apology by

russian president vladimir putin, and as you mentioned, he stopped short of taking responsibility for this crash, but the kremlin has also released a statement, and in it, putin called this attack -- i want to read for you -- he said, "the crash is a tragic incident that occurred in russian air space." the statement also went on to highlight grazni, the russian city where this aircraft was heading, came under ukrainian drone attack, and the russians said that they were repelling those attacks away. now, of course, this information is in line with nbc news reporting from two military officials who said that intelligence suggests that the russians mistakenly took this aircraft for a drone and shot it down. that's likely what occurred here. now, of course, this is still an ongoing investigation. azerbaijan officials are investigating this to try and figure out how 38 people died in this crash on christmas day.

christina? >> thanks. we want to bring in peter baker, msnbc political analyst and chief white house correspondent for the "new york times." peter, thank you for joining us. you know, it was interesting to me that putin issued a statement at all, because for the last couple days, russian officials have been saying, we're not going to talk about it until the investigation is finished, but it was a bit like the kind of apology if you're fighting with a loved one or spouse, and they say, i'm sorry you feel that way. it was like an apology that it happened but not taking credit for it. are you surprised that they issued any apology at all? >> well, a little bit, yes, because it's not his nature to apologize in any form, even in the, you know, nature that you just described between, you know, fraught relatives. he doesn't like to admit wrongdoing, ever, and yet, of course, there's a long history of russian accidents like this or accidental shooting down of airplanes that have happened, and it suggests that the russian air defenses are certainly not as capable or as reliable as he would like the world to believe that they are.

and in fact, they were shooting down ukrainian drones, well, azerbaijan passenger jet does not look like a ukrainian drone. it's a very different profile, obviously, and if their air defenses can't make the distinction between them, that says a lot about their military capacity. >> i think sometimes we forget international news, all politics are local, and i'm wondering if you think one of the reasons behind putin needing to issue a statement is he's worried about antagonizing or upsetting the leaders of these two countries that he needs when russia is overextended in other places like ukraine. >> yeah, i think you're right about that. the president of azerbaijan is important ally of putin's. azerbaijan is an important country in the former soviet space that used to, of course, be part of the soviet union, and moscow considers it to be part of its sphere of influence. had it been a western plane from a western country, you might not have seen the same kind of reaction, for the very reason you just said. >> peter, stick around. we've got a few more questions for you in a second, but also

new today, we want to talk about president trump making an unexpected move and that's filing a brief with the supreme court asking it to block a law that would require tiktok to be sold to an american company by january 19th or get banned from app stores. white house correspondent ally rafah joins us from west palm beach, florida, near, where else, mar-a-lago. what do we know about what prompted this seeming shift in policy? >> reporter: yeah, christina, a shift really to put it mildly because remember in 2020, then-president trump tried to ban the app and it was blocked by the courts and in 2024, you saw one of his biggest campaign promises was to save tiktok, even in recent days meeting with tiktok's ceo at his mar-a-lago home after he said he developed a "warm spot" for the popular app. now the president-elect is trying to buy himself some time to settle this dispute. i thought it was notable that in this brief filed yesterday, he doesn't take a side on the issue at the heart of this case,

whether congress violated the first amendment by passing this ban of tiktok. he, instead, asks the supreme court justices to delay the implementation of that law that is set to take effect on january 19th if tiktok is not sold by its parent company, bytedance, and trump's lawyer, in this brief, argues that what he calls the unfortunate timing of the law's effective date interferes with the incoming administration's ability to negotiate a resolution, writing, "president trump alone possesses the consummate deal-making expertise, the electoral mandate and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns expressed by the government." concerns which president trump himself has acknowledged. now, some democrats are blasting this move by the president-elect. listen here. >> allowing gen z to develop their sense of american society from an algorithm dictated by

