near future. >> so folks of course should be heeding those evacuation messages that they are getting. i imagine there is a lot of messages being sent to people locally there. we will obviously keep our eyes on that and jacob soboroff will be reporting on it for us. please stay safe, jacob. really appreciate it. >> things, chris. >> that is all the and on this tuesday night. before we go, a quick reminder, in a few weeks, my new book, the siren's call, how attention became the world's most dangerous resource, actually comes out in the world. got a physical copy of the book today. if we are looking for a preview i just wrote an essay for the new york times in the sunday review section aced on the research i did for the book and it's about boredom, of all things, how its avoidance is the silent engine of modern life and the paradox that the more desperately you try to avoid boredom, the more easily you become bored. i know this firsthand. it's adapted to one of the chapters in the book and i'll be hitting the road for a book tour to talk about it.

i'd love to see you out there. you can scan the qr code there on your screen for details on the tour and information on how to get tickets. you can also preorder the book at that same link and then we'll get to you on january 20th or even sooner. alex wagner tonight starts right now. good evening, alex. evening, a palisades neighborhood in los angeles. as of right now, the fire has already burned more that know 1,300 acres of land, but the wind speed is expected to peak tonight between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. local time. so there is real and significant fear that this fire could continue to spread and spread rapidly. around 30,000 residents of the pacific palisades and surrounding areas have been evacuated. one resident told the l.a. times the fire was moving so quickly that police started yelling for people to abandon their cars and telling residents to run for your lives. the l.a. times is also reporting that firefighters could be heard telling dispatchers over the radio that as many as 100

abandoned vehicles are blocking the road. you can see right here that authorities had to use a bulldozer to move the parked cars out of the way in order to let the firefighters through. right now there are no reports of injuries or deaths, but several structures have been destroyed and the fire is continuing to grow. joining me now is chase cain, an nbc news national climate reporter in the pacific palisades. chase, thank you for doing this reporting right in harm's way. can you give us a sense what the situation is like this hour? >> reporter: alex, the scene you were just describing where people were literally abandoning their cars in the road, that's sunset boulevard, which is just behind me here. i know it's a bit of a black hole. there's not a lot to see because they turned off power. the road is sunset boulevard and you might be able to see on the horizon it looks like some embers may have kicked back up and started a fire again. i was with my produce trying to

make our way to where we are now when the road became gridlock. in one direction it was people trying to evacuate and the other direction was people trying to get to their homes. once we get closer, we realize that was the scene, the fire had come down the side of the hill along sunset boulevard that people know across the country and yeah, police and firefighters are telling people listen, stay in your car or at some point get out of your car. we saw people walking up the sidewalk, people evacuating their homes with suitcases down the street and others carrying what they could under their arms. it's been a heartbreaking situation. i've covered dozens of wildfires. i've lived in g los angeles a while. i've never seen a wildfire that moved this quickly in such a densely populated area. the fact at least no residents have been injured is certainly a miracle, although within the last few minutes there was a firefighter injured and met by an reambulance here behind me. it seemed like he's okay. it did not seem like it was anything too serious. these folks are out here

risking their lives. i just heard another pop. it's probably another transformer up on the ridge line that you're seeing there. we've seen people earlier with flashlights likely going th through a couple apartment and condo buildings on the hillside trying to make sure no one is in there as police and fire continue to sweep the area making sure everyone is out of harm's way and doing what they can because it's almost impossible to contain a fire when you have winds that are 50, 60, 70 miles an hour. overnight they may gust up to 80 or 100, hurricane force wind gust. >> the speed with which this intensified is staggering. at 10:30 a.m. california time there were a few acres burning. by this afternoon it's 1,200 acres. i would imagine the rapid spread of this has led to some of that chaos with people abandoning their cars, being told to run for their lives. can you tell us what the evacuation process is like

right now and how wide the evacuation area is given what you said, the wind gusts of anywhere from between 50 to 100 miles per hour that are expected tonight? >> reporter: at least 30,000 people have been told to evacuate, alex. it's kind of hard to tell because it seems like we're in this dark place. we're right near santa monica as these winds pick up and howl again. santa monica could typically be within eyesight of the famous pier and ferris wheel so many people know. malibu is maybe a mile up the road. this is a really densely popuarea. we're calling it the palisades fire, but it's actually lots of little fires because with winds like this it doesn't take a lot of imagination to understand how it grabs one ember and whatever that ember hits is going to catch on fire, tree, brush, a car parked on sunset which i saw. it was also houses up on the ridge line, uat least a couple dozen homes. it's hard to get a handle how bad the damage is because this

