take a few questions from reporters. let's listen. >> union labor. remember, remember the shortage of semiconductors during the pandemic? those tiny little chips, computer chips the size of your fingertip that power everything in our everyday lives, from vehicles and refrigerators to advanced weapons to your cell phones. america invented these computer chips, but over time, we stopped making them. and chip factories are overseas for cheaper labor. so when the pandemic hit, we found out how vulnerable america was. supply chains abroad shut down because of the pandemic. we couldn't get the chips. and prices soared. for example, it takes over 3000 of these computer chips to build an automobile today. and when overseas factories making those chips shut down, the production stopped and the cost of new cars soared. didn't have to be this way. i was determined to change that. and that's what we've done with the chips and science act,

which has attracted $350 billion private sector investment in america, including from korea and taiwan and other countries. these investments are building new fabs. they call them the place where they build these chips. new fabs, massive chip factories the size of several football fields on fields of dream all across america, creating so far 125,000 jobs in the construction side of this, which ultimately create tens of thousands more jobs, tens of thousands. these jobs in these so-called fabs are paying over $100,000 a year, and you don't need a college degree. it's not just the fabs. these investors are creating an opportunity for entire communities, for small businesses, creating even more jobs and much more. you know, when they build these factories, they're going to find out that they're going to need drugstores and shops and restaurants, and everything grows when faced with unfair practices from abroad. we've taken tough but targeted

action on behalf of the american workers, businesses and factory towns. we know the pandemic and russias war against ukraine, and the inflation they created caused enormous pain and hardship all across america and around the world. and so we took aggressive action that brought down prices, ordered the biggest release of our strategic petroleum reserve in our history, reducing the price of gas at the pump here in america. i also challenged the oil and gas companies, take their record profits and invest in more production. today, american energy production is at record levels, including record oil and gas production. gas prices are $3 a gallon, which is below the price. before the russian invasion of ukraine. my inflation reduction act took on big pharma and reduced the price of insulin for seniors with diabetes to $35 a month, from as much as $400 a month. the inflation reduction act also

finally gives medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices across the board. as of this month, out of pocket and out of pocket, prescription drug costs that's already passed will be capped at $2,000 per year. no matter how expensive the drugs are, how even those expensive cancer drugs that cost ten, 12, $14,000 a year, no seniors will have to pay more than 2000 a year. these and other reforms not only save seniors money, it saves the american taxpayers money. $160 billion will be saved over the next decade, because medicare will no longer have to pay the exorbitant prices that pharmaceutical companies have been charging. you know, our historic backing of unions, public support for unions is the highest it's been in more than half a century, and the labor movement is expanding to new companies and new industries. the middle out, bottom up playbook is also about asking the very wealthy and most

profitable corporations. we want them to do well, but begin to begin to pay their fair share in taxes. my predecessor's tax cut last time he was here not only increased the federal debt by $2 trillion, it overwhelmingly benefited the biggest corporations, delivering tax cuts to the top 1% worth more than 50 times in the middle class families receive. and you've heard me say it 100 times. we have over 1000 billionaires in america. they paid an average of 8.2% in federal taxes. look, folks, my approach to is leading to a better results for everyone. i kept my commitment that no one earning less than $400,000 a year would pay a single penny more in federal taxes. i fought hard to expand the child tax credit for working families that when it exists, it cut child poverty nearly in half. i expanded tax credits to make health insurance more affordable for millions of americans enrolled in the affordable care

act. because of our policy, our policies and confidence of entrepreneurs and our economy. we have also seen 21 million new business applications filed in our administration, the most in any single presidential term on record. and this is important because every single one of those applications for small businesses is an act of hope, believing in a country. there's so much more from our playbook. but the bottom line is we've come a long way from the crisis we've inherited. let me close where i started with the morning, this morning's jobs report. more than 250,000 jobs in december. in four years, the economy created 16.6 million new jobs, the most in any single presidential term. we've created jobs every single month. i was in office during my presidency, we saw the lowest average unemployment rate of any administration in the last 50

years, and battling through the worldwide effects of the pandemic, putin's war in ukraine and supply chain disruption. inflation rate is down to nearly 2%. these are simple, well established economic benchmarks that measure the strength of any economy and the success or failure of any president's four years in office. i believe the economy i'm leaving is the best in the world and stronger than ever for all americans. so i think that's what we have. we'll see what the next president does. but i want to thank you all. god bless you all. and may god protect our troops. i'm happy to take some questions. >> mr. president, you talked about gas prices coming down. you made today a decision about sanctions against russia. are you concerned that that decision will perhaps lead to gas prices going up? and can you explain why those sanctions were imposed today and not earlier in the term? >> the sanctions are imposed today because they will have profound effect on the growth of the russian economy and make it