the politbureau in beijing is a really bad idea and donald trump himself understood that. the fact that he's changing his mind now makes he think that his inner circle has been bought and paid for by the tiktok lobby. >> reporter: now, tiktok and the department of justice both filed separate briefs yesterday reacting to this, essentially echoing their arguments that they have been making, that tiktok, arguing that a ban would violate free speech in the first amendment and the department of justice saying that this passed with bipartisan support in congress back in april. it was signed into law by president biden, and they're citing national security concerns associated with the app and the chinese government. but christina, it's still unclear how much weight the president-elect's request of these supreme court justices has with those oral arguments set to begin on january 10th, giving them just nine days to decide what to do with that law -- that ban, rather, taking effect the

day before president-elect trump takes office. >> i'd venture to guess it's one of the few times "deal-making expertise" has appeared in a supreme court brief. we're going to go back to peter baker. i'd love to get your take on this. why do you think donald trump is changing his tune when it comes to tiktok? this has been a pretty bipartisan issue. security officials across the political spectrum are concerned about this app, so why have the president throw his weight around on this issue to try to save the app after being one of the loudest voices calling for it to be banned? >> yeah, well, one of the reasons is he thinks that tiktok helped him win the election. he thinks that he got through to younger voters through social media like tiktok in a more effective way than kamala harris's campaign did. he's going around and argued that he, in fact, won the youth vote altogether. that's not true. the numbers show that kamala harris won 52% of the younger vote to his 46%. but he certainly did much better among younger voters than he did the last two times that he ran, and he gives some credit to this

app and wants to preserve it for that reason if nothing alone. >> i mean, the president-elect has been also posting up a storm on truth social over the holidays, so i want to go through a few notable things he said in the last several days, starting with this revelation, according to trump, microsoft founder bill gates has asked to visit mar-a-lago. if this happens, you know, gates is going to be basically the latest billionaire to step into trump's orbit. elon musk has been at trump's side since his campaign. amazon's jeff bezos has recently shared a meal with the president-elect, and a number of companies, including zuckerberg's meta, have donated to trump's inauguration fund. is this becoming a thing? corporations are going to feel like they have to do, they have to go down and ingratiate themselves or risk being left out? >> well, they clearly do. obviously, they saw what happened in his first term. president trump, you know, is the head of a party that was once a free market, hands-off the corporate world kind of party that today, in fact, he

does like to pick winners and losers in the marketplace. he made very clear while he was president that if somebody, a corporate ceo, angered him, in some way or another seemed to cross him, that he was willing to use the power of the federal government to go after them. ask the people who tried the time warner merger because of cnn or ask jeff bezos, who experienced it with amazon because the president was upset at what the "washington post" was saying about him. so, they understand that keeping on his good side is, in their view, good business, because it protects them or at least gives them some possible protection from the kind of etribution that president-elect trump has demonstrated time and time again that he is willing to exact not just on people but on companies that cross him. >> the other thing we've heard from trump throughout the campaign, and something that's popular with his voting base, is this kind of non-interventionist policy. he wants to move away from foreign conflicts, says the u.s. doesn't need to be involved in some of these issues overseas. and yet, on christmas day, trump made a series of posts

suggesting the u.s. should take control of canada, greenland, and the panama canal. peter, what is going on here? >> well, it's a great question. i think a lot of people didn't take all this seriously in his first term when he talked about buying greenland because it seemed like kind of a joke. but when my wife and i wrote a book about trump called "the divider," we realized it was much more serious than anyone knew. he was influenced by his friend that told him that greenland would be a great inning to buy. he had the nsc draw up options, papers, and contact the danes and really, actually, explore in a meaningful way. there are reasons why the united states might want to have access to territory in greenland for strategic purposes, for military operations and so forth, but the idea of actually buying it is a nonstarter for the danes and the people of greenland. that doesn't mean that he's not going to keep pursuing it. the idea now, he's talking about panama and even canada, may be lighthearted, maybe not. in some of these cases, but it

