i am ari melber.lity tv or the demise of everything we're doing at ari@msnbc.com, feel free. "hardball" starts right now. >>> first family feud. let's play "hardball." >>> good evening. i'm joy reid in tonight for chris matthews. once upon a time, bill clinton and donald trump were friends, or at least friendly. they golfed together, trump donated money to the clinton foundation, he defended bill clinton in the press. bill and hillary were even guests at trump's third wedding to melania. then came an election where donald trump attacked hillary clinton as crooked, dishonest, unstable, unhinged, a criminal, a nasty woman, and oh, yeah, the devil. he also paraded out a series

stand by, ari. i want to get mark in on this. >> we were talking about this earlier today. >> readout from the trump campaign change anything from what you're seeing? >> no, not at all. it basically backs up what the pakistani government has sent out today. david said earlier today, and i think he's right, there's a level of nicety that you have during these diplomatic calls. donald trump seemed to go way overboard in his niceties, especially between india and pakistan. donald trump is also making nice with russia which has been, you know, one of our biggest -- i don't want to call him an enemy but certainly a country that we had a deal with at a level that the u.s. would prefer not to deal with in many ways. so the bottom line, you know, at this point i think is that donald trump is trying to be friends with everybody. he does need to get the state department briefings. and quite frankly, in the end, donald trump really does, as david said, i'm going back to david here quite a bit here, he wants so

narrator: : ari seirlis'' sloga- "b"buckle up, we don'n't want nw members."rticularly persuasive e about distracted driving, esespecially because of celell phones. ari: why did i make that callll baback to the office, and here'm lyiing with a broken neck ''caue i got i into a crrash 'cause i t distractcted, and i i had a cra? was it worth making the call? the answer's no. narrator: it's estimated that through loss of earnings and direct costs to the government, south africicloses 10% % of its gdgdeach year to road crarashes. ari: if you become spinal cord injured in south africa, and you have no resources, you become completely dependent on the state. it's gonna cost the state millions. who funds the state? the taxpayers. second of all, if you're working, and you participapate in distracted drivining, and you d don't uuser seatbelt, and you crash, you now can't go back to the workplace. the country cannot afford this amount of road crashes. we've got to stop it somehow. [mususic] narrator: south africa's rate of road fatalities is the second highest in africa

ari melber picks up our coverage right now. >>> good evening to you. i'm ari melber. 6:00 p.m. on the east coast. you're watching "msnbc live." making it official, the electoral college putting donald trump over the threshold. also tonight, reports that donald trump will keep a private security force. this is even after he becomes president. this is a weird one. we'll get into it with a former secret service agent. >>> and those deadly attacks overseas. a truck plows into a christmas market in germany. and the russian ambassador assassinated in turkey at point-blank range. >>> we begin with our political story, though. today, they made it official. donald trump has won electors to win the electoral college. the votes coming from those 538 members of the electoral college and trump crossing the 270-vote threshold, just moments ago, when texas voted. let's be clear, this is a final constitutional victory over the never-trumpers who have been bran storming different ways to stop trump since back in the republican primary. you remember all of that delegate chatter. and then, of cou

ari melber picks up our coverage right now. >>> hello, i'm ari melber. 6:00 p.m. on the east coast this friday evening and you're watching msnbc live. president obama comes out swinging in the last press conference of the year, revealing what he told putin after the election hack and smacking down russia as, quote, the weaker country. hillary clinton behind closed doors, meanwhile, lashing out at the russian president as well, saying it was a, quote, personal beef that led to this hack. also, the president offering some tough love to his own party about how to win back the white house. >>> now, folks, there is a last time for everything. today was president obama's last scheduled press conference, a rite of passage in every white house holiday season. but there was very little holiday cheer today. the president was peppered with questions about the russian hacking. he defended his administration's response and offered a stern warning to russia that the u.s. would continue responding. the president's most emphatic moment, though, clearly came in what we saw as an i

