nbc news senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell is joining us here in studio in new york. y, first, it is great to see you. >> wonderful to be with you. >> thank you for the incredible work and reporting you have done this historic election cycle. let's start with the house because we understand the senate has gone to republican control. but which house races are still left to call? i know the majority are in california but there's still one here in new york. >> well, it's also one of those things where people are now reminded about how house races really are very local. they're about communities and issues that might not be part of the same national conversation. so you have races in california and in new york where they're going to take time to have to count every battle -- every ballot. there may be challenges. and ultimately the swing would need to be for democrats a net gain of four seats. in this environment that seems even harder to accomplish given everything we've just seen in the last 12 hours about how republicans have done. for house republicans and their leader

kelly o'donnell, nbc news. >>> and that is "nightly news" for this wednesday. thank you for watching. i'm lester holt. please take care of yourself and each other. good night. other. good night. there are trucks, and then there's the gmc sierra. available with the connected driving experience.... and the world's first six-function multipro tailgate. gmc sierra. it's the truck. get 0% apr on select 2024 sierra 1500 models. that's over 89 hundred total value when you trade in an eligible vehicle. plus no monthly payments until next year. ♪♪ up several local cities with

as our kelly o'donnell reports this comes days after president- elect donald trump's cabinet picks were targeted. >> reporter: >> from connecticut this time democrats including senator chris murphy's hartford home. his office said this appears to be part of a coordinated effort involving multiple members of congress and public figures. congresswoman johana hayes said the police informed her a pipe down bomb was placed in her mailbox. authorities are investigating. turning to the coming presidential transfer of power president biden stopped at a fire house on nantucket where he was asked about president- elect trump office plans to impose tariffs on mexico and canada. >> i think it's a counterproductive thing to do. the last thing we need to do is begin to screw up those relationships. expect the president-elect posted about his phone conversation with mexico's new president, claudio sheinbaum , making a claim she has agreed to stop migration through mexico effectively closing our southern border. but the mexican president, who described their call as pleasant, disputed mr. trump office

nbc news senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell is in west palm beach covering the transition washington, also with us "new york times" chief white house correspondent peter baker. kelly, good morning. walk us through the latest additions to the trump's white house lineup. >> reporter: well, good to be with you, jose. and certainly when it comes to putting his imprint on these picks, you could clearly see some of the ideas and some of what donald trump campaigned on. the president-elect wants to bring this disruptor status to these big institutions. so by choosing dr. jay bhattacharya of stanford, he is picking someone that takes us back to that early covid period where he was among those outspoken scientists who said that the lockdowns, mask-wearing and some of the practices that were a part of daily life then were not the best approach, and one of his associates was in the first trump term giving some counsel to then-president trump that was dr. scott -- i'm drawing a blank -- atlas. and what we have here is a scientist who -- he is not a practicing physician, but a medical

>> kelly o'donnell, thanks the war over quickly even claiming, he could end it within. 24 hours. >>> three americans the americans held for years in chinese prisons have been released as part of an unusual prisoner exchange.e. nis mackey frayer is the latest for us from beijing. >> reporter: after years in chinese prisons, three americans are heading home tonight. the market, hi lee, and john long, now safely in u.s. custody, according to the white house. the rear prisoner swap ithe works for months. we spoke to the u.s. ambassador here last month. >> they were prosecuted and convicted of crimes which they did not commit. there was no reason to put them in the jail. >> reporter: mark was on death row since 2012 on drug charges. kai lee accused of spying and jailed after a closed-door trial. the state department calling them wrongfully detained. china says their cases were handled according to law, leaving families to lobby congress to do more. >> what about my dad? when will it be his turn? >> reporter: china and jailed the third american, john long, accusing him of being an fbi info