indicates that his isolationism is not as strict as the traditional view of that. he has an imperialistic quality to him. he wants to the real estate developer, in effect, of the white house who expands american territory like jefferson buying the louisiana purchase or the purchase of alaska from russia. that hasn't happened in a century. the world has changed a lot six those days, but he's clearly got his mind that he would be a great president if he could expand the territorial reach of the united states. >> something that has not gone over well in those countries. i spoke to some panamanian officials who said it went over like a lead balloon. we saw the danes announce this big security package for greenland, which is a self-governing body, but a multimillion dollar security package after that announcement from the president-elect. i also want to ask you, trump has spoken at length about how he wants to gut several parts of the federal government, including the department of education, but as one of your

colleagues at the "new york times" points out, by referencing newt gingrich's attempts, "history shows big changes in big government are hard to achieve." what are some of trump's day one plans, and do you think he's in for a bit of a rude awakening? >> well, i mean, he should know better after being in office for four years how hard it is to move the bureaucracy. that, of course, is why he talks quite a lot about the deep state as being an enemy and why he wants to restructure how the federal government works to make it more accountable to him, more political, more partisan, less apolitical. but you're right. i think the idea that you're going to suddenly eliminate cabinet departments is something that has been talked about over the years without any success. ronald reagan talked about it. he was a very popular president, unlike president-elect trump, who didn't even win a majority, and he couldn't do it. he couldn't eliminate the other departments he talked about, neither could newt gingrich or any of the other reformers. it's a hard thing once a bureaucracy exits to get rid of

it. a lot of times, the people who want to get rid of it don't recognize all the things it does do. it provides student loans, pell grants, this and that and the other thing. are you really willing to get rid of these things? they discover there's a lot of constituencies for those services that a department or an agency may provide. >> right. all right, peter baker, always good to be with you. thank you so much for joining us. coming up, an identified flying object. we saw it for the first time this week. it could be more dangerous than anything unidentified. back in 90 seconds. back in 90 seconds y'all see this, 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. ya'll giving away too fast t-mobile, slow down. my moderate to severe crohn's symptoms

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this week, china unveiled a new advanced aircraft, potentially marking the debut of the country's sixth generation fighter jets. videos of the plane circulated on chinese social media before making their way to western platforms. joining us now for more on this is democratic congressman and ranking member of the house armed services committee, adam smith. congressman, the reveal of these jets, including one with reported stealth capability, wasn't really very stealthy. it was in broad daylight, clearly visible to onlookers. what message is china trying to send, and does it have anything to do, you think, with the stalled initiative for the

u.s.'s own section ixth generat fighters? >> first of all, we are undeniably in a competition with china and russia, you know, over being able to meet our defense capabilities and deter each other. there's no doubt about that. also, technology is rapidly evolving. it's one of the big priorities for those of us in the house armed services committee is to get our pentagon to be able to develop, acquire, procure advanced technologies more quickly. pentagon moves very slowly. this is going to be a very difficult fight. because technology is moving so rapidly. new technologies are coming on the field. how do they apply to the battlefield? this is going to be a challenge. the other point that i want to make is it also points up why it would be better if we could figure out some way to peacefully coexist with china going forward, understanding all of the challenges there. we don't need another cold war, another arms race, much less stumbling into a global conflict

between the two largest superpowers. we need to figure out how to peacefully coexist going forward. >> i also want to ask you what you make of the timing of this kind of debut of these jets. you know, elon musk criticized the f-35 program pretty recently, calling lockheed martin, "idiots." instead, musk said the u.s. should beef up the u.s. drone supply. do you think this revelation by china is going to push the air force in one direction or the other? the pentagon moves kind of slowly and usually on its own pace. is it going to have any impact at all? >> well, i don't think this jet does. i'll tell you what has the impact is the war in ukraine and what we've seen and the impact of drones, the impact of secure communications or the lack of secure communications, the ability to jam missiles and drones and other things. the necessity of speeding up our ability to develop those technologies. i always say it's secure communications, information, drones, counrdrones, missile,

