is it donald trump or is it elon musk? is donald trump just elon musk's puppet? elon musk has been down at mar-a-lago the entire time, obviously put $300 million into donald trump's campaign, stands to benefit tremendously from donald trump's tax cuts and from all of the various government contracts that musk has as well. i think we need to have a real evaluation, and i think it is incumbent upon house republicans, senate republicans who will be in the majority to stand up for the american people, not to just do the bidding of donald trump. and right now, the american people are going to suffer because of donald trump's incompetence and elon musk's inexperience and dangerousness. >> congressman dave goldman, thank you very much for joining us in this breaking news environment on capitol hill tonight. really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> and the chairman of the senate budget committee, rhode island democratic senator sheldon whitehouse, will join us next with the senate perspective on this ongoing budget crisis now on capitol hill. that's next. crisi now on capi

donald trump cheered that recommendation. and we're getting ready to vote on an attorney general and a director of the fbi who have made clear they are ready to eagerly prosecute trump's political opponents. this is really important to talk about, because this is one of the key ways that democracies fall all around the world. it frankly doesn't take hundreds of political prosecutions. it only takes a handledful, before -- a handful before ordinary, average americans just decide they would be better off staying quiet, instead of facing potential harassment or intimidation or a jail sentence for speaking out the way that liz cheney did. the second thing that happened in this last week was that donald trump filed a lawsuit against a pollster in iowa. the grounds of the lawsuit are simple -- he didn't like the results of the poll. the poll said the iowa race was close. the poll ended up being wrong. but he is suing the pollster and the newspaper because he was upset that that poll helped galvanize opposition to him. that poll, wh

and this is president elect donald trump arriving at the elysee palace here there in paris. st saw moments ago the french president, emmanuel macron, standing outside waiting for mr. trump to arrive. macron invited trump to the reopening ceremony of notre dame cathedral and now there is much fanfare around his arrival. as you can see president-elect trump shaking macron's hand there. let's listen in beaucoup j'arrive and there it was. >> the handshake between president-elect trump and the president. president emmanuel macron there an informal, very tight grip, which they have shared before, which we have covered when they have met the president of france. president macron has been critical of president elect trump during the biden administration. but he is, if not a 180, making a significant adjustment now that trump will be returning to power with this invitation. with the first call after the election congratulating donald trump on the win. of course, they'll go in and we will see them again at the beginning of their conversation. let's go to cnn reporter alayna treene, who

, and donald trump t lost. donald trump's threats meant nothing to 38 republican members of the house. elon musk's threats and his billions meant nothing to 38 republican members of the house. so far elon musk has failed at every public lobbying attempt he has made since the presidential election. elon musk told republican senators who they must vote for for majority leader next year, and republican senators said no. elon musk's candidate came in third in the election for the republican majority leader in the senate next year. elon musk's support meant nothing mto republican senatorr elon musk was part of the group that hatched the brilliant idea of having matt gaetz for attorney general. elon musk lobbied publicly for matt gaetz to be confirmed as attorney general. elon musk lost badly in that lobbying effort. and then yesterday elon musk decide decided to tell the republican speaker of the house and the republican members of the house of representatives that the bill that they negotiated to pass the house, pa

all that happened injuly, one of those key points was the fact that the supreme court ruled that donald trumpmmunity for acts that they take as president, and that was seen as a huge victory for the trump camp as well. but that was kind of how that month started off, and, of course, we should say there was also the nato summit here in washington that we were covering. so there was this big us political story and this big global event happening as well, butjuly was quite something. yeah. i mean, because you had that chat about should joe biden go, then you had the assassination attempt on donald trump in butler, pennsylvania, on the saturday. gunshots get down, get down, get down, get down! gunshots screaming on sunday, everyone travelled to milwaukee, wisconsin, for the republican national convention. donald trump turning up there with that bandage on his ear. a very, very successful convention, but all the while that was going on, the chatter aboutjoe biden, everyone comes back from milwaukee, trying to rest a little bit over the weekend. and on sunday, joe biden puts this statement out sayi

