we will go to allie raffa. welcome to you. what can you tell us about trump's pick, kash patel?reporter: you heard in the intro those lawmakers and their mixed reaction to this news that the president-elect has picked kash patel to lead the fbi. that's because of his controversial past comments and positions. you will remember he has long pushed conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. he called for the purging of leadership of multiple agencies. he called for the closure of the fbi headquarters in washington, d.c. he made no secret of his goals if he is confirmed to this position to lead the fbi. one thing standing in his way is the current fbi director, chris wray, who was appointed during the first trump administration and is seven years into a ten-year term. that's something that is standing in his way and something that's clearly a message from the president-elect to wray who has to decide whether to resign from his post or wait until the president-elect is inaugurated in january to be fired from that position. nbc news has reported egs ed ts preparing for the latter. a

nbc news white house correspondent allie raffa. >>> some breaking news.are apology from russian president vladimir putin to the president over what he called the tragic plane crash on christmas day. nbc's megan fitzgerald following this from london. good day to you. this was an apology, but he never took responsibility for the plane crash that we had been covering. what is to make of this? >> reporter: look, that is rare to see president putin acknowledging and making an apology here and certainly shocking. as you rightfully mentioned, he stopped short of taking responsibility for the crash and released a statement saying that he called the crash a tragic incident that occurred in russian airspace and the statement goes on to talk about the russian city where this aircraft was heading. it says that it was under heavy drone attacks by ukrainians and that the russians were trying to fan off the attacks that were coming in. that timeline is in line with nbc news reporting from two military sources who said and i want to read that intelligence suggests that r

. >> joining us now nbc's allie raffa from west palm beach and annie carney, congressional correspondentnew york times." how does trump world feel about elon musk's role in this, how are they seeing his involvement? >> reporter: we reached out to the trump team for reaction to the news of this new vote this morning and elon musk's role in all this, especially since we saw that revised spnding bill failed to past, the bill that had support from the president-elect and musk. we're seeing reaction from elon musk. he's repeatedly posted on x, essentially encouraging republicans to read every word of whatever bill is put on the table. the reaction from the president-elect has been a spin on these events. he posted on truth social this morning, quote, if there's going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now under the biden administration. this is a biden problem to solve. if republicans can help solve it, they will. ana, what's making this job more difficult for republicans is what the president-elect called for in another post on truth social, calling for the debt ceiling to be exten

. >>> let's go right now to allie raffa joining us from west palm beach, florida.t level was donald trump at this and how lawmakers were reacting to his input? >> yeah, we talked last hour about the input of the 11th hour by president-elect trump as well as elon musk, what they had on the evolution of this funding bill and how it eventually got across the finish line. as you heard julie mention, one key ingredient that president- elect trump has been including about the debt ceiling was really not included in the final version of this bill. we know that the way he influenced elon musk and how lawmakers cut hundreds of pages of legislation from this bill that eventually did pass, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were expressing anger and frustration with the level of involvement and influence that elon musk was having throughout this whole process. making note of the fact he is not an elected official. especially making note of his threat on social media to find primarily that my primary challenges to those who didn't support the version of the bill he supported

allie raffa is in w west palm beach near the president-elect's mar-a-lago home with more. good morning. >> reporter: hallie, good morning. president-elect trump's pick of hard-line loyalist kash patel to lead the fbi sets up arguably the steepest path to senate confirmation of all his choices so far, given patel's long time push of conspiracy theories and calls to purge the leadership of multiple government agencies including the one he's been tapped to lead. the president-elect in this announcement saying patel will bring back fidelity, bravery and integrity to the fbi. the pick underscoring mr. trump's dislike of current fbi director whom he appointed, chris wray, whose term isn't set to end until 2027. he led the effort to search the president's mar-a-lago home for classified documents in 2022, a move mr. trump argues was politically motivated. the fbi reacting to the patel news in a statement saying, director wray's focus remains on the men and women of the fbi, the people we do the work with, and the people we do the work for. mr. trump's announcement coming just hour