missile defense, so, i think elon musk, in his own unique fashion, is making a legitimate point. what is the future? are we going to have manned aircraft? should we spend tens of billions of dollars on another manned aircraft that might not be able to survive? i mean, russia has a vastly better air force than ukraine. they have not been able to achieve air superiority in ukraine just because ukraine knows how to shoot them down. so, i think thinking about the future is really important. >> yeah, it's been one of the big surprises about that battle is how important artillery shells have been, given all this technology. they're still vital. really quick, i want to get your reaction to news this morning that russian president apologized, sort of, apologized to the presidents of azerbaijan and kazakhstan for this plane being downed on christmas day, but he shopped short of saying russia was responsible. he said he was sorry that it happened. were you surprised by that statement at all? and you know, do you think, at the conclusion of this

investigation, which open intelligence sources are saying it seems pretty obvious it was hit by something, do you expect russia to take responsibility? >> i do not, and i was a little bit surprised. russia normally just ignores this. they shot down, i think, a malaysian plane, never admitted to it. so, i'm surprised that they acknowledged it at all, but this points up two things. one, russian incompetence when it comes to their military. and two, just how dangerous it is that this war continues in ukraine. we need to help ukraine be able to defend itself, deter putin, and stop the war. >> you know, i also want to ask you, i was recently in europe at the g7 with european leaders and secretary blinken, and european leaders were already a little bit nervous about just the unpredictability of trump's foreign policy and reacting to surprise announcements, surprise tweets at the time. now then we had these posts from

the president-elect floating the idea of buying greenland, maybe retaking the panama canal. what do you make of these announcements by president-elect trump, and how do you think it's going to impact america's relationship with our allies? >> i think it's going to impact it poorly. first of all. second of all, this is trump's foreign policy. it was trump's foreign policy during his first term and it's what he promised during his campaign this time. he's a bully, and he's going to punch, and he's going to punch and see how people react, and he's going to punch in all directions. i mean, does he really plan on, i don't know, using the u.s. military to retake the panama canal? probably not. but he wants to bully panama, maybe, into giving us a better deal. he thinks maybe he can bully the netherlands into giving us greenland, but he's simply going to lash out. it's the way he conducts business, and always has been. he's aggressive. he's mean. he's nasty. he goes after everybody and tries to intimidate and bully

them. and it's dangerous. i mean, i'll admit, occasionally, it accidentally works, but it's also really dangerous and divisive, and i like the comments in your previous segment about, you know, he's a divider. it's who he's always been. it's how he approaches things. and i think we can expect more of this, and it's worth being worried about. >> is there any value in the unpredictability of trump foreign policy? i mean, i remember talking to some nato allies who were saying, look, they didn't know if trump would stay in nato and it force europeans to step up and did make european security because they couldn't rely on the u.s. anymore, and that might have been a good thing. is there some opportunity in chaos, or do you think the net, overall, it's a net loss? >> well, yes, and yes. there is some opportunity in chaos. yes, the net overall is a loss. let's also get a little bit clearer on this nato thing. nato stepped up when russia invaded ukraine. it's a little bit of a myth that trump's bullying tactics is what

forced nato to spend more money. what really got them focused was when they understood the threat of russia, but yeah, sure, i mean, look, being aggressive, being unpredictable can sometimes keep your adversaries off balance, and you can sometimes sort of stumble into a good result. but it is also extremely risky as we have discussed. >> all right. representative adam smith, thank you. so nice to see you. thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks for the chance. and coming up, the long road home. millions are heading out by train, plane, and automobile. the worst time to hit the road ahead. but it's not all bad out there. here's the view from hollywood, florida. the weather, mostly cloudy with a high of 78 degrees. we'll be right back. we'll be right back. what causes a curve down there? is it peyronie's disease? will it get worse? how common is it? who can i talk to? can this be treated? stop typing. start talking to a specialized urologist. because it could be peyronie's disease, or pd. it's a medical condition where there is a curve in the erection, caused by a formation of scar tissue. and an estimated 1 in 10 men may have it.