my god, donald trump doesn't want that to go disturbed. and i and april, we all know trump has a very aggressive and cruel agenda he wants to begin to commence on january 20th when he's sworn in. the last thing he wants is any chaotic sort of speaker fight. so i think probably that's why he endorsed mike johnson. trump doesn't give a damn about mike johnson. donald trump just doesn't want his january ruined. >> so, april, talk to me about this because there are a few republicans who were pretty clear on the fact that it may cost them to go up against donald trump, but a cup of them said straight out i win my district by 80 points. going up against donald trump might cost me 30 points, i'm still going to win. tell me how you scare this circle, because i think joe is right. donald trump doesn't want a chaotic start to congress or we think he doesn't want a chaotic start to congress. how does this play out in your mind? >> ali, what i saw from truth social, a statement from donald trump, and then listening to what some of the republican congre

so, you know, it would have to be up to donald trump to potentially fire him, which is something, speakingtentially prepared to do at 12.01am on the 20th of january. and that leads us, i suppose, to this other issue of the pardons, right, and that huge, huge, huge decision thatjoe biden took this week to pardon his son, hunter biden, having said he wasn't going to do that. and notjust pardon him, but give him basically a blanket ban against any possible prosecution in a ten—year window. it was such a broad pardon, wasn't it? i mean, what did you guys think of the reactions we saw from democrats in particular? because it seemed like some chuck schumer, for example, refused to answer any questions on it. there were a few, or actually a good number by now who have come out to criticise president biden, but some others who have also defended him. it seems like it also gives us a sense of where the democrats are right now. yeah, i thought michael bennet from colorado, making the point that this is just going to further distrust in the criminal justice system. i think he kind of got right to the

he did take chris wray in 2017 had impeccable financials, that was donald trump's own terminology. this go around he is going in and picking somebody with questionable credentials but somebody who is going to go and undo what he says. >> during the trump transition, howard lutnick did not say the top qualification to be part of the trump administration is impeccable credentials, number one was loyalty to trump. is this, christopher wray stepping down and kash patel moving in, the framed portrait of trump 2.0 dj t first? >> yes. i do want to point out, trump did say that kash patel is the most qualified nominee to leave the fbi in history. so, i think that is true. i think it is very much the case that we have seen this pattern across the proposed nominations and across all the decisions he is making, that loyalty is the predicate to what he is doing. there is an actual test being applied to people, how did you feel about 2020, was it stolen or not? i think, at the end of the day, if you are christopher wray, all else aside, why do you want to go through, i get that he is someone tha

talking about donald trump?llionaires and the appropriate over rulers, if they run away from the fight, why should i be in play? why are people afraid right now? they don't think the guardrails will hold. they don't think that donald trump can be eased up. they don't have confidence in congress. they don't have confidence in the courts. thank you john roberts. they don't have the independent agencies that will remain independent. that is the real danger. we have lost faith in holding our government accountable. i will say this. you go back to richard nixon and watergate, journalist back in the 1970s were not scared of richard nixon, in the sense that he thought he was going to go after them. they stood up to him. they need to remember what that felt like. >> on that note, not afraid of anyone. thank you for reading our conversation. fantastic reporting. >>> when we come back, one journalist who knows exactly why donald trump does this, files i had trained with lawsuits, -- political enemy. tim o'brien, joins the

they could call donald trump to the stand.so far not testified in connection with the january 6th case in connection with the hearings, in connection with the impeachment. so having a trial in many ways is the very last thing you want to do if you're trying to whitewash history. >> andrew, as we go forward here, the jack smith report could be coming literally any day now. is there anything that you would consider in the release of the report that would indicate a better time to release it than another time? is it something you want to get done as soon as possible or wait till january to release it? >> well, mechanically there's a lot to do. having been involved in a report and one of the things that does take time is making sure that you have culled out thinking that is grand jury, anything that is national security sensitive, or anything that could unfairly tarnish somebody who is currently facing charges. now there's the two co- defendants in mar-a-lago. so i think that is the main thing, but i suspect they are going to rele