more difficult for putin to conduct his wars. it is probable that gas prices could increase as much as three $0.04 a gallon. but what's going to have a more profound impact on russia's ability to continue to act in the way it's acting and conduct of war? >> mr. president, did you speak to pope francis about canceling your trip to the vatican? >> and are you disappointed to not make that visit before leaving office? >> well, i'll tell you the truth, i am disappointed. but this is much more important that i stay here with all that's going on. he fully understands that i did not personally speak to him, but the team spoke with the apostolic delegate and so. but i am disappointed. >> mr. president, have you had any reaction to the president trump's verdict today up in new york? >> and whether or not the you believe that the punishment fit the crime? and also, sir, on pardons, have you ruled out a pardon for yourself or any other additional members of the family? >> for myself, yes, sir. well, why should i pardon myself? >> for that's what i'm asking. >> no, i have no contemplation

of pardoning myself. and i didn't do anything wrong. >> mr. president, would you comment on meta's decision to end its fact checking operations in the united states? >> is that a good decision, in your opinion? well, look. >> the whole idea of walking away from fact checking as well as not reporting anything having to do with. discrimination regarding the. tps, i find to be just contrary to american justice. american, the way we talk about one another, telling the truth matters. i mean, it's a i know i'm on national television, but you all are local reporters and national

reporters. i'm not. this is not a real question, but what do you think? do you think it doesn't matter that they let it be printed or millions of people read it? things that are simply not true. i mean, i don't know what that's all about. it's just completely contrary to everything america is about. we want to tell the truth. we haven't always done it as a nation. we want to tell the truth. and the idea that, you know, a billionaire can buy something and say, by the way, from this point on, we're not going to we're not going to fact check anything. and, you know, when you have millions of people reading, going online, reading this stuff, it is. anyway, i think it's i think it's really shameful. >> mr. president, mr. president, do you regret your decision to run for reelection? >> do you think that that made it easier for your predecessor to now become your successor? >> i don't think so. i think i

would have beaten trump, could have beaten trump, and i think that kamala could have beaten trump and would have beaten trump. it wasn't about. i thought it was important to unify the party. and when the party was worried about whether or not i was going to be able to move, i thought even though i thought i could win again, i thought it was better to unify the party. and i had the greatest honor in my life to be president of united states. but i didn't want to be one who caused a party that wasn't unified to lose an election. and that's why i stepped aside. but i was confident she could win. >> do you think she should run again? >> what your assessment is of how long you can last without further aid. >> in fact, your administration marks the end of american. divisions over there. >> well, i had a long talk with zelensky today, and i think

that. as long as we continue to keep western europe united and as it relates to ukraine, that there is a real chance that the ukrainians can prevail because the cost to russia is incredibly high, over 600 and some thousand dead or wounded. the koreans they brought in as having high mortality rates as well. and i i provided every bit of funding, that authority i have as president to be able to do that now. and i know that there are significant number of democrats and republicans on the hill who think we should continue to support ukraine, and it is my hope and expectation they'll speak up and not agree to president if, if trump decides

to cut off funding for ukraine. >> the president elect's position on that, on the influence your decision to enact the oil sanctions on russia today that would put more pressure on russia at a point where the president elect appears to be tied to the table. >> the truth of the matter is no. but if it hadn't, if other conditions didn't exist, it would have had an impact. i already decided that putin's in tough shape right now, and i think it's really important that he not have any breathing room to continue to do the god awful things he continued to do. and as i said, he's got his own problems, economically, significant problems economically as well as politically at home. and so i decided to do everything i possibly could within my power and authority to give ukraine

every advantage it could have to be able to sustain support for an independent ukraine. >> you said vice president harris will be able to beat you, said vice president harris had a good shot to beat trump. do you think she should run again in four years? >> i think i think she's competent to run again in four years. that will be a decision for her to make. >> mr. president, on venezuela, the sanctions that your administration announced today, some are saying that they don't go far enough by not targeting the petroleum sector. >> why was this administration hesitant to apply further sanctions to the oil and gas industry? >> now, that's still being investigated in terms of what impact it would have and whether or not it would just be replaced by iran or any other country. so it matters what what would happen afterwards. i had a long discussion again with the man who should be appointed president on that score. and, and but since i didn't have a clear answer to what that would be if i had more time, i may very well do that, but i didn't