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happening now, the final travel rush of the year as another day of severe weather from coast to coast complicates matters. after twisters touched down friday in mississippi and alabama, millions of people in the south are once again on alert for tornados. high winds and hail. and in the west, more rain and up to three feet of snow are expected this weekend. it comes as airports and roads are packed with people on the move. monday is expected to be the next busiest travel day. nbc's adrienne broaddus is at chicago o'hare. how's it looking there? people going to have a good new year or a less good one? >> reporter: well, we hope they have a good new year. hey to you, christina.

so far, we've seen a lot of families traveling throughout the day here, and good news for them, they haven't had to wait a significant amount of time when going through the security checkpoint. the maximum wait has averaged between 10 and 15 minutes. but with this record number of travelers and severe weather interrupting some of those plans, the journey to their next destination may be a bit more challenging than expected. the rush to return met with turbulence. >> the crowds, the lines, people's tempers. it's stressful. >> reporter: as millions are expected to hit the roads and take to the skies between now and new year's day. according to aaa, 120 million people expected to travel 50 miles or more from home during the holiday period. >> oh my god. >> reporter: but friday, severe weather caused chaos in parts of the country. twisters reported in mississippi and alabama. >> it's on the water right now. >> reporter: in el campo, a

state of emergency following wind gusts, rain, and hail, plus a ground stop for flights in and out of both dallas airports. >> our plane was just canceled. >> reporter: leading to hundreds of cancellations and delays for already-frustrated passengers. on the roads, nine out of ten travelers are expected to drive. aaa saying the best time to hit the road today is before 1:30 p.m. the worst time? between 2:00 and 7:30 p.m. when traffic could be bumper to bumper. back in the skies, airlines are bracing for packed flights as tsa estimates to screen 40 million passengers through january 2nd. but for one delta flight heading from seattle to hawaii this week, the problem wasn't weather. it was a stowaway. delta officials say a woman managed to board without a ticket or boarding pass and with a record number of people flying, security is under scrutiny.

and back here at o'hare, the average delay is less than 15 minutes, but if you take a look across the country, we are tracking some delays and cancellations. according to flight aware, right now, there are more than 5,000 delays for flights coming into and going out of the country, and a little more than 600 flights canceled today. but with new year's eve just days away, the holiday rush is far from over. with monday expected to be the next busiest travel day. christina? >> well, you had some happy people waving there behind your live shot, so maybe people are feeling okay today. adrienne, thank you so much. the new tactic democrats are trying this time around with trump 2.0. we'll be right back. time aroundh trump 2.0. 'lwel be right back. i won't let my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis symptoms define me... emerge as you, with clearer skin. with tremfya®, most people saw 100% clear skin... ...that stayed clear, even at 5 years. serious allergic reactions

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right now, president biden is in the u.s. virgin islands before returning to washington to wrap up his final weeks in office. let's go to nbc's mike memoli, who has the very tough assignment of being with the president in st. croix. as look at that live shot there and out the rainy window in our d.c. studio, jealousy overwhelms me. however, i am a professional, so let me ask you, what moves are we expecting the president to make as he prepares to take off from the south lawn that final time? >> reporter: well, christina, first, i'll report that this counts for a bad weather day here in the virgin islands. it's cloudy. it's disastrous here.

but you're talking about president biden. he spent a half century running for or holding public office, and when he returns to washington next wednesday, a career that has included two years as a county councilman, 36 years as a u.s. senator, 8 years as vice president, and 3 1/2, almost 4 years as president will come down to just three weeks, and we've already seen, even though it hasn't gotten as much of the headlines and the attention that the moves president-elect donald trump is making, president biden, before the holidays, taking a number of steps to try to cement his legacy in a couple key areas, primarily on domestic policy. he gave a major speech at the brookings institute, talking about how he believes he has changed fundamentally the course this country was on economically from a trickle-down economic vision to his own of building the middle class. we have also seen him try to realize some campaign promises he made on the issue of criminal justice reform by using the pardon power, trying to commute or issue pardons to deal with some inequities in the system, especially as it relates to