or ari melber is here on the sate. gabe, let me start with you, how did the judge respond from those two things. >> reporter: hi there, thomas, you mentioned a lot of activities here the last few minutes. the jury is coming back in the courtroom now sending two notes ready in court. the first thing they were asking for, the by stander of the shot that went viral that got this case into the national spotlight. they wanted to hear the statement again. the judge coming back and saying that it is a different court reporter that cannot generate a transcript right away, they had to go back to the courtroom to hear the audio. that's what's happening now. the jury said at 1:12 p.m., they sent a note saying they could not reach a consensus. that's what we are looking and hoping to learn more about now and what happens in these types of cases that the judge may tell them to go back to deliberations and not let them reaching consensus. however, they still cannot reach consensus going back to the operation is. that raises a possib

thank you. >> thank you, ari. great the be with you. >> ahead something this only happens on this show literally once a year. esurance does auto insurance a smarter way. like their photo claims tool. it helps settle your claim quickly, which saves time, which saves money. and when they save, you save. that's auto and home insurance for the modern world. esurance, an allstate company. click or call. esurance does insurance a smarter way, which saves money. like bundling home and auto coverage, which reduces red tape, which saves money. and when they save, you save. that's home and auto insurance for the modern world. esurance, an allstate company. click or call. >>> 'tis the soap for people on cable television to make predictions for the future. although i did spend much of my day imploring the magic eight ball in the office for what's ahead, i have only one prediction for you guys. we have a ton more news tonight. that is true. we have great people to talk to, always true on this show and the ranking democrat on t

>> hold off, ari. attorneys rise as we believe the jury is entering the room so hold up on reading the note for now. only because i'm hearing we don't have audio from the courtroom at this point. let's listen in because we just got that audio. listen. >> the latest saying, yes, we are at a deadlock. is that correct? under our law, section 1471330 provides that when a jury returns a second time without having agreed on a verdict, the trial judge cannot send the jurors out again without the jurors' consent, unless the jurors request for further explanation of the law. do you believe that that was serving a useful purpose? >> i do. >> do you believe that further explanation of the law will result in the jury being able to reach a verdict, or do you believe that the jury is hopelessly deadlocked? >> i believe an explanation of the law. would help us reach the unanimous verdict. >> all right. i ask you to go to the jury room as i confer with counsel and have you come back. >> thank you. >> so the judge expl

>> great to be with you, ari. as you just said, what links them is a piece of malware, which crowd strike calls x agent. and crowd strike says this was developed by a group they call fancy bear. the source code of this is not public, so only fancy bear uses this. crowd source believes that fancy bear is the russian intelligence agency, the gru. and back when they announced that the dnc had been hacked and fancy bear was one of the groups that hacked it, crowd source only had a medium level of confidence that fancy bear was the russian military agency. today's research shows crowd source's research that fancy bear used this particular malware to target ukrainian soldiers, who were fighting russian-backed spra russian-backed separatesrists backs in 2004 -- >> this is getting a little confusing. so you're saying the same revolver is being used in two separate crimes, more or less? >> that's a great way to put it. and specifically, these ukrainian guys were downloading an app on to their phones to allow them to better

ari melber picks up our coverage in three seconds. >>> hello. i'm ari melber. 6:00 p.m. on the east coast. you're watching msnbc live. and it's a crude awakening. donald trump's oil man for secretary of state, already getting a chilly reception from even republicans. also, the fight for the future of the democratic party, a new candidate could turn the dnc into a battle between allies of president obama and bernie sanders. also, trump's bait and switch with the media, from late-night tweets to many shiny distractions, what should reporters do when a fact check fails to shame this particular politician? all of that this hour. donald trump, though, we begin with the story that donald trump isn't known for diplomacy and neither is his new pick for top diplomat. rex tillerson spent his career at exxonmobil. he's never conducted foreign affairs, but he's now trump's pick to be secretary of state, and it's tillerson's perhaps most notorious foreign relationship, a long-standing business set of dealings with vladimir putin that has many lawmakers throwing cold water today. repu