have enough data to make that judgment. >> if i could also ask about havana syndrome. >> today, the intelligence community assessment changed slightly, with two intelligence agencies now saying there's an even chance that this has been caused by a foreign actor. do you personally believe that a foreign actor is responsible for these incidents? >> no. >> now, do i believe that that isis theology, if you will, has impacted people in america, some that are not particularly well suited to handle the life that they live, that it has that effect. but there's no i find no evidence. and i've i've done i spent 17, 18 hours with the community right off the bat trying to determine whether or not there is any outside influence. and thus far, we find no connection between an outside player individual. but that

doesn't mean someone reading the malarkey that that's going out there isn't influenced by it. both these men, both in in nevada and in louisiana, have been men who've had their own problems that have, but not because they've been influenced by a specific individual. >> i'm sorry. >> so my question was on havana syndrome, not not nevada. sorry. on the havana syndrome, the intelligence community today, part of their assessment changed, saying that there is now an even chance that the havana syndrome cases and incidents, there was a foreign actor potentially behind them. is that do you agree with that assessment? >> i don't have a full brief on that right now. i'm not going to comment on that. >> do you have an update on austin tice in syria and whether or not he's. >> the answer is i'm not going to respond to that because that's an active, ongoing issue. you know, my attitude about getting prisoners released from abroad, and i'm not going to comment on that right now.

>> just one question, again, back on pardons and commutations. can you just give us a sense of what other pardons and commutations you're considering in your last ten days? >> well, the answer is no, because two things. one is that. it depends on some of the language and expectations that trump broadcast in the last couple of days here as to what he's going to do. the idea that he would punish people for not adhering to what he thinks should be policy as related to his well-being, is outrageous. but there's still consideration of some folks that nothing but no decision. >> all right. thanks. have you

talked about what kind of post-presidency? >> what kind of have you decided? >> what kind of what kind of a what kind of role will you have? post-presidency. >> sir, do you plan to speak out after you leave washington, or are you going to follow kind of more of the bush model where you're kind of out of sight, out of mind? >> i'm not going to be out of sight, out of mind. thank you everyone. >> thank you. thank you. >> we've been listening to president biden give remarks on the economy and then take varied questions here in a friday afternoon press conference there going into the evening at the white house. east coast time. you heard the president there speak about a range of matters. he talked about the economy and the path back, taking some credit for what his administration did. also spoke about some of his closing actions in office from the ukraine war and discussion he had with president zelensky to what you heard there at the end, discussing kamala harris future things that he wasn't going to get into on foreign policy for various reasons, and debates over the pardons and his post-presidency plans. so we

heard the press conference there in full. we have a lot of news we're tracking tonight. i want to begin with a special report on something that is happening for the first time in american history. and i'll begin like this. january 10th, 2025 is the day today that donald trump was sentenced as a felon. the convict, as you see there, seated with his lawyer, listening and facing a judge in this virtual hearing, the final formal step of accountability. after a much watched trial where he was convicted of falsifying business records to hide payments negotiated during his 2016 campaign, payments that he then furnished under false records while he was president. it's a reckoning today that trump fought to the very end. he tried and failed to get the supreme court to side with him again. it would have been, but he wanted them to stop the sentencing today. the court rejected that request late last night. if you've been following a majority of justices appointed

by presidents in both parties formed that majority rejecting trump's bid. we should also note that in the minority were trump's closest gop appointed allies they wanted, but failed to stop. >> what you see here today, what still occurred even for an incoming president elect. >> so the scotus majority cleared the way for this accountability. that means this happened. this now convicted felon facing the court. and it happened with the imprimatur of the highest federal court in the land, an unprecedented and formal legal reckoning. and today, i can tell you the judge referred directly to the undeniable special circumstance here, a defendant facing this court while also preparing in just ten days to oversee the rule of law in the u.s. as the incoming president. >> donald trump, the ordinary citizen, donald trump, the criminal defendant, would not be

entitled to such considerable protections. >> trump, facing his conviction, losing that appeal, as mentioned to the supreme court. so trump faces the mark of a felon. this is an outcome that was never resolved in the georgia coup case, where he was famously arraigned with that mug shot but never brought to trial. this never got to this point in the federal cases here, the felon faced a judge who had already ruled out jail time. and that is a common approach in business. first time offenses like this. today, the criminal sentence was an unconditional discharge. and so this matters. this happened. and if you want to look at it through the adversarial lens, which is of course the lens of many court cases, right. you have two sides. this isn't something where the trump folks said, let's just get through it. we're about to be president. or let's just say it doesn't matter, or go through the motions and move on. no, this is