when we return, donald trump's tariff threat if countries don't the u.s. dollar point we're going to break down what it means for you and most importantly, our economy. >>> and later, trump is keeping it in the family. his latest pics for the prettiest of cushy jobs, like ambassador to france. like the best ambassadorship out there. and what it could mean for his second term. the 11th hour just getting underway on a monday night. ni so, you never have to worry about costly damage from clogged gutters again. it's the easiest call you can make. call 833.leaf.filter today, or visit leaffilter.com. how easy is it to play the lottery with jackpocket? step one grab your phone. step two download jackpocket and start ordering tickets for your favorite state lottery game. step three let the good times roll. jackpocket is so easy to use from home or on the go, and there have been over $500m in total prizes won. so now the easiest way to enjoy the lottery is right in your pocket. jackpocket. download america's number one lottery app today. believe it or not baby... yo

the american people gave a mandate to donald trump. and in many ways, a lot of republicans were able to cross the finish line as a result of trump's success. and so the question for some of those sort of soft trump voters who said, i'm going to vote republican for the first time in my life, am i actually seeing something tangible that crystallizes that support for the next two years? if not, then democrats are going to have the opportunity to articulate their message and point to potential failures of republicans as they return that power back to us. we've got to be careful. >> this foreshadows what's going to happen for the next for the next couple of years. the kind of chaos with donald trump throwing a grenade into this process with a with a narrow margin. now, it now takes nine seats, nine people to for a motion to vacate. so he has a little bit of a johnson has a little bit of padding there. but he's always going to be on life support as long as the margins are this close and everybody stand by. >> we're about to hear very, very so

donald trump, has no common sense. i don't think he's going to do anything to hurt us. >> are you kidding me? >> happy holidays, good to see you. it's hard to keep up with the stories and so many others coming out, working class people, low income folks across the country, depend on social security, medicare or medicaid, social safety net. here you have donald trump, his cabinet, elon musk, they actually want to cut these vital programs that are lifesaving. so many folks across the country. i think a lot of donald trump voters don't realize, cutting medicare, he has talked about replacing obamacare. it was by the way, 45 million americans depend on. replacing it was something that we cannot even explain to the american public. we should be very concerned about these. those voters, the american public should know that democrats, are going to fight like [ bleep ], to keep these programs from demand, regardless of who they vote for. medicare security, americans have earned. even donald trump and his appointees, want to ta

look, here's the one constant about donald trump. all he cares about is donald trump.use can't conduct any business until they pick a speaker. there's business they need to conduct on january 6th, monday, and that's certify the election result. my god, donald trump doesn't want that to go disturbed and you and i and april, we all know trump has a very aggressive and cruel agenda he wants to begin to commence on january 20th when he's sworn in. the laest thing he wants is any chaotic sort of speaker fight. i think that's why he endorsed mike johnson. trump doesn't give a damn about mike johnson. donald trump just don't want his january ruined. >> april, talk to me about this because there are a few republicans who were pretty clear on the fact it may cost them to go against donald trump, but a couple said straight out i won my district by 80 points. going up against trump might cost me 30 points. i'm still going to win. tell me how your square this circle because i think joe's right, nald trump doesn't want a chaotic start to congress. how does this play out in your min

but, even some of donald trump's safer choices, have proven to be gross, strategic, blunders by donald trump. think congresswoman elisa stefano from upstate new york who will probably have no problem being confirmed as the united states ambassador to the united nations, but the problem is when she is confirmed, she will reduce the republican majority in the house of representatives by one, same thing. donald trump's choice of national security advisor, which does not require senate confirmation, so he will definitely leave the house of representatives for that job and reduce the republican majority by another seed, but keep an eye on congressman mike walls because he is now tonight on the public list of possible replacements for pete hegseth as secretary of defense. and matt gaetz already reduced the house majority by a seat when he resigned the house after being selected for attorney general by donald trump. and so, taking three members of the house of representatives for his administration before donald trump knew what the final count of republicans would be in the house of represent

even president-elect donald trump and doge co-chair elon musk, they are both opposed to it. our own ryan ogles has more on where they stand. >> reporter: tonight, president- elect trump blowing up a bipartisan spending deal worked out by house speaker mike johnson designed to keep the federal government open through march of next year. writing, quote, we should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn't give chuck schumer and the democrats everything they want. the bill extended government funding while also adding $100 billion for disaster aid and 10 billion for farmers. but it also included healthcare reforms and a provision allowing for pay raises for members of congress, leaving to conservative backlash. unit elon musk will lead trump's effort to cut government spending writing, any lawmaker who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in two years. tonight, vice president-elect vance talking about the spending plan known as acr. >> with the president believes is -- that's the position of the president and that's what we are going to try to push