i'm ari melber in for rachel maddow.t was on this day when bill clinton had 23 days left as president and being the ambitious type on this day he told folks he was still working on one thing to do before leaving office. and that was peace in the middle east. clearly that's a topic that tends to arise at the end of some administrations. and on this day in 2000 it wasn't going well. >> a final push in the last weeks of clinton's presidency, but clinton's demand that israel and the palestinians agree in principle to his peace proposal hits a wall. at the white house today, president clinton clearly frustrated. >> we're all operating under a deadline. just some of us know what our deadline is. both sides know exactly what i mean and they know exactly what they still have to do. >> now, that december there was also a president-elect, of course, and that george h.w. bush was announcing his pick for defense secretary, donald rumsfeld. was asked about president clinton's mideast effort. here's how bush used his voice to discuss

the rachel maddow show starts right now with my friend ari melber in for rachel. maybe you're lucky enough to coming off a long weekend. maybe you hosted some family, maybe you went on a trip, maybe you engaged in cherished holiday tradition just like president-elect donald trump does. for 20 years he spent the holiday at his golf club in florida, although it's a little different for the residents of palm beach. >> along with trump's visits will come the road closures and tightened security each time the president-elect lands. there will be some delays in the sky and on the ground around his mar-a-lago estate. the coast guard is restricting boat traffic on the intracoastal terwaynd on the ocean. traffic will also b restricted if he decides to leave the property during the five or so days that trump was here for thanksgiving, pbso racked up a bill of about a quarter of a million dollars. the sheriff tells us that he is looking to recuperate that money from the feds, but one thing is for sure. it is likely that this price tag for this vacation will be much larger si

ward, thanks for joining us for the interview. >> thanks, ari. it's great to be with you. >> what is the plan? >> well, as you said, democrats are preparing to fight back. this is the first time that democrats have come together to have a comprehensive strategy focused on redistricting. and how we can make sure democrats are at the table as decisions are being made and that we have a level playing field on which democrats can compete. it's also the first time that we have had an entity within the democratic party solely focused on redistricting. meaning, we're pulling together all of the different house and senate and legislative leaders of our party, but we, the national democratic redistricting committee, will be solely focused on our redistricting strategy a hundred% of the time from now through the redistricting process. >> and how is president obama involved in this? >> well, as your previous clip showed, he is very committed to rebuilding the party from the ground up and that includes the local races, the legislative races, it also includes

kathy: happening now, milwaukee police ary bottom of a reported sexual assault near a south side park and school. police say a young teenage girl reported she was attacked near clement and warnimont. nick, so far police don't have a

let me go back to our ari melber who's still with us. everyone remembers this case because of that video. the video seemed on its face so clear. it looked like a man being shot in the back who had not done much wrong. it is obviously much more complicated for the jury. do we know what's hanging them up? >> i do think this case is different. we covered many cases where we say there is a lot and we've to learn. this video was so dramatic, you had a lot from the citizen view and not a police view. that's the dash camera running. he's clear off and running, that's the dashcam. this is a citizen video and mr. scott estimated 15 or 20 feet away shot him in the back and on the plain fact that looks like a crime and not legally justify use of force. you see there, the drawing and the shooting, that's the key. the distance that you see, what we do know that the jury was asking questions about the man slaughter charge and not the serious charge of murder. what we know of the last hour was the jury telling the judge that they cannot reach a consens

i believe we're joined now by ari melber. ari, i want to run this by you. i was just listening to chris stewart, the lawyer there. he made reference to a federal case, and he made reference to the solicitor is going to have another case. he was making reference to two more trials. is this news here? has he officially been told, do we know, that there's going to be another trial or two? >> two more trials are possible. here is why. this trial ends in a hung jury, a mistrial. so that is neither a finding of not guilty, which would release officer slager of these charges, nor obviously a finding of guilty, which is why the family members and other advocates are registering their concern. so there is an expectation, we don't know yet, that there could be a retrial of this case. that does often happen in significant cases that end in a hung jury because it is such a lack of resolution. but it is certainly too fast at this early hour to hear that kind of formal announcement from prosecutors. in a sense, they will be doing what the community and what journalists a