is just developing so rapidly, devolving so rapidly i should say. >> chase cain, our nbc news national climate reporter, please stay safe. thank oryou for that excellent reporting. i'm going now to nbc news national correspondent also in pacific palisades. jacob, i know this is your hometown and i know it's something the governor has referred to as wildfire years in the state of california. this seems like a different order of magnitude entirely. >> reporter: well said. it seems like we're in a permanent state of wildfire season in southern california but not like this. this is pacific palisades, california, also the place i was born and raised up over that ridge there. you are watching will rogers state historic park burn and on the other side of that ridge is

palisades village where it's the center of the community of 23 or so thousand people who live and work and play in this very beautiful part of the city of los angeles. it's a community with multiple schools, restaurants, thousands and thousands of homes and where the fire started this morning up near the palisades highlands there are very few ways in and out. that's why you heard about the cars being jammed up, people having a hard time get in, getting out, those bulldozers in those images earlier this evening pushing cars out of the way here on sunset boulevard. for people who have never been to los angeles, where i'm standing is in between the brentwood portion and where the palisades village is. if eryou continue through the palisades village, you get down to agthe corner of sunset and pacific coast chighway, which where the staging area is where governor newsom briefed the assembled media earlier and made those remarks you just mentioned. i saw for the first time maybe embers coming in this direction

because the wind continues to shift, alex. the wind is going essentially in a southwesterly direction from where i'm standing. let's show alex real quick. we've got another emergency service vehicle coming through now. this is probably cothe tenth or eleventh one i've seen so far. this one is from engine 71 los angeles city fire paramedic, but this is not just l.a. city fire on this. this is a mutual aid type of situation. i've seen los angeles county firefighters out here, city of santa monica law enforcement personnel, the los angeles police department, thousands of officers on a city-wide tactical alert. you hear about that sometimes in volatile situations involving protests and things like that, but not usually for a wildfire of this nature. when i say it's different, that is because we're used to wildfires in places like malibu or in malibu canyon where homes are destroyed and people's lives are up ended and

sometimes ended, but not in a place where there's tens of thousands of people living in los angeles. never in my lifetime can i remember standing cin pacific palisades and having the entire community evacuated as much of this part of los angeles burns tonight. tomorrow morning is going to be a bleak scene here. we haven't seen the beginning of it with winds expected to reach those peaks later tonight here. are. >> give me a sense what it is like to being in the greater los angeles area right now because we're hearing reports of absolute chaos in evacuated areas, people abandoning their cars, cars abandoned on the road bulldozed out of the way so firefighters can pass, people told by police and first responders to run for their lives. i understand that's probably at the center of all this, but in the surrounding areas and not just malibu, but santa monica, in l.a. central, can you talk about the level of fear, level of panic, sort of evacuations. i know you're just on the scene right now. anecdotally speaking, set the scene for us, if you could.

>> reporter: the road here was like -- how do you describe one way on the los angeles freeway completely gridlocked, the 405 northbound and southbound coming from our nbc news headquarters at universal studios was completely wide open. people are going as far as they can as fast as they can away from this part of town. when you heard about the scenes earlier today that resulted in those cars being abandoned on the roads, it's because of the bottleneck created by the developments in places like the palisades highlands or the top of streets where i live as a young guy growing up in los angeles where there are very few ways out. there are fire roads, but those, too, become gridlocked or impassable. so what people did at the beginning of this near storm is get out of their cars in places

like sunset boulevard, outside places like israel temple in the middle of pacific palisades and just start walking because g it's a terrifying sight to behold to stand here and watch this. i don't quite have the words to describe to you what it's like to be standing here in this part called the palisades riviera and looking back at will rogers park and knowing that that's just a small portion of the fire burning here tonight. it continues. when i got to this location at this part of the scene, that was a small fire that was just starting to burn. over the last hour or so i've stood here, it has just exploded. it seems heto be exploding all directions, which is why i said last hour if there's anybody at home watching msnbc right now and you live in pacific palisades or any of the places where there's a mandatory evacuation, get up and out of your house and on the road now. if you're inside, you're not feeling these winds and you can probably see they are blowing like we don't often experience.

we know the dosanta ana winds here come in over the mountains and go out towards the coast, but this place is like a tinderbox now. >> jacob, you're doing some essential reporting, my friend. i think it's probably made all the more itcomplicated is this your hometown. our thoughts are with you, brother. stay strong. thank you for doing what you do. >> reporter: thanks, my friend. we have a lot more to get to tonight. donald trump may or may not be serious about wanting to acquire territory from countries that do not want to give it to him, but his preoccupation with greenland in particular has an absolutely crazy origin story which we are going to dig into coming right up next. stay with us. -yeah! -i can't go back to jail! wait, did you rob my bank? sharing is caring, bro! let's make like dice and roll. ♪♪ have you always had trouble with your weight? let's make like dice and roll.