nbc news senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell, forme >>> welcome back. the panel is here. nbc news senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell, former secretary of homeland security jae johnson, anna palmer and stephen hayes. thank you all so much for being here. kelly o'donnell, let me start with you. huge week in terms of president- elect trump's picks. the big news that matt gaetz withdrew his name for consideration to be attorney general because you had five republican senators saying they were going to vote no. do you think this is a one off? in other words, do you think it's a sign of opposition potentially for senate republicans or is this just something that happened with matt gaetz? >> i think what the president- elect did and he may not have intended it is he created a stress test on the system of the constitutional power of devise and consent. the shock and the jolt of a gaetz nomination put republican senators in particular in a difficult place. they don't want to deny and defy donald trump's picks. and so the real question is this the o

kelly o'donnell is wi the president-elect in florida. >> reporter: tonight another batch of bomb threats disrupting this holiday by targeting the homes of elected officials from connecticut. this time democrats, several lawmaker, including senator chris murphy's hartford home. his office said this appears to be part of a coordinated effort. congresswoman hayes posted that police received a threatening email stating a pipe bomb had been placed in the mailbox at my home. no explosives were found today or after a cluster of similar threats made tuesday and wednesday to several of president-elect trump's cabinet picks and top advisors. authorities are investigating. turning to the coming presidential transfer of power, today president biden stopped at a fire house on nantucket where he was asked about president-elect trump's plans to impose tariffs on mexico and canada. >> i he he rethinks it. i think it's a counterproductive thing to do. >> reporter: adding. >> the last thing we need to do is begin to screw up those relationships. >> reporter: the president-elect posted about his phone conv

kelly o'donnell, let me start with you. huge week in terms of president-elect trump's picks.urse, that matt gaetz withdrew his name for consideration to be attorney general because you had five republican senators saying they were going to vote no. do you think this is a one-off? in other words, do you think it is a sign of opposition potentially for senate republicans, or is this just something that happened with matt gaetz? >> i think what the president-elect did, and he may not have intended it, he created a stress test on the system of the constitutional power of advise and consent. by doing that the shock and jolt of a gaetz nomination puts republican senators in a difficult place. they don't want to deny and defy donald trump's picks. and so the real question is, is this the outlier or has he set up conditions now where everyone else looks favorable by comparison? and that's what i think we don't know, and the republicans did a quiet mission against gaetz and that was important in the context of trying to remain loyal. >> it is such a great point. because publicly every

we want to bring in senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell now. you learned about what was discussed on that phone call? >> well, advisers to the vice president say that she placed the call to donald trump, the now president-elect, and wanted to talk about the need for a peaceful transition and being a president for all americans. a concession call used to be commonplace. it used to be an absolute basic of election life in america. and that changed when donald trump did not concede in 2020. so part of what we're seeing from the biden-harris administration, already from president biden and certainly from kamala harris, who of course is feeling, you know, great eem sure disappointment and distress over losing, trying to get back to those institutions. so they are going to have the conversation. she will make remarks to the public later this afternoon. public later this afternoon. >> at 40 p.m.:0 advil liqui-gels are faster and stronger than tylenol rapid release gels. ♪♪ also from advil, advil targeted relief, the only topical with 4 powerful pain f

kelly o'donnell has the details for us. >> reporter: tonight, the trump team rocked by an alarming new scare, aimed at cabinet picks and top figures for the coming administration. transition officials announced violent, un-american threats that range from bomb threats to swatting. the white house said president biden was briefed and he and his administration unequivocally condemned threats of political violence. the fbi says it is working with local law enforcement and noted, "we take all potential threats seriously." three law enforcement sources said no actual explosives were found, and these appear to be hoax attacks delivered through email and social media. a few of those found. and these appear targeted identify themselves publicly. matt gaetz, who withdrew for attorney general, said a bomb squad responded to a florida home where a threat was made. leah selden, picked to head the environment protection agency, writes, "a pipe bomb threat targeting me and my family at our home today and elise stefanik selected as and ambassador with a pro-palestinian themed message." and elise stef