debate over gender identity. >>> but we start with this remarkable turn of events, not only that donald trump pull the plug on his choice for defense secretary, pete hegseth, but that he is actively considering florida governor ron desantis as his replacement, a man who trump brutally mocked on the campaign trail, questioning everything from his political acumen to his sexuality. the new reporting comes from two sources familiar with trump's decision making. one of them telling nbc news that desantis is, quote, very much in contention. hegseth, meantime, is back on capitol hill. meeting with senators amid new nbc reporting that his drinking raised alarm bells among staff he worked with at fox news. but this morning, he said he's not withdrawing and said the president-elect is behind him. >> i spoke to the president-elect this morning. he said keep going. >> you're in this all the way? >> why would i back down? i've always been a fighter. >> it's clear hegseth is in for a fight. nbc news learned that at least six republican senators could vote no, which would effectively doom his chances. but

donald trump is not afraid to use it and after donald trump's threat of tariffs, the president-elect reported that mexico's president agreed to secure their own border and stop the migrant caravans that are heading towards our border. north of the border, little justin trudeau immediately hopped on a plane, flies down to beautiful palm beach in mar-a-lago where he all but begged donald trump not to impose any new taxes on canadian imports. accordance reports, donald trump choate -- joked that canada might have to become our 51st state if they can't handle the tariffs. look at this. >> we are getting some new details about that trump trudeau dinner from two people who were at the table. we are told that when trudeau told president-elect trump that new tariffs would kill the canadian economy, trump a joke to him that if canada can't survive without ripping off the u.s. to the tune of $100 billion a year then maybe canada should become the 51st state and trudeau could become it's governor. >> sean: earlier today donald trump continued to troll our neighbours to the north with this meme

matt gaetz pulled a donald trump. he tried to do everything donald trump did with the courts. matt gaetz tried to do with the house ethics committee. and mike johnson helped him at the end. mike johnson said to republicans on the committee, don't release it. and the republican co-chair of the committee apparently opposed releasing it. he wrote a dissenting report. he even said i don't disagree with the findings, we shouldn't release the findings. at some point the standard for performing in republican politics should be above the bar of credible allegations of statutory ra pshs e of above the ball of sexual abuse. it's not hard, republicans, to go find candidates, elected members that don't have credible allegations of sexual misconduct. they're not finding them right now. we have a party led by donald trump and elevating the likes of matt gaetz. >> you know, paul, i did want to mention this as well because this is something that you and i have dealt with as prosecutors and david has been a lawyer. but the women in this case. there was a decision to not try to re-traumatize a

i mean first of all, just we should we should note how everything has, has changed because of donald trump firing comey. that that we're now at a stage in which the fbi director who is not supposed to serve at the whims of whatever president comes in we sort of just trump sort of views that as a given, it is viewed as his appointment. so so whatever is happening in terms of who he chooses, the fact that this is even a seat that we're talking about shows how much trump is planning on putting his people in. and now this gets to to to catel there is no one less. i mean, there's a lot of people less qualified to run the fbi fbi, there is no one that the only reason why trump would have done this pick is for his retribution campaign. uh, there is there is almost no other reason to explain this. and i know that we have to say, you know, in terms of reporting. well, we'll see what others say or we'll see what the republicans do. but everyone who has followed, uh this president elect and who he wants to put in knows that this particular position and this particular person is being chosen for what

and i am sure that is the only story donald trump wants you to hear. "trump is not actually as all- powerful as he would like for you to think." this is probably easier if i show you what i mean. time is going to report that earlier this year trump was on the verge of supporting a 16- week federal abortion ban. then, on april 2nd, trump was shown a document titled how a national abortion ban will cost trump the election. well, what do you think happened next? spoiler alert, just six days after seeing that document donald trump changed his tune. >> my view is that now no-- legal standpoint the states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land, in this case the law of the state. >> at least before the election pressure worked. public opinion mattered to trump, and it slowed his most extreme impulses. but now, the election is over, and donald trump can't run again, so he doesn't need the votes of american citizens. but, he does still need votes in congress. republicans may have control of th