something, as i just showed you, that donald trump did not want to happen, that his lawyers fought to the bitter end, which tells you something about how even in its reduced or moderate measured form, it was still this loss, this blow to him. and so while there are many reasons why people are busy or distracted or exhausted, this happened today. it happened for the first time in american history. it matters in that very real sense. and so now we are going to broadcast just some of the key moments from today for your news viewing and hearing. this comes across in about three minutes from today's now historic proceeding. >> it's a very sad day. >> it's a sad day for president trump and his family and friends, but it's also, counsel's view, a sad day for this country. we very much intend on pursuing an appeal of this verdict. >> it's been a political witch hunt. it was done to damage my

reputation so that i would lose the election. and obviously that didn't work. and the people of our country got to see this firsthand. i'm totally innocent. i did nothing wrong. they talked about business records, and the business records were extremely accurately counted. i have nothing to do with them. anything that was done by an accountant or bookkeeper who i think gave very credible testimony and was corroborated by everybody that was asked. i got indicted over calling a legal expense a legal expense. it was called a legal expense. i won the election in a massive landslide. and the people of this country understand what's going on. this has been a weaponization of government. they call it lawfare. never happened to any extent like this, but never happened in our country before. and i'd just like to explain that i was treated very, very unfairly. >> far from expressing any kind of remorse for his criminal conduct, the defendant has purposefully bred disdain for

our judicial institutions and the rule of law. he has been unrelenting in his unsubstantiated attacks upon this court and its family. individual prosecutors and their families, the witnesses, the grand jury, the trial jury and the justice system as a whole. as this court has noted the defendant's conduct, quote, constitutes a direct attack on the rule of law itself. put simply, this defendant has caused enduring damage to public perception of the criminal justice system and has placed officers of the court in harm's way. never before has this court been presented with such a unique and remarkable set of circumstances. to be clear. the protections afforded the office of the president are not a mitigating factor. they do not reduce the seriousness, seriousness of the crime or justify its commission in any

way. one power they do not provide is the power to erase a jury verdict. it is clear from legal precedent which until july 1st was scarce, that donald trump, the ordinary citizen, donald trump, the criminal defendant, would not be entitled to such considerable protections. after careful analysis in obedience to governing mandates and pursuant to the rule of law, this court has determined that the only lawful sentence that permits entry of a judgment of conviction without encroaching upon the highest office in the land is an unconditional discharge. i impose that sentence to cover all 34 counts. sir, i wish you godspeed as you assume your second term in office. >> godspeed as you assume the second term in office. words that have never been spoken in

any courtroom in american history. it is a somber closing to one chapter. it also is a statement of where we are at. and the law was finally applied to trump in one of his four cases. most first time offenders in these business cases don't get jail time anyway. and if you follow this, we have reported that on this program and other hours on msnbc that's been known, but many get some other punishment, including a probation, even a home confinement community service. so while sparing jail is common, the unconditional discharge today was actually unusual. legal experts calling it incredibly rare. and so this outcome, if you're following it, is something of a split decision. on the one hand, new york's da went first, taking action, creating a precedent for prosecuting a former president which had literally never been done before and that took on great pressure. also put him first in the queue, and then he went forward and won the case convicting donald trump. on the

other hand, the trial ended up showcasing the ways that donald trump could break rules, evade more serious accountability. he infamously attacked the judge's family. you heard the prosecutor refer to that. he repeatedly broke the gag order. those are things that other defendants would have. definitely. and we have the examples. we have the history face stricter punishment for. now, there are other observers who ask, all right, does any of this matter? after the electorate returned? now, president elect trump to power. that's an understandable question. and if you look at it politically, it's clearly a matter of disappointment or frustration for many of trump's foes. but let me tell you something. i always try to level with you, and we've followed a lot of this together. and i was down inside that courtroom. i watched then defendant now felon trump in that very case, and watch the witnesses and watch the jury. we've covered this through now. its end legally

today. and let me tell you something about that concern. well, does it even matter if he was reelected in our system? that is, and is supposed to be legally irrelevant? the rule of law, when it works, transcends public and political pressures and is certainly not intended to shape them. indeed, there's a funny thing that's happening here where you hear an overlap from what convict donald trump said today in his court proceeding, and what some critics and political foes of donald trump say. they actually overlap the critics saying, what i, what i just sort of referred to, does it even matter? he won anyway. and him felon trump saying he won. and this was designed to hurt him and he won with votes. despite this whole effort. but that's exactly backwards because that's the obsessively political lens he was caught. other people who work for him went to jail. and

