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alex witt reports. we begin with breaking news and several developments in the california wildfires. one major blaze intensifying and forcing new evacuations. and then just moments ago, city officials said the atf is now leading investigative task force into the cause of the palisades fire. now, across the county, at least 11 deaths are confirmed. >> 153,000 people are now under evacuation orders. >> it is about 11% contained the eaton fire, 15% contained lydia fire, now 100% contained los angeles mayor karen bass. >> in the last hour, addressing the anger and grief of angelenos in spite of the grief, in spite of the anger, in spite of the shock, we have got to stay focused until this time passes, until the fires are out. >> now we need to stay focused. but i will say that when the fires are out, make no mistake,

we will have a full accounting of what worked and especially what did not. l.a. county declared a health emergency this morning due to all the smoke and ash. and as the fires rage on, residents whose homes ravaged by that blaze are grappling with their new reality, it's all gone. oh, god. i mean, it was born here, raised him here. 20 some years. built this, and it's completely gone. >> there's nothing left. >> and i've been here for about an hour and a half, and i don't want to leave. >> it's home. >> 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. >> we have reporters in place covering all of these new developing story lines for us. we're going to start with nbc's daniel griffin in brentwood, who is tracking the relentless palisades fire as it threatens

even more homes now. dana, what's going on? >> where you are? >> we are in the brentwood neighborhood where the palisades fire has stretched. farther east, you can see the clouds and some flames just over this ridge here. firefighters have been attacking this blaze from above. we've seen them doing water drops. they are trying their hardest to prevent flames from spreading to other communities. winds shifting east, forcing new mandatory evacuation orders as the palisades fire nears major freeways and new cities. residents, including actor dennis quaid, forced to evacuate. >> our experience of reality can change in a moment. >> meanwhile, rumors swirling overnight after mayor bass's office denies reports that she fired l.a. fire chief christine crowley after remarks over budget cuts and lack of water. >> so, $17 million cut did not allow us to do what we needed to do and where that impacted us, specifically for palisades was

our ability to move into reserve apparatus. >> the days long struggle to save lives and property impeded by hurricane force winds and a shortage of water. >> the whole neighborhood is flattened, it's gone, and it's just rubble and ash in the palisades. >> some fire hydrants at one point useless. >> we pushed the system to the extreme four times. the normal demand was seen for 15 hours straight, which lowered our water pressure. >> we're learning. the community reservoir located just beyond this ridge, was offline and empty during the height of the firestorm, undergoing repairs, according to the department of water and power. had the reservoir been operable, it would have extended water pressure in the palisades on tuesday night, the department's general manager said, adding but only for a time when our firefighters come up to any type of a structure fire, any type of a wind event, a wildland fire, our expectation, just so you know, is that there's going to be water. the governor of

california now calling for an investigation into those water supply issues across both fires, 11 deaths reported 100,000 people displaced. the california national guard in the evacuation zone to keep people out, especially looters. >> disgusting that you would come in here and try to take advantage of somebody else's misfortune. >> many homeowners left anxious and frustrated. >> we just wish that we would be able to get more information about, you know, our home and be able to go and retrieve some items in these communities. >> there's grit and passion amid the devastation. >> we have friends that have been reaching out nonstop to help us, and it's unbelievable. >> the help donations flooding into the region, supporting traumatized residents and their pets. the recovery will cost a whopping 57 billion and take years to put the most populous county in the nation back together again. many were hoping for a much needed reprieve, with a drop in temperatures and wind

gusts. but as you can see, this fire is spreading, forcing new evacuations. and it's concerning because this is ahead of a new santa ana wind event, which is expected monday and could last through wednesday. back to you. oh, boy. >> all right, dana, thank you for that. let's go now to nbc's ellison barber, joining us from pacific palisades, where some new evacuation orders we've just found out are in place. ellison, i understand you are in what once was a vibrant, bustling commercial district. talk about what you're seeing. and also the containment effort, containment efforts that are underway. >> yeah. i mean, this is an area that on a normal weekend would be full of people, but instead it's just empty and rubble everywhere you look. i mean, we just saw three different air support helicopters and also one tanker that appeared to have water headed up towards the direction of really where dana is, where those fires are still very active as they work to try to get them under control. we've heard so much from frustrated

