$300,000. all electric flying car, and the company is aiming to begin production by next year. but practicality might be where the. rubber meets the sky. only a few countries allow for the kind of road to air reality duchovny envisions. >> it's going. >> to be slow. incremental approach, which. >> is. >> good for legal. >> integration. >> which is good. >> for. >> consumer integration. >> but he says. >> as demand grows. >> regulations will catch up with the tech. >> for now, it's. >> still that. >> cutting edge. >> pie in the sky. steve patterson, nbc news, silicon valley. >> exactly what's needed in miami. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. thank you for the privilege of your time. cristina ruffini picks up with more news right now. >> right now on msnbc reports. president trump applauds elon musk in a new interview. the

pair defends mass firings as they work to radically remake the federal government. all this as a judge declines to block dodge from cutting the federal workforce and accessing sensitive data systems. plus, a war of words between president trump and the president of ukraine. mr. trump calling vladimir zelensky a, quote, dictator without elections, while ukraine's president saying trump lives in a disinformation bubble. how the tit for tat could potentially impact peace talks. and an arctic blast grips parts of the country, bringing record setting snow to areas unaccustomed to big blizzards. we'll have a live report from texas, where cold weather warnings are already in place. good day. i'm christina ruffini here in washington. federal workers and concerned americans are rallying across the country against elon musk's takeover of public services and the radical remaking of the federal government. they're gathering on college campuses, outside federal buildings, and even at spacex headquarters. in a

continuation of monday's protests. musk says d.o.j. is carrying out the president's executive orders, which now include white house control over how independent regulatory agencies send funds approved by congress. the executive branch could cut programs that don't match the president's priorities unless the courts step in. on tuesday, a federal judge denied a request from 14 states to block doj's access at seven agencies because the judge says the states are not able to prove imminent, irreparable harm. judge tanya chutkan said the possibility of uncertainty and confusion causing harm just isn't enough. the new york times points out that records held at agencies like the irs include sensitive data about musk's business competitors. the president, of course, downplayed concerns about musk's conflicts of interest during a newly released fox interview that was actually taped last week. >> it comes up. >> how will you handle it? >> well. >> he won't be involved. >> yeah, i'll.

>> i'll recuse myself if. >> it is. >> if there's a conflict. he won't be involved. i mean, i wouldn't want that, and he won't want it. and i know people that would try and take advantage of the situation. this guy is somebody that really cares for the country. and i saw that very early on. so really a long time ago when i got to know him, he's a very different kind of a character. >> we're trying to track down the exact number of probationary workers fired since thursday. it's about 200,000. that data and that number were due to the office of personnel management last night. but we do know that employees working to contain the bird flu outbreak were, quote, accidentally fired over the weekend. the usda is now scrambling to rehire them, and a similar situation played out with the energy department's firing of workers who secure our nation's nuclear systems. no update if those workers are back on the job. we're going to start with nbc news senior white house correspondent garrett hake, usa today's washington bureau chief susan page, atlantic staff writer ashley parker and former u.s. attorney barbara mcquade. all right, garrett, i want to

start with you. where do we stand on these federal firings? and how is the white house responding to the pushback? does it seem to have stopped them at all? >> no. it hasn't. christina, we know that there is more to come still on the firing front for. not heard, for example, from the pentagon, where we expect those officials to be focusing this week after repeated promises from elon musk and the president that they would look at defense spending, as well as they've looked at some of these domestic agencies where the cuts that we know about have been both deep, including in places like the national institutes of health, where more than 1000 people were let go. and broad, affecting things you might not expect, like the kennedy library in boston, which had to abruptly close yesterday, the foundation that runs it saying some of their federal employees were cut unexpectedly. that forced them to close yesterday, although they were expected to reopen today. the white house is viewpoint on this is that this is what people voted for. they voted for a dramatic overhaul of the federal government, and that they believe the white house does that. the american people

deserve a federal bureaucracy that's committed to the president's agenda, and that is fiscally responsible, and that that is ultimately what they'll get when this process is concluded. christina. >> susan, i want to turn to you now. is this what people voted for? you know, there's more than a dozen lawsuits trying to rein in or end doge. there are some protests across the country, but i just got back from the munich security conference in europe, and european leaders kept asking me, why aren't people on the street? why aren't you seeing a bigger pushback in congress from regular folks? why isn't there a larger reaction? and is that surprising you? >> you know, it's quite different. >> from our experience with president trump's first term, when there was were massive demonstrations and opposition in congress, including from a handful. >> of republicans. >> we're not seeing that this time. it is true that americans last november voted for change. we know that two thirds of americans said the country and more said the country was headed in the wrong direction. but exactly what direction they want the government to go. it's not