ari melber picks up our coverage right now from new york. >>> hello, i'm ari melber. 6:00 p.m. on the east coast. you are watching "msnbc live." bipartisan blowback from trump as calls grow louder for a real investigation into the russian election hack. will congress also probe trump's financial ties in russia? also, trump won the electoral college, but they have not actually voted for him yet. today the clinton campaign joining calls for electors to learn more intelligence about russian espionage before they formally lock america into four years of trump. also, how real is the trump rally on wall street? and is the president-elect picking winners and losers, all with the stroke of a tweet. we begin with the top story in washington today, which is also obviously the top story in moscow. leaks that the cia determined russia not only hacked american interests, which was nobody, but that the kremlin's specific goal was to elect donald trump. this is a story that is bigger than partisan politics, because if our adversaries can effectively distort american elections, it's bad for am

. >> thank you, ari. despite everything i said, happy new year. >> yes, let's all have a happy new year. preciateour time very much. what do i want to tell you about next? well, president obama says he would have won had he been able to run against donald trump. this is a topic, as i mentioned, that he's priing up, which itself is kind of politically interesting other than the fact he wasn't able to run against mr. trump. advice for democrats on how to win again when he's not on the ballot. >>> a time pore patience is long gone. we're calling on the leadership of the house to bring common sense gun control legislation to the house floor. give us a vote. let us vote. we came here to do our job. we came here to work. >> congressman john lewis there on the house floor. that was back in june. shortly after that speech congressman lewis and other house democrats sat down on the floor of the house chamber. you may remember this. they said they wouldn't leave until they got that vote on gun legislation. then jus

thank you, i want to thank ari and bill as well.s possible that these family members may come on camera. dylann roof found guilty on all 33 charges against him. hate crime and now he faces the death penalty. we'll be right back. asmy family tree,ing i discovered a woman named marianne gaspard... it was her french name. then she came to louisiana as a slave. i became curious where in africa she was from. so i took the ancestry dna test to find out more about my african roots. the ancestry dna results were really specific. they told me all of these places in west africa. i feel really proud of my lineage, and i feel really proud of my ancestry. ancestry has many paths to discovering your story, get started for free at ancestry.com but i keep it growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on all of my purchasing. and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business... which adds fuel to my bott

. >> thank you, ari.pite everything i said, happy new year. >> yes, let's all have a happy new year. appreciate your time very much. what do i want to tell you about next? well, president obama says he would have won had he been able to run against donald trump. this is a topic, as i mentioned, that he's priing up, which itself is kind of politically interesting other than the fact he wasn't able to run against mr. trump. advice for democrats on how to win again when he's not on the ballot. the same never quit attitude. that's why i asked his doctor about once-a-day namzaric. (avo) namzaric is approved for moderate to severe alzheimer's disease in patients who are taking donepezil. it may improve cognition and overall function, and may slow the worsening of symptoms for a while. namzaric does not change the underlying disease progression. don't take if allergic to memantine, donepezil, piperidine or any of the ingredients in namzaric. tell the doctor about any conditions including heart, lung, bladder, ki