residents both here and also where we were yesterday near the eaton fire, frustrated with the response, frustrated with how quickly this fire spread, how big it was, and frustrated by the fact that they can't get back into their communities and their homes to assess the damage, or for those who think their homes are still standing, to get some supplies to go back out. one of the things that we've heard from firefighters that they're dealing with in a lot of these areas is even in places where it looks like things are no longer active fires, there is still in a lot of structures that have been damaged, levels that have collapsed. and underneath them there can be heat pockets and also embers where fires and hotspots reignite. and we were with fire crews last night as they were trying to deal with putting out a lot of hotspots and buildings that looked like this. but then there had been fires that had reignited as it went into the evening hours. we spoke to one man yesterday over near the eaton fires. he's lived in altadena for over 20 years. his house is still standing. all of his neighbors though, totally gone. he said as the fire was

spreading, he was frustrated because he saw fire trucks, fire engines there, but they weren't actively putting out fires because, he said those fire hydrants in that community were also not working. listen. >> to the people lost their houses. this is terrible. we should the folk with the government has to be focused to give you enough money for the fire department. they don't dripping any, any single drip of water for the area. everything was burning, everybody running like a rush, like a chicken, like everything. nobody help like that. >> the palisades fire, according to fire officials, is now 11% contained. the eaton fire, 15% contained. but there are still in all four active fires in los angeles. and for a lot of people like that man, his name, jose torres, they are so frustrated with what happened here. of thinking more could have been done, and really unclear when they look at the scale of

destruction on how they are going to rebuild, what resources will really be here, and the time that it will take to begin to put back the pieces of all of these communities that are just gone. and so many of them just look exactly like this. i mean, everywhere we look, alex, even if you just look across the street, you see more of it. just to get a sense of the scale of this, it looks like a war zone in so many ways. but all of this done by mother nature, that wildfire. the fire chief has said that the budget cuts impacted their response, and she has said that they have been understaffed at the la fire department for the last three years. understaffed, she said, under-resourced and underfunded. but she also said those winds they were dealing with were truly unprecedented. and it is still something that as we head into the next couple of days, it is going to be an issue and a concern for firefighters as they go. and you may hear overhead, another helicopter coming in now headed towards those fires, back up towards the flames in the palisades. >> alex, i have to tell you,

when you started this live shot, i had no clue where you were, but for the fact that i saw the atm from that bank of america, which i know well. so when i think about this, are you are you seeing people around looking in shock? and i'm curious if it smells bad. people were worried about the air. >> yeah. i mean, it smells it smells bad. our rest of our team right now, everyone is wearing masks. i've been taking mine off because it's just difficult to hear me if i'm wearing it. but, yeah, i mean, the air quality. very poor. i spoke to one man this morning as we were heading in, and he said to me, i think we're going to evacuate because of how bad the smell is and the air quality. you asked if there are people coming back in this area. not at all. i mean, we've seen some crews coming in over near some of the businesses trying to stall and clear some debris in other neighborhoods in altadena. even yesterday we saw a crews coming in trying to deal with getting some of the electrical live wires up and out, when people have been really frustrated that they can't get back into the area.

still under mandatory evacuation orders. when we were speaking with a battalion chief from fresno yesterday as his crew was fighting some of these hotspots popping up, he said, look, this is why in large part we're saying you can't come back even into areas where it looks like maybe the active fire has been stopped because of what can happen with hotspots. and in a lot of these buildings, they have basements. and when floors have collapsed, it traps heat underneath them, and the heat that is trapped under those floors will reignite. and so it's not necessarily even if a building like this might look like there's not an active fire, it's still not safe for people to be inside of it. and those live wires, there are so many that are down debris in the roads, making all of it incredibly dangerous to come into many of these areas. yeah. >> alex, listen, it's also dangerous for you to be too long without some kind of a mask and protecting your face. so thank you, ellison, for the report. we will see you again at the top of the next hour. much appreciated. joining me right now with nbc news meteorologist denise isaac, with the forecast on those terrible, ferocious winds behind