clear that this is the prescription that they knew they were signing up for. >> that will be. >> the test. >> president trump. >> is determined to put in place some of this very extensive change that he's talking about now. and then we'll see the reality. >> of the. >> consequences of that. and at that point, i think. >> americans will. >> want and need to weigh in on. >> whether that's. >> really what. >> they wanted. >> ashley, the president, told fox news in that interview he thinks doge will find $1 trillion in fraud, waste and abuse. but as the kids say, we haven't seen the receipts. how can musk claim that doge is the most transparent organization ever, when we're not really sure who's in it, where they came from, or what exactly they're cutting at all times? >> well. >> he can. >> claim that, but he. >> certainly can't. >> claim that plausibly, even going back to. >> what the. >> administration put out earlier this week, saying that elon musk is not, in fact, the person who's running doge, which

defies credulity. i mean, what you're seeing here, and this is deliberate. >> but this is. >> what. >> a lot of the people who are. reacting against it are reacting. >> against. is this ethos more common. >> in silicon valley. >> and some of elon musk's. >> private companies of sort. >> of break. >> everything and. >> then try to piece. >> back the shards together later. if necessary? >> and so. >> you are. >> even seeing now. >> some republicans. >> who don't want to criticize trump, they don't want to criticize musk or doge, but they're actually realizing that, wait a minute. eliminating all of this money. >> cutting all of. >> these employees. you cut a bunch of employees in my state, in rural america, you defunded an nih program that's critical for my state or my district. and so. >> they're. >> now sort of in this odd position. >> despite the fact that congress. >> actually has. >> the power of the purse, of kind. >> of begging.

>> trump and elon and these various entities to, you know, just don't cut my bridge, don't cut my road, don't cut my people at this agency, which is not. >> particularly effective. >> right? >> a lot of these programs had big, big footprints in red states, partially because it's sometimes cheaper to do some of these things in the south and big states with big university towns. bob, i want to turn to you now. the president's executive order yesterday implies that only the president and the attorney general can interpret law, and that agencies can't contradict them. is that how that works? >> well, it's. >> not how it has worked traditionally, christina. this is, you know, sort of trying to take back the independence of independent agencies. so we have a huge administrative bureaucracy, for better or for worse. and what their role is, is to take the laws passed by congress, which are phrased in very broad terms, and then to administer those laws in a very granular way. they develop their

own rules and regulations. instead, president trump is now going to consolidate all of that power at the white house and with the attorney general. this is all part and parcel of, i think, a larger strategy to implement what sometimes referred to as the unitary executive power. so the constitution vests the president with the executive power. but there's a theory that it vests him with all executive power, and that there is no other part of the government that can do anything outside of the purview of the president. it is a dangerous move, in the view of some, including me, that it means that even if orders are unethical or illegal, if the president says this is the way we're going to interpret this law, then that's what goes. it's not the rule of law. it's whatever the president says it is. i think we're going to see challenges to this. but ultimately, i think that donald trump could find a sympathetic supreme court because we've got some of the justices there, roberts and kavanaugh among them, who have advocated for this unitary executive theory throughout their careers. so it

could be that he is rewarded with this interpretation. >> i also want to ask you about the president posted last night that doj has to immediately, as he puts it, clean house and fire biden era u.s. attorneys. look, anyone who lives in washington knows that turnover is pretty common at the start of the new administration. people decide to leave, take private sector jobs. you know, it happens every time. but this feels different. what to you stands out about what's happening at these agencies, especially doj? >> well, as you said, removing biden appointees and replacing them with trump appointees is certainly within his prerogative. but we're seeing something well beyond that. we saw the firing of every lawyer who worked on the prosecutions against donald trump. we have seen an investigation by the us attorney in the district of columbia for the prosecutors who worked on the january 6th cases, and we have seen that order demanding the dismissal of the eric adams indictment. and now, just yesterday, the resignation

of the chief of the criminal division in the d.c. u.s. attorney's office for refusing to freeze the assets of someone whose identity is unknown because she found no legal basis to do so. it really suggests that the era of the post-watergate era norms and principles that federal prosecution must be done in an even handed way and may not be based on partizan politics is out the window, and that we are in for a new era where donald trump sees the department of justice as merely one more political tool in his toolbox. >> and speaking of those norms, garrett, we're expecting the president to sign more executive orders later today. do we know what's coming our way? >> not yet. this is a late afternoon, perhaps in the evening when he's flying back to washington, d.c. he's going to speak at a investment conference in miami shortly later this afternoon that involves officials from the saudi sovereign wealth fund. i expect we'll get remarks from there, possibly some questions answered, and maybe he'll tip his hand.