same. discover the power of wegovy®. with wegovy®, i lost 35 pounds. and some lost over 46 pounds. and i'm keeping the weight off. i'm reducing my risk. wegovy® is the only weight-management medicine proven to reduce risk of major cardiovascular events such as death, heart attack, or stroke in adults with known heart disease and obesity. don't use wegovy® with semaglutide or glp-1 medicines, or in children under 12. don't take if you or your family had mtc, men 2, or if allergic to it. tell your provider if you plan to have surgery or a procedure, are breastfeeding, pregnant, or plan to be. stop taking and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or any of these allergic reactions. serious side effects may include pancreas inflammation and gallbladder problems. call your prescriber if you have any of these symptoms. wegovy® may cause low blood sugar in people with diabetes, especially if you take medicines to treat diabetes. call your prescriber about vision changes,

if you feel your heart racing while at rest, or if you have mental changes. depression or thoughts of suicide may occur. common side effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, stomach pain, flu, or upset, headache, feeling tired, dizzy, or bloated, gas, and heartburn. some side effects lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. with wegovy®, i'm losing weight, i'm keeping it off, and i'm lowering my cv risk. ask your prescriber about wegovy®. (♪♪) hey what if we move back... hold on let me think. we need a miracle. miracle starting every thursday starting at 2:45 i love you. i know. find childcare that fits your schedule. learn more at care.com

always dry scoop before you run. listen to me, the hot dog diet got me shredded. it's time we listen to science. one a day is formulated with key nutrients to support whole body health. one a day. science that matters.

today the casket carrying the remains of the late

president jimmy carter was transported from georgia to washington, d.c. in preparation for carter's official state funeral later this week. that solemn occasion is coming as president carter's legacy has been thrust back into the news by incoming president donald trump. >> the panama canal is a disgrace, what took place at the panama canal. jimmy carter gave it to them for $1 and they were supposed to treat us well. i thought it was a terrible thing to do. >> in a rambling press conference today, trump attacked carter's legacy while carter's body was literally still on its way to the capitol to a city preparing to honor carter's life. that fight with the recently deceased president has a lot to do with trump's newfound fixation on american territorial expansion which in turn led to a bizarre declaration that the u.s. should regain control of the panama canal. to understand what is going on in trump's mind here, you have to go back to

january 9th, 1964, exactly 61 years ago this week. at the time anti-american riots had broken out in panama, in part over u.s. control over the panama canal. that conflict sparked more than a decade of very careful diplomacy, diplomacy which spanned the administrations of four presidents with the goal of handing control of the panama canal over to the people of panama. for most of that time negotiations in washington were serious and they were bipartisan. with a new notable exceptions democrats and republicans are largely aligned on the plan to negotiate a fair treaty to hand over control of the canal. a young moderate senator by the name of joseph biden even called the panama canal the last vestige of u.s. imperialism. by 1976 the u.s. was in the final stages of negotiating a treaty with panama's leader, but right around that time some

enterprising far right conservatives realized that they could use the panama canal to gin up nationalist anger, anger among the american public. they began arguing that america should leave the negotiations and keep control of the panama canal and the keep control of the panama canal movement then found a very charismatic messenger. >> the panama canal zone is sovereign united states territory just as much as alaska is as well as the states carved from the louisiana purchase. we bought it. we paid for it and general teriho should be told we're going to keep it. >> ronald reagan became the american avatar for the movement to try and keep the panama canal. at the time reagan was contesting gerald ford's nomination as the republican candidate for president in the 1976 election and reagan made the panama canal a central

issue of his campaign. now reagan ultimately lost that primary to gerald ford and then gerald ford went on to lose the presidential race to jimmy carter, but the panama canal issue did not go away. neither did ronald reagan. the task of finalizing the agreement fell in president carter's lap and reagan laid the foundation for his next presidential run by challenging president carter at every step. reagan gave public speeches and he testified before congress. he even held a public debate with fellow conservative william f. buckley over the merits of keeping the panama canal, but in 1977 president carter signed the treaty and that handed over control of the panama canal. >> we're here to participate in the signing of treaties which will assure a peaceful and prosperous and secure future for an international waterway