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ari melber picks up our coverage right now. >>> hello i'm ari melber. it's 6:00 p.m. on the east coast. you're watching msnbc live. and tonight donald trump on a victory tour of states he won. and big news about the job rudy giuliani won't be getting. and mass murderer confesses. dramatic video of dylann roof's confession played today at his murder trial. and there's no such thing as a lame-duck president when it comes to foreign affairs. president obama coming out swing at russia on those plots to hack the u.s. election. and why the president is demanding answers before he leaves off. we begin with donald trump and a thank you tour that's shaping up as more of a thank me tour. today donald trump is holding rallies in swing states he won like michigan and louisiana. weal show you some of what he says in a minute. but first, for context on just how bizarre this tour is when you think about it, consider the pledge that donald trump made on election night. >> now it's time for american to bind the wounds of division. we have to get together. to all republicans and democr

it was at that moment when dylann roof told her to shut up, ari.today. with her testimony, the prosecution book ended their case. you'll remember, they started this trial by hearing from another survivor. and now with poly's testimony, they ended their presentation. then judge asked dylann roof to come forward. he specified he did not want to testify on his own behalf. when the defense rested. and you know, i was just on the been to the father of the 26-year-old who died that night at the church. and he said one of the hardest things being in that courtroom today was that dylann roof showed no emotion. he said it is frustrating because it seem like he does not care. tomorrow, it is set to begin at 9:30 in the morning. then jury will begin deliberating. it remains to be seen whether dylann roof will represent himself for the sentencing phase. because he still has one of the best known death penalty attorneys working for him right now. but he changed his mind before so we'll have to wait and see what happens in this next phase of the trial. >> that's

>> ari, walk us through this. there are alarming statistics.n total have been killed by gunfire? more importantly, what are some steps or training departments are taking to protect officers going forward. >> the faces on the screen are the 64 people. these are all fatally wounded by gunfire this year, kille by gunfire. there are several morehat died in other forms of policing or car accidents. to your question of training, one thing that was pointed out was that more folks have had their lives saved because of advances in medical technology and response time. so, as compared to decades ago, if anything, the threat looks especially high because individuals that would have previously died have probably had their lives saved. that's a point craig floyd, the ceo of the law enforcement memorial fund. the training also goes to de-escalation tactics, which is something everyone can agree on in theory, the idea that when you can isolate or slow down a situation rather than turning to escalation, the use of force or deadly force, that's better for citiz

a ari melber is in for rachel. >> the tipping point is 18 months ago when there was an 18-week training exercise in the american southwest. the idea was for green beres and special operations troops to train in different kinds of terrain, that they might find themselves in overseas. that was the official stated purpose of jade helm. but on conspiracy theorist websites, it was a martial law takeover of texas and maybe other states. jade helm was the military setting up prison camps for american citizens and also something to do with aliens hiding underground. jade helm was all about a network of underground tunnels with mysteriously closed down walmarts. the tunnels went into deep military bases, dums for short. you can see the network of underground walmart tunnels where the chinese troops would set up their headquarters or stash all of the texas patriot guns after the jade helm troops helped take them away. whatever it was, folks, it was all in the maps. >> there are maps circulating that show deep underground bases in the united states and maps circulating that show tunnels that conne

we'll have more on north carolina with ari berman later in the broadcast. the united nations security council is set to vote today on whether to immediately deploy u.n. monitors to aleppo, amid a chaotic evacuation of the eastern part of the city, which was seized by russian-backed syrian government forces last week. the fall of eastern aleppo, which had been controlled by anti-government rebels, represents a major turning point in the five-year civil war. humanitarian aid organizations have warned of a slaughter of civilians, and france has argued for the deployment of u.n. monitors in order to avoid a new srebrenica. late sunday night, the evacuations from aleppo resumed after being halted when a series of buses used to transport civilians out of two government held towns in idlib were set on fire. in yemen, a suicide bomb attack in the southern port city of aden killed 48 people and wounded 84 more sunday. the attack near a military base targeted a gathering of yemeni security officers, and the majority of those killed were yemeni soldiers who were waiti

ari berman?> i i think this is a disisturg eview ofof what we're going to see and trump's america. i believe the president-elect has very little regard foror democracy,y, whether i it is a y election or a free press falls up we are seeing this play out right now in north carolina with the legigislature brazenly ignoe the will of the people in the prevented those very people from being able to protest in a nonviolent manner. what are people supposed to do when you elect someone and the person you elected is stripped of his power by people who were illegally elected in violation of the voting rights act? you have to wonder, what recourse do we as citizens have? it is externally disturbing. amy: let's turn to a resident of ststem, nortrth carolina. -- kinstston, north carolinana. quick it is disappointing to see. if this is a special session, what is supppposed to bebout relief, thenen why are we stilll here?? ththe politicians in raleieigh e treating floodod victimms like a pawn and i i am m not yo