>> all right, garrett hague, susan page, ashley parker and barbara mcquade, thank you all so much. coming up in 90s, why zelenskyy says trump is trapped in a, quote, disinformation bubble and what it means for the prospect of peace in ukraine. prospect of peace in ukraine. you're watching head & shoulders is launching something huge. ♪♪ the bare minimum. anti-dandruff shampoo made with only nine ingredients. no sulfates, silicones or dyes. and packaged with 45% less plastic. giving you outstanding dandruff protection. and leaving hair beautiful and moisturized. major dandruff protection, minimal ingredients. job done. head & shoulders bare. [uplifting music] arearn: saint jude-- they gave it 110% every time. and for kenadie to get treatment here without having to pay anything was amazing.

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without elections, saying that zelenskyy has done a terrible job and claiming that ukraine is shattered. now this comes after ukrainian president vladimir zelensky said ukraine is not for sale and that donald trump is in a disinformation bubble. his comments followed president trump's comments that when he erroneously blamed ukraine for starting the war with russia in that fox interview last night. have a listen. >> and i think i have the power to end this war. and i think it's going very well. but today i heard oh, well, we weren't invited. well, you've been there for three years. you should have ended it three years. you should have never started it. you could have made a deal. i could have made a deal for ukraine. that would have given them almost all of the land. everything, almost all of the land. and no people would have been killed and no city would have been demolished, and not one dome would have been knocked down. but they chose not to do it that way. >> all right. joining us now is new york times chief white house reporter peter baker. hi, peter. and michael allen is here with

us in studio. former special assistant to president george w bush. he's now the managing director for beacon global strategies. peter, i want to start with you. first of all. i was an election monitor in ukraine during zelensky's election. i can promise you he was, in fact, elected. and as far as we knew at the time, there were no irregularities or anything else. but i also want to ask you, you know, president trump is making these kind of head spinning allegations against ukrainian president zelensky after zelensky said he is in a disinformation bubble. what is trump's goal here? is he just trying to lean into and kind of double down on what he said? where do you go with this? >> well, i'm glad to hear that you were there and that you could tell us about that election. that's important. it's remarkable, of course, to hear an american president talk about an ally, the way he's talking about vladimir, vladimir zelensky, whereas he said nothing about vladimir putin, who actually is a dictator who actually does have manipulated elections that are not democratic, who actually is the one who launched the invasion,

full scale invasion three years ago. >> trump said. yesterday you. >> started it, meaning the ukrainians. of course they did not start it. he said today that zelensky tricked the united states into giving him $250 billion to go to war. obviously not true. and what's remarkable about it, of course, is we never see anything like this from an american president. and what is his goal? you know, he has had a thing about ukraine going back years. he was convinced that ukraine interfered in the 2016 election against him. that's a russian talking point. but it's one that he has accepted and he has been there for, you know, had antipathy toward ukraine ever since. it was part of his first impeachment back in 2018 and 19, or, sorry, 2019 and 20. and i think that that's just his head has always been in a, in a, you know, in a negative space toward ukraine and in a positive space. >> towards putin. >> the other thing that's kind of remarkable about this is he's not only going against

established fact, he's going against u.s. intelligence, because if you remember, it was u.s. intelligence that was warning at the munich security conference three years ago, russia is going to invade, russia is planning to invade. and it was the europeans and the ukrainians who kind of didn't believe it until all of a sudden it happened. so we also have nbc news is reporting that us intelligence does not. us intelligence shows putin isn't really interested in a peace deal right now, and he still wants to control all of ukraine. so you've got putin coming out today and saying he's ready to return to the negotiating table, and he'd be happy to meet president trump. but how can anyone trust him? i know the ukrainians don't. should the americans. >> well, i think the ukrainians ought to. >> take a. >> deep breath here. >> this is. >> trump, the. >> real. >> estate developer. >> joint jawboning. >> a. >> party to an. eventual transaction. it's not a style we're used to, but it is trump's way. >> you. >> keith kellogg, is in ukraine. if i were. >> zelensky. >> i would send a message back to. president trump through him about the. types of things that