i'll get to that in a minute. and the law took hold, and a jury of his peers weighed the evidence not to shape or impact. the election should never be that way, but rather to go forward with the legal process separate from any election. the defendant or in this case, convicts popularity is never supposed to be the point, the purpose or the object. and remember, while it may be easy to forget now, or it's in sort of the fog of a very, very long set of couple of years involving all of this and sort of the interregnum between these two trump terms. there was a long road with dogged reporting, a heck of a lot of people standing up and a lot of litigation to ever get the rule of law to hold and ultimately get to trump's guilty verdict. >> president trump's personal attorney has acknowledged paying an adult film actress tens of thousands of dollars in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign. mike pompeo michael's high an

attorney, and you'll have to ask michael, you signed and released a statement that said, i'm not denying this affair because i was paid in hush money. >> was it hush money to stay silent? >> yes, this is about the cover up. >> it is thuggish behavior from people in power for the first time. >> the first time in our country's history a former united states president is facing criminal charges. >> a new york judge sentenced allen weisselberg to five months behind bars for perjury, lying under oath in the former president's civil fraud trial. >> the entire country waiting for word from the jury in the trump election interference, hush money, criminal trial. we've got a verdict. >> ari melber, we are looking at count one. guilty. count two. guilty. >> 13. 14. guilty. >> count 20. >> guilty. >> count 27. guilty. >> listen, it's a unanimous jury verdict. unanimous on all counts. >> that all happened now. trump straddled this case between his

two terms. and that did create a more complex legal path. and many of his aides and enablers paid much more than him. and far sooner. his top company cfo was long ago cuffed, arraigned, convicted and sent to a pretty rough jail in new york, rikers island, for offenses related to this case. likewise, trump's lawyer for this and other crimes went to jail, as did other aides in other cases. more of these individuals spending more time behind bars for any set of presidential aides since richard nixon. and if you broaden out, today is another long awaited, long, hard earned legal marker that reinforces, as you can see from the stamps here, how trump's enterprises are riddled with documented crimes. you see the felon at the top as of today. but from his first campaign to his business to his

2020 campaign, so many people in so many places and jurisdictions convicted. that's not a witch hunt. legally, if you use that terminology, it's just a lot of witches. the chart you're looking at is made of evidence, facts, and the unanimous decision of juries around the country. it is not some view from outside critics or political foes. and trump, the convicted felon atop those enterprises, even as he returns to the top of the federal government. he is marked in history. he is perhaps personally seared by today's sentence, and this conviction. but the past and how he operated in the first term is not the only template. we live in the real world. things are not always under control and according to plan, and in part because of the reaction that trump courted and almost demanded with his defiance and

so many court proceedings, he actually returns in some ways legally bolstered with more powers from a maga friendly supreme court that used one of the cases, the federal one, not the new york one today, to give him new types of powerful insulation that prior presidents didn't have. that's also a reality as he enters a second term with no more campaigns to run. so here we are, january 10th, 2025, a first in history. we are joined by a former federal prosecutor, joyce vance, and historian doug brinkley. joyce, your view on the law and what today means? >> so i know that for many people, ari, today was disappointing. they had expected more justice when it came to donald trump. and i appreciate that. and in some ways i share that view. but i'm beginning to develop a much more optimistic outlook. i'm beginning to look at today as a real low in our

country's history. the incoming president has just been sentenced. he is a convicted felon. he will be a convicted felon when he is sworn in. and despite the incredible power that he will hold in a manhattan courtroom, a judge and prosecutor stood up and held him accountable nonetheless. it may not be a full measure of justice, but it is accountability. they stuck it out. they made sure that the jury's verdict, that the conviction stuck. that was not always a preordained conclusion. and judge merchan took deliberate, clear steps to make sure that the supreme court would rule the way that they did this discharge that many people are up in arms about, that permitted trump to walk out of court, or at least walk off of the zoom, a free man with no further obligation to the court. that was what caused the supreme court to render this very narrow five four decision. this tells us the rule of law can still work. it's fractured. it is

under attack. it is going to be a tough four years. but we are americans and we can do it. >> and you draw an important point about the supreme court, which, as i reported, has ruled in ways that were beneficial to trump. but very clearly in the ruling you cite last night, rejected what was his first big ask of his coming first, second term. and that's striking, doug, first draft of history. we all know that phrase. here's some of the headlines. the journal, a more conservative leaning outlet in its editorial, says trump first former president sentenced for felony wire service reuters trump avoids jail at hush money sentencing our colleagues here at nbc, trump sentenced to a penalty free unconditional discharge in the hush money case. all of these statements are true. headlines can matter. i don't know if you know this, doug. not everyone finishes every article or every book. so you can see already there the splintering of what today is. and joyce just gave us a legal

