thanks so much, vaughn.will be talking to you throughout the hour as we are still waiting for president-elect donald trump to arrive at the french president's residence. >>> now, we turn to washington where there are some serious doubts about some of president-elect donald trump's top cabinet picks. at the top of the list, of his most embattled choices is pete hegseth, who trump picked to be the next secretary of defense. now, there are multiple reports that have surfaced recently about allegations of past and professional personal misconduct. the allegations against him include a sexual assault claim, financial mismanagement of organizations he once led, and stories about heavy drinking regarding the sexual assault allegation now hegseth denied the woman's allegations, saying the encounter was consensual and he paid undisclosed amount as part of the settlement with her and he was never charged. now, nbc news reported this week that according to ten former and current fox news employees, hegseth's drinking c

vaughn, you may begin. i would remind erbe to turn your microphones on. >> honorable members of this committee, thank you for entertaining this important discussion today in allowing me to share our story with you. i'd like to speak about the doj's project 2022 that happened october 5th at 7:00 a.m. in the morning when my house was assaulted, my wife and children were terrorized, and i was kidnapped at gunpoint by four armed men. i had sent my children to the car when my house began to shake. i heard men shouting, open up, fbi. the banging continued. as i looked out a side window, i saw two unmarked suvs, but i did not see my children. the banging continued and i heard more shouting. i opened the curtains to find three men with guns trained on the door. i asked who they were looking for, they replied, we're here for you. they did not identify me or provide identification for themselves. as i believe there was an eminent threat to my wife and children, i determined to surrender myself to them hoping they wer

vaughn. ms. hawley, you may give your testimony. >> good afternoon. thank you chairman, ranking members and members of the committee. one of the most enduring and crucial features of the constitutional design is its commitment to equal application of law. john adams famously describe ed the republic as a government of laws, not of men, meaning that in america, the rule of law comes before politics. if the biden administration has broken this promise, it is consistently put politics above the rule of law, yet one-sided application of the fact to target pro life individuals. the text of the face act is clear. its protections apply to reproductive health services, which is broadly defined to include not only abortion facilities, but also pregnancy centers. it protects churches sfr violence, vandalism and intimidation. instead of applying the face act, the doj weaponized the act to target advocates. since 2001, it has brought criminal or civil cases under the f.a.c.e. against under 55 individuals

vaughn, stay close. more legal involvement with donald trump.a case thrown out. trump's attorneys claim they have learned of, quote, grave juror misconduct. a heavily real dacted letter wa released leaving the misconduct unclear. the new york district attorney's office calls the allegations vague and the source of these allegations said the trump team's letter contains inaccuracies. joining us now defense attorney misty maris. good to have you here. we don't know the specifics of the alleged misconduct but just generally speaking is juror misconduct enough to get a conviction thrown out? what is that threshold? >> yes, ana. juror misconduct is very, very serious in new york and it can be anything from extraneous information that's prejudicial coming into the courtroom or could be as severe as coercion or something of that nature. and if that issue is material to something in the case, then it can overturn a conviction. however, the criminal procedure law is very clear. evidence of jury misconduct cannot be speculative. it cannot be hear say. the

vaughn hillyard. peter baker is still with us.arance there a strategic move? >> reporter: it absolutely is, jose. let's be clear here. the relationship between france and the united states is going to be paramount, not only to the u.s. and it's ties to the eu, in particular, nato. president macron has been a staunch defender of president zelenskyy and continued financial aid to ukraine in its defense against russian aggression, but also you're looking at here, again, for president macron, this is a moments in just this week their government collapsed and the prime minister resigned just yesterday. for him, the threat from donald trump about imposing tariffs on all eu goods imported to the united states, it's very serious at a time in which frankly the european economy can't afford any more questions about the stability of its foreign markets. for donald trump, this is somebody in president macron, they have a long standing relationship. and back in the first administration, he threatened to put tariffs on imported wine that came i

john's closest friends, like dennis vaughn, would agree. dennis vaughn: i met john in 1985.e both attending the same college. and i was struck immediately by his personality. you always knew where john was at a function or at a party, usually because there was a crowd of people around him. andrea canning: maggie mccartin met john later in life, but they had a lot in common. any time you were around him, it was-- he was making you laugh. he was making you smile. he and i kind of shared that same affiliation for old tv. so we try to one-up each other on tv trivia. was we kind of old school, given his choice in tv, and-- was he kind of old fashioned? he was very old fashioned. he literally was born too late, in a lot of ways. all of his entertainment choices, movie, television, music all tended to skew towards older things. and in his personal life, he was old school, too. did not own a cell phone. up until the day he died, he didn't own one. andrea canning: john's friends became his family. and his real family? well, that was pretty small. his father died when he was just mont