he might be able to agree to. >> in an. >> eventual negotiation. >> on putin's recalcitrance. it's going to happen. >> it will. >> appear and rear its head at some point. >> in these. >> negotiations, and the worm. >> will turn. and trump. >> will begin to criticize. >> putin more. >> harshly. >> to condition him to come to. >> the table. >> but in the. >> meantime, this all truistic diplomatic putin is going to last through the second or third phase of these negotiations. >> i don't think. >> so, because i. >> can't imagine any scenario. >> where we really arrest. >> the root causes. >> of. >> what caused. >> this war. >> i don't. >> believe even. >> if trump. is not in a. great place on. >> zelensky. >> that he. >> wants to. >> totally sell ukraine. >> out. >> and that's ultimately. >> what putin wants in ukraine that. >> doesn't exist. >> peter, i also want to get your take on this meeting between secretary rubio and lavrov yesterday and saudi arabia. first of all, where is lavrov been? i feel like he was out of favor for a while. and now all of a sudden he's back center stage in this very high profile negotiation. but they

came out of that room without having any european or ukrainian input. and can that even can there be an end to the war without one of the parties involved in the war in the room? is this is it even remotely possible? >> well, what you hear, of course, is a disconnect, right? rubio says, look, of course we're going to consult with the europeans. of course we consult with the ukrainians. in fact, he called a number of european foreign. ministers shortly after his meeting with lavrov in saudi arabia. but you're right, it was a big deal that the ukrainians felt so left out. president zelensky was planning to go to saudi arabia and then told basically that he wasn't welcome and didn't end up making the trip. meanwhile, even as rubio is trying to reassure people, yes, of course we're going to do this in concert with our allies. you hear trump say yesterday, no, they don't deserve a seat at the table, meaning the ukrainians, because they started the war and they didn't make a deal over the last three years. what deal should they have made over the last three years? a deal that would surrender their territory. and that's what he wants them to do. so he's putting a lot of pressure on zelensky. he's making clear that whatever deal he makes with

putin is what he thinks it should be, not necessarily what zelensky thinks it will be. and it's left the europeans on the sidelines trying to figure out. what their play is. >> yeah. peter, i also want to ask you about your article today in the times you write, mr. trump is in the middle of executing one of the most jaw dropping pivots in american foreign policy in generations, a 180 degree turn that will force friends and foes to recalibrate in fundamental ways. you know, i just came back from munich, where this was completely on display to the point where i was told in one meeting, leaders just kind of went on with their planned speeches about american european friendship because they didn't really know what else to do. what message is the u.s. sending to our allies right now? >> well, i think the message is that we're in a middle of what we've been calling a new cold war, and it looks like america may be. switching sides. i mean, trump obviously says and favors the points that the kremlin has put out there, the concessions that he has floated for any peace talks have been exactly what. >> the kremlin.

>> wants, which is to say sanctions are lifted. he got to keep all the territory he illegally seized by force. ukraine doesn't get any security guarantees, much less nato membership from the united states. trump has even floating the idea of readmitting russia into the g7, which of course, the rest of the g7 would not want to do. meanwhile, the europeans, what they're hearing from washington is you're a bunch of bad partners, you're free riders, you're not spending enough on your military. we don't think you're fair to us on trade. we're going to slap tariffs on you. we think you're too mean to the neo-nazi party in germany. that's the message. >> sorry, peter. i think we lost you there for a second. can you hear us? sorry. you were saying. now, guys, is he doesn't think much of you. he doesn't particularly care about being in nato. in fact, he covets the territory of some of our nato partners, including canada, which he says he wants to make the 51st state in greenland, which is, you know, affiliated with denmark. so right now it's