these fires. big question. denise, when might these winds calm down? >> well, alex, right now the winds are calm, at least in the palisades fire. >> it's very light anywhere between 0 to 10mph. but we're really expecting these winds to ramp up once again tonight into tomorrow. >> so that's the bad news. >> currently, the archer fire is 0% contained. >> hurts fire, 76% contained. but the embers are expected to pretty much pick up and continue to spread. as we saw on dana's feed. >> we're expecting at least this to really ramp up this afternoon. once we get that daytime heating going. >> currently over the palisades fire is four miles per hour. >> but as we make our way north into santa clarita, we're tracking 55 mile per hour winds. so even though currently is considered the calm before now, the next wave comes in. >> we're still expecting gusts tonight 50 to 70mph. so the threat will increase and

continue. >> and this afternoon critical risk has been expanded into santa clarita, really near oxnard and down towards temecula. tomorrow's critical risk at least shrinking just a little bit compared to what we're expected today. but then the elevated risk actually moves farther south into escondido. so getting close to at least oceanside there in san diego. fire weather watch tonight, tomorrow. i wish i came with better news, but it's pretty much like a roller coaster ride tonight. >> it ramps up. by sunday night it dies down. but then on monday night, another system will come in allowing those winds to increase. >> so 9 million people at risk. today, humidity levels are extremely low 10 to 20mph. and here we go. >> another santa ana event coming in monday night, where we're expecting wind gusts up to 70mph. >> so the critical fire weather will continue and is expected to at least continue to at least spread in the area because we

are not expecting any area of low pressure or rain headed towards the area. alex, back to you. >> denise, it is not what we want to hear and i'm sure firefighters as well, but at least maybe a bit of a break tomorrow and they got to take advantage of that. we'll take advantage of seeing you and get more on the forecast next hour. more on the forecast next hour. meantime, next donald t here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need, and the flavor you love. so, here's to now... now available: boost max! (vo 1) when you really philosophize about it, there's one thing you sdon't have enough of, and that's time. time is a truly scarce commodity. when you come to that realization, i think it's very important to spend time wisely. and what better way of spending time than traveling, continuing to educate ourselves and broaden our minds. (vo 2) viking. exploring the world in comfort.

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sentenced in a criminal case, and the first convicted felon who will be sworn in as president. trump was granted ano punishment, no probation, no fines and no consequences resulting from his 34 felony convictions. while a probation officer in the hush money case noted that trump sees himself as above the law, prosecutors argued americans have a right to a presidency residency rather unencumbered by pending court proceedings or ongoing sentences, and those related obligations. >> in a typical case, both the offense conduct and these other exacerbating factors would impact the appropriate sentence. >> but in this case, we must be respectful of the office of the presidency and mindful of the fact that the defendant will be inaugurated as president in ten days. >> so for more on all this, i'm joined by timothy hafey, former federal prosecutor, and nbc's alex talbott, who is covering

the president elect in florida for us. alex, we're going to start with you. you're there in west palm beach. the republicans are flocking to meet with donald trump this weekend. who's been there, who's heading there and what's on the agenda? >> well, alex, birds aren't the only ones heading south for the winter. >> president elect donald trump has met with a flurry of republicans here in palm beach in the last couple of days. >> that includes governors, republican governors like kim reynolds of iowa, like ron desantis of florida, like glenn youngkin of virginia. >> that also includes members of the house freedom caucus who are wining and dining with the president elect just last night. and he's also met with republican senators while up on capitol hill in the last couple of days. i want you to hear from the president elect himself about how these meetings are going as he looks to unify the republican party in the days leading up to his inauguration. >> so we had a great meeting with almost every senator,

republican senator. >> and i would say that, first of all, it was a love fest. we want to get along with the democrats. i'm trying to be nice. we're going into a new term. it's going to be a great time for him. i'm going to call it the golden age. i believe we have a chance at the golden age of america. but i have to tell you, you look at the crime, it's all on the shoulders of democrats and the way they run their states. >> and you might be wondering, why is the president elect having so many meetings just days before his inauguration? well, he's got an ambitious legislative agenda that he wants to get done. he's going to need republican support in the senate to confirm his cabinet picks. he's going to need republican support to get a reconciliation bill through, to extend his 2017 tax cuts. and while he does have a trifecta while he does, and he or he will have control of both the white house, the senate and the house, the majority in the house is oh so slim, and he cannot afford to lose any republican support if he wants to get his second term. started