view, your view of today. and if you would oblige, what history might in decades to come look back on today as. >> well, you're going to be able to call donald trump a felon in chief, not just a commander in chief. we've never had a sitting president or ex-president be convicted of a felony, let alone 34 felony counts. i think the good news is that the supreme court acted mature fashion, by and large, 5 to 4. she's trying to show that there's some accountability to donald trump's antics, and it's a stain on trump's legacy. there's no question, from a historical point of view, because it permanently puts the name stormy daniels into the mix of history not as a tangential issue, but as a very real one. it connects him forever with business. the lack of ethics in business. it

also, you know, i think is a helps that our jury system works. i mean, we ask a lot of jurors, they unanimously made a verdict. and at least they know that the supreme court is telling them that they've got their backs, those jurors, that they weren't wasting weeks and months being, you know, terrorized in some cases by maga people. so this is not good for donald trump's biography, not good in a big sense for the country writ large. this is drag on and on and on and on. but it does seem like some justice prevailed. one wishes president trump would have had some community service or something, that that could have been a more of a penalty in that regard. there's no real punishment, but he's been stigmatized for the ages. starting today, those six minutes of donald trump from mar-a-lago will live on in eternity.

>> joyce, the justice system is supposed to have a punishment function. we've heard about that often a deterrence function that might not always be the case, but it's one of the pillars. and then underneath all that is the truth seeking function. moments ago, president biden responded to mark zuckerberg folding, gutting fact checks because trump wanted it and saying, the truth matters. and we all know how that's been under assault. i want to put the enterprises chart back up on the screen that we showed, because this these stamps underneath each stamp is an entire case, like the ones you tried, prosecuted or oversaw in your role where the defendant has rights, the defendant gets potentially exculpatory evidence. the defendant gets the benefit of having the entire

burden of the case on the government and a jury of their peers. and if 1 or 2 of them don't buy it with reasonable doubt, they walk. what does it tell you? that from the top, the convicted stamp, as i said, separate from punishment or deterrence? but the convicted stamp on felon trump today and all the people beneath him across those different enterprises, some of whom did do jail time, what does that tell us going forward about the evidence here for americans who are still interested in what i call the truth seeking function? >> you know, donald trump, even in court today, was trying to relitigate the jury's verdict against him, calling it lawfare. but the reality of the way our system of justice works is that when there are disputed facts, we let juries decide what the truth is. prosecutors conduct extensive investigations. they compile the evidence that's played out for the jury in court, and then the jury decides. the jury in manhattan

spoke about donald trump. other juries have spoken as to others of the people that are associated with him. some of them have pled guilty. and as you say, ari, one of the most important purposes of the criminal justice system is that truth telling function. because we need to know in a case that's a local matter, a burglary, a bank robbery, assault, an assault. it's important for people to understand what happened when it's our country that's under attack. that's important. that's why we're still talking about release of the january 6th report. the classified documents report that retail the investigation that jack smith has done. this case in manhattan is unique. and you and i have had this conversation from the start. this was a case that preceded trump's election. it's the origin story of his presidency, an origin that began in crime. the presidency proceeded as it began. the truth still matters. >> all right. joyce vance and

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your funds as soon as the same day your loan is on deck. >> everything that we know and love is gone. not just this house. my whole city gone, man. the whole thing. like everything. my whole neighborhood. everything that i grew up to love and know is burnt up. >> another resident there discussing what's happened with these catastrophic wildfires in many different neighborhoods in la. 11 people now confirmed dead. over 150,000 under evacuation orders. santa ana winds picking up overnight. they are at hurricane force. there is some progress. the largest fire that was in the palisades is just 8% contained. nbc's ellison barber is live in altadena. tell us what you're seeing. >> hey, ari. so the fire that we're closest to here is the eaton fire. it's now at about 3%

contained. you mentioned the palisades fire. collectively, the palisades fire and the eaton fire. they have burned over 35,000 acres, over 150,000 people under mandatory evacuation orders, most of them living in the area where we are here and over near the pacific palisades area. i want to show you some of what we're seeing here on the ground, because you can see some of the stuff behind me, all of the rubble still smoldering here. even though this area, the bulk of the flames that tore through here, according to residents, really happened on tuesday night. but you also see some crews that have come out here at this point where we've been watching as they're trying to deal with some power lines here, going up and trying to get those cleared up as fire trucks and fire apparatus station down in this area. they've been moving in and out of the neighborhoods all day. as we walk a little this way, i can show you some more of just the amount of destruction that we're seeing, because in many ways, it does feel like we are in a war zone. everywhere you look, there's glass on the ground cracking underneath our feet. you can feel the heat radiating from the building and every little pocket of smoke