of great importance to us all, but the treaties do more than that. they mark the commitment of the united states to the belief that fairness and not force should lie at the heart of our dealings with the nations of the world. >> fairness not force. it was a powerful statement by president carter, but by that point the issue had gone from a matter of diplomacy to a full blown wedge issue. there were even protests outside the white house and that movement was part of the coalition that ultimately helped propel ronald reagan to victory over jimmy carter in the 1980 presidential race and yet despite reagan's crusade the panama canal treaty remained in place throughout reagan's presidency. apparently it wasn't a major priority for president reagan once he was actually in office, but the germ of reagan's

populous crusade against the panama canal treaty, that idea lived on in the minds of other populist-minded conservatives and so today as we prepare to reenter the presidential administration of a man whose world view remains stubbornly stuck in the 1970s and '80s, we are now relitigating one of the most cynical debates in american foreign policy. because this is donald trump we are dealing with, the foolish and ill-conceived imperial ambitions go way beyond just panama. >> we need greenland for national security purposes. people really don't even know if denmark has any legal right to it, but if they do, they should give it up because we need it for national security. >> donald trump wants to take greenland. you may recall that trump toyed with the idea of buying greenland during his first presidential administration, even though the nation of denmark says it has less than zero interest in handing over greenland to the united states.

remember, greenland has effectively been under danish control since 1814, well before the period of the 1980s where donald trump's brain is apparently stuck. nonetheless, today the president's son, don jr., landed in greenland in order to keep speculation about the supposed american takeover alive. in his press conference today trump refused to rule out the idea of using military force to acquire both greenland and the panama canal, though you should make of that what you will. the origins of trump's greenland scheme are both younger and even dumber than trump's panamanian fixation. as reporters peter baker and susan glasser reported in their book, "the divider, "trump was first put onto the idea of acquiring greenland by one of his friend, ronald lauder of the cosmetics fortune. according to baker, trump was so obsessed with the idea in

his first administration that it absorbed the national security staff for months, buying greenland. part of trump's fixation with greenland may have stemmed from his failure to understand how maps work actually. trump told glasser and baker, "i love maps and i always said look at the size of this. it's massive. that should be part of the united states." if you look at a map of greenland, it does appear to be massive, right? but that's not because greenland is actually massive or even approaching the size of the united states. it's because the earth is a sphere and so when you lay out the sphere on a flat map, all of the areas near the north and south poles are stretched out to look bigger than they actually are. greenland is still a pretty large territory, but in reality it is not nearly as big as it appears on a flat map, yet donald trump appears to have become obsessed with the idea of acquiring greenland and maybe using the u.s. military to do so because greenland

looks massive. that is the level american foreign policy is about to be operating on. today trump also reiterated a desire to make canada the 51st u.s. state, something canadians have no interest in. trump said he wants to rename the gulf of mexico the gulf of america because he thinks that sounds better. all of this is obviously ridiculous and in many ways a distraction from the things trump could actually do as president, but the idea behind this territorial expansion is very serious. as reagan proved 50 years ago, the concept of america as an expansive global empire can be a very intoxicating political force and while buying greenland may be a fantasy, powerful nations like russia and china are trying to expand their territorial control at all costs and america will have to decide if it wants to be on

the side of sovereignty and self-determination or on the side of imperial expansion, however unhinged that expansion may be, a choice as the late jimmy carter said, between fairness or force. joining me now is congressman jim himes, democrat from connecticut, ranking member on the house intelligence committee. congressman himes, thank you for being here on this extraordinary day. first let me get your reaction to trump's territorial lust over canada, greenland, and the panama canal. >> alex, you know, as the election results became clear, i swore to myself i would not chase every single shiny object, every mad raving of our next president. however, for you i will do

this. we are not going to take greenland by force or take canada as the 51st state or rename the gulf of mexico. so why is the president talking about that? the answer is as i sit here in washington, d.c. in ways and means conference rooms, republicans are putting together tax cut bills that will deliver hundreds of billions of dollars of tax cuts to corporations and to the very wealthiest americans. this is a little bit at odds with the campaign that the president-elect ran. as we sit here now, there are rooms full of people thinking about how to cut regulations that keep our water and air clean. so what we're talking about here are things that are never going to happen. they're shiny things, little bits of tin foil and fireworks designed to distract us from the fact that the president- elect is going to completely fail to deliver on the economic promises that he offered people with a lot of economic anxiety. okay. having said that, if you want, i'm prepared to engage on the question of greenland and the