off with a bang. alex. >> okay, alex tabet, thank you so much from west palm beach. we'll see you again. let's go now to timothy hafey, former federal prosecutor, former lead investigator to the january 6th committee and author of the brand new book titled harbinger what january 6th and charlottesville reveal about rising threats to american democracy. i'll mention the book in just a moment further, tim, but it is excellent. but let me get to the significance of sentencing donald trump ten days before inauguration. how could this be about preserving democracy and the rule of law, if he effectively turned out to be above the law? except for this new title of convicted felon? >> yeah, alex, you know, it doesn't have a lot of practical consequences given the unconditional discharge that the judge imposed. >> it does come with either a feature or a bug, right? a badge of honor or dishonor, depending on your perspective. i think for a lot of americans, it reaffirms their skepticism about the ethics of the president elect.

for others, it reinforces that he has been unfairly maligned and targeted. so i think it only sort of reinforces the polarization. but in terms of practical consequences, you know, my understanding is that in florida, felons are precluded from voting until they complete their sentence, and that includes any period of supervision. and since there was no active sentence or period of supervision imposed in this case, that does not prevent the former president from voting. he can't own a firearm, and there are some collateral consequences of a felony conviction, but nothing that will debilitate him from performing the duties of president. >> okay. judge juan merchan, he repeatedly pointed out the unusual and unprecedented nature of this case. here's some of what he said about it yesterday. take a listen. >> never before has this court been presented with such a unique and remarkable set of circumstances. donald trump, the ordinary citizen, donald trump, the criminal defendant, would not be entitled to such considerable protections. i'm

referring to protections that extend well beyond those afforded the average defendant who winds their way through the criminal justice system each day. no ordinary citizens do not receive those legal protections. >> tim. did the judge have no choice but to let him off without a slap on the wrist? really? i mean, he said 32 cases were tried there at the same time. how would those other defendants feel about the appearance of justice here? and not to mention michael cohen, who served prison time? >> yeah, i think the judge is 100% correct, alex, when he says that there's really no precedent here that is really close to the facts presented in this case. if the president elect had not been successful in seeking reelection, he would not have gotten an unconditional discharge. he might have gotten some period of incarceration. other defendants who have committed these falsification of

business records offenses have had much more onerous sentencing provisions. but he, as the incoming president of the united states, is, according to the supreme court, you know, has to there has to be deference to his ability to carry out the executive function, the very important responsibilities that he has. that's why we're in this unprecedented territory where he's treated like an ordinary citizen with respect to culpability, but not in terms of sentence, because it would interfere with his role as president of the united states. >> so the next big legal fight is likely a push to block doj from releasing special counsel jack smith's report on the criminal investigations into trump's d.c. election interference, as well as the classified documents cases. so the 11th circuit has already overturned judge aileen cannons block of the reports. does this now go all the way to the supreme court? i mean, maybe with the hope of running out the clock until january 20th, because trump can then order his next attorney general likely to be pam bondi, to not release it.

right? >> yeah. yes. i mean, i believe that the president elect's lawyers could try to quickly appeal the 11th circuit ruling up to the supreme court. the judge cannon's ruling requires that the attorney general not release the report for three days following the 11th circuit ruling. so i think it's unlikely that any legal process will stop merrick garland from releasing the report. arguably, judge cannon really has no jurisdiction over the report about the election interference matter, even if she arguably did at one point have jurisdiction over the information about the classified documents. the case, of course, has been dismissed, so the attorney general could decide by question the judge's jurisdiction in the first place and go ahead and release it. so i think that's likely, alex. i think regardless of further legal proceedings, the a.g. will release the volume of the report, the jack smith report on the election interference case

