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a very good day at msnbc headquarters in new york city. welcome to alex witt reports. i'm richard lui in for alex today. escalating maga civil war over immigration. elon musk and vivek ramaswamy are pushing more immigrant visas for tech workers while trumped's megabase pushing back saying that u.s. workers should give priority first. translator took the debate one step further criticizing u.s. culture saying that it venerated mediocrity over excellence and will not create the best engineers. congresswoman saying that there are enough jobs to go around.

>> a lot of businesses and high- tech businesses such as tesla have been using those coming out of parts of asia. there are jobs here for everyone . not only coming in, but those actually here every day, because when we look at the joblessness numbers, they are low. a meeting at mar-a-lago between canadian ministers and trumped's cabinet picks failed to remove the looming terrorist threat. here is no reaction from one canadian member of parliament to trump's mirage of social media attacks. >> the fact that he is undermining international relations of the january inauguration is concerning. i think he is trolling canada and we at all borders are going to need to work together to hold this malignant buffoon in check. trump is asking supreme court deposit tiktok band that he previously supported. he now says he wants to

gotiate a resolution months after the law passed with bipartisan support. democrats are now questioning the reason for this flip-flop. >> with donald trump, it's always a culmination of two things. one, flattery and inflating his ego. you are so popular on tiktok and you are a dominant social media presence and young people love you. two, the soft correction corruption in his inner circle. six days remaining until the houseboats for a news beaker and reports today that mike johnson may not have the votes. several republicans are undecided and why one kentucky congress and plans to vote for someone else. democrats today say that they will not rush to johnson's rescue. >> we know that he said he will not vote for him. there are other republicans who expressed doubts. i do hear the name jim jordan as a potential alternative, so i don't know what's going to happen. i do know what's going to happen , democrats will be united.

we are not going to bail him out this time. politico reports that johnson has everything to be nervous that trump is deliberately led questions swirl. covering these new developing story lines. starting with allie raffa in west palm beach. good afternoon to you. let's start with the rift within the maga world concerning immigration and trumped planning to crackdown, but he will have to deal with tech ceos who rely heavily on these foreign visas, yet there are concerns coming from the maga faithful. >> reporter: we are getting your reaction to this from the president-elect himself with president-elect donald trump telling the new york post today that he actually agrees with elon musk and vivek ramaswamy in supporting the use of these visas, which are kept at 85,000 per year. the critical visa program in the past saying in part, i have always liked the visas.

i have always been in favor of the visas. i have many h-1 b visas on my properties. he has been a believer in h-1 b and has used it many times and calls it a great program . now, these visas are crucial for top technology companies in the united states to hire skilled international workers, but the support from elon musk and vivek ramaswamy has ignited backlash among those on the far right, these maga republicans who want all forms of immigration to have a hard- line approach to be banned altogether, so it will be interesting to see whether they change their tune now that we are seeing support from the president-elect himself, richard. >> supreme court brief to delay the tiktok been printed now, president-elect donald trump is asking for that. what is the reason? >> reporter: yeah, this is a major reversal by the president-

elect to your mother in 2020 tried to ban tiktok bread throughout his 2024 campaign, he promised to save the app. with this brief that he filed on friday, he is essentially trying to buy himself more time. he's asking the supreme court to delay implementation of a law that would ban tiktok on january 19th if it is not sold by its parent company. 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. he writes that president trump alone possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise, electoral mandate and political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns expressed by the government. he says concerns which president-elect trump himself has acknowledged. it is unclear how much weight

the president-elect request has on the supreme court justices. we remember that they are going to begin hearing arguments on this case on january 10th, which gives us nine days to decide how to move forward and that is set to take place -- set to take effect the day before the president-elect takes office. >> thank you so much. nbc news white house correspondent allie raffa. some breaking news. a rare apology from russian president vladimir putin to the president over what he called the tragic plane crash on christmas day. nbc's megan fitzgerald following this from london. good day to you. this was an apology, but he never took responsibility for the plane crash that we had been covering. what is to make of this? >> reporter: look, that is rare to see president putin acknowledging and making an apology here and certainly shocking. as you rightfully mentioned, he