where you look. it's just another building that is destroyed. if you even glance back here around the street, you'll see what was a hardware store just completely destroyed and gone. we've spoken to a lot of residents in this area who are frustrated with local officials. they say they feel like the response in this area in particular didn't happen quickly enough. we spoke to one man earlier today who told us he stayed up overnight tuesday, five hours all by himself with a garden hose, trying to protect his home and his neighbors homes. he tells us he didn't see any fire trucks in his neighborhood until wednesday morning. he's still frustrated today, saying that he feels like more needs to be done and can be done to help this community and also to better contain those fires. he told us he doesn't blame the firefighters at all, but he has a lot of questions for officials here. take a listen. >> when i first started spraying our house, i was watering the sidewalks, the grass, and then literally i was trying as far as

the hose could reach as far as i can help my neighbors and my heart and my soul goes out to them because we just they lost so much. >> there's been a bit of relief today, ari, and that the winds, the santa ana winds have subsided a bit. but that man and many others were trying to get to their homes today to clean up the homes that still stand, to clean up some debris around it, because they're worried about what could happen monday when those red flag warnings are back in effect. ari. >> allison barber, thank you. and you and your team stay safe. we have been covering a lot of different news tonight. there is a story we have not hit yet. justice alito and donald trump and secret phone calls. ayman and secret phone calls. ayman mohyeldin is here on ♪♪ well would you look at that? jerry, you've got to see this. i've seen it. trust me, after 15 walks, it gets a little old. ugh.

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$95. >> oh, welcome to warby parker. >> sometimes we have fallbacks that are more special than other fallbacks. believe it or not, this edition is the you gots to

chill fallback. we are joined by a hip hop legend. return to the beat, erick sermon, the iconic rapper producer. of course you know him from epmd, erick and parrish making dollars. he is beloved throughout hip hop and across the music industry. indeed, we can listen to both him and his reputation as he's been shouted out by so many artists for his decades in the game. yo, i'm the hip hopper busta, so shaka down with them, does the microphone doctor to relax my mind so i can be free and absorb the sound that keep me round. >> doing my thing constantly with no worries. >> peace to keith murray. just like music. keep it on low like eric and parish closed casket flow eric keep yo yo yo, keep, keep it all. parish and eric had lyrics that'll make you turn it up. never question who i am. >> black i slab jazz with

redman, erick sermon in the shack, the shack food shout out is this that's special. >> yes. yes, sir. >> and back with us. this is a record america the night fall back appearance by our colleague and friend damon waldie. more than anyone else. he of course anchors damon in-depth breakdowns, news, politics, foreign affairs. damon knows from reporting on the ground with his team in dangerous situations, bringing us the news from around the world, middle east and europe to end the week off right. you gots to chill. welcome to both of you. >> welcome. >> great to be here. >> pleasure to meet you. >> how are you guys doing? >> we're good, we're good. >> you sound good. >> yeah. i mean, things are good. >> things are good. things are good. >> the world is not good, but the things are good. >> well, that's the thing, right? sometimes you need to, like, check in with yourself, your health, your community, even as people are going through it. right. you're here with a legend. >> i could see that. >> come on. >> no, no, i knew that. i could see that. >> you don't have to tell me. >> when you said that i was

going to be on with eric, i was like, listen, i cleared the schedule, i was here, i miss this opportunity. >> there are some who say that the green eyed bandit can't stand it with more fruity loops than that toucan sam kid, you want to talk about your eyes? no. okay, then we don't have to. what's on your fallback list? >> my first fallback was what you started the show with. and that was the justice system in this country. yeah, but more specifically, this phone call from justice samuel alito to donald trump. you know, on the surface of it, it's just a guy calling to give a recommendation for employment for one of his law clerks. but when you put it in the context of everything that happens in this country, the context of who samuel alito is, the context of who donald trump is, it takes on a whole different meaning. and i think we are at a point in our society and our country when a simple phone call for a job reference now is just masked and baked in this ambiguity, that it gives us a lot of discomfort because we know what happens in d.c. we know what these phone calls, you know, what they portend. and i think for all of us, it's a it's

a disturbing trend. >> and justice alito looks like he's not even pretending to be that independent. i mean, a judge again, politicians, they talk backroom deals. that's fine. these are tenured life judges who say they're so independent. had he gotten his way, he wouldn't have allowed the sentencing today. yeah. >> and i was going to say just to kind of explain to our viewers really quickly, you know, there was a lot of things happening behind the scenes. as you mentioned, the hush money sensing took place today. it worked its way up to the supreme court yesterday. this phone call happened before that. then the news broke that there was this phone call. alito put out a statement saying, hey, we didn't discuss this case, but then you find out that he was also talking about a law clerk of his who's trying or angling, possibly for a job in the new trump administration. and apparently the new york times is reporting that this law clerk is not loyal enough to donald trump. and samuel alito wanted to assure trump, hey, no, he's got your back. this is a this is a person you can trust. >> sketchy. >> it's troubling, to say the least. >> yeah. erick sermon, what's on your fallback list? >> siri. yeah. >> snooping. yeah. snooping.