prior to january 20th. >> okay. there's another new headline this week that being ashley babbitt's mother says trump called her as he continues to promise pardons to january 6th rioters. but, tim, you make this point in your new book. you write, quote, a disengaged citizenry is a more insidious threat to democracy and ultimately more destructive than a large crowd of angry rioters. can you explain that? >> yeah, absolutely. alex. so the book is about the commonalities between the charlottesville events in 2017 and the january 6th attack on the capitol, both of which i was involved in investigating. both of them, to me, were actually large forums for anger and grievance, about institutions, about government, about media, about higher education, even about science. we have an undercurrent in this country of extreme cynicism about the efficacy of those institutions. the reaction to that cynicism is either anger like we saw in charlottesville or at the capitol or apathy. and i think

it's easier to compartmentalize and manage the anger. it's a lot harder to fight against the apathy. my fear is that a lot of people in this country, because of their cynicism about institutions, just disengage and they don't vote, and they don't talk about things with their friends and neighbors. they don't educate themselves. and that, to me, is a bigger threat to democracy long term. >> let me tell you, tim, i got to thank you. this book, it has gotten me through a lot, particularly even this week, because this week my focus has so been on california, which, you know, i love and i'm from, but i've been able to read this and learn so much. i'm so impressed with everything about charlottesville as well. i didn't know before that you were that involved. it's fabulous. thank you. >> thanks very much, alex, i appreciate that. yeah. >> new outrage over something >> new outrage over something that's getting in the way an alternative to pills, voltaren is a clinically proven arthritis pain relief gel, which penetrates deep to target the source of pain with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicine directly at the source. voltaren, the joy of movement.

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>> each week on my podcast, i'm joined by uniquely qualified guests who help me take a big picture look at the issues, like representative jasmine crockett, late night host seth meyers, former attorney general eric holder, and many more. why is this happening? listen now. >> breaking news a new warning as crews battle at least five wildfires burning in southern california. los angeles county declaring a public health emergency, saying smoke and particulate matter could pose immediate and long term threats. also today, disney promising $15 million in immediate aid for the l.a. wildfires. in a statement, the company said the funds would go toward groups like the american red cross, the los angeles fire department foundation and the los angeles regional food bank. when you add up the acres burned by this week's fires, it is larger than the city limits of san francisco

and new before and after images of the eaton fire in altadena show what the fire did to those vibrant neighborhoods. plus, fresh outrage after unauthorized drones flew above the palisades fire friday afternoon. firefighting aircraft had to leave the area. this comes after a super scooper was taken out by what the faa is now investigating as a civilian drone strike. the damage left a fist sized hole in its wing, grounding that vital aircraft, which is designed to drop about 1500 gallons of water on a fire. and here's some of what fire crews have been dealing with just the past few days. >> this all we see? it looks like a parking lot. this is where homes once stood. all we see is the foundation left. and there's not even a single home from this entire viewpoint that we can see that has survived. just the sheer amount of destruction here is something that definitely affects us. >> i am making sure that we leave no resource untapped.

firefighters are now on scene from across the state and across the country. >> it's been pretty hectic. >> you know, you got, you know, fighting from house to house and you think you got control on one. and then the winds pick up and another house catches on fire. >> let's bring in ed kelly, president of the international association of firefighters. ed, welcome to you. i understand you're on the ground there in altadena. pretty much the ground zero of the eaton fire that is just right now 15% contained. tell me what you're hearing from the fire crews about the status of those fires behind you. that would have been behind you there, and the challenges they're running into and how much progress they've made. >> i'm actually standing in the living room of an l.a. city firefighter who, while he was out fighting these fires, lost everything, lost his entire house. >> we have dozens of firefighters that are in similar predicaments, but firefighters on the ground now have a couple of days here. >> we understand that the winds are going to kick back up again,

i believe around the 14th. so there's a couple of days here. i know the crews are working very hard to contain the fires that they're dealing with. as you mentioned, there are several fires burning. the fires that they dealt with here were apocalyptic. we had a record high winds. we had extremely low humidity, a recipe for disaster for us. and also complicating that fire in the palisades was that lack of water. the hydrants did not work, as you all know, and that's like sending an army to war with tanks and guns and no ammunition. so that's we need answers to those questions now. to what extent would that have made a difference? i'm not sure, but it sure as heck would have. >> well, let me ask you. yes, of course there are a lot of questions yet to be answered about whether this crisis was avoidable. is there anything, ed, that could have been done to prevent these fires or lessen the severity of them? and i ask because there were the ferocious winds, did they make it impossible to control? >> when's it going to be a challenge for us, no matter where we are coast to coast and these fires that california has a long history of fighting and