stopped short of taking responsibility for the crash and released a statement saying that he called the crash a tragic incident that occurred in russian airspace and the statement goes on to talk about the russian city where this aircraft was heading. it says that it was under heavy drone attacks by ukrainians and that the russians were trying to fan off the attacks that were coming in. that timeline is in line with nbc news reporting from two military sources who said and i want to read that intelligence suggests that russia may have misidentified the airline and shut it down thinking it was a drone. take a look at the footage that is coming in of the aftermath of this aircraft. you can see damage to the exterior that may appear as though it could be shrapnel. this is an ongoing investigation. we know that azerbaijan

officials are looking into this and trying to get to the bottom of what exactly caused the aircraft to crash killing some 38 people on board. >> meagan fitzgerald, thank you for the latest on this breaking news story. we have more breaking news in the middle east. a video of a dramatic escape from israeli airstrikes in yemen and this shows the chief of the w.h.o. and other passengers running for cover at an airport lounge and one person wounded. it comes after rebels traded strikes with israel this week and is really forces declaring that they have finished striking the hospital in northern gaza. let's go to ralph sanchez who is following these developments for us from tel aviv. what do we know of the movements in the area? >> reporter: is really forces entered the hospital in northern gaza and get the early hours of yesterday morning storming inside.

they are saying that this hospital was quote, a hamas stronghold and they arrested around 240 terrorists in the area around the hospital from both hamas and palestinian islamic. they so far have not provided a lot of evidence to back up these claims. they put out photographs of three handguns that they say that they found in the hospital along with what they are calling a bomb. they are saying that it will be more evidence to come, but the world health organization is saying that it has left that hospital completely nonfunctional and it is worth stressing that this is the last major hospital in northern gaza that was still operating until yesterday. a number of witnesses are also telling us that as hospital staff and patients were forcibly evacuated from that facility, the israeli military ordered them to strip in some

cases. they say that people were beaten by israeli troops. we asked about that and they say stripping people is standard procedure and they are looking for bombs, suicide belts. they have not seen any evidence that anyone was beaten. among the people arrested, richard, was the director of the hospital , was a man that nbc news has interviewed several times. israel is now saying that he is a suspected hamas operative. again, they have not provided evidence of that, but the w.h.o. is warning that you basically have 75,000 people left in this part of northern gaza and their lives are at risk given that this hospital is no longer functional and the broader healthcare system has all but collapsed. >> and be seen as foreign

correspondent for us this afternoon, raf sanchez, thank you so much. what we know about donald trump's new merchandising move and whether it patches the smell test that we have that for you in 90 seconds. whoa! how'd you get your teeth so white? you gotta use the right toothpaste! dr. c?! ♪♪ not all toothpastes whiten the same. crest 3d white removes 100% more stains for a noticeably whiter smile. new personal best. crest.

now, to the trump transition in just 23 days from inauguration day with money pouring into trump priest inauguration fund was his on paid pays 107 million raised for his first inauguration the

big contributors. 11 companies that in the list of the generally six capital attack pledged not to support lawmakers who disputed the 2020 election results. joining as a senior executive editor and msnbc political analyst tim o'brien. tim, good saturday to you. some companies who made january 6 related pledges, including goldman sachs, general motors, bank of america and at&t, as we were showing. now, each are giving $1 million to the inauguration. when you look at this, what does this indicate about how the business world expects the relationship with the incoming administration to be like? >> think it clearly indicates a play and i'm sure that they think it's in the best interest of the company and need to access the trump administration to do what donald trump has always asked people around him to do, which is paid for access.

to be transactional and figure out the easiest way to get to him is through money. i don't think it's complex advocates also unfortunately very disappointing, because january 6th was a threat to democracy. i don't think donald trump's threat to democracy because he won the election, but i think it has grown more threatening. i think all u.s. institutions have to figure out what stance they need to have towards the administration that protects their interest, but also the public interest. over large amounts of money to an inauguration committee or to the campaign or any number of business is that donald trump controls is exactly what it appears to be.