nbc white house correspondent, kelly o'donnell has the latest. >> reporter: good evening from rio. to be on one of his last laps on the world stage. also, we've seen him make history already. and there is policy shift that is seeing tension here and around the world. first, authorized a shift in the policy toward ukraine. giving permission for ukraine to use some american-made weapons for limited, long-term strikes that reach inside russia. that is a change because until now, president biden has authorized the use of american- made weapons on the ukrainian battlefield, trying to prevent a wider war. but there's been a change on the other side, where north korea has sent thousands of its own troops to help russia. and this has changed the dynamic. so according to officials, this limited strike has been approved. but because of all of the sensitivities, the white house and the pentagon are not discussing it openly. while he's here in this region. president biden made a little history today. he was the first sitting u.s. president to tour the amazon rain forest. that was more than a t

let's go right to nbc's kelly o'donnell who joins us from rio de janeiro where the president will be ow ukraine to strike russia with long-range missiles. tell us about this decision, kelly, and why now? >> well, the white house and the pentagon are not talking about this openly. there is new reporting that's coming from at first "the new york times" talking about a decision in which the president would authorize the use of some u.s.-made weapons given to ukraine to go after certain targets inside russia. that is a -- a significant shift in u.s. policy. of course, since the beginning of the war in ukraine the u.s. has heavily fortified, supplied and supported ukraine with some limitations, specifically not using american-made weapons inside russia to try to contain the fight to the territory of ukraine and have it be a defensive approach for ukrainians. this would be different. in part, our understanding is that it comes with the development that north korea is providing some of its troops on the ground in ukraine. part of the president being in this part of the world involved in the

kelly o'donnell is travelling with the president in rio de janeiro. good morning. china's president did not name president trump but he did bring up the election saying china is ready to work with the new administration. but xi hinted at concerns of a second trump administration adding that the u.s. must make a wide choice about ways the two countries should get along. now trump of course campaigned on imposing stiff tariffs on chinese made imports. a senior official said president biden was not a condwit for any messages passed between xi and trump. instead biden tried to use the meeting to stress their relationship through difficult situations through the year with president biden urging china to be cautious about dealing with north korea and russia. here in brazil, president biden will make a little history as he is the first sitting president to visit the amazon rain forest. that is before he begins his final global summit, the g20. >> kelly o'donnell in rio de janeiro with a beautiful backdrop, thank you so much. >>> breaking news overnight, as ukrainian presi

here's nbc's white house correspondent, kelly o'donnell. >> rare in american politics, a presidential sequel. >> we're going to turn it around. i am asking you, dream big, the american dream, dream big and we are bringing this back. this will be america's new golden age. >> heading back to the white house, mr. trump plans to take swift and sweeping action to close the southern border and to deport millions of migrants here illegally. >> we will stop the people from pouring into the country and get the criminals out of the country. >> he seized on fears about crime and vowed to take tough action. >> we will crush violent crime and give the police their resources and respect they so deserve. >> his broadest pitch is he could lower prices and boost the economy. he said he would increase energy production to reduce consumer's day-to-day costs. >> your energy costs and grocery prices will come tumbling down and we will bring back the american dream, bigger, better and stronger than ever before. >> the centerpiece of his economic agenda is imposing tariffs to make the u.s. more competitive,

we begin with our senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell travelling with the president, washington post political correspondent ashley parker, retired four star general barry mccaffrey and former cia director john brennan. kelly, first to you, president biden is in rio de janeiro where you are for the g20 which russia is also a part of. how is this major policy shift of attack ems playing there while he is there? >> he is there or here rather and was in the room when president biden said remarks today. you played a clip where he gave his full throated endorsement for full support of ukraine. we talked with senior white house officials today as the president is a part of the important meetings that will be his final international summit. while they are not directly confirming the approval of the use of these inside of russia for limited purposes, they are speaking broadly about the approach and pointing out that while the kremlin has said this is an act that adds fuel to the fire, they say that russia has accelerated the conflict by bringing in thousands of north korean troops and b

kelly o'donnell, nbc news. >>> and that is "nightly news" for this wednesday.