siri. snooping. yes. >> and it's scary because you see a couple of things that you saw on some people's, you know, on, on social media, how siri, you know, kind of taped them, not just, you know, with the vocals but also with the camera. >> so but the fact to know that it's a possibility that it's more being taken in by siri from the phone or from whatever that's siri's talking to you with the fact that there's all the information that's coming out could be detrimental. >> yeah, i have a serious response. and then i have my hip hop dad joke side, right? i could see siri wanting to snoop on you. you have a beautiful, mellifluous voice. i could see that happening. right? erick sermon saying, you know, hey, siri, put in this amazon order. and they're like, hey, check it, check it. one, two. like, let me hear it again. but without your consent. yeah. the serious part. that's the part. the serious part, no pun intended. amen. it

is friday. it's been a long week, is that we've been told over and over by the tech companies. yes. just trust us. we would never. right. and then you find out they do. and this is, as always, the tip of the iceberg. anyone could tell you, right when you see something going down in the street, that's probably not the first time it went down. exactly. in law, someone gets caught. probably not. usually the first time they did it. right. and so, eric, does this make you skeptical of how these tech companies are moving? >> well, again, i mean, you see with with with mark zuckerberg right now as far as this, the fact that he's being kind of like, i can't say maybe threatened by homeboy, he was threatened. yeah. >> so he is threatened by trump. okay. you know what? >> i keep forgetting where i'm at. i forget where i'm at. >> right. he was threatened by trump to make changes you know. >> yeah. >> for it can benefit that side. so again i think that some of the stuff spotify is one of them people. so i want to get in on that though too, as far as music is concerned, because something is not right with spotify. to some, the head ceo making over

$500 million, he's going to own the company. so something is wrong with that too. as far as where music and who's charging the price to say this is what this stream is worth. so all of that too, with that type of tech company and also with the, the, you know, mark zuckerberg situation, and also, again, getting back to syria again, i never trusted it, i think i think the camera's on. yeah. you can see it sometimes being on and you can hear her having conversations with the individual, like how you having convo with me, you know. >> yeah. why are you talking to me? >> how are you doing this. >> so again, like, i mean somebody has to put some type of thing on tech so it won't be so, you know, a monopoly, a monopoly. >> yeah. ayman they paid $95 million. right. >> that's 5 million. >> million. yeah. that's that's not much to apple but a lot to most people. it's something that shows they had they had to do it. and eric just said monopoly.

biden is outgoing. they did have anti-monopoly cases going. yeah, but nobody knows what the incoming administration, whether they're going to continue that which is that's nonpartisan, that's just to protect users from this kind of stuff, or whether this sort of business maga racket is as long as you do what musk and zuckerberg do, then they'll leave you alone. the government. >> and that's a scary thing, because, you know, it's one thing if you if you think that siri is kind of spying on you or listening to you when it comes to or you're planning a vacation, you say the word like jamaica. next thing you know, you're getting like instagram ads about like jamaica or siri's like popping up things about jamaica for you to do. but it's another thing when government has that access and what we're seeing right now. and this is the scary part, at least for me as a journalist, as a citizen, as a free speech advocate, is like when you get people like zuckerberg and elon musk and jeff bezos and others who are willing or kowtowing down to donald trump basically bending the knee before it comes into office because they're afraid of him. imagine what that could look like. if government wants

to be able to access your phones, access your words, access free speech and the things that you're saying at home in private, next thing you know, ari, something siri records that you're saying at home, your opinion about something political and nonpolitical, anything like that can be taken out of context, given to government. next thing you know, you're getting a knock on your door because you may have said something that siri picked up, or china finds out how much china i've been telling siri to play epmd's greatest hits. >> right. and then how is that used against me? >> well, it's tiktok i thought. >> i thought he was i thought he was getting rid of tiktok. >> what happened? well, by january 19th it might be shut down. the supreme court was very friendly to tiktok ban today. so this is how we end the week i love this, i could see this being a recurring thing. he's already a recurring thing. hey erick sermon, respect. great to see you, ayman. great to see you. that does it for us. the reidout starts now. >> i'm drinking. >> hey. >> tonight on the reidout, after