we need donald trump america needs donald trump andas the reason why we do is because he's a individual solve these problems. hehe knows how to keep america safe. he knows how to make us more prosperous and i want to tell you i have and ask for all of you new hampshire. i met a lot of you around the state but the ask is this. you've got to get out and bring your friends, bring everybody and vote because the eyes of the world are on new hampshire tomorrow. they are going to be lookingvo w you vote. we and this primary tomorrow in neww hampshire with a fantastic win and guess what, it's not just america. it's every foreign dictator, every terrorist groupin is going to be rethinking their plans when they know we have got a strong and experienceded presidt who will standbr up to them and bring america and make america great again. thank you. >> thank you very much, doug. hey, they did a very good job. you'll be seeing a lot of them and we haved another look at windows in and today was mixed with big a story out there. he's engaged to be married. we never thought this is going to happen. wha

donald trump won big there you go. donald trump won big over 5%. 5.5%. georgia to 2.2. michigan 1.4. nevada. pretty healthy 3.1. north carolina the same. pennsylvania 1.8. and wisconsin the smallest margin. it was a clean sweep, though it was a clean sweep. >> there's no doubt about that. i say often, you know, elections can be both close and decisive at the same time. his victory was decisive, but as you just saw there, it was also close, less so in the sunbelt, as we were reporting at the time than in the so-called former blue wall pieces of pennsylvania, michigan and wisconsin, which is where this election came, came down to and 200,000 plus votes the other way. and that could have flipped. that doesn't take a thing away from donald trump's decisive victory sweeping all seven states. and as kristen alluded to earlier, also winning the national popular vote, just adding to the decisive nature of of his victory, you mentioned the electoral college totals. one thing to watch for. i'm just curious today, as you see the the tally going up on the side, will those totals lo

this is from donald trump's interview with "time" magazine which is out today. "time" magazine. january 6th pardons, do you have in mind what the first 24 to 48 hours will hook like? trump -- i'll be looking at january 6th early on, maybe the first nine minutes. as in the first nine minutes of his presidency. just to be clear leer, donald trump -- clear here, donald trump will become president at 12:00 p.m. eastern time on january 20th of 2025. that is when he will take the oath of office standing in front of the u.s. capitol building. nine minutes later he will presumably just be delivering the opening lines of his inaugural address. you probably remember the images of january 6th rioters scaling the scaffolding at the capitol on january 6th. the reason -- not scaffolding, it was there because of preparation for the 2020 inauguration. it is from that very spot that donald trump is now suggesting he will pardon the criminals who violently tried to keep him in power just four years ago. if trump does follow through, it will be a remarkable display of authoritarian-style leadership

i'm told by republican senators, republican sources who say that donald trump isn't going to fight this fight for pete hegseth, that if pete hegseth can swim, then he's going to let him try to get confirmed. meanwhile what's really telling is the fact that trump team floated another nominee, ron desantis, and i'm told that that's actually very real, that ron desantis is absolutely in the running should pete hegseth flail and the reality is is on capitol hill that even the senators who are giving positive vibes about pete hegseth, this is making them so uncomfortable and there's not that many senators that need to defect in order for him to fail this nomination. so, you know, it's a very uphill battle and there's a lot of questions among senators if he can even make it through next week. >> my question, pete hegseth making the argument if he gets this job to lead the department of defense, he will stop drinking. what if he doesn't get the job? he's just going to keep on rocking? that's what i want to know. dave, kash patel, john cornyn said he has heard from people he respects very much

the democrats they're trolling donald trump. they think that at stopl point that at some point it's going to get under his skin. if not more powerful to him. yeah. the democrats know they can get under trump's skin this way and they want to do this as much as possible. on election day and now is, you know, what's the term they usually use about democrats. the republicans are in disarray at the point with speaker johnson and the margins he has. you know the opening of the next congress could be, i'm trying to think of like a television appropriate trump for it. would be a crap shoot. >> whoa, it's after 11:00. television appropriate has a lot of leeway at this hour. here's the thing, melanie. donald trump cannot run again. elon musk is not an elected official, answers to absolutely no one. neither of them are beholding to voters in the way that members of congress are. >> you realitily saw with the matt gaetz nomination how quickly that fell apart. everyone though trump is calling to primary some of those republicans that voted aw