experiencing are happening from coast to coast. now we're seeing them pop up in new york city, for instance, where just a few months ago they had a massive wildfire right on the island of manhattan. so can we do more? yes. we need to remove those fuels. we need to do what we can to mitigate the threat and eliminate the fuel hazard. we can also increase our codes, but at the end of the day, we also need to be able to respond to these better. the city of la suffered drastic cuts in their fire department in 2010. they lost 343, i believe firefighters, fire fighting positions and they're yet to gain them back. they closed ten engine companies, i believe seven ladder trucks. so they have not built back up to what they were even in 2010, and the lack of staffing that they have now is creating forced overtime. and it's a good it's a good message for mayors. it's a lesson to be learned. if you cut your fire department, you're going to deal with the consequences. more often than not, it's smaller issues, like i

say, smaller, but it's not a large scale apocalyptic catastrophe. yeah, it's the loss of a life in a single family home that we chalk up to just fires being dangerous when, at the end of the day, oftentimes there's delayed response times, inadequate staffing, inadequate training, inadequate equipment that contributed to that death. >> got to tell you, that is one hell of a lesson you're talking about. let me ask you quickly about something called ember. >> one more thing i want to impart to you. i forgot to mention la city. let me just show you. at one point, la city went six years without hiring firefighters since 2010. it's tough to recover from that with firefighters retiring. >> oh yeah. good point there. hadn't thought of that. let me quickly ask you about the ember cast, because apparently that's something that can cause flames to spread really rapidly. what is it and how big a role would it have played in this disaster? >> well, that's where the winds come in. they pick up these embers and roll them in often cases up a hill or over a hill. that's how you see fires jump

the way they did. and from what i was told, the fire that roared through these, through the palisades and other, other areas like the eaton fire, the winds that drove those embers were incredible. in fact, where i'm standing right now, that fire was actually initially about five miles from here. and this firefighter's wife asked, you know, are we safe here? and he had said, yeah, i think you're about five miles away. you should be okay. but that that ember reach jumped that fire so quick that they were lucky to escape those that were in the house. >> who? ed kelly. it is a sobering conversation, but a necessary one. thank you so muc, and thank you for what you do on behalf of the citizenry of this country. thank you so much. and if any of you want to find out how you can help with the wildfire relief efforts, go ahead and scan the qr code on your screen right now. we will also put it up later in the show. nine days and counting. and he still has so much to do. what we heard from president biden yesterday about his final

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1-800-290-7477 now or visit us at fund.com. >> the supreme court will review a decision that blocked a biden administration rule that made it easier for some borrowers to have their student loans forgiven. the policy that was blocked by a lower court was created specifically for those who've been defrauded by their colleges. nbc's aaron gilchrist is at the white house for us. so, aaron, what are you learning about this case? >> well, alex, you teed it up

nicely there. this is a case that's focused on this rule from the biden administration that helps students who have been defrauded by colleges to actually have their student loans forgiven. now, a group that represents several schools in texas sued the department of education, saying that it overstepped its authority and that it was making it too easy for students to use a specific borrower defense process that's available to them. the lower courts said that a student has to be in default on their loans and in the collections process before they actually can seek that sort of loan relief that we're talking about here. the government asked the supreme court to take a look at that specific question, whether the law says a student has to actually default before starting the borrower process, the defense process there. and yesterday, the court granted that request. i do think it's worth pointing out, alex, though this case is not going to be heard before the end of the biden administration. and president elect trump has not been in favor of biden's student debt relief efforts. so, alex, this could just simply go away. >> okay, so here you're mentioning concerns about ending