panama canal. >> well, i'm the first one to point out a lot of this seems totally unhinged, which is what i said earlier, but i do think there's something significant about territorial expansion at all costs and the comparison to russia and china was not made in jest and i think also we're talking about denmark, which is a nato ally, greenland, which has military bases, the panama canal, through which we ship a lot of goods, and canada, who is a huge trading partner and ally of the united states. even if it amounts to a hill of beans, the rhetoric is pitched and kind of insane, the idea the incoming president of the united states is talking about military action to take canada. yes, it's a romper room of sorts, but i do think there's probably some repercussions to angering allies like those with rhetoric like this. >> yeah. okay. let's do it. it ain't going to happen, right? denmark is a critical nato ally

of ours. no panamanian government would survive discussions to return the canal to the united states. by the way, if we're going to return the panama canal to the united states, why don't we return the suez canal to the british and french. why don't we let the british reclaim the railways they built in india. you did a good job covering the history of the panama canal. you didn't mention the fact 110 years ago teddy roosevelt and his guys basically created the nation of panama in order -- stole it from colombia in order to create the panama canal, long imperial history here that is actually and again, let's do it, is actually very, very painful for latin americans. the gulf of mexico, does mexico matter to us? yes, it does. if mexico is mad at us, they won't do all they need to do to help us with the southern border to help us with the migrant problem, to help us with the fentanyl coming across the border. so yes, this does have

consequences. my guess is the government of denmark, canada and mexico and panama know what we all know, which is 80% of what donald trump says and does is noise. it's the 20% you need to worry about and i promise you not the gulf of mexico, canada and greenland are in the 20% of real things donald trump is going to do. >> despite the fact marjorie taylor greene introduced a bill today to rename the gulf of mexico the gulf of america. i do think as trump talks about expanding america's power, he's doing something very concerted at the same time. he began this press conference talking about a $20 billion foreign investment to build american data centers courtesy of an emirates billionaire named hussain swagwani. donald trump has put a for sale sign on this country and i wonder about how concerned you are about his championing of

foreign investment here with no strings attached and unwinding any sort of pesky regulations that may get in the way of foreign investment here in the u.s. >> well, we have pretty well established mechanisms to make sure that the foreign investment here in the united states is not a national security threat. there's a little esoteric organization called the committee for foreign investment in the united states and their job is to make sure this sort of investment doesn't put at risk our national security. now we're having a pretty ugly conversation about national security when the current president refuses to allow nippon steel to buy u.s. steel even though that would probably be good for u.s. steel and does it on national security reasons even though japan is probably our most important ally in asia. it's a bit of a romper room here in washington and i hope that at some point -- and look, i get that our politics have become entertainment -- but i hope at some point we recognize

it as the single most powerful country on the planet, we really do, as much fun as it's going to be to overturn a bunch of apple carts, we really need to be a responsible actor on the global stage and start acting that way and hopefully the president communicating that that's who we are. >> congressman jim himes, thank you for joining me tonight. i'm turning to claire mccaskill, former senator for missouri and current msnbc analyst. thank you for being here. let me get your thoughts generally about the sort of it feels like the beginning of the trump presidency part two in all of its i guess i'll use the word splendor. >> yeah. i kind of agree with the congressman. i do think there are things he's doing to distract, but underneath it it's really concerning because the deal is our country has always been

seen as the grown-up on the international stage. we have been seen as the country that can do elections fairly, that has a rule of lawn administered without political threats, that actually helps our allies and stands up to bullies across the world and donald trump has campaigned really in a way that blows all that up. he has never been respectful of our allies and it's weird to me that you would start your presidency by picking fights with your border countries, whether it's canada or mexico. both these countries are pretty important to the united states in lots of different ways, trade, national security, shipping, the movement of goods, all of those things. they matter. to pick a fight before you even

take the oath of office that we need to be our friends, i really think this idea that he wants to be putin and try to expand to areas where the people don't want it is not a good step forward for the united states. >> yeah. that's exactly i think what i find most distressing about this. we know trump's had a greenland fixation since his first term, but for the incoming american president to be saying this at the same time that russia is trying to take ukraine and has been for some time and the chinese are doing what they're doing with the uighurs, to be saying that in this geopolitical climate seems deeply distressing not just for geopolitics at large, but for what you said, for what america has represented and the signal this sends to autocrats and dictators around the world.