a period of great tension and a big rift growing potentially with the european allies. at the same time, trump is, you know, signing up to putin's view of ukraine. >> yeah. i actually asked the canadian foreign minister, mélanie joly, about red, white and blue land in greenland, and she pushed back very astutely and said, this is not a joke. and i said, no, no, it's not. i want to ask you, michael, talking to leaders in europe. they they are still they still have a consensus on ukraine. they still have a consensus on supporting ukraine. where there's fear is that they do not have a consensus with how to deal with what peter was just talking about how to negotiate, how to navigate this new confrontational america. and there's a concern that as allies take a different tactic, some may choose to be obsequious, some may choose to be confrontational, some may try to stay neutral. that approach in itself could fracture the european alliance. not so much the issue of ukraine, but they could be less effective if they're all fighting over how to deal with trump. what's your take on that? >> well, they need unity here

and i think that's what trump smells in them. they got together monday the day after the munich security conference and didn't really have anything to come out and say, if i'm europe and i'm faced with the news of this tweet today and digesting everything happened in the week and they need to put something on the table, they need to come out and say, we'll have 50,000 european troops as part of a peacekeeping force. eventually, as long as we have some american involvement in the end. or here's a grand new plan to fund ukraine, or here's one of the weapons systems that we're going to develop a comparative advantage in and fund this for ukraine into the future. right now, they're just kind of running around. no one knows where they are. they want a seat at the table. but i think you can't beat something with nothing. they need something to bring to trump, and that might impress trump, and trump might bring him in then. >> i want to show you we have some new images coming in. this is keith kellogg being greeted by the u.s. ambassador to ukraine in kyiv. you know, we

were just talking about what message president zelenskyy should send through kellogg. what message should europe send? could this possibly have a backlash? because if you remember putin's approach, this was to try to fracture nato. it actually made nato stronger and it gained it two new members, finland and sweden. could trump's criticism of europe have the same effect? could we see the eu do those exact things you were just talking about, because they feel like they really have to? >> i think privately, a lot of people in the white house are glad of the messages that they sent this weekend, because it does catalyze the europeans to a degree. they need to come up with something tangible, as i said. but i think they're on notice that things have fundamentally changed with trump in office. they need to start putting things on the table, and that's the way they respond to trump. that's the way they buy themselves a seat into these international negotiations. i don't think it's enough to just say, i used to be a world power. i ought to be at the table. i think they've got to come in with something. >> put up. >> that's right.

>> all right. peter baker and michael allen, thank you both so much. >> thank you. >> pope francis is prepared to spend another night in the hospital where he's being treated for double pneumonia. the 88 year old head of the catholic church has been hospitalized since last week after being admitted with bronchitis, which then developed into pneumonia in both lungs. the vatican says the pontiff was able to sit upright in a chair for breakfast this morning. and italy's prime minister visited the pope today and said he was alert and responsive and full of good humor. coming up, new york city's mayor called into court for his hearing on his corruption case, which the department of justice, of course, is trying to drop. where the number two at d.o.j. will be in the court as well. next up, greg takes prevagen for his brain in the court as well. next up, you're and this is his story. hi, i'm greg. i live in bloomington, illinois. i'm not an actor. i'm just a regular person. eight years ago, i just didn't feel like i was on my game. i started taking prevagen and i want people to know that prevagen has worked for me.

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it brings people together in meaningful ways. affordable pet plan options you both will love. >> we're going to turn now to the growing controversy over new york city mayor eric adams, and accusations of a quid pro quo with the trump administration. the mayor is going to be in a federal courtroom this afternoon to explain why his corruption charges should be dropped. also in court, the acting u.s. deputy attorney general, the official who ordered the mayor's charges be dismissed. that directive prompted a string of resignations, both in the mayor's office and from federal prosecutors in the u.s. attorney's office in manhattan. joining us now, nbc news national law enforcement correspondent tom winter outside the courthouse in lower manhattan. tom. okay, we've got new york governor kathy hochul. she's the only one with the power to remove mayor adams from office, which would be really

unprecedented politically. do you think she can even do that? and can you explain what today's hearing is all about? is there anything specific you're going to be looking for, especially with the number two at d.o.j. present in the courtroom? >> sure. >> so on the political question, as far as it pertains to kathy hochul, by the way, it's city chapter. it's chapter one, section nine, which i know, like me, you've read a number of different times, but that's that's what governs us here for the governor. so yes, the city charter allows the governor to come in and basically bring charges, not charges that would end up in a courthouse like the one behind me. but to bring the charges against the mayor and say, this is why you need to be removed. she can suspend the mayor for up to 30 days. the mayor has an opportunity to respond, and then ultimately, she can decide whether or not he's going to be holding the powers of that office. that's the mechanics of it, the reality of it from a political standpoint, is it based on people i've talked to? it's probably easier for her, right after the indictment to be to