>> i expect that you will be breaking out your crowd counting app for january later on. i want to see how many people show up for this again. very heavily donated at the moment. i want to move to what i was mentioning earlier, the trump rented merchandise. besides maga hats, also includes $299 trump crypto president sneakers and $119 victory cologne. how does from making his branded merchandise even as he is taking the white house and all of the intertwining complexities of that? >> richard, i actually think the merchandise is the low hanging fruit for him. this will be relatively small change for him given some of the opportunities. again, i will get to that in a second. it's not to say that it's

inconsequential that he's peddling his names towards merchandise and all sorts of merchandise. he has than the pistorius lee historically but he built his resident on that. one of the tenants of good government and this is a non- partisan and nonideological observation. the white house shouldn't be for sale and its inhabitants should be able to migrate themselves for financial gain and public policy. the merge is very low hanging fruit. donald trump already has interest in the crypto and digital asset exchange. he has said that his administration will be crypto hundley. that alone will fatten his wallet and he has interest in a media company. trump media, which controls truth social, which is also a game from his role in the white house. he has real estate interest and ventures overseas. his sons

have already said that they will not keep his company in arm's-length relationship from the white house, which they put up during his first administration to guard against conflicts of interest. right now, the basically signal that they are going to feel that they are free to monetize the presidency as swiftly and without any guardrail. >> i am peeling the onion just a little bit. the new york times just reported that quote, unlike some of trump's earlier efforts, the identities of his current much in this business partners are shielded through the creation of limited liability companies, which are structured to allow partners to remain anonymous. times reporters who tried to track down the wyoming address of the couple of llcs that i was just mentioning in the article found rural strip walls or buildings populated by unrelated businesses. uncommon or common? what's going on here?

>> very common in his business history. he has operated using literally hundreds of llcs historic we, so he is bringing that to the white house. again, entitled private citizen to transact llcs and legitimate transactions with the law. there is a lot of freedom there. they never anticipated someone who entered the white house both with his wallet wide open and with the thirst to monetize presidency when you don't have transparency under the investors or beneficiaries in these llcs, it raises an obvious financial conflict of interest that voters and policymakers should be concerned about. >> i want to get to this quickly. suggesting as we have been talking about this week that

his administration could take full control, because he was accusing panama approving of the u.s. with fees and charges and we took a look at that earlier this week. the fees are a little bit lower than the canal. do you suspect -- is the connection potential or not that he is doing this because of his business interest ski panama lexi for instance, seeking lower cost for his merchandise to make it to the east. you can go on and on about that. >> as long as he's using opacity to mask everything he's doing. it was perplexing and trump is always perplexing when it comes with these bold theatrical statements when he wants to take over greenland and greenland is not under u.s. control and it's unlikely that he will get the canal back to the united states. that is unlikely to happen, as well. it is hard to discern his goals when making statements like this other than the shake of the new cycle and that

convincing people that is acting in america's best interest. >> policy arcs via social media is probably what we can safely say. tim o'brien, thank you so much. good to talk to you. he is sorry, but not taking responsibility. what to take of what vladimir putin said on a phone call earlier today. stick around. and locks in moisture to provide soothing relief. a nose in need deserves puffs indeed. america's #1 lotion tissue.

right now, president biden taking his final vacation before leaving office. expected to return to the mainland on the 31st where you will celebrate the new year and prepare to close out his first and only term. let's go to mike with the president in st. croix in the u.s. virgin islands. what's on the agenda for the next 23 days? certainly looking forward to that he will be traveling to italy. >> reporter: that's right. the president is actually attending mass as we speak and that will be one of the highlights of his final three plus weeks in office. the trip to rome includes meetings with italian government leaders and that this president is with pope francis who he has developed a close relationship with since pope francis became the leader of the catholic church in 2013. it's interesting to see the effort that the white house is making in disclosing stages of the presidency to shape legacy. if you remember several months ago when he took himself out of