i want to be like you. >> exactly, exactly. nobody believes we're going to go to war with denmark. we're not going to do that. nobody believes we're going to go to war with panama over the panama canal. we're not going to do that. that's not going to happen, but it is setting a tone that he thinks helps him, which is to be unpredictable, unreliable. basically that press conference was one giant fact check of lies. so many things he said were not true from the trade deficit numbers with canada and europe to the fact that europe doesn't take our cars to all of the nonsense he always says about inflation is at the highest ever which, of course, is not true. there are a million things that he said in that press conference that are lies, half truths, and downright misinformation for the american people. to throw in there that i'm going to go to war with denmark

over greenland seems to be a throwaway. i'm with jim himes on this. pay attention to what they're actually up to. their number one priority, they may have done a show bill today, which i don't disagree with, that we need to deport people who are here illegally that violate our laws. i think most americans agree with that, but the real thing they're working on is making sure that his billionaire bros and his billionaire friends get their tax breaks and that's not the folks that come to his rallies. those are the folks that are slipping him $1 million at mar- a-lago. >> $1 million or more. claire mccaskill, great to see you. >> you bet. we have much more to get to, including mark zuckerberg's huge gift to donald trump, speaking of gifts, but first, trump still has a few legal hurdles to clear before inauguration day. we'll get into those with msnbc legal analyst joyce vance coming up next.

your best defense against erosion and cavities is strong enamel. nothing beats it. i recommend pronamel active shield because it actively shields the enamel to defend against erosion and cavities. i think that this product is a game changer for my patients. it really works.

(♪♪) years of hard work. decades of dedication. committed to giving back. you've been there, done that. and you're still here for more. so now that you're 50 or older, and at increased risk for pneumococcal pneumonia and ipd be proactive with capvaxive- a vaccine specifically designed for adults to help protect against pneumonia and invasive disease caused by certain types of pneumococcal bacteria. capvaxive is the only vaccine that helps protect against the strains that cause 84% of ipd in adults 50 or older compared with up to 52% by other pneumococcal conjugate vaccines. don't get capvaxive if you're allergic to the vaccine or its ingredients. tell your doctor if you have a weakened immune system. common side effects include injection-site reactions, feeling tired, headache, muscle aches, and fever. whether you've had another pneumococcal vaccine or not ask your doctor or pharmacist about capvaxive. (♪♪)

—i have to find a babysitter. —i have a lot of questions. —when can they start? —today? now? —how about saturday? —are they background-checked? my wife and i haven't been out in a year. we need a date night! no offense. find all the care you need at care.com >> university of maryland global campus isn't just an innovative state school, it's a school for real life, one that values the successes you've already achieved. that's why at umgc, you can earn up to 90 credits toward a bachelor's for prior learning and life and job experience, why we offer scholarships and affordable tuition, and why we have online classes and the support you need from your first day to graduation day and beyond. no application fee if you apply by february 12th at umgc.edu.

in the remaining two weeks before donald trump officially becomes president again, he is still confronting very live issues in court, including whether or not he will be sentenced in new york city after being found guilty on 34 felony counts this past may. today a new york appeals court judge rejected trump's

emergency bid to postpone his sentencing in that case which means donald trump will be sentenced this friday unless a federal court or the united states supreme court steps in. at the same time trump is trying to fight the release of special counsel jack smith's two-volume report describing smith's decisions to charge trump for hoarding classified document at mar-a-lago and for trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. today judge aileen cannon issued an order blocking this. i'm very eager to hear your assessment of, first of all, the timeline we're talking about with the 11th circuit and whether you think they'll make a decision before inauguration day. >> it's a great question and before we even get to 11th circuit, there's a problem with

this order judge cannon issued this afternoon. that problem that is she arguably has no jurisdiction because she has already dismissed the case and judges can't act on cases that are in front of them. it looks like the defendant's lawyers figured that out because they filed a supplemental motion this afternoon. they asked the 11th circuit to refer the case back to judge cannon, hoping that they could hold onto this very favorable ruling that she issued and we'll see if they do that, but like you say, the whole question here is how quickly is the 11th circuit inclined to act? we've seen them move very quickly in other cases. that's been my experience with them over the years, that in the right case they will step in and rule. so we may well see something from them. >> if they don't choose to act, if they don't issue a ruling and wait until after inauguration day, it's basically a wash, right? because then the matter gets settled at the doj, assuming

they do say -- if they do want the report released which would be presumably the best outcome for merrick garland and jack smith, there's going to be new management at the doj and management made up of lawyers that defended trump in these very cases, right, joyce? >> absolutely. this is a delay game for trump. all he has to do is get past the finish line, which is inauguration day, and he can shelve the report. so doj's move is to get cannon's order vacated. if the 11th circuit vacates that order or there's some acknowledgment she lacks jurisdiction, they're free to go ahead with the release. she never had the january 6th case in front of her. it would be a real gamble for the justice department to release at least the january 6th part of the report despite the existence of this order, but it's a real hash for doj knowing that their work will disappear if they don't get a court to order them or at least permit them to release the