pull the mayor at that point. now, it's kind of what is the reasoning for this? and it starts to become very political quickly. and what she has to start to think about is jumaane williams, who would be the mayor's replacement. that's somebody who is definitely not going to cooperate with the trump administration in any way based on his statements in the past. and so now that she's under civil suit from the trump administration, trying to deal with the issue of congestion pricing, the idea with migrants in new york city, who's going to pay for it? they just took almost $80 million out of the city's coffers that went to pay for hotel rooms for the migrant community. where is that money going to come through? you know, we could talk about this for the next hour, all the different permutations of it. and she's got andrew cuomo potentially waiting in the wings as somebody who's going to run for mayor, who could seize on this opportunity politically, it could be quite a challenge for her. speaking of challenges here in federal court behind me, that's going to be the big question for judge dale hoe is how much he wants to challenge. what is something that is

typically very a very simple process, the idea of dismissing a case. it is based on the courts and the laws of the country, typically just a formality that federal prosecutors would come to a court and say, look, we now want to dismiss the charges. a pretrial that is, when they're in trial. that's a bit of a different process. but we're in the pretrial phase phase. and so basically, it's up to them to say whether or not they want to bring charges and whether or not they want to dismiss them. the only two things that could potentially come up here. one is a case that goes back over 70 years ago that was brought up in now former acting u.s. attorney danielle sassoon's letter to attorney general bondi prior to her resignation. resignation that is basically addressing the fact that courts have ruled on this previously. if you're going to hold potential charges and this idea of dismissing without prejudice the idea that the charges could still be brought back, if you're going to hold potential charges over a public officials head in order to get them to act in their official capacity to your benefit, that's

something that the courts have frowned on in the past. and then, of course, how we came to this decision is something that the judge could order inquiry into as well. so really, it's something we'll have to watch closely this afternoon just where, how, where and how this case breaks. >> tom, i have to admit, i did miss that particular part of the city charter you were referencing. maybe you could email it to me. tom winter, thank you so much. next up, trump's pick for labor secretary, lori chavez-deremer on the hill today for her confirmation hearing. why she's facing skepticism. skepticism from some senate republicans. from some senate republicans. you're watching msnbc. but st. jude has gotten us through it. st. jude is hope for every child diagnosed with cancer because the research is being shared all over the world. when bad allergies attack... ♪♪ trust claritin to keep you in the game. ♪♪ nothing is proven more powerful for continuous non-drowsy allergy relief.

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from here on capitol hill today. a confirmation hearing for the president's nominee to be labor secretary, lori chavez-deremer, is an unconventional choice for a republican administration. she once worked for planned parenthood. a potential hurdle to her confirmation. and after having supported a pro-union bill while serving in congress, the nominee today reversed course. >> i do not believe that the secretary of labor should write the laws. it will be up to congress to write those laws and to work together. what i believe is that the american worker deserves to be paid attention to. >> so you no longer support the aspect of the pro act that would have overturned state right to work laws? >> yeah, there were so many parts. >> that's a yes. >> yes. there. yes, sir.

>> all right. joining us now is nbc news chief capitol hill correspondent ryan nobles. former top communications adviser to speaker ryan and boehner, brendan buck. and former democratic congresswoman donna edwards. ryan, i want to start with you. she was also pressed on the president potentially blocking funding. but first, help us understand why that union exchange we just heard matters in this confirmation hearing. >> well, it matters because. it could forecast what type of approach the trump administration is going to take toward unions going forward. one of the areas where donald trump in particular, has made significant gains among voters is with working class voters and voters that affiliate themselves with unions. and so the republican party traditionally has fought against union organization, has given states across the country the ability to allow workers to work for union shops without officially joining a union. that's what they describe as right to work laws. and so there's some thought process that if she were more pro union than pro