allie raffa is with the president-elect in florida. >> reporter: president-elect nominated kash patel to lead the fbi. >> he represents the change we need to see. >> i will vote no. i will organize not just my colleagues but the american public. >> reporter: patel says he will protect the american people. >> i am honored to be here and support donald trump. >> reporter: despitite holding several positions in the first trump administration, patel is facing criticism for a lack of experience as well as his positions. >> we will go out and find the conspirators. >> i would shut down the fbi hoover building on day one and reopen the next day as a museum of the deep state. >> reporter: mr. trump's pick underscoring his dislike for the current fbi director who he appointed, chris wray, whose term isn't set to end until 2027. >> apparently, he has demonstrated too much the independence and objectivity in the job for donald trump. >> reporter: wray faced with the choice to either resign or wait to be fired. the fbi reacting in a statement saying, director wray's focus is on the men d women of

allie raffa has the latest from the white house. >> at long last, the tree -- assad regime has fallenction in syria. smack yesterday u.s. forces conducted dozens of precision strikes. >> reporter: those strikes hitting more than 75 basis targets including camps, leaders and operatives. the white house hoping to prevent a resurgence by the terror group in the region. >> isis will try to take advantage. we will not let that happen. >> reporter: the president committed to protecting the roughly 900 u.s. troops he says will remain in the country while offering a blueprint for future u.s. support. speck i will sensing your officials for my administration to the region, as well, to establish a transition away from the assad regime. >> the president is expressing cautious optimism . >> it is a moment, a historic opportunity. >> reporter: the country's future is still uncertain, acknowledging the connection between rebels and terrorist groups. >> make no mistake. some of the rebel groups that took down assad for their own record of terrorism . >> reporter: mr. biden also committing to securin

joe. >> allie raffa in florida. thank you. >>> now to overseas where one of the last hospitals operating in gaza. we have hala gorani with more. >> reporter: good morning, vicky. israeli forces raid the last remaining medical complex in the northern part of the enclave. they forced the evacuation of the remaining doctors and staff and set fire to parts of the facility. video posted online shows men stripped of their clothing with their hands up being marched out of the building you see there with doctors warning that vulnerable patients could die if evacuated without proper care. the israeli government claims the hospital was used as a terrorist center. it didn't provide evidence of this and their forces have been active in that area for well over a year, vicky. >> hala, the israeli military is taking on houthi rebels in yemen. what is happening there? >> reporter: these are the iran-backed houthi. they launched more rockets toward israel in the last few days. israel has infrastructure sites in yemen and including t

. >> allie raffa, thank you,allie. >> i'll talk to one of his aides and whether she agrees. we're back in 90 seconds. she ags we're back in 90 seconds with clearer skin. with tremfya®, most people saw 100% clear skin... ...that stayed clear, even at 5 years. serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections may occur. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms or if you need a vaccine. emerge with clear skin. ask your doctor about tremfya®. ♪♪ prilosec knows, for a fire... one fire extinguisher beats 10 buckets of water, and for zero heartburn 1 prilosec a day... beats taking up to 10 antacids a day. it's that simple, for 24 hour heartburn relief... one beats ten. prilosec otc. ♪ who knows what tomorrow will bring ♪ (dog whines) ♪ but as for me ♪ (knock at door) ♪ i'll wait and see ♪ ♪ and maybe it'll bring my love to me ♪ ♪ who knows ♪ ♪ who knows ♪ >>> with just over three weeks left in president biden's single-term sidency a new article shares his regrets of his time in offic

joining us now from the white house, nbc news correspondent allie raffa.nts? >> reporter: good morning. the national security council reacted to this major development overnight saying that president biden and his team are closely monitoring the events in syria and staying in constant touch with regional partners. now, u.s. officials have been repeatedly asked about this worsening crisis in syria over the last week since rebel forces seized the country's second largest city of aleppo, kicking off this record-fast takeover you mentioned. and they issued caution when predicting if and when president assad's regime would fall, saying it is impossible to tell when it would happen, and how the upheaval would impact the u.s.' footprint in syria. remember, the u.s. has about 900 troops stationed in northern syria to counter isis activity. and in recent days, obviously it became clearer that this takeover could eventually happen. now, just yesterday, before rebel forces took over the capital of damascus, national security adviser jake sullivan made clear how the u