back to you ari. >> thank you, and stay safe. we look at the unfolding draw between the u.s. and russia and vladimir of getting his first public response from donald trump and what are the new sanctions after the inauguration day. that's straight ahead. >>> welcome back, you are watching msnbc live. first response of donald trump here posted on twitter that he will not retaliate on those sanctions c sanctions, great move on delay, i always knew he was very smart here. >> what do y'all think? >> well, very smart it is. i mean if donald trump says he's smart, he's very smart. >> this is an interesting situation where donald trump is basically kuking foreign affairs and foreign relations with this other country and he's not president yet. >> no, he's not. >> it seems like there is sort of different story lines in this whole, you know what's the u.s. relation with russia because you have barack obama and russia, their relationship and you have donald trump and the current president obama going back and forth of what they're going to do of different administrations and you have co

ari melber with that very powerful report. thank you very much, ari. thanks for watching this hour. ayman mohyeldin. "hardball" starts right now. >>> punishing putin. let's play "hardball." >> good evening. i'm steve kornacki in tonight for chris matthews. president obama struck back at vladimir putin. this afternoon, the white house announcing sweeping new actions to punish russia for what our intelligence agencies conclude is its role in interfering in this year's presidential election. 35 russian diplomats who the president called intelligence operatives were given 72 hours to leave the united states. russian intelligence services were sanctioned, as was the head of one of those intel services and three of his deputies. three companies were also sanctioned. they allegedly provided support to russia's cyberoperations. in addition, two facilitie in the u.s. owned by the russian government are being shut down. in a statement, the president said all americans s

so, joining me now, msnbc chief legal correspondent ari melber and host of the 9:00 a.m.reat to see you. we have most of this from a tweet. donald trump saying his sons will run the businesses along with certain executives. his family will still be involved, stephanie, so how do we make sure there is a proper firewall in place if it's just simply boiled down to a blind trust? >> here's what i'm not going to do, hold my breath waiting for donald trump to explain all of this in any form of a press conference. donald trump is not having a press conference tomorrow. all the information he most likely was going to put out there, he put out there today, which was basically, don jr. and eric, which by no means, and ari can get into this, would be a blind trust, are going to run the company and there won't be any new deals. what there really isn't is an opportunity to ask donald trump about any questions about this. this is the new -- donald trump told matt lauer, i love twitter. it's the best way to get to everyone. it's the best way to get at everyone and share his business, bu

ari helped rebecca become more aware and cut chances about money but rebecca helped ari reach a place with jewish values and the money you give away for the sake of justice. the couple now gives away 20% of their income, something where they went through a process to figure out how to do and it was important for them to do. it does not mean they don't have any conflicts. they still disagree about how to handle inheritance and be in a position of getting a chunk of money from a family member that wants to give it to you and wants you to have it for yourself. carol: trans persons are meeting challenges when it comes to retirement. let's talk about transitioning from a man to a woman or a woman to a man. the medical issues go on but there are economic and financial consequences and you write about that. >> i talked to a lot of transgender people about the experience, not only the medical and emotional experience that what are some of the economic consequences. there are employment issues. there is still a lot of discrimination against trans people so that's one aspect. i also wanted to g