business, that that might not be something that republicans are in favor of. and then democrats on the other side are concerned that if she became the head of the labor department, that she wouldn't necessarily advocate on behalf of workers as much as they would like. take a listen to this exchange. >> if you receive a directive to violate appropriations laws and withhold funding funding for workers, what will you do? >> i do not believe the president is going to ask me to break the law 100%. >> i've seen that across the board since he was put into office, where he is violating that law. so he will likely be asked, what will you do? >> well, it's a hypothetical. i have not talked to the president on this issue. >> and that's a frequent line of questioning that we've seen throughout this confirmation process. depending on which issue we're talking about or which nominee we're talking about, where democrats pressed the nominee, if the president asked you to do something that you felt violated the constitution, would you still do it? and that exchange is important, christina, because the there is the possibility that she doesn't have enough

republican votes alone to win confirmation, and that there may be some democrats who are pro-union that are willing to support her nomination and get her over the finish line if they don't feel comfortable that she'd be willing to stand up to trump at times where he may ask her to break the law. that could be enough to prevent democrats from voting yes for her as well. >> yeah, i also feel like that phrase i'm not going to answer a hypothetical is a long standing tradition across the board here in washington. brendan, i want to ask you, though, it's a little bit like that sesame street segment. one of these things is not like the other. her profile doesn't really fit into what we've seen from other nominees. my dumb question for you is just where did she come from? how did she get into this circle? and do you think she'll get confirmed by republicans and get to the senate floor? >> well, that's a great framing. i think she's a extremely interesting nominee and perhaps one of the lower profile ones, but i think it's a real interesting political test for both parties, really. she comes from the centrist wing of the republican party. mostly because

she has been pro-union in a way that even five years ago you would have never believed. but trump has tried to remake the party as the party of the working people. and as we know, he has courted unions and quite successfully, and rank and file union members have been very supportive of him. so in some ways, it's not surprising that donald trump himself wants to remake the image of a republican labor secretary as being more pro-union. but there are so many republican senators who have for years fought against anything that was pro-union. and so it's an interesting test. do other republican senators want to go along with this new version of the republican party that donald trump has created? you have people like josh hawley who said they want to be the working men's working people's party. well, let's see how they vote on this. and then on the flip side, for democrats, you're not going to get a more pro-union nominee if she fails. and we have seen, you know, the question of do democrats want to take what they can get, get small wins here and

there, cooperate when maybe they can or are at this point, are they so fed up with donald trump and his antics that they're just going to vote against anybody no matter what? even if the result is this woman cannot get confirmed and the next nominee is much less to your liking. so i think both parties have an interesting calculus that they need to make here. what kind of party do they want to be, and how much are you willing to compromise with donald trump at this point? >> so, congresswoman, what would you do? would you vote for him? should democrats her? excuse me, would you vote for her? should democrats support her based on what brennan was just saying? or should they hold the line and vote against all of these trump nominees? what would you do? >> well, i think what was instructive for me in the during the hearing is that she walked away from the national labor relations board and its independence. she walked away from osha examinations being looked into by elon musk. she walked away from the pro act. she walked away from labor protections for federal workers

and their contracts. and so if you're a democrat, i actually think this is a fairly easy call, because all the things that made her a centrist republican standing with unions and with workers are things that she stepped away from. and there wasn't any indication that she would take on a more activist role for workers in the in the administration or that she would, you know, even challenge either elon musk authority or president trump. and so i'm not convinced at all that her background as a pro-union congresswoman has anything to do with the way that she would behave as secretary of labor. >> okay, ryan, very quickly here on another subject. president trump is insisting on one big, beautiful bill combining budgets with tax cuts and raising the debt ceiling. but that's not what the senate is doing, though, right, christina? >> the senate had plans as soon

as tomorrow to begin the process of voting on their budget resolution, which in many ways would have set up a showdown with the house over their budget plan. the senate version is a much slimmed down version of the budget that would offer up more funding for the military, and in particular, would give donald trump immediate funding to execute his agenda as it relates to the border. but donald trump basically pulled the rug out from underneath him during this plan by posting on his social media platform this morning that he prefers encompassing all of his agenda items into one reconciliation package. and that would include an extension or even even more tax cuts that went back to the 2017 tax cuts. republicans just think it's going to be very difficult to pass all of those in one bill immediately, and that's why they want to get the more popular agenda items off the floor as quickly as possible. one thing, though, christina, that is just really almost shocking still, at this stage of covering donald trump is that john thune, the senate majority leader, told us today he had no idea that donald trump was planning to blow this

process up via his social media this morning, he said it was news to him when he saw the president's position on this. the vice president is going to join republicans today for their senate lunch to kind of hash out a path forward. but it's clear that the white house, the house of representatives and the senate are not on the same page when it comes to this reconciliation package, and it is the most important agenda item for donald trump. christina. >> all right. ryan nobles, brendan buck and donna edwards, thank you all so much for joining us. and coming up, deadly cold snap, bitter weather gripping parts of the us. we'll have a live report from texas where they're facing extreme where they're facing extreme conditions. you're home. it's where we do the things we love with the people we love. celebrating, sharing—living. so why should aging mean we have to leave that in the past? what if we lived tomorrow in the same place as we did yesterday? what if we stayed home instead? with help, we can.