nonviolent and drug-related offenses. when the president returns to washington, we'll see in his final three weeks a real focus on foreign policy. white house officials saying that his team has been engaged intensely still, even during this holiday period, working on trying to get a ceasefire, a hostage deal in gaza. there's going to be a new effort to support ukraine and give them as much leverage as they can heading into a potential negotiations with russia to end that nearly four-year conflict. and the president also is going to be talking about his own legacy on foreign policy. he's going to be setting up an obvious contrast with his predecessor and his successor, donald trump, talking about the power of alliances, making america stronger, rather than a go it alone approach. part of that will include a trip the president plans to make to rome. he's going to be meeting with the italian prime minister, the italian president. the italian prime minister, a key leader potentially in helping to influence president trump as it relates to continuing to support ukraine, but then, a very intensely personal meeting with pope

francis. this is somebody president biden has developed a very close relationship with since francis was inaugurated in 2013 and now as they both are nearing the finish of their time in office, a deeply personal and powerful meeting for this catholic president. >> all right, braving the few scattered clouds on the islands for us, mime ke memoli, thank y so much. joining us now is conor lamb. former representative lamb, how best do you think president biden could spend his last days in office? what would you like to see him try to do? what do you realistically think he can do before he has to get out? >> well, you know, realistically, i don't think there's a lot he can do from the governing perspective, except the foreign policy areas that mike just mentioned, and that's hard for us to know what's happening behind the scenes, but he and his team are very experienced, and i think if they can find some way to put things in a better place in the middle east, if not also in ukraine, it's going to make things better for all americans.

you know, i also just think, to the extent that he can talk about the things that he has done for the good of the country, you know, not so much legacy items, you know, speeches that seem like they're for himself and the history books, but just talk about what he has seen of americans. i think one of the problems that we're going through is we've developed sort of a low opinion of ourselves, nationally, not so much on the individual level, but we distrust each other. i think a lot of people think america is not what it used to be, and my guess is that from all the things he's seen in his time in public service, he still believes the opposite, and i think if he could talk to people about that, you know, in a more hopeful way, that might be a nice way for him to leave office. >> that's some good thoughts there. i want to move on to president-elect trump. there's a new "washington post" article that profiles a western pennsylvania city called new castle, used to be a democratic stronghold, but it voted overwhelmingly for trump in the last election, and now, voters are getting concerned that, you know, trump promised to slash federal spending, but some

voters in this article were expressing concern that the benefits they rely on might be a casualty of the incoming administration. i'm wondering, first of all, are you surprised that so many low-income voters have abandoned the democratic party, and number two, how concerned are you that the -- this department of government efficiency is going to cut some of these entitlement programs like medicaid that people really rely on? >> yeah, i mean, i'm not surprised, unfortunately, new castle is right here in western pennsylvania, i know it well. i represented towns exactly like it, and one of the things that you see and that folks in my party don't always want to admit is that people who are living paycheck to paycheck, fighting just to get by every day, they don't really want to talk only about government benefits like s.n.a.p. and medicaid and medicare. those are important programs to them, and they understand the role that they play, but they care about what the private market is doing. most people work for private employers, and most people are not in unions, but for a long time, democrats have talked

about government benefits and unions mostly, and that article you mentioned, you know, the main woman they profile talks about the way she was a huge clinton supporter, both bill and hillary, and she felt like they had the right ideas on the economy, so it gives you a sense of the kind of democrat that can still appeal in a lot of these places. we sort of lost our way from that. but i think a lot of democrats are starting to realize, we need to find our center there again as far as having a credible case on the economy that goes beyond just talking about what the government can give people. >> yeah, it's always interesting to me when people who you think would benefit most from some government programs tend to have it just an adverse reaction to what they refer to as government overreach or g government. there's a sign tein beck quote says poor americans see themselves as temporarily embarrassed millionaires. i think some of that mentality, voting for how you wish it were