the 2024 re-election race, we saw democrats up and down the ballot praising biden and saying often that he had a record of accomplishments in one term that was actually more than most presidents had done in two. we haven't seen that support from the democratic party, especially since kamala harris lost her donald trump in november. it has been up to the white house on its own to shape the legacy for the foreseeable future. the president i'm told is that he knows his record will be ultimately studied by historians and will take generations to take shape. they will certainly do everything they can in the final three weeks. in addition to the trip to italy, which is part of an effort to shape his foreign policy legacy given what the presidents traditionally do deliver to the american people is a farewell address. not just looking back on his four years in the oval office,

but the entire sweep of his more than half-century career in public life is career in public service that was motivated by a motorist time 1968 civil rights era and assassinations of political leaders led him to first run for office in 1970 and become a senator in 1972 and disclosing out at what would argue similarly tumultuous time in politics him up and he will take the sweep of that history and try to put his place in perspective. >> nbc white house correspondent mike with the president, thank you so much. more on breaking news from overseas. a rare apology from russian president vladimir putin over what called a tragic thing crash on christmas day. putin did not take responsibility for the crash but joining as former cia intelligence officer and msnbc national security contributor mark. we have been talking about at this week but as you know, announcing that president vladimir putin apologized to the president of azerbaijan

for the tragic plane crash. he confirmed an investigation underway, but he is underlining that he is not apologizing or admitting responsibility for russia for this actual crash. what do you make of this? >> this is the best we will get out of him. it is certainly an apology that is also an admission of guilt and there is a preponderance of evidence here with both open source. we saw actual videos of the crash site, which looks like shrapnel hit the skin of the aircraft. of course, i imagine mild outfit in the intelligence committee probably collected communications and human intelligence and probably the russian military talking about what ends up being a tragedy, but they mistakenly shot down. the aircraft i would imagine that other intelligence services in the region, as well.

he really had no choice and the apology is about as best as you will get, but as deeply embarrassing to and not only adviser tried to revive citizens, but russian citizens, as well. >> it is rare to hear him actually admitting and apologizing for it happening. let's change gears. saying this week that they have some reason her to believe, mark, missing american lost in syria, but not outspoken about their evidence. they admitted that they are more numerous than previously predict it and maybe even double than what was known. how much of a setback is the revelation to searchers and the family? why would hostages be so tightlipped about their evidence at this moment? >> this is a tough one, richard. it is a terrible tragedy and someone who has taken over a decade, with numerous reports that he had been alive and nothing i have seen that has ever been confirmed and i left government and i'm not even

intelligence information now. with the scenes coming out of syria of perhaps 100,000 plus remains found ski presence, i'm surprised with the notion that there is a chance that he's still alive and i know there are teens in the region from the u.s. government. you always want to hope for the best, but i do worry that this might not have an outcome that will be a good one. >> i will go to your recent article. you advocate here for the u.s.'s involvement in syria. what does the u.s. get out of being involved and is there any convincing trump administration to keep troops there to continue suppressing isis? >> look, the events in syria have been stunning to watch. five decades of brutal dictatorship of the family and finally flees thomas l, but leaves behind a terrible chair

with half 1 million syrians killed. there is huge challenges ahead. the group that took power does have a significant islamist. the u.s. government has to engage with that. we cannot say that they are like al qaeda and walk away, but we should incentivize things like a new constitution being written. we have seen schools reopen and this might sound trivial, but alcohol is being served in restaurants. this is not the telephone or 1979 iran. the u.s. should engage, because we do need their help and trying to find or as you noted the mission with thousands of fighters still in syria and 2000 u.s. special operations forces that i hope of course will remain with the new trump administration coming in. >> marc polymeropoulos, thank you. what cause a missed opportunity on capitol hill,

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house democrats missed what i would consider a big opportunity. they passed over congressman alec andrea for the top democratic spot for the oversight committee. they chose congressman, a much older member backed by nancy pelosi. why does that matter?

this is one of the few committees in congress that actually generates national attention or immediate coverage. this stands for a transfer some of the lessons we should've learned from the election. democrats passed over one of the youngest and media savvy members of congress for a key leadership public role. >> questions over my democrats passed over 35-year-old alexandria cortez for top house committee spot and ongoing criticisms that the leadership has become a gerontocracy of lawmakers of advanced age. joining us is host of fast politics podcast and vanity fair special correspondent. molly, what do you make of former speaker nancy pelosi whipping some votes to make sure that that the top spot on the committee over aoc many consider a generational political talent? >> i was glad you showed that clip from jen psaki, because i believe that's really correct.