we get more on this tonight from nbc's ari melber. >> reporter: it's been a brutal year for america'se officers. >> tonight, breaking news, dallas police ambush, five killed, seven injured by sniper fire. >> when it came on the news that officers had been shot, i froze. >> reporter: valerie's 32-year-old son patrick was a dallas police officer on duty that horrible night in july. >> they just told me that he had been shot and that he didn't make it. >> reporter: patrick's death, part of a grim nationwide trend. a 56% spike in officers shot and killed, according to new data, 64 officers gunned down in the line of duty this year. 21 of those slain in ambushes. >> did you worry about him when he was on the job? >> of course. as a family, we all worried about our loved ones, especially with everything that's been going on. >> reporter: patrick was a three-time veteran of the iraq war and the father of 3-year-old lincoln. >> tell me about patrick. who was he? >> patrick was a sweet, caring, loveable person. >> reporter: this year, the family christmas tree pays tribute to patrick and the r

let's continue our conversation with former white house press secretary ari fleischer. ari, a lot of republicans are now against trump's threat to tax companies that move jobs overseas. while it seems like there's some movement on obamacare, this is one area we're seeing people digging in their heels. is this the first crack we're seeing in the honeymoon phase of the donald trump election? >> i'm not sure that man is ever going to get a honeymoon but this is going to be something you'll see repeated, particularly on trade-related issues. you have to keep in mind, donald trump is not an ideological republican. donald trump is in many ways an independent president with a strong populist streak and you saw that throughout the primaries. donald trump didn't run a classic conservative republican race. so when he comes out with a position like a 35% tariff which i think to him is a moving the gold post negotiating position you're going to see many republicans in congress who are from conservative orthodoxy who say no, not for us. >> would you support a 35% tariff? >> i'd like

the important thing to remember, ari, about donald is, he's like a cub newspaper reporter. last thing he heard is the most important thing in the world and so pay attention to who has just seen him and then watch his tweets and you'll have a pretty good idea of who is influencing him just as he changed his tone on obamacare after meeting with president obama and talking about pre-existing conditions and young people under the age of 26. >> right. and so this raises the other point. we hear a lot of defenses of trump, well, this is a fancy negotiating tactic, he's so good at leveraging in business and that seems like a weird defense because anyone who is good at leverage in business can follow the same tweets and same backtracking and see that carrier actually got money, a lot of tough talk but then he handed out corporate welfare. what do you make of that that sort of folks are pretending that the best defense of him is that no one around the world is paying attention? >> well, first of all, it's a facade that donald is a great negotiator. there are actually professors of l

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that does it for our show, you can always e-mail me at ari @msnbc.com. >>> it's a back and forth between president obama and vladimir putin. the united states has slapped russia with new sanctions in the wake of cyber attacks. now russia is vowing to respond. >>> police in new york city gearing up for an unprecedented security on new year's eve to keep people safe during celebrations. >>> plus, heavy snow has buried parts of new england and there could be more on the way as a fast moving nor'easter rolls through. >>> good morning, it is friday, december 30th, i'm chris jansing. there's new reaction this morning to the obama administration's decision to punish russia in retaliation for hacking attacks, that according to u.s. officials, sought to interfere with the presidential election. the government has leveled sanctions against the fsb. that's the spy agency that succeeded the kgb. they declare 35 diplomats who the u.s. accuses of being intelligence officers to have 72 hours to get out of the country. sanctions are also hitting the russia intelligence services and three companies suspe

ari, i want to pick up on something. that's the question. he was questioned for hours.hen allowed to go to walk. right? you have folks like the naacp representative who are upset about that. >> right. the situation seems clear cut. you have one individual shot to death. the other individual with a weapon speaking to the officers. legally it won't matter if it happens within five hours, two or 48 if there is a certifiable process. we have every indication there will be. our legal unit just got off the phone in jefferson parish. they said we will consult to make a decision as to what if any charges to file. we are trying to decide what charge fits the crime. the key point is what charge fits the crime suggests to us they are looking at significant charges rather than no charges. >> they haven't announced that. obviously understandable that anyone close to the victim or the victim's family would want to knee as soon as possible. i will say there is a duty here for the sheriff's office and d.a. to work through the investigation and the available evidence to figure it out. >