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time to shine. get paycom and make the unnecessary unnecessary. breaking news from capitol hill where the senate has just voted to confirm kelly loeffler as the next head of the small business administration. the final senate vote was 52 to 46. she's known as a strong trump ally and has questioned his loss in the 2020 presidential race. now from the mississippi river valley to the atlantic coast, 44 million people are under winter weather alerts today as a big winter storm moves east. after blanketing parts of southern kansas and missouri with a foot of snow. that storm now is barreling through kentucky towards the virginia coast and even the carolinas. while most areas can expect about 3 to 6in the virginia beach area could see a very rare ten inches of snow. and in north texas, bitter

cold wind chills could pull the feels-like temperature down to as low as -12 degrees. joining us now from dallas fort worth, nbc news correspondent priscilla thompson. all right, priscilla, i went to the fort worth side of that city for college. and i got to tell you, any sign of snow or frost that the lovely, amazing people of that city don't really deal with this a lot. they're not used to this kind of cold. have officials prepared residents for what could be coming their way? yeah. >> christina. >> you. >> are absolutely correct. i will tell you. my weather app tells me it's about 22 degrees right now, but it feels more like four degrees out here. this is unlike weather that we are used to getting here in texas. but officials and residents have been preparing. officials have really emphasized the four p's so people, pets, pipes and plants. and so they want people and pets inside staying warm. they've opened several warming centers here. there are also some expected to open in houston in a different part of the state

later on today. so hoping that folks will stay inside. we've seen the plants covered and also reminding people to let those pipes drip so that they don't get those freezing pipes. now you can see there are a lot of folks out on the roads behind me. there was a concern overnight that there might be some freezing rain that would fall that could potentially lead to ice on the roadways, but we haven't seen any major crashes, and it doesn't appear like that's a big issue, which is good news for texans who are not used to driving in those kinds of wintry conditions. so for now, it's really just dealing with this really cold weather. and i will say though, that is not the case at the airport. we did see a ground stop for a short while earlier today, as they were working to de-ice planes, so that deicing does seem to be slowing things down a bit at the airport here in dallas, but otherwise it appears to be smooth sailing. just folks trying to get through the cold weather. there are about 20,000 people without power, but we aren't seeing major widespread outages. you may remember in 2021 during that winter freeze,

the power grid effectively collapsed. there were tons of people here without power. people lost their lives without heat in this cold weather. but the good news is, they are saying that there is going to be high demand on the grid, but they do expect the electrical grid here to hold. christina. >> that's that's really good to hear. i also like the four p's. i'm going to try to remember that even here in d.c. can you tell us really quick what is the forecast looking like tonight? is it expected to be as bad as it could be, and could there be actual, legitimate snow there tomorrow? >> so there is the possibility that certain areas could see some lake effect snow, but right now it looks like it's just going to be a dusting. nothing that's going to actually stick. so again, hoping that it won't impede travel on the roadways and create issues for folks. and i will also say that the city has been out all day yesterday. they're out again today, salting the roads just protectively in anticipation of what could come. >> all right, priscilla thompson, thank you. please go get warm. and that does it for us. thanks to the team for having me. thank you for

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watch live breaking news and analysis anytime, anywhere. go beyond the what? to understand the why. download the msnbc app now. >> donald trump is defending the mass firings of federal watchdogs. >> our federal. >> government now. >> can discriminate against the citizens of the country. >> we are. >> all. >> watching and. >> waiting to see. >> who is going to hold the line. >> don't miss the weekends. >> saturday, and sunday mornings at. >> eight. >> on msnbc. >> hey there everyone, i'm alex witt in for chris jansing. taking sides president trump embraces vladimir putin's narrative. >> with a verbal. >> assault on ukraine's battleworn leader, falsely accusing him of being a dictator wi