and donald trump. elon musk is the richest man in the world, and he also has billions and billions and billions in government contracts. and he's also been appointed to a huge position in donald trump's government. and when and he also is willing to say his mind, donald trump is to what happens when they disagree. and we actually don't know how this you know, you said actor we don't know how this bromance is going to play out. >> we kind of do know i would say this, you know, the chinese have a saying, you can't have two tigers live on one mountain top. so we do know how this is going to end. at some point there's going to be a conflict and there's one executive producer and there's one president and that's donald trump. and elon wasn't always with trump from the very beginning. elon is a new factor in the trump space, probably less than two and a half years, maybe two years into it. he's he's a bit character. >> we're getting more reaction from lawmakers up on capitol hill. let me play some clips for

i go back to the first donald trump administration where this was largely true then, donald trump is much more effective at killing the policies he does not like then in passing the ones he does. he needs a strong speaker and he needs a bigger majority. he will not have either of those things potentially going into next year. i think that will hamper him significant on his legislative agenda. >> thank you so very much, i really appreciate it. >>> house democrats just finished up a meeting on capitol hill and we will speak with a lawmaker in the room. we will chat in just a minute. >>> how a government shutdown could immediately affect everyday americans, and the suspect in the murder of united healthcare ceo is facing new charges today. now that he is back in new york city. we are back in 90 seconds. you are watching jose dmaz-balart reports on msnbc. easy to apply for the whole family. vicks vapostick. and try new vaposhower max for steamy vicks vapors. drew barrymore: in this family, we never give up. st. jude has helped push the overall survival rate from 20% to more than 80% with

and the meeting between donald trump and emmanuel macron. went on. and this is a geopolitical happening at the opening of the notre dame cathedral, one of the leaders that was in trump's first term until 2020 and inviting donald trump to the opening of notre dame and macron is positioning himself to be a major political leader and also attending today, ukraine president volodymyr zelenskyy. he may meet with president trump-- soon to be president-elect trump as well, but no meeting is officially scheduled. britain's prince of wales, prince william is here, jill biden, the first lady is here as well. five and a half years ago, a fire nearly destroyed the 12th century gothic cathedral. and macron promised that it would be done in five years and so the work began. the statues restored and 2400 oak treeses around paris were cut down to build the trusses, and the roof, the relic, the crown of thorns, the nail, a sliver from the nail, the holy-- believed to have been in the crucifixion. and it's just this rebirth and the restoration of an old friend

>> we would get work done. >> dog owners are more likely to vote for donald trump. et the dogs out. my favorite dog would go to the radio studio with me and he knew not to bark or whimper. he will go to the doubt that you knew not to make a sound and i loved having him with me. i did a better show when i was nicer. >> we want you nice. >> we should have bring your dog to work day. they lower your stress and you all the things that make you more productive. when i first read this, i thought the question was, do we want dog in office like vote for them? yes two dogs in the office space, especially a small business. [laughter] >> tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. east eastern, mayor adams will sit down for an interview with martha maccallum on "the story." be sure to tune in for that and thank you for tuning in to add spirit to make sure to dvr we can't watch us live and for now, "america reports." ♪ ♪

, executive editor of an nbc political -- msnbc political analyst and author of "trump nation: the art of being the donaldaction to that specific piece of the "meet the press" interview kristen welker about the january 6th committee. >> i don't think we should be surprised by it. trump campaigned on a revenge tour. what's interesting to me is that he didn't actually say what he would put them in jail for, other than investigating him. like, what law is he going to say they broke? because they were simply carrying out their duty as public servants and legislators looking into the cause and circumstances of the january 6, 2021 siege at the capitol that was part of donald trump's effort to overturn the results of a legitimate election. they were doing a public service by performing that investigation. they contributeded to the historical record. and a number of them torched their careers over it, including liz cheney. so, for him to sort of say he's going to target them and then he's going to put them in jail, he should define what that's going to be. of course, our law enforcement institutions and congress