i would add that part of the problem in the cycle was that democrats did all of this good once-in-a-lifetime legislation and stuff like that and sciences act and things that are wildly important that really did actually lower inflation or prevent hard economic landing that a lot of us were worried about. in fact, one of the big problems was just that they couldn't transmit these to the voters. they had a real communication problem. when we postmortem the 2024 election, a lot think that democrats want ford or frankford facing enough and didn't do enough to engage with the voting public. here is someone who is extremely good at communicating with voters who have a large platform. millions of followers

that people listen to and really like and who can connect with young people. more than that, she is able to connect with a certain kind of economic populism, which a lot of democrats have struggled to connect with. when they had an opportunity to elevate and when you elevate, you also elevate someone who has already their own media complex innocent. >> this is somewhat related and i want to move to the postelection blame game in the race in terms of the dnc and their new chair with moderates and completing each other over messaging led to the parties lost to trump, as well as how they spend all the money, did they make the right decisions in the $2 billion spent? do you agree with the progressives who say that the democratic rent is toxic? how would you compare this to post 2016 in terms of the

amount of internal unrest within the party? >> i don't necessarily think that a particular brand is toxic. a lot of times, people use elections to confirm. people who are very progressive feel that the party was not progressive enough and people who were never trump feel that the party was to aggressive. what we do know is that the party was not able to catch economic populism despite the fact that they passed a lot of very populist legislation. that in itself seems to be a communication problem. because biden was never a great interviewer, they were careful with him in a way that was detrimental. you how to trump running for president for four years doing every interview and every media platform. the difference was that he took up oxygen and you had biden very careful doing very little

media, then they had this debate, which was kind of a fiasco, then harris took over. she is still much better at communicating, but didn't do a ton of media. you have trump on every podcast. my feeling was really that the 2020 or as though it did do a lot of great stuff and she really did a job considering where -- remember, she jumped in there three months before. the 2024 campaign, if it had run in 2016, she would have won. the media is much smaller and a lot of independent media with these people with large followings, ke joe rogan. if you don't go on his show, you don't get in front of his people. there is no way to circumvent. i think that was a problem in

that election. >> always great to see you. thank you so much. all it took was two dollars and a dream. what we know but the winning ticket to a lottery worth more than $1 billion. that is next. so it smells first-day fresh for 50 days. 50 days!? and its refill reminder light means i'll never miss a day of freshness. ♪ ♪ limu emu & doug ♪ woah, limu! we're in a parade. everyone customize and save hundreds on car insurance with liberty mutual. customize and sa— (balloon doug pops & deflates) and then i wake up. and you have this dream every night? yeah, every night! hmm... i see. (limu squawks) only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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george solis is following this how did this happen and who won it? tell us about it. >> it's not uri. that is the dream. bummer. he matched all six of those numbers and it was a single loan ticket and there were other winners. either way, no anonymity law and there are the numbers right there. those other second-tier prizes, not a bad consolation prize. we will find out the winner and there is no anonymity rule, but it's only a matter of time before we find out who the mystery winner is and it always seems to be california. the fifth largest jackpot. >> only 6000 people and just go to the phone book if you want to see who it is. >> exactly. we had a lot of fun talking to people yesterday. the two dollar and a dream as you put it. here was their wish list. take a listen. >> that's a good question. a nice house. i have a one-bedroom apartment

in queens but maybe something a little larger princeton i go on vacation, then the rest i give the grandkids and my children and maybe buy another house. leave a little to both my kids and grandson. >> i would share it with everybody i know. families, friends and by my dream house in the bureaus. >> still not good, and you basically get a better chance of getting struck by lightning. other people can win and those are the one in 24. you can't win if you don't play. as far as the mega millions is concerned, tickets are two dollars and announcing that they will go up to five dollars per >> five dollars? >> it will create larger jackpots sooner and faster, but it will be something to consider if you want to keep playing. >> why five dollars? and thinking about the accessibility of just being able to pay for those tickets going up to five dollars. >> everyone loves the idea of a