joining us now is nbc senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell who is traveling with the president summit in brazil. good morning. ukraine has been asking the u.s. here for permission to do this pretty much from the start of the war. why the change and why the change now? >> reporter: good to be with you, jose. the u.s. government is not formally and publicly talking about this but they are providing kax.context. u.s. officials have confirmed this information to us but the president did not address it in his remarks today and other senior officials we talked to are not confirming it on the record but they are saying russia has escalated by having north korean troops coming to their country to help fortify their war against ukraine and that that is an escalation. in addition to the assault you just remarked on in terms of russia ramping up its own intense knit fight. and u.s. officials say that they have communicated with russia all along, that their escalation would cause different decisions and new tactical approaches from the united states in its support of ukraine. so that may e

. >> kelly o'donnell breaks down what the president elect has vowed to accomplish in his return to the oval office. >> reporter: rare in american politics a presidential sequel. >> we'll turn it around. i'm asking you to dream brig, the american dream, we're bringing it back, this will be america's new golden age. >> reporter: heading back to the white house mr. trump pledges to take swift and sweeping action to close the southern border and to deport millions of migrants here illegally. >> we're going to stop the people from pouring into our border, we're going to have a mass deportation of criminals, we have to get the criminals out of our country. >> reporter: the president-elect seized on fears about crime and vowed to take tough action. >> we'll crush violent crime, we'll give the police they need support, resources and respect they so dearly deserve. >> reporter: beyond immigration, his broadest pitch is that he could lower prices and boost the economy. he said he would increase energy production to reduce consumers' day-to-day costs. >> your energy costs and grocery prices will

kelly o'donnell, i know it's not a beach day but i hope you can put your feet in the sand before youto us. >>> coming up, we are going live to capitol hill. what new msnbc numbers reveal about the numbers and what it means about where the party goes from here. from here. there we were, driver versus reptile. our battle was legendary. (♪♪) wait a second. you don't own a pet snake, do you? phew maybe now my friends will believe me. if this is what we did for one delivery, see what we can do for your business. fedex. have you compared your medicare plan recently? with ehealth, you can compare medicare plans side by side for free. so we invited people to give ehealth a try and discover how easy it can be to find your medicare match. this is pretty amazing. i can go on a vacation with this money. i have quite a few prescriptions. that's why people call us. we're going to compare plans, and i'm gonna try to get you as much bang for your buck as possible. that's great. this one here covers all your prescriptions, your doctors as well. oh, wonderful. i have a hard time with this. that's okay

joining us now is senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell and former republican congressman some reporting on this. >> it is interesting because it sorta points out why leader to leader calls typically have a notetaker from the government, have others from the state department who would be listening in so there's a restaurant -- record of the call memorialized for future relationships. that is not the donald trump way of doing things. as president-elect trump is taking calls and engaging with world leaders without that kind of typical oversight. even the kind that would benefit him if a foreign leader said something that differed from his view and he could prove that it was not the case. so that takes us to a familiar place for you and me. we have talked about these kinds of exchanges with the former soon-to-be again president and world leaders. where they differ is on the issue of the southern border. the mexican president is very clear that she does not believe in closed borders. the soon to be president again says he believes things like using tariffs, the kind of relatio

kelly o'donnell is traveling with the president in brazil, this move coming as he only has a couple months office, seems to send a message.>> reporter: exactly, good evening, this is a notable shift in policy, two u.s. officials tell nbc news that biden is getting ukraine the green light to use american- made long-range weapons inside russia. until now, president biden had restricted the use of american- made weapons to the ukrainian battlefield to prevent a bigger war, but the president is alarmed by north korea sending thousands of its own soldiers to help russia, and given the sensitivity of this change in military operations, the white house and the pentagon are not commenting on this.>> this is almost certain to come up where you are in south america as the president goes to the last international summit of his presidency.>> reporter: that is right, president biden became the first sitting president to tour the amazon rain forest in brazil, so making history before he joins the other leaders of the g20 summit where they will be focused on the stability of relations with allies and the