on behalf of donald trump himself. throughout his first presidency, trump repeatedly showed affection for america's autocratic adversaries while shunning our allies and the inescapable conclusion for that is trump wants to be liked by those guys and actually just be like those guys. he wants america to be like the cleptocratic governments of china and russia where people suck up to the leaders just to enrich themselves. and america's rich and powerful appear pretty ready to indulge in that impulse this time around. the wall street journal reports that mark zuckerberg's meta has donated $1 million to donald trump's inauguration. that comes two weeks after he dined with trump at mar-a-lago. to be clear, this is not normal. neither meta nor amazon have ever donated anywhere near this much money to an inauguration before. it comes after bezos who owns the washington post scuttled his papers endorsement of kamala harris ahead of this year's election and after bezos offered trump these words of praise just last week. >> he ha

now at the arm, at the hand of donald trump. know, we know, for example, last night at mar-a-lago, musk is sitting right there at the table with trump and jeff bezos. he really is the best buddy in chief. and that's why this deserves a lot of scrutiny. so much of what musk was posting on x yesterday about this spending bill was either misleading or outright false. he was referring to this bill being criminal. it's literally a legal piece of paper that he's calling criminal. there's a lot of misinformation that musk is spreading about this spending bill. i think that's a big part of the story here. >> yeah, and i was going to get to that, too, brian. i mean, musk did lead this campaign, sustained campaign to tank the bill, posting more than 100 tweets or x's or whatever we call them these days. most of them, many of them featured false and misleading statements. i mean, he was talking about how there was insinuating there was funding for a new stadium deal for the commanders here in washington. that's not exactly the case. and so

>>> after donald trump won the election, canadian prime minister justin trudeau flew down to mar-a-lagoting did not appear to go well. fox news is reporting that trudeau warned trump that his tariff proposal would kill the canadian economy to which trump replied that canada could then become the 51st state. and that trudeau could be governor. joining us now, staff writer for the atlantic and msnbc contributor, mark leibovich. this is a strange story. from the reporting, it sounds so insulting. you could just be the 51st state. what is donald trump's relationship with one of our closest allies? why does he treat people like justin trudeau with such apparent disdain? >> because he feels like he can. i think this is basically -- this is essentially why he has the appeal that he does from his supporters, which is a sense of bluster, a sense of incredible dismissiveness over someone he considers inferior, someone americans consider to be this sort of a neighbor to the north, and frankly, just law of the jungle. we're bigger than you, stronger than you. you rely on us more than we rely on you

is that donald trump? because it certainly doesn't seem to be mike johnson. >> well, look, joy, first of all, i think hakeem jeffries is the person who literally makes this happen, right? it's hakeem jeffries and democrats who have bailed out republicans again and again and again when they fracture, and they have embarrassing situations like they did on the floor yesterday when they are from the majority. put up a bill that contains the 11th hour demand from donald trump, and they can't even get a majority of votes for that bill. and so, i think the question you're asking is really important. because as we go to a republican trifecta, who is mike johnson actually negotiating with? is it president-elect donald trump, or is it the shadow president, elon musk? that's question number one. question number two is, what happens when it is a republican trifecta? because democrats will not -- it's a different situation when you have divided government. because actually, in this bill, there is so much good stuff tha

he came out and said that he was best friends with donald trump for 10 years. so you can imagine -- well, you can't because you don't think trump ever did anything wrong. and that seems to be a thing about propaganda nowadays. you convince people that one of the most disgusting individuals to ever walk into the white house is almost like jesus and they even referred to him as jesus sometimes. have you ever heard that? host: where do you see him referred to as jesus, give me an example. caller: marjorie taylor greene said that even jesus was tried and convicted, talking about how -- i don't know. you can't convict someone who is perfect. i was surprised because i got in on the very first try which has never happened, but i really appreciate c-span but listen, they stole the selection. that is one thing i've felt since the election happened. why do i say that and why am i the only person that says that? it is because they always cheat. and this time apparently nobody cheated anywhere. miracles happen every day with donald trump. host: when you say stolen election,