michael steele, vaughn hillyard, sheryl, thank you very much.e have breaking news any moment now we are expecting an update from police in madison, wisconsin. they are investigating a school shooting at the abundant life christian school in madison. we know multiple injuries have been reported. maura barrett is following the latest report for us. what do we know? >> well, chris, we are waiting any minute now for the madison police chief to come out and address the media to give any updates. so i'm going to be watching that with one eye and we can toss to that. there have been multiple injuries but don't know much more information in terms of how many or the terms of injuries they're experiencing. we do know that this occurred just in the last hour and a half or so, a public safety alert went out to people in the area at 11:20 central time 12:20 eastern time, an hour ago, and this is at the abundant life christian school in east madison, outside downtown madison, so it is within the city limits that's why the city police is responding. dade count

ryan nobles, vaughn hillyard, courtney kube, former congressman david jolly, thank you on a very busy of developments on the hill. >>> coming up in 90 seconds, what the nypd calls a brazen, premeditated atact by a suspect laying in wait. the new details we're learning about the murder of united health care ceo and the manhunt for the gunman who ambushed him. hi. i'm damian clark. i'm here to help you understand how to get the most from medicare. if you're eligible for medicare, it's a good idea to have original medicare. it gives you coverage for doctor office visits and hospital stays. but if you want even more benefits, you can choose a medicare advantage plan like the ones offered at humana. our plans combine original medicare with extra benefits in a single, convenient plan with $0, or low monthly plan premiums. these plans could even include prescription drug coverage with $0 copays on hundreds of prescriptions. plus, there's a cap on your out-of-pocket costs. most plans include dental, vision, even hearing coverage. there are $0 copays for in-network preventive services, and muc

vaughn hillyard is here in studio with me. vaughn, help me unpack this, what this day means to donald trump and do you read anything into the fact that he had an interesting group of people standing around him? i'm sure he could have invited anyone he wanted to. >> not only going to the new york stock exchange, walking about the floor, ringing the bell, being celebrated with chants of usa. i think it's also to note the other event taking place was the fact he was named time's person of the year. in that shot there to donald trump's right, it's the ceo of time who was standing alongside donald trump. in a lot of ways, we have seen over the last couple of weeks, flattery and cozying up to donald trump. by foreign leaders, republicans on capitol hill, but also the likes of those like the ceo of times standing there for this event. you saw the group standing on the floor. i was there on the floor of the stock exchange. standing next to scott bessant, howard lutnick. pam bondi. kelly leffler, his ag pick. he was all on the floor, c

to vaughn's point about the role republicans in the u.s. senate will now play, it's not enough to broadly ask rfk jr. about his positions on vaccines because just like we saw in that interview with you, vaughn, he is now bobbing and weaving. he needs to be asked about the fact that he founded, drew a salary from an organization that is validly anti-vaccines. he needs to be asked about his association with someone like this attorney who let me underline a few of those things you said in that script. they are sitting down and doing the vetting of other health officials who would come into health and human services if he were to be appointed health and human secretary. one of the questions is what do you think about vaccines? they are using that as a filter as they build their workforce. there's the reality that if rfk jr. were to take over hhs, he would have -- fda would come under his purview. all those petitions you referenced from siri, who do they go to? they go to the fda. one of the questions that i would ask if i were a u.s. senator, r

but let's begin with vaughn hillyard in west palm beach, florida, vaughn, the issue that was raised byspecial prosecutor, not the merits of the allegations in this case, how did the court explain the decision? >> reporter: right, there's a disagreement between the initial judge who was overseeing this case and timately determined that willis would be able to say as long as nathan wade, the special prosecutor resigned and left the case, that's what led to the appeal from now president-elect trump's team and this georgia appeals court making the determination that, that the appearance of a conflict of interest was so high and so paramount to this case that it required her to be dismissed and disqualified from overseeing it. in the appeals court decision, while we recognizing a appearance of improp ryety generally is not enough to -- this can be appealed to the georgia supreme court. so we should note the appeals court made the decision to not toss the indictment in its entirety against donald trump and other defendants, so this case still lives on to a certain extent at least for now. >>

nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard, alicia menendez is back and president of the national action network host of "politics nation," the reverend al sharpton is here. dr. anderson, just start by telling us what polio is and how and when it was eradicated. >> it's a viral disease that causes massive paralysis, not only your extremities, but your ability to breathe. i start off these conversations by saying how many people do you know that had polio? my grandmother, god rest her soul, had polio. we have eradicated this disease from the united states and most of the world. it is a devastating life taking, life threatening disease and i love that cdc information that shows how many lives have been saved by this safe, very effective vaccine. also in the "new york times" i think yesterday was almost a primer for physicians reminding them of these vaccine preventible diseases, how deadly they are, and how horrible it would be specifically for kids, but really for everybody if these diseases came back. so polio is one example of a horrible disease that we have eradicated because of vaccin