. >>> now let's head over to allie raffa, so how much did trump influence discussions that led to the passage of last night funding bill and why haven't we heard from trump today? >> alex, it's interesting because we are hearing from president-elect trump, just notably, not about this funding bill that has now been signed by president biden in which notably as you heard julie mentioned, does not include that key demand from the president-elect about the debt ceiling. we know the president-elect just returned to mar-a-lago after he was at a golf course most of the day, and he has been active on his true social platform announcing new pics to join his administration. but what we are hearing reaction from, specifically to the passage of this funding bill is elon musk who we know played such an influence in a big role about how long it took to get this bill across the finish line. he posted in part, your actions turned a bill that weighed pounds, into a bill that weighed ounces, and the actions he's referring to, alex, are the cutting of hundreds of pages of policy from this eventual bill

nbc white house correspondent allie raffa joins us from west palm beach, florida.ith high-ranking canadian officials at mar-a- lago. what was that about? >> rter: chstina, apologies in advance for the background noise as we have some friends power washing nearby but as you may remember we saw late last month president-elect trump meeting with canadian prime minister justin trudeau at his mar-a- lago estate about the 25% tariff on his first day in office on products from canada and mexico, unless the two countries took action to curb the blowup undocumented migrants as well as illegal drops dropping across their borders. the prime minister calling it a productive meeting, though not signaling if any agreement was reached and we are learning about the part two of that conversation. top canadian officials went to mar-a-lago to meet with the president-elect's picks to run the department of congress and the interior respectively and canadian officials say this was a productive meeting, that they shared their concerns about the tariff threat and about their plans to curb

let's go to nbc news white house correspondent allie raffa.ceiving these pardons? >> reporter: we knew that president biden was listening to advocates on specific cases. the white house is announcing that president biden, as you mentioned, is commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people who the white house says was placed under home confinement during covid and have all reintegrated into their communities and their families. the president pardoning 39 people convicted of nonviolent crimes, that includes drug offenses. we don't know too much about the specific cases except for that the white house says it includes a list of veterans, health care professionals, as well as teachers. the president says many of them would have received lower sentences if they had been tried in today's courts. he adds in a statement, quote, america was built on the promise of possibility and second chances and ana, the president says his administration is going to continue reviewing these clemency cases in his remaining 39 days in office. remember, we're still wai

. >> okay, lots to keep track of, thank you so much, allie raffa.n just a few minutes, we are going to take a closer look at the impact kash patel can make on the department of justice, including the intelligence community. >>> meantime, the major storm system that is sitting at the northern plains, midwest, great lakes. right now, about 7 million people are under weather alerts, including frigid lake effect snow warnings, with some adviser is expected to continue into tuesday, and even more experiencing some of the coldest temperatures since last winter. abc's george scully is no stranger to this as he is in orchard park, new york where snow has blanketed the buffalo bills stadium ahead of tonight's game against the san francisco 49ers. george, is there any indication that the snow is easing up there, and i'm curious how determined the fans are to see this game, even in these extraordinary conditions. >> well, if you can tell right now, it is starting to pick up again, and that is the lake effect that is going to continue dropping some snow here in

allie raffa is in washington for us and matt bradley is in beirut. matt, let me begin with you. what is the latest now and what do we know about rebel forces that have taken control of damascus? >> reporter: with astonishing speed, kate. i don't think the rebels knew they were going to quite successful. now things are moving fast still. we're seeing the appointment of a new prime minister, a man who was the prime minister of the area that hgs controlled in northwestern syria based. it was from there they launched their lightning dash across western syria and took damascus in short order. this new prime minister, he peacefully is taking over the leadership of the country from a prime minister appointed by bashar. only a couple months ago both men were seen speaking with -- he is the man in control of hts, the group that led the charge. now we're seeing this new prime minister. he's making all the right noises about inclusion, about allowing for a different sex and different ethnicities in syria. it's something a lot of minority groups were all worried about. previously it was a f

we are going to go now to nbc's allie raffa at the white house were president biden gave his wrist comments on syria today. on those remarks, what stood out to you the most? >> reporter: hopeful, but cautiously optimistic tone. i can hear you, can you hear me? okay, he struck a very hopeful, but cautiously optimistic tone essentially, christina, saying that he would ensure that the syrians are the ones forging their own future here after this news, but essentially saying that the u.s. can provide a helping hand in doing so. listen to some of his comments here. >> we will help stability, insurance stability in eastern syria, protecting any personnel , our personnel, against any threats. and remain our mission against i.s.i.s. , maintained, including the security of detention facilities were i.s.i.s. fighters are being held as prisoners. we are clear eyed about the fact that i.s.i.s. will try to take advantage of any vacuum to re-establish its capability and to create a safe haven. we will not let that happen. >> reporter: and christina, we are learning in just the last few minutes of new act