material before trump takes over. >> what happens to the report if it doesn't get released, if it stays within the confines of the doj? is there a chance it could get leaked? is there someone in archives trump could persuade to flush it down the toilet? what practically happens to something like this? >> so there's a records retention policy inside of doj like in many government agencies that actually requires that these records be retained. i have lot of old case files that lived in my office and then would get shipped off to a filing area where they were retained for at least ten years. you're not really permitted to destroy government records. how that would hold up in this situation, we don't really know. doj is not a place that one thinks of as being full of leakers, although ironically there's a report today talking about leaks at the tail end of the trump administration, but i would hope folks at doj would

not act inappropriately and not let donald trump corrupt their practices. we know a lot about the january 6th case. we know some about the mar-a- lago case. whether release of the report will really matter i think is perhaps less important than standing on principle this one final time. >> joyce vance, thank you for your expertise. i appreciate you. still ahead, meta ceo mark zuckerberg blows up fact checking across his social media empire in an apparent capitulation to incoming president donald trump, what it means for the spread of disinformation and the future of political discourse. that's coming up next. liberty mutual customized my car insurance so i saved hundreds. with the money i saved i thought i'd get a wax figure of myself. oh! right in the temporal lobe! beat it, punks! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ love you. have a good day. behave yourself. like she goes to work

at three in the afternoon and sometimes gets off at midnight. she works a lot, a whole lot. we don't get to eat in the early morning. we just wait till we get to the school. so...yeah. right now here in america, millions of kids like victoria and andre live with hunger, and the need to help them has never been greater. when you join your friends, neighbors and me to support no kid hungry®, you'll help hungry kids get the food they need. if we want to take care of our children, then we have to feed them. your gift of just $0.63 a day. only $19 a month at helpnokidhungry.org right now, will help provide healthy meals and hope. we want our children to grow and thrive, and to just not have to worry and face themselves with the struggles that we endure. nobody wants that for their children. like if these programs didn■t exist, me and aj

we wouldn■t probably get lunch at all. please call or go online right now with your gift of just $19 a month. and when you use your credit card, you'll receive this limited edition t-shirt to show you're part of the team that is helping feed kids and change lives. if you're coming in hungry, there's no way you can listen to me teach. do this activity. work with this group. so starting their day with breakfast and ending their day with this big, beautiful snack. it■s pretty incredible. whether kids are learning at school or at home, your support will ensure they get the healthy meals they need to thrive. because when you help feed kids, you feed their hopes, their dreams and futures. kids need you now more than ever. so please call this number right now to join me in helping hungry kids or go online to helpnokidhungry.org and help feed hungry kids today. my favorite babysitter is annalisa. she's pretty good, she's like my grandma.

she says “hola cómo estás” and then we go skateboarding! from babysitters, to nannies, to daycare centers. find all the care you need at care.com why choose a sleep number smart bed? i need help with her snoring. from babysitters, to nannies, to daycare centers. sleep number does that. thank you. it's our lowest price of the season on our most popular smart bed. save $1,000. plus 0% interest for 48 months. shop now. for more than a decade farxiga has been trusted again and again, and again.

♪far-xi-ga♪ ♪far-xi-ga♪ ask your doctor about farxiga. >> university of maryland global campus allowed me to write my own story. they want you to succeed, and for me, it was a school of opportunity. i feel like i had a support system behind me within the school. they provided me the opportunity to get my degree, as well as to take the full-time job. umgc put me on a path to be successful by giving me credit for my certifications and transferring my prior course credits. umgc supported me and allowed me to achieve my goals. [ music ] (luke) people love how the new homes-dot-com helps them get quick answers about any property by connecting them to the actual listing agent.

(agent) i'm getting great exposure. (marci) speaking of exposure, could we get him a hat? (luke) ooo, what about a beret? (vo) homes-dot-com. we've done your home work. governments and legacy media have pushed to censor more and more. a lot of this is clearly political. after trump first got elected in 2016, the legacy media wrote nonstop about how misinformation was a threat to democracy. we tried in good faith to address those concerns without become the arbiters of truth, but the fact checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the u.s. >> today facebook founder and meta ceo mark zuckerberg made a major announcement that seemed tailor made for donald trump. >> we're going to get rid of fact checkers and replace them with community notes similar to x starting in the u.s. >> meta is getting rid of its

fact checking partners that moderated content on its site, including instagram and facebook, and now instead of having trained fact checkers trying to weed out misinformation, meta will move toward content moderation via community notes. joining me now is charlie warzell, staff writer at the atlantic covering media and technology. charlie, i'm surprised mark zuckerberg didn't make the announcement in a red maga cap because the intentions here seem quite obvious. in addition to doing this, he's moving what's left of the content moderation team from texas to california where i guess everything is more neutral and unbiased and is also bringing dana white, trump's ufc buddy, onto the board of directors of meta. what is your reaction to all this in terms of mark zuckerberg and what it signals? >> well, i will say he did send joe kaplan, the republican on