ari, what are we learning about what exactly he has to do? >> kate, if timing is everything, they are slipping this in right before inauguration. that's one of the motivations, but we have brand new details because settlements are effectively public and are a submission from both sides about what they agreed to do. we can show you on the screen here, the $25 million with a january 18 hard due date. and that money has to be personally backed by donald trump into an escrow account. that mean he's personally on the count and guaranteeing it. and then it will be paid out over perhaps a longer period of time to anyone who was a former trump-u customer that feels they have been defrauded. what will they get? well, up to 50% of the several thousand the different people paid to go to trump university. now a big question people ask, why do we call it trump university? was it a university? well, as a refresher course, if you will, this was basically a business designed to give business advice that went out of business. and according to this settlement,

i want to bring in ari fleischer. good evening.ave to start with you because you're the only one here. >> good evening, don. >> let's talk trump's latest cabinet picks, shall we, his pick to head the epa is attorney general scott pruitt, a prominent critic of climate change science. what does this selection signal to you? >> well, that he wants his people in there and reverse the direction we've been going in in the previous years. with the epa, it has a lot less to do with climate change. we're still trying to find out where trump stands on those issues but a lot more on the legal epa versus going through the rule of law and through congress. that's why pruitt got that job. >> so let me ask you this. there was the gore meeting. we discussed it. the leo did i n the the leonardo dicaprio meeting. and then he picks a hard liner. >> first of all, cabinet secretaries carry out the president's policy. he said climate change was a chinese hoax. on another hand, he said he's open to listening to various i on it. i don't think we know yet

>> it's ari@msnbc.com. >> all right. get ready. thank you, ari. >> good night. >> we have breaking news tonight. a day after her daughter died in los angeles, debbie reynolds died tonight at the age of 84. james lipton will join us tonight with his remembrance and appreciation of debbie reynolds' acting career and her daughter, carrie fisher's acting and writing career. >>> but first, a president-elect's days and nights are supposed to be spent trying to master policy and fill thousands of important jobs in the federal government, which means a confused world is left to wonder tonight. why donald trump was hanging out with don king today. >> new concerns over the transition of power at the white house. >> donald trump delivered this third tweet about the president, about the issue with the transition. >> this afternoon at mar-a-lago, trump seemed to contradict that earlier tweet. >> he called me. we had a very, very good talk. i'm getting along very well with him, other than a couple of statements. >> today john kerry had a stateme

ari melber picks up our coverage now. >> 6:00 p.m. on the east coast. donald trump pushing back on the reporting of putin overseeing the russian hack of the u.s. election. why is trump attacking the current president of the united states? >>> also, protests against trump's conflict of interest and how democrats want to force him to separate his business from his administration. and late-breaking story. the guilty verdict in the dylann roof murder trial moving forward to the first federal death penalty case since the boston bombing. >>> our big story tonight, though. it was nearly 24 hours ago that nbc news broke the story that u.s. officials said vladmir putin personally directed the hacking plans to impact the u.s. election. now tonight we can report virtually every political reader -- leader who responded to the story has criticized russia because, obviously, an attack on u.s. democracy is bigger than any political party. well, every leader except donald trump. he may be the only person in the u.s. government who ordered a bad headline about putin and

let's bring in ari fleischer.heidi presbela and washington bureau chief who wrote the cover story for time person of the year which in 2016 goes to donald trump. thanks for being here one and all. ari, the president-elect said of obama, although they disagree on a lot of policies he has taken president obama's advice. >> i never met him before this, and i never spoke to him before this. i really -- i do like him. i love getting his ideas. i take his recommendations very seriously, and there are some people that i will be appointing, and in one case have appointed, where he thought very highly of that person. >> so, obviously saying that, you know, he is really -- he likes him, he is taking his advice. you have some insight into the world of the presidents' club. does that surprise you? >> it does and it doesn't. in a year in which everything surprised everybody, why should we be surprised when these two get along. he says he has an ability to act differently than he did on the campaign trail. we saw that when he w