really were the ones ending up pushing donald trump on or kash patel on donald trump. and that essentially they thought patel was really the only person who would be able to disrupt the agency in the way that donald trump has been talking about for several weeks now. >> and elena how are lawmakers reacting to this pick well we heard a lot of lawmakers say similar things. >> we know we saw, you know in the aftermath of donald trump making this announcement about patel, there was a flurry of posts from people like miller but also mike waltz his national security advisor selection as well as senator mike lee. but then we heard a number of republican senators and those really the fiercest loyal republican senators, i would say defend patel on the sunday morning shows. take a listen. >> donald trump campaigned on reforming the fbi and the department of justice. so i don't know why any of this is frankly surprising to people. >> there are serious problems that the fbi, the american public knows. it they expect to see sweeping change in kash patel is just the type of person t

these democrats smearing donald trump for years, all while claiming to be so virtuous, protectors of democracy and the rule of law. they embarked on one witch hunt after another. it's been nine long years, get trump. and exclaimed that no one is above the law. then biden pardoned his own son hunter. letting him off the hook for gun charges, tax charges and so much more. joe was only getting started. how many others will be pardoned by the -- by the time this is all said and done. he glint -- granted clemency to a doctor who diluted chemotherapy drugs along with a woman who stole a $4 million from the usda program to feed poor children and a government official who stole $53 million in tax revenue in a small illinois town of 15,000 and perhaps worst of all, biden also commuted the sentence of the notorious kids for cash and judge. that's a guy that was taking kickbacks, how nice of him, from a private for-profit detention centre in exchange for locking up kids at their facility. or thousand juvenile convictions were thrown out but that's not all. last month biden commuted the sentences

poses to american democracy and rule of law. >> donald trump is nothing more than a cheap crimehat guy is nothing more than cheap criminal. >> trump really sees himself as a trump mobster the maccabee take the cannoli, i'm going to shoot you with the gun. [laughter] >> media and trump critics looking to compare trump to a mobster and claim trump is assembling his cabinet like mafia with under buses go what our real mob tactics like? many think the expertise to answer for sure first-hand experience. michael, great to see you again. i wanted to play the clips for you because they are claiming they understand the mob and donald trump is one of them. what is the truth? >> i think they watched too many movies. they called him hitler, fascist, dictator. the threat to democracy. calling him a mob boss is a compliment because we are all about family. as far as him hiring loyal people, what has biden done? everybody has lied for him and supported him in every way that was detrimental to the american public so what trump is doing in no way resembles a model boss. they get shot, they go un

i mean, donald trump may not have a choice.— who are also on tiktok — like, posting campaign videos, you know... square that circle. it was a bipartisan law, which shows that there is — this is another one of these examples where there is bipartisan support for curtailing the power of social media in particular, and because of the national security component of that, as well. i think that really created an interesting coalition behind it. but i think there will be some people who are pretty shocked come mid—january if tiktok's turned off without someone else stepping in to take over the service, and they'll be looking for an explanation, despite promises from people like donald trump, that this isn't going to happen, why this ended up taking place. we'll see tiktokers marching on capitol hill and the white house, demanding... dancing on capitol hill. dancing, yeah, dancing their way up pennsylvania avenue. i think that's all we have time for, guys. but it's been a pleasure to talk to you. anthony, i promise if you come back, we

they're a little afraid of donald trump. they don't want to cross donald trump. and so now you're seeing all these people starting to get realigned again, waiting for january 20th. and they're already starting to realign before then. >> what do you make of hezbollah, hamas? joe concha and vladimir putin and zelensky in particular, and their reaction and their change? they all have a change of heart since trump was elected because they saw the movie the first time around. sean, 2017 through 2021 and the trump foreign policy then remember that jv group, as obama called them, called isis. donald trump destroyed that caliphate. he dropped the moab, the mother of all bombs in afghanistan early on, sent a message. obviously, iran and the killing of general soleimani as well. the soleimani excuse me, that was a very big deal. kim jong un suddenly stopped launching missiles over guam, over japan, threatening the united states. and suddenly that went away as well. so they saw how strong this president was in his first term. they know that he means business and that's why