the debt relief tactics. but there are also concerns, as you know, about the incoming administration now reversing some of biden's economic efforts. >> yeah, you're right. the president has been, i think, taking every opportunity to talk about his record. we know late yesterday, the white house added a speech to his schedule after the december jobs report came out. and the president said that he believes the economy he's leaving, quote, is the best, the best in the world and stronger than ever for all americans, he said. and he pointed to the 256,000 jobs that the labor department says the economy added last month, 16.6 million jobs, biden says have been created during his term in office. he says there's lower unemployment, there's decreasing inflation. he also acknowledged his concerns about the future. as you noted, i want you to hear a little bit of what he had to say about that. listen to this. >> the new playbook is working. >> but in ten days, our administration will end and the new administration will begin. we're going to face another

inflection point. do we continue to grow the economy from the middle out, from the bottom up, as we have the past four years, or do we backslide to an economy economic theory that benefits those at the very top? while working people and middle class people struggled for their fair share of growth? >> now, i think you can expect to hear more from the president about what he sees as his accomplishments over the last four years. as we said, we are in the last nine days of the biden administration. the president is set to give a foreign policy speech on monday at the state department. and then, alex, president biden will give his farewell address from the oval office on wednesday, wednesday night. and again, we expect that he will tick through some of the things that he believes he's accomplished over the last four years, some of the things he has accomplished. >> okay, aaron, my friend, thank you so much. we're going to let you go because i know it's super cold where you are, but we'll see you again. thank you. let's bring in peter baker, msnbc political analyst, chief white house correspondent for the new york times and coauthor of the divider trump in the white house, 2017 to 2021. and megan

hayes, former special assistant to president biden and former director of message planning. welcome to you both. so speaking of the economy, peter, president biden revealed in that interview with usa today that trump privately complimented him on his economic accomplishments. yeah, that's a 180 from his public statements. so given your experience covering both biden and trump in the white house, what's your reaction to this? >> well, look, i mean, the truth is that the economy that biden is handing over to trump is in pretty good shape. >> now, trump doesn't want to say that because it wasn't convenient publicly to make that point during the campaign. but if you look at the current inflation rate, not what it was, but what it is now, whether you look at the unemployment rate, you look at where the stock market is, you look at where wages are all these kinds of things. we just got new jobs numbers yesterday. they're pretty much in a healthy shape. this is the kind of economy any new president would want to inherit, if you think about it. in fact, probably one of the better ones that any new president has inherited going back in quite a long time. but

it doesn't suit trump's interests. and trump has made a very powerful argument that he had the greatest economy ever. and he's convinced a lot of people that even if the numbers aren't, you know, don't work in his favor, biden never managed to get the credit for the economy that he built up. and that's, i think, a sign of how different the presidential communication, you know, skills are these two men to be able to shape reality. but but he's got a lot to talk about, and i think he'll mention that a lot in the speech on wednesday. >> yeah. president biden confirmed that he is still mulling over the preemptive pardons. he talked about it during his news conference yesterday. let's take a listen to 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, but there's still consideration of some folks that nothing but no decision. >> so, megan, you've worked with the president. what do you think biden will do? because doesn't

he have all the way up to monday morning, as long as it's done before noon on inauguration day, january 20th, to get this done? >> look, i think he's probably taking advice from counsel here. >> he's like thinking through what makes the most sense. but i actually think, you know, giving these pardons out is people have to be guilty of something. and i'm not sure that they want to give people pardons that aren't guilty of anything. so i do think that's probably what he's weighing here. but i think that if he's given the advice and these, you know, some of the hearings next week with some of the cabinet members, they are seeking retribution. they have made that very clear. so i think that he's weighing all of these decisions. but ultimately, i'm not sure that he's actually going to go forward with these pardons. >> interesting. peter, i have another question for you, but do you agree? do you think he won't do it? >> you know, i think i don't want to make predictions. i think there's a lot of reasons why he might not for the very reasons we just talked about. let's talk about i mean, i think that a lot of people who have been identified as people who might, you know, be subjects of such a pardon have said publicly