vaughn hillyard joins us live from paris next.s is "the weekend." ♪♪ ♪ phone in any condition and get a samsung galaxy s24+, on us, with circle to search. even if your phone is old or dated, you can turn it in at verizon for gifts for you and the family. for a limited time get galaxy s24+, watch and tab. all three on us. that's up to $1,900 in value. survive the holidays with samsung. powered by verizon. mopping is hard work, but i thought it was the only way i can get my floors truly clean. and then i tried the swiffer powermop and realized i can get cleaner floors without the extra work. it has a built-in solution that breaks down dirt on contact. and the pads hundreds of strips scrub away sticky messes even from grout lines. ok powermop! plus, it's 360-degree swivel head cleans up along baseboards and even behind the toilet. so, ditch the bucket and all the hard work that comes along with it. with the swiffer powermop. ♪♪ >>> breaking news. authorities are working to catch the gunman who killed unitedhealthcare ceo brian thomps

we'll see if that same script works this time. >> vaughn hillyard, courtney kube, susan glasser, thank all. >>> right now we're watching high stakes at the supreme court. the justices hearing a case that could have major ramifications for transgender rights. we're back in 90 seconds. power e*trade's award-winning trading app makes trading easier. with its customizable options chain, easy-to-use tools and paper trading to help sharpen your skills, you can stay on top of the market from wherever you are. e*trade from morgan stanley power e*trade's easy to-use tools make complex trading less complicated. custom scans can help you find new trading opportunities, while an earnings tool helps you plan your trades and stay on top of the market. e*trade from morgan stanley liberty mutual customized my car insurance so i saved hundreds. with the money i saved i thought i'd get a wax figure of myself. oh! right in the temporal lobe! beat it, punks! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ why use 10 buckets of water when you can use 1 fire extinguisher. and to fight hea

vaughn, first to you, what is president-elect trump hoping to accomplish with this trip?h so much uncertainty, andrea, here with the french government, what is certain is tomorrow is going to be the reopening of the notre dame cathedral, and it's going to be president macron who invited the president-elect to come and be by his side for the ceremony ahead of the official opening, and then when the bells ring to welcome everybody back inside of this cathedral, donald trump is going to be joined by the presidents of jordan, morocco, italy, prince william as well. first lady jill biden, we should note, will be here in attendance. president biden was invited but declined the invitation. and this is going to be donald trump's first international visit. as the president-elect. and the stakes are so high. not only for donald trump but president macron here, at a time in which the coalition government fell apart just this week for the french. this is a moment of reckoning, in which donald trump has promised to implement tariffs on all eu goods, 10 to 20% on all goods in just two

so vaughn, good morning.s a trump transition team saying about these allegations against hegseth? >> right. there are some senators who are asking questions including republican senator roger wicker of mississippi who suggested there should be a traditional fbi background check into pete hegseth and other nominees put forward by donald trump so they can better make the decision on whether they give the thumb's up or down on these nominees. when it comes to the trump transition, right, they actually over the course of the last week as the stories started to trickle out, especially "the new yorker" piece as well as "the new york times" publishing an e-mail from several years ago from pete hegseth's mother to her son in which she was very clear in which she wrote as part of her e-mail that, quote, you have abused in so many ways women, quote, i have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his power and ego. the mother of pete hegseth said that she disavowed her state

frank, back to you in a second, but i want to remind folks, and i'll go back to you, vaughn. june. many people remember the phrase when donald trump said he was only going to have to best people. he thought chris wray was one of the best people. when he decided that he should be the fbi director. >> right. since the selection with senate confirmation who was going to be the replacement to comey, i was going back to that moment in time, june 7, 2017, in which trump posted i will be nominated chris wray to be the new director of the fbi. details to follow. well, there's been a lot of details over the course of these years that led to this moment here today where chris wray before donald trump is sworn into office. the question is who serves as acting director, not only over the course of the next coming weeks, but also come january 20th. and until kash patel, if he were to be confirmed, is installed into that position. >> frank, i wonder having so many people connected to the fbi and i think it was interesting to hear the word ken used, which was that the transition the last ti

joining us now, vaughn hillyard, ryan riley, jake sherman, and former fbi general counsel and former senior member of robert mueller's special counsel that investigated russian interference into the 2016 election, that's a mouthful. andrew weissmann. thank you for being with us. everyone. vaughn, when he talks about not wanting to drag the bureau into the political fray, what is he talking about? >> well, donald trump believe that is the fbi was in the political fray over the last seven years now. back in 2017 when he nominated him to replace james comey. it took just two years for him to put scorn on to the work of chris wray after chris wray defended the work of the ig from the doj who said that the russia investigation into alleged collusions with donald trump and his campaign, that that investigation was warranted. immediately led in 2019 while still in white house, donald trump, to issue a statement questioning whether he had the capacity to serve at the top level of the fbi. several years later, you get to 2021. up on capitol hill after the january 6 attack