if you were rich some day is part of what's hurting democrats when people go to the polls. >> i think they haven't heard us talk a lot about how we're going to grow more jobs in their area. i think trump had a case on that that was relatively simple. jobs were growing to a certain extent under him, people were making more money, and because there was virtually no inflation, they felt like their dollars went a little further. in a town like new castle, people are immensely proud of where they come from and most living people remember a time when the plants and mills were more full, and they want something like that again. it doesn't have to be the steel industry part two, but we spent a lot of the last four years talking about infrastructure and climate change and a.i. and these sort of technologies and jobs of the future that people don't necessarily relate to. and i think we're paying the price for that now. >> what should the strategy be going forward? there's a question of whether democrats will have a united strategy to kind of push back against everything or whether they would be more effective if

they pick and chose their battles based on what think find most important and what's important to their constituents. >> i think clearly the latter. sometimes the counterfactual that i think of is not long after i got to congress, you had the whole robert mueller investigation blow up, and it was on tv every day, and we needed to get to the bottom of what was going on, and i understand that, but i remember thinking at the time, you know, what if we used those exact same resources and shined that exact same light on the pharmaceutical industry that was overcharging people dramatically and ruining people economically at the time that they needed help the most. and what if the ceos were the ones in the witness chair instead of all these trump administration people? what would people have thought of the democratic party now if that's what they were? i think that's how we need to be thinking. people are going to give trump a chance. they've handed him the steering wheel. they want to see where he drives the car. but when they start feeling that he is on the wrong route or, you know, it's getting a little bumpy, they're going to look at us and say, what have these guys been up to? and they want to know that we're

picking fights, all-around jobs and people's just basic economic well-being. >> it's the economy, right? former pennsylvania congressman conor lamb, thank you so much. coming up, upsetting video just released of what happened to a handcuffed prisoner in new york state. the legal implications next. pri york state the legal implicatnsio next. prilosec knows, for a fire... one fire extinguisher beats 10 buckets of water, and for zero heartburn 1 prilosec a day... beats taking up to 10 antacids a day. it's that simple, for 24 hour heartburn relief... one beats ten. prilosec otc.

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graphic. new york's attorney general shared the video yesterday and called what happened shocking and disturbing. here's nbc's sam brock. >> reporter: newly released shocking video shows these correctional officers fatally beating an inmate, robert brooks. the footage, blurred and redacted by state authorities, shows officers repeatedly kicking and punching brooks in the legs and chest and trying to jam an object down his throat. new york's attorney general says brooks was pronounced dead december 10th a day after these interactions with correctional officers was recorded. >> i do not take lightly the release of this video. >> reporter: james says the video doesn't have audio because the officers involved failed to properly activate their body cameras. it begins with brooks being carried inside, handcuffed and face down. he's then raised up, face bloodied and punched in various parts of his body. brooks was serving a 12-year sentence for stabbing his girlfriend. his attorney says his death is incomprehensible. >> i was there with mr. brooks'

son and father and his brother. they all watched the video as well, and i think it was just the overwhelming shock, just it was -- it was just -- felt so incomprehensible. >> reporter: nbc news has not been able to reach attorneys for the 14 people under investigation, but the president for the correction officers benevolent association adding in a sharply worded statement, "the egregious and repugnant action of the officers who committed this heinous and fatal assault does not in any way reflect the values of the vast majority of correction officers, including my members." >> joining us now, dave aronberg, state attorney for palm beach county, florida. dave, obviously, it's early, we've got limited information in the case, but as we look at that very disturbing video from the officers' body cameras, what do you expect new york's attorney general to be looking at here? what charges could these officers be facing? >> well, thank you for having me. this is really disturbing and the attorney general's office is

on it. i do think you'll see criminal charges coming. it's also much easier to fire the employees if criminal charges are filed because the union otherwise can keep these employees hired if there are no criminal charges filed. so, i think the office will be looking a everyone's active involvement to see if they did anything. remember, the george floyd case, you had all the officers charged, even though not all of them put their hands on george floyd. so, if you prevent someone from doing something or in any way enable them, then you could be charged. it's tougher for someone who's just standing there and watching. as far as i know, there's no good samaritan law that requires you to take action, but you can be fired, and so i think they're looking to see what kind of affirmative actions were taken by the officers here. they could be charged from anywhere from battery to murder. >> and we heard in that package there's no audio on that video because the officers failed to properly activate their body cameras. is there -- are there repercussions for that? do officers get punished for not doing what they're supposed to?