fox news. i think it's a kind of complete and total capitulation to the trump administration, but also to the general sort of political winds and winds of discourse as he described it earlier today. i think he feels the election is some kind of vote of no confidence in the legacy media, but also just in anything that could be broadly defined as woke and he wants to get out ahead of that, i guess, turn facebook or meta products into x like elon musk. >> the elon musk of it all seems to loom large and i wonder how much emulating elon musk and his relationship with trump is in the back of mark zuckerberg's mind, but probably more urgently, what this practically does to the spread of information. i know some people think community notes while deeply flawed is probably the best model that maybe x at least

could use to try and mitigate some of the garbage that's on the internet. what's your thought how effective this change of moderation is? >> on x community notes is probably the best thing that elon musk has done. i think that there is broadly a lot of good stuff there, a lot of people pushing back. often they push back on elon musk. sometimes those just disappear. so it all depends on how the platform chooses to enforce this type of thing. in terms of the broader scale issues, i would say that it's too early to tell exactly what's going to happen, but we've already seen what does happen when they just let things run amuck, right? these fact checkers didn't just show up one day because the legacy media wrote about it. there were reports that facebook published about its own involvement in the rohingya

genocide in myanmar. the election interference stuff wasn't made up by the mainstream media or democrats. this is something that actually happened that needed to be investigated. >> i will say just the woke content mediators that mark zuckerberg is talking about in his video were people from usa today who have been champions of really straight down the line fact checking and reporting. so the contention that they are somehow part of the woke mass that's trying to censor right wing thought is a kinnard. i'll also end this segment saying amazon jeff bezos is paying $40 million to license a documentary about melania trump. the ring kissing knows no price tag. charlie warzel with the atlantic, thanks for your time, sir. we will be right back.

narrator: at this very moment, children at st. jude are fighting to survive. with a gift right now, you can join the battle to save lives. katy: without saint jude, i don't know where we would be. can we see snuggles? they have given children with cancer, like my winston, a chance. christine: she has neuroblastoma and it has spread to her liver. i try to enjoy every minute with her because i do not know when would be my last moments with her. narrator: time is running out to give a year-end gift that can help. st. jude children's research hospital save lives.

because cancer doesn't stop during the holiday season. please call, go online, or scan the qr code right now and give $19 a month to help make it the season of hope for families at saint jude. tammie: just that feeling that was, like, so hard on your heart that my kid's not going to live. every day now, it's like a gift. narrator: for just $19 a month, you can make a difference. will blessing. (voice break they have done so much for me and my family. narrator: join with your credit or debit card for only $19 a month, and we'll send you this st. jude t-shirt you can proudly wear to show your support. katy: all these children deserve to live, and i would love for it to be the day where no other family has to fear losing their child to cancer.

you've given us hope. narrator: please don't wait until the last minute. make your donation now to help st. jude save lives. power e*trade's easy-to-use tools, like dynamic charting and risk-reward analysis, help make trading feel effortless. and its customizable scans with social sentiment help you find and unlock opportunities in the market. e*trade from morgan stanley. ♪♪ with powerful, easy-to-use tools power e*trade makes complex trading easier. react to fast-moving markets with dynamic charting and a futures ladder that lets you place, flatten, or reverse orders so you won't miss an opportunity. e*trade from morgan stanley let's say you're deep in a show or a game or the game. or reverse orders so you won't miss an opportunity. on a train, at home, at work. okay, maybe not at work. point is at xfinity.

we're constantly engineering new ways to get the entertainment you love to you faster and easier than ever. that's what i do. is that love island? before we go tonight, we have an update on the news out

of california, where governor gavin newsom has now declared a state of emergency has a fast- moving series of fires has spread over more than 2900 acres in los angeles. that is twice the number of acres we reported earlier this hour. it's just shocking and staggering expansion. again, this fire is being fueled by intense winds that are only expected to get stronger overnight. it's worth remembering that this is a dense urban area, this is los angeles, telephone there. this fire has already forced more than 30,000 residents to evacuate and there are more than 10,000 structures at risk. we will keep you posted on all of that but that is our show for this evening. now it's time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell. good evening, lawrence. >> good evening, alex, and thank you. i started following the los angeles fire earlier today. i was just in the actual fire zone last week. i have friends, loved ones, family members there today in the evacuation zone, pulling