here's nbc's kelly o'donnell. >> reporter: the trump team cked by an alarming new scare. aimed at cabinet picks and top figures for the coming administration. transition officials announced violent, un-american threats that range from bomb threats to swatting. the white house said president biden was briefed, and he and his administration unequivocally condemned threats of political violence. the fbi said it is working with local law enforcement and noted we take all potential threats seriously. three law enforcement sources said no actual explosives were found. and these appear to be hoax attacks, delivered through e-mail and social media. a few of those targeted identified themselves publicly. matt gaetz, who withdrew for attorney general said a bomb squad responded to a florida home where a threat was made. lee zeldin, picked to head the environmental protection agency writes, a pipe-bomb threat, targeting me and my family at our home today was sent in with a pro-palestinian-themed message. and elysse stefanik, selected as ambassador to the united nations praised the r

but, as kelly o'donnell tells us, it's this election that could ultimately define his legacy. >> reporterency was on the line with voters. >> history is in your hands. the power is in your hands. >> reporter: with about ten weeks left in office, president biden's record is nearly complete. he entered the white house facing crises caused by covid. >> the battle to control the virus. the battle to build prosperity. >> reporter: the white house points to a strong recovery, with record job growth, more than 16 million jobs added. but, inflation squeezed family budgets, reaching a peak, not seen in 40 years. even as inflation steadily declined. economic distress brought political peril. exit polls show 45% of voters disapproved of his job as president. the biden era is also about bipartisan wins everyone laws passed that rebuilt infrastructure, semi-conductor production, invest in climate protections and lower the price of prescription drugs, a record he shared with kamala harris as vice president. but a potent mix of bad poll numbers and a poor debate performance led to his late exit from the

. >> i'm kelly o'donnell in rio de janeiro where dozens of international leaders have gathered includingsident biden and and sergey lavrov who today called the ukrainian sergey lavrov, who today called the ukrainian missile attack an escalation and he arsenal. >> we are strongly in favor of talked about putin making changes to how russia could use its nuclear arsenal. >> we are strongly in favor of doing everything, not to allow nuclear war to happen. >> reporter: ukraine says they will help resist the russian offenses, supported by north korean troops just months before trump takes office and is expected to demand a deal. ukraine today marking one of 1000 days of war withsign of russia, with talks on the horizon but no sign of compromise. president putin has made many unnerving nuclear threats, tonight one european leader calling it rhetoric. >>> back home to the house explosion caught on camera outside cincinnati, the blast killing two people and injuring a third. here's er. >> reporter: new >> reporter: new video shows a moment a house exploded, showing shockwaves through a neighborho

and joining us now from west palm beach, florida near mar-a-lago is kelly o'donnell. ing for the president-elect's attention? >> reporter: well, this very much fits into the model of donald trump as host and wanting to have powerful people from a broad array of fields come to him. so he has long used mar-a-lago for that purpose and as president-elect, it is sort of the home base of his transition for the remaining 50 plus days until he is back in office. and it's a useful time for him to be able to both entertain, engage, and have a running dialogue and so this is a way for the president-elect to try to do that. for mark zuckerberg, it's certainly a recognition along with many others. whether they are world leaders, other business figures, that the public has spoken. there is a new administration coming and those who want to get on board are doing so in terms of being able to at least have conversations with the incoming administration. that's how this was framed. that mark zuckerberg was there to have a meal with the president-elect. to meet some members of the coming

kelly o'donnell is live at trump transition headquarters in west palm beach, florida. s or not, according to the fbi and other security officials, it's awful for these nominees to have to put up with this. >> reporter: well, it certainly incites fear and it is stressful and at a minimum that is disruptive to the trump transition and the trump transition team first made us aware of this, and now a few of those who were involved in it have publicly acknowledged that they were recipients of this. so you have congresswoman stefanik, the nominee for the united nations, lee zeldin, who also said he is a candidate for -- he received a threat of this kind, and gaetz, who of course withdraw as the attorney general selection, but also had this kind of an incident. what we learned from law enforcement is that local law enforcement authorities have been responding to the homes or the relevant locations related to these trump transition officials, and thus far there has been nothing that indicates an actual threat. no devices found. no harm done in a physical sense. but these messag