there's a reason those body cameras are there. >> correct. i do anticipate they'll be punished internally, that they'll face internal discipline, because it is a requirement to operate and activate your body camera, and also, it could be used against you in court if someone was charged with a crime. it shows, perhaps, consciousness of guilt. why didn't you turn your camera on? you knew the rules. you knew you were about to engage in something improper, perhaps illegal, so that's why it comes into play, but as far as failure to turn on your body camera, that in itself would not be a crime, but it would, at the very least, face internal discipline. >> got it. i want to turn now to another big headline today and that's president-elect donald trump is asking the supreme court to hit pause on a law that could potentially ban tiktok in the u.s. next month if the app doesn't find a u.s. owner. trump filed a brief in the case challenging the new law, requesting a stay on the january 19th deadline to give his administration an opportunity to negotiate a resolution. i have so many questions. one is, does the president even

have standing to do this? and what kind of a motion is this? is this an amicus brief, a writ? i don't know what this is. can he just involve himself in a case that he is not, you know, a party to? >> these are all great questions. i had the same questions, too, because normally, supreme court, you've got this very buttoned-up group of lawyers who argue specific legal issues, and here's trump, coming in like a bull in ha china shop. it's like the movie "legally blonde" when he comes in and just starts spouting off, like i have a huge electoral mandate, i'm the smartest and the best, and i can negotiate, so just pause everything, let me step in and let me handle this. there's nothing in the law that says he can do that, but he's donald trump. he appointed three out of these nine justices, so he thinks he can do it. i don't know if the supreme court is going to go along with it, but it is really interesting that trump, who often thinks he's above the law, is now doing something i've never seen before in front of the supreme court. >> unprecedented is the word of the, well, probably next four years. but i also want to ask you about

new fallout from trump's lawsuit against abc. there's this $16 million settlement over remarks made by george stephanopoulos. it's sparking fears as trump threatens more legal action against different press entities. what are your concerns about what this could do for defamation suits, libel laws, and freedom of the press? >> sure sets a tough precedent, really bad one, because previously, donald trump has lost all the cases he had against "the new york times" and everyone else. here is his first victory, and it was a victory not by a jury but by the plaintiff over the defendant in a settlement negotiation. as soon as abc got to the table, they settled within a day, and it shocked us all, and now, after agreeing to this settlement, what's happened? donald trump is suing the pollster for the "des moines register" for having a bad poll. i would love to sue bad pollsters, because i have been elected to office, and i have

had good polls and bad polls. what a power that would be to sue people who get it wrong. so, katie, bar the door. that's the concern here. we've never seen this kind of settlement when it comes to donald trump, and i think it emboldens and enables him to go after more in the media, and he sure does feel very confident in doing so. >> all right, dave aronberg, thank you for breaking all of that down for us. >> thanks for having me. talk about a return on investment. next, how somebody in california turned $2 into more than a billion. we'll be right back. into more ta billion. we'll be right back.

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now in today's other top stories the nypd is investigating after homeless man was found on fire inside penn station last night. the 67-year-old is in critical condition with burns to his upper body. police are looking into how the fire started. no arrests have been made at this time. shucking video from peru showing waves toppling boats, some even sink. dozens of ports are closed as the mammoth waves are expected to last for days. one person in california is the winner of the $1.2 billion jackpot. the lucky ticket was sold in cottonwood, california last night. the estimated cash payout is $549.7 million. the state of california of course does not tax lottery winnings.