they don't want it. they didn't want to do anything that would seem to suggest that they did something wrong when they don't believe that they did. i've heard adam schiff say that. you've heard adam kinzinger say that. so it may be that, in fact, people don't want them and therefore he doesn't follow through on it. it may be that he doesn't want to suggest that something wrong was done by all the various people he's he's considering. so it is a pretty bold and unprecedented move in some ways. if he were to do this, and it's not his nature, i think, to necessarily push that boundary. but i wouldn't rule it out. but i yeah, i wouldn't necessarily expect it either. okay. >> okay. so you guys are syncing up on that. president biden has gotten some pushback, though, for saying that he could have beaten trump in 2024 had he stayed in the race. some are seeing this as a slight to vice president harris and her loss. yesterday, he clarified his remarks, saying he thinks both of them could have won, though obviously she didn't. megan, how did you interpret that comment? >> look, i think that the president stands on the that he is the only person that has successfully beat donald trump. so i think that he stands there. but i also think these are this

is kind of a silly conversation. we can't go back in time. we can't rewrite history. he dropped out. the vice president was the nominee. and i think that we need to move forward not only as a country, but a party, as the democratic party. on on reality. and thinking backwards is not, i don't think, helpful to the party. >> peter, have a quick question. can you give me 15 seconds on why you think donald trump is focusing on canada, panama and greenland? >> well, you don't think he ran on that during the campaign? that wasn't his main message during the campaign. look, some of it is a distraction. some of it is just, you know, throwing out things that get people's attention and get them worked up. he likes to do that. but there is an odd sort of imperialist 19th century quality to this, and it's also kind of an odd real estate quality to it. we talked to him about the greenland thing susan and i did for our book. he says, look at the map. it looks at great territory. so he's got this real estate mentality where he likes to gather land. and, you know, it may not be the most strategic thing in the world, but but he doesn't mind talking about it. >> yeah okay. we'll see how long he continues. peter megan, good to see you both. thank you much. southern discomfort after a rare

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>> yeah. >> hey, alex, good afternoon to you. >> and thanks for the shout out with my beanie here. >> but here in tennessee we got plenty of snow, as you can see. >> and here in nashville specifically, we got roughly six inches of snow. >> at one point, the snowfall rate was one inch per hour. right now the temperature is slightly above freezing. >> so we are starting to see the snow melt. but it wasn't just tennessee, but georgia, arkansas, the carolinas all declared a state of emergency yesterday ahead of this massive snowstorm. obviously, this was to activate those critical resources to tackle the crippling combination of snow, freezing rain, sleet that we saw yesterday. >> this made a mess on the roadways. we saw a lot of drivers slipping and sliding, even getting into wrecks, but we had a chance to speak with some folks here in nashville, and a lot of them just took this storm in stride. take a listen. >> what is it like seeing broadway covered in snow right now? >> quite unexpected. >> quite unexpected. >> we anticipated because we that's why we came out. but we don't think snow in nashville

ever. it's really cool, though. >> is it kind of disappointing that the weather's kind of disrupting your trip a little bit, but a little bit? >> but yeah, i think it's fine. >> i mean, we've been here before, so we're still going to enjoy it. >> and alex, you mentioned all those flight disruptions, thousands of flight delays and cancellations yesterday. we're seeing a lot more of that today, specifically in atlanta as well as charlotte, charlotte. and speaking of atlanta, the world's busiest airport, yesterday, there was an incident on the tarmac affecting a delta flight. there was an engine problem. this forced the evacuation of hundreds of passengers. and this came against a backdrop of these wintry conditions. there were some minor injuries that were reported. now the faa is investigating. but the good news out of all this, alex, is that the storm is now offshore. the bad news, though, especially here in the south, the temperatures will continue to plunge. so the snow melt that we're seeing now will likely

refreeze overnight. >> alex. and you look cute in the hat. i'm just saying, kathy park, thank you very much. in just moments, we're going to head back to los angeles. and a big worry for millions, including some who aren't in the line of the wildfires. >> why is navage trusted by millions before navage? >> i was not living my best life because i could not breathe. >> constant nasal congestion, constant blowing of the nose. >> the huge difference is the fact that navage pulls it out. it's very gentle in the sense of when that suction happens, it's literally grabbing that water and that mucus, and it's bringing it out into this tank. it's worth every penny that you it's wosubject 1: who'sthat you pay coming in the driveway? subject 2: dad! dad! dad, we missed you! daddy, hi! subject 3: goodness! my daughter is being treated for leukemia. i hope that she lives a long, great, happy life

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