nbc's kelly o'donnell following all of it for us and joins us from west palm beach, florida. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, craig. there were no explosive devices found why authorities refer to these as hoax threats. still, it set off a lot of concerns for several trump world figures at their homes from new york to florida where local authorities responded. and officials say that this is a fluid situation as they try to determine who made these online and e-mail threats. new this morning, fallout over president-elect trump's latest tariff warnings against mexico. a tax he claims could be imposed to reduce the flow of migrants and drugs. just hours after mexico's president claudia sheinbaum responded with her own tariff threats the leaders spoke in a phoncall described as excellent and wonderful. writing on truth social, mr. trump went further declaring she agreed to stop migration through mexico and into the united states, effectively closing our southern border. claiming president sheinbaum assured him that migrant caravans were no longer reaching the u.s. however,

. >> that with kelly o'donnell. >>> on friday, former trump chief of staff publicly offered this advice. >> i think he has to be recalled to active duty and i think a military court-martial has to be called and mark millie has to be brought up in charges. >> that interview was from friday night, just 24 hours later, we got news that nbc news had explicitly -- exclusively reported that they were making a list of senior current military officers who were directly involved in the 2021 afghanistan withdrawal and exploring whether those individuals could be court- martialed for their involvement in the withdrawal. a person with knowledge of the plan told nbc news that, quote, they are taking it very seriously. nbc news has reached out to the trump transition team for comment, they have yet to response -- respond. joe, let me go to you first, it is not unprecedented for there to be criticism and subsequent investigations of military action. more often than not, the criticism is challenged and channeled through congressional hearings like we saw in benghazi. what you make of this rumor that th

. >> i will bring in kelly o'donnell in west palm beach.national security analyst and assistant director of national intelligence at the fbi. jeremy peters is a reporter and contributor. great to have you all here. what are we hearing about all of this from team trump? >> there are a number of these figures who have identified themselves publicly, but we believe there were others that were named to the cabinet are other senior positions who have also experienced this. tom homan did not say that he had a threat made against him in this instance, but he has experienced that broadly that he was reacting to. the trump transition considers this a serious matter because of course it causes great distress and concern for the assembled team of donald trump, the president elect. the president-elect and vice president elect not included in this so it is really the senior staff level of those expected to be part of the next administration. would officials have told us is these messages were delivered via email and social media direct messages. because

>> kelly o'donnell, this morning in west palm beach.nk you. >>> we have much more news to get to this morning including in ukraine where energy workers are repairing the country's power grid as russia continues its relentless air attack on ukraine's energy plants. moscow launched a large scale bombardment on thursday. ukrainian officials saying nearly 200 drones and missiles targeted infrastructure there, repeated attacks on power plants and caused rolling blackouts across the country over the past month. >>> it would not be thanksgiving weekend without a little bit of football. three games in the nfl on thursday right here on nbc last night. the green bay packers coming out hot against the miami dolphins and they would never look back. it started off with this jordan love td pass. watch. >> touchdown, reed! damon reed connects! >> reed there with the lambeau leap. the packers would go on to win 30-17. earlier in the day, the detroit lions squeaking out a 23-20 victory over chicago after the bears failed to convert on a last-minute driv

joining us is nbc's kelly o'donnell from west palm beach florida and back with me is former republicanke away from how he is choosing his cabinet? >> we certainly see that reflected in many of the elections is loyalty to donald trump and the movement that has certainly been part of it. in some instances, you see these people have been around term for some period of years. others were allies from the first-term and others became political partners in the fight over the 2020 election and in the time since. you get some of that. clearly, donald trump is a magnet for florida and relocated here formally and when he ran in 2016, he was a resident of new york and changed that along the way. his family members relocated to florida, as well and completely changing the identity of the family being new york-based to being florida-based. some supporters followed along, as well. there is a sense that there is a certain florida sensibility reflected in how he is choosing some names. in the case like pam who he put forward for attorney general, she was not the first choice she happened to be a two-ti

jose. >> kelly o'donnell, thank you. >>> joining us republican strategist and msnbc political analystist and former advisor to president bill clinton, richard. this string of threats against members of congress, president-elect's picks and their families, what do you think is going on here? >> it's, obviously, hard to know. i will point out that trump is talking about severe cuts to the fbi. so the notion that somehow or other that things will get better if he has his way regarding these cuts is lunacy, right? again, i in short order we will get to the bottom of who is behind this, is there a political motivation, what have but i think for now all i can say is again please don't do the things -- joe biden talks about the tariffs being counterproductive. cutting the fbi will be counterproductive relative to threats as well. >> susan, when and if, but when political rhetoric maybe has something to do with the increase of threats or even death. who is responsible and as a society how can those efforts actually succeed? >> well, our elected officials and the rhetoric they use should be he

let's go right to kelly o'donnell who is traveling with the president. so kelly joins me now., welcome. what's the significant of the president allowing ukraine to use these long-range missiles and now? >> reporter: well, from the beginning of the u.s. involvement supporting ukraine, defending itself against russia's invasion of its country, joe biden has tried to contain the risk of spillover, of a wider war. and so he has allowed u.s. weapons to be used for defensive purposes inside ukraine. this is a shift in policy, with attack drones, which are limited in availability for the u.s., and would give ukrainian forces the ability to strike within russia. what has changed? well, we know that russia has been working with north korea, having some of its elite military service members who are in the region to try to support russia in its war against ukraine, and certainly there is a tension about how russia has been able to regain more territory, and it's been a very significant period of fighting. so this kind of a shift, and i want to make the distinction that our reporting does

nbc news senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell is joining me now from rio de janeiro, brazilead of the g-20 summit there. welcome, kelly, it's good to see you. let's talk about president biden's parting message to president xi. what was it? >> well, good to be with you, alex. certainly, president biden wanted to emphasize some key things. part of that is the long personal relationship he has had with president xi nping, and that goes back to before each were president of their nations. they've known each other for a long time. they've spent considerable time together. and it is one of the most complex relationships, the united states and china, for so many reasons. economic competition, power centers in the world, the influence that china has with some u.s. foes like north korea and russia. certainly, in this meeting, part of what president biden said he wanted to do was to emphasize the stability that has been created during the time of his four years in office, the restoration of things like direct communication between the american military and the chinese military. someth

. >> i'm kelly o'donnell in rio de janeiro at the g20 summit, where dozens of international leaders haveeen gathered, including president biden and russia's foreign minister, sergei lathrop, who today called the ukrainian missile attack an escalation and called talked about putin making changes to how russia could use it nuclear arsenal. >> we are strongly in favor of doing everything not to allow nuclear war to happen. >> reporter: us for the attack comes ukraine says they will help resist an russian offensive, supported by north korean troops just month before resident elect trump takes office and is expected to demand a deal. ukraine today, marking 1000 days of war with russia, with talks on the horizon, but no sign of a compromise. president putin has made many unnerving nuclear threats. tonight, one european leader calling it rhetoric. >> u.s. embassy in kyiv has closed today, amid specific information about a potential significant air attack. employees are sheltering in place, officials warned american citizens to be prepared to take shelter if an error alert is announced. the krem

kelly o'donnell is travelling with the president and is in rio de janeiro, good morning. >> good morning. the future of u.s. and china relations will pass through a key meeting today. president biden face to face one last time with china's xi i didn't know ping. managing the tense competition with china has been a priority for biden and the u.s. wants to maintain direct communications to prevent misunderstanding in a crisis over economic or military matters. president biden is concerned about china's involvement with russia and north korea including in ukraine. he met with allies from japan and south korea to solidify progress made on the pacific alliance. all of this as a second trump term is looming as biden takes a final lap on the world stage. >> so many leaders are curious about the presidential transition that will take place in two months. how much is president-elect trump's shadow being cast there? >> indeed it is. white house officials say while world leaders do understand that the u.s. is in a period of transition, they also say that during the meetings so far, the president ha