large jackpot and they are obviously very great and only 4.6 billion or 4.2 million jackpot every so often. the changes of the games implementing over the years just to create those odds and that excitement around the game. >> i know george was saying that he would split the winnings with me on air. this did not happen, ladies and gentlemen but we will not be in barbados with our good friend that you are interviewing. thank you for covering what is always an uplifting story. appreciate it. bracing for trump 2.0 and how federal employee groups are preparing for new attacks. that's millions of bacteria growing overnight. crest pro-health helps prevent oral health issues before they start. i'm so much fresher. crest.

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federal workers are bracing for a turbulent season of job cuts by the incoming trump administration and getting help from a new watchdog coalition to challenge trump is the one executive orders , as well as plans arising from project 2025. joining us is president and ceo of democracy forward, a new pro- democracy coalition that signed on to support civil service strong, a group of organizations offering legal and other resource is resources. what executive orders are you planning for from the trump administration on day one and how do you plan to fend off what i was just mentioning? job cuts, as well as project 2025 moves? >> with it's important that the u.s. government work for the american people, so we are

working to ensure that they continue to do so in this next administration. project 2025 outlines a range of plans to undermine independence of the u.s. civil service with men and women doing things like keeping medication safe and making sure that our food quality is where it needs to be, so we are monitoring all threats and looking at the legal responses available to people and communities who benefit from all of these services that the american civil service provides. >> trump has signaled plans to clean house of doj and jack smith's team is preparing for his retribution and talking to lawyers about possible ways that trump's doj could make their lives quote, . and even how to avoid going bankrupt. what are you hearing from people who work from the trump investigations, 2016 russia

investigation, mar-a-lago case and federal 2020 election interference case? >> in the u.s., we have a president and not a king. retribution agenda is not consistent with american values. you have a range of individuals who have served their country filling civil service positions and other positions throughout the government would have done the best they can to fill their duties and if the incoming administration seeks to engage in retribution in some type of brinksmanship around personal interest, then you will see a broad coalition to help respond on behalf of the american people and our nation's best values. >> washington post reporting that the doj gender equality network held an online discussion to share advice about legal rights and how to prevent personal information from being posted online, intimidation tactic known as

dachshund. what are the main concerns? >> the start of months ago during the campaign season with a range of right organizations that were actually targeting individuals who work with the federal government and people who swear an oath to the constitution and american people and not to any political ideology, but there were heritage foundation's and supported groups putting names of individuals online as early as the summer and a lot of concern that those types of tactics will continue. i think everyone is seeking to do the part that their civil service is projected as possible and able to remain independent and do the work of the american people and individuals are not unfairly targeted. >> speaking of online information, specific federal worker information was exposed on the x platform. were any laws or rights

infringed on that process and are there options that are open to those employees part of that? >> there is a lot of looking at what has happened and individuals affected are considering obviously the rights and remedies that they have. the main thing that we need to keep in mind in this time is that we do have to own voices and for the american people to say that this has no place in america. people seeking to do their jobs and fulfills a their duties to the american people and constitution do not deserve to be targeted by anyone, let alone incoming administration that obviously has a similar obligation to the constitution and people. i think you will see a range of groups and others seeking to support civil service during this time. >> quickly here, is elon musk at risk and he being the richest man and also the person with the largest following on the

social media platform we were talking about, what is the strategy for federal workers to take them on in these cases? can workers put up a fair fight? >> i think there is a range of issues with the incoming administration has announced and others coming out and saying that they intend to do legal scholars across the range of perspective and many tactics with plans that they have a range of legal problems. i think that you will see that materialize in the coming days per >> thank you. have a good weekend. that'll do it for me on this edition of alex witt reports. i'm richard lui. alex is back tomorrow at 1:00 eastern. up next, the beat weekend. happy holidays. i hope you are having a wonderful holiday season tonight. we have a special edition and we are calling it the egot edition. that stands for emmy, grammy, oscar and