and i think he used the death penalty as part of that. >> lee carter, matt bennett, thank you both soch for coming on. i know it's a holiday week and you could have been doing a whole lot of other fun things, but you hung out with us and i appreciate it. all right. over to you, kate. >> thank you so much. coming up for us, a disturbing discovery on a tarmac in hawaii, a body found in the wheel well of a plane. the investigation now to figure out how this happened. and the mega millions jackpot is now even bigger than $1 billion. one heck of a late christmas gift. still up for grabs. >> 2024 was a wild ride. >> it was like the craziest roller coaster ride i've ever been on in my life. >> that was an whooping. >> tom foreman and special guests look back. all the best. all the worst. 2024 tonight at 11 on cnn. is here. >> the undead plague carrier. nozpheratu. >> we are now playing only in theaters. special engagements in dolby and imax. mm kind of needs to be more squiggly. >> perfect. >> so now, do you have a driver's license? oh. >> what did you get us with a click of a pen, you can g

and so if i'm rfk, i wouldn't move forward with this shermichael singleton, matt bennett, i give both of you an a minus for this panel only because it wasn't longer. >> and i always want to leave some room for improvement. thank you both very much for being here. appreciate it. kate. so they are not birds. they are not aliens. they are drones. or that is at least what people in new jersey think, though that is now even in dispute after the department of homeland security put out a statement that at least some of what's been seen are actually manned aircraft. but that's about all that is known. are you confused? well, that is exactly how people in new jersey say they feel right now. after weeks of mysterious nighttime drone sightings and no word on what they really are or what they're really doing now, lawmakers have gone from asking questions to demanding answers they should be shot down if necessary because they're flying over sensitive areas. >> the whole government, state police, department of homeland security, the governor, they need to take this way more seriously. >> it's a bit

but to the top of what matt bennett is saying is, in a crass political sense, in the long run, what ron is pointing to could benefit. it could backfire on trump, and republicans could benefit democrats. what do you see? >> yeah, i think that's a possibility, especially as we look towards the midterms where we know already just by being in power. the republican party is is at a deficit just going into the midterm elections, no matter what they do for the next two years. but if the trump presidency is chaotic and you know, everything we've seen from his first presidency to the transition, um, kind of predicts some chaos, um, that could also bring the party down if if the republican party, if congress, if republicans, congress get pulled into all these kind of side conversations led by donald trump, the debt ceiling panama, canada, greenland, you know, other issues that we can't even fathom right now that all of a sudden the president starts speaking about and they're not focused on the economy. they're not focused on immigration. then the this mandate that they say they have will be unful

matt bennett doug heye, thank you both so much. appreciate it john. >> all right. a restraining order has now been issued against the california man who was messaging with the wisconsin school shooter. details on the bomb plot he described to fbi agents. thousands of amazon workers are on strike just ahead of the holidays. what it means for those gifts that you might be hoping are going to arrive on time. >> i want to be the greatest player that i could possibly become. >> elle reeve reporter. emergency crystals pop and fizz when you throw them back. and who doesn't love a good throwback? now, with vitamin d for the dark days of winter it. are you ready for this? >> are you ready for this? are you ready for this new alka-seltzer plus cold or flu fizzy chews? >> shou chew fizz. feel better. fast. no water needed. new alka-seltzer plus fizzy juice at bombas. >> we make absurdly comfortable socks. slippers? you'll float in an underwear and tees that feel like clouds. no bunnies. visit bombas. com and get 20% off your first order. >> okay, everyone, our mission is to p

matt bennett the co-founder of the third way.wall street journal." it's all in the prism you looked through that soundbite seemed pretty clear cut. is he selecting people that will shake these agencies up. >> reform type president. in that interview the best part of it he decided to go to his left a little bit when he mentioned the dreamers. very excited when president obama won, he went to his left. when joe biden won he left to his left. joe president trump is going toe center. let's not forget the dreamers and people born here. i was prizeside and pleased. >> bret: he chose meet the press for a reason. is there hope to work across the aisle. >> maybe, that's not the message he was sending during the campaign and it wasn't the message he was sending when he said that all of the january 6th committee members should be imin prison. that is not a unifying message. that is a terrifying message because he is talking about using the power of government to imprison his political foes. and he has appointed people cash pa they will to r

matt bennett third way co-founder deputy assistant for the president governmental affairs under bill spectrum. stuff happening before this election. >> very much so. when is the last time you saw a freewheeling white house press conference like that. ever since biden's cognitive decline has been exposed it's like is he no longer in charge and trump is president. straddling the world stage. meeting with business executives and going to france and meeting with zelenskyy and negotiating peace. like he is already president. it's unprecedented because biden has left a vacuum. all these things have you seen biden talking about the drones? have you seen biden talking about any of these things? they launched 75 missiles into syria and the president didn't address the nation about it. it's like he is not there anymore matt obviously you raised your eyebrows in that list of soundbites. >> look. he makes a lot of claims, the president-elect does, and a lot of them are false. he said he was going to cut $2 trillion out of. >> bret: we don't know if it's going to happen or not. >> it would mean c

. >> now to discuss the path to confirmation or not democratic strategist matt bennett lee carter is also here. strategic communications expert. it's great to see you guys. thanks for being here. and lee, you have known pete hegseth for quite some time. yes um, the appearance from his mom hearing from penelope there this morning. do you think it fixes the trouble that his confirmation is facing? >> i don't know if it fixes it, but it certainly helps. i mean, it dimensionalizes. what's happening? i mean there is no question what happened in his previous marriage and where he is today. and i'm sure there are rocky roads behind the scenes. um pete hegseth that i know is a man who is a delight to work with. i have never smelled alcohol on his breath. i have traveled with him to debates. i have traveled with him to primary states. i have traveled with him and the fox and friends team all over, and i've never seen any of the behavior that we're talking about there. there's a there's certainly things that he did in his past, and there's things that we've all done in our past, but i think we

democratic strategist matt bennett served as a deputy assistant to the president in the office of intergovernmentallinton administration. and susan del percio is a republican strategist and msnbc political analyst. welcome, all of you. gabe, you first. walk us through trump's evolution here. how did the president-elect come out on the side of elon musk after opposing this visa program through his first term? >> reporter: well, hi there, alex. it is, it has been quite an evolution, as you mentioned, in his first term, and actually during his presidential campaign. donald trump sharply criticized h 1-b program. it was seen as cheap labor by maga supporters. even late in his term, he temporarily blocked new visas, he criticized the program quite a bit, but as you said, more recently, since he's been associated more with business leaders like elon musk and vivek ramaswamy, he has changed his mind on this particular visa program, and over the weekend, as you said, he told the new york post he has always liked the visas. so that's questionable as well. it's unclear exactly how many workers on his propert

bennett and amna nawaz are away. on the "newshour" tonight, the house ethics committee report on former congressman matt gaetz - president pick for attorney general - reveals alleged rampant illegal sexual misconduct and drug use.

bennett and amna nawaz are away. on the "newshour" tonight, the house ethics committee report on former congressman matt gaetz - president elect trump's first pick for attorney general - reveals alleged rampant illegal sexual misconduct and drug use. president biden commutes the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row to life without parole, just weeks before trump is set to take office. and, china's foreign adoption ban leaves hundreds of children and families in limbo, and brings into focus the effects of china's long time policies. >> i still struggle with a lot of aspects of my adoption and the grief and the trauma that comes with being separated from your birth country, from your birth family. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions and , friends of the "news hour" including leonard and the judy and peter blum kovler foundation. the william and flora hewlett foundation promoting a better world at hewlett.org. and with ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corp