nbc's kelly o'donnell has a report. - [kelly] marcia clark is playing it straight.rter] simpson smiling. johnny cochran laughing, as prosecutors struggle to explain why the killer's bloody gloves did not appear to fit oj simpson. - he had money and influence and could wheel those things to get the best lawyers available to him. - if it doesn't fit, you must acquit. if it doesn't fit, you must acquit. - and watching that, i was like, oh, this is not like if me or somebody i knew was accused of a crime. this is like celebrity. this is theater. - i've always wondered, is there really a difference between the trial of a century and a circus? because they seem to go hand in hand. - it became a joke on the tonight show with jay leno and the dancing itos. - the dancing itos with special guest, marcia clark! ladies and gentlemen! - i'm so saturated by the irresponsibility of the media that i'm beyond being outraged. i mean, i'm almost numb to it at this point. - this isn't a punchline. this is murder. - [kelly] today, the final act in what has been a national obsession. wha

we have kelly o'donnell in west palm beach florida, staff writer with the atlantic, mark leibovich.uncharted waters? >> it is interesting, because president biden, as someone who has been in the government for half a century, he is quite experienced in this field. this is the fourth transition he has been part of himself. as part of the obama administration, he was considered to be one of the smoothest and best run transitions from the bush administration. and then, one of the worst transitions in 2020 as donald trump did not even acknowledge that biden won the election and try to overturn it. biden is trying to make sure that at least he is doing everything that needs to be done to ensure that this is as smooth as possible, and you look at the contacts that have already taken place -- president biden has already met with president elect trump, a positive meeting, in the spirit of the moment. close quarters coronation is essential. secretary of state blinken says he will have meetings with marco rubio and national security advisor's. they will update him on the various key breakthro

nbc's kelly o'donnell in west palm beach, florida, this morning. thank you.border with republican governor greg abbott of texas yesterday. they spoke to national guard members and state troopers before serving meals to service members. he issued a warning to governors and mayors who say they plan to resist the incoming administration's plans to deport people here illegally. >> this is a shame we have other governors and other mayors who are out of the gate saying they are going to push back on president trump, what we are trying to do, especially for interior enforcement. let me be clear. there is going to be a mass deportation because we just finished a mass illegal immigration crisis on the border. anybody can look at nine out of ten people claim asylum at the border will end up with removal. men and women of i.c.e. have a tough job. i am sending a message, people getting in our way, they are going to stop us from doing what we are doing, i said 100 times in the last week, don't cross that line. this is a felony, it's harboring and concealing from immigrati

o'donnell. >> no it wasn't. >> you might remember how trump reacted to that question from fox's megan kelly the very next day.you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever. >> eight years later in the time weeks of his 2024 campaign, trump was confronting the possibility that women might come out and vote against him in significant numbers. and so on the eve of this election, trump recruited a familiar face to help him out. >> he will be a protector of women, and it's why i'm voting for him. what i don't want, what i don't think you want is the left's version of masculinity. i'm not into their version of masculinity or new masculinity. i prefer the old version, all of you and i prefer a president who understands how to be strong and how to fight. >> more women voted for donald trump in 2024 than 2020. white women, in particular, voted 53% for donald trump. i'm going to talk about how that happened coming up next with shannon watts, the organizer of white women answer the call. and maya wily, stay with us. a ws so, what are you thinking? i'm thinking... (speaking to sel

o'donnell.>> no, it wasn't. >> you might remember how he reacted from that question from megyn kelly the very next day.>> you couldher eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.>> trump was confronting the possibility that women might come out and vote against him in significant numbers, so on the eve of the selection, trump recruited a familiar face to help him out.>> he will be a protector of women and that is why i'm voting for him. what i don't want and what i don't think you want is the last version of masculinity. i'm not into their version of toxic masculinity or new masculinity, i prefer the old version. all of you, and i prefer a president who understands how to be strong and how to fight.>> more women voted for donald trump in 2024 than 2020, white women voted 53% for donald trump. talk about how that happened, coming up next with shannon watts, the organizer of white women answer the call and maya wiley, stay with us. with us. (spe ing to self) about our honeymoon. what about africa? safari? hot air balloon ride? swim with elephants? wait, can we afford a safari? great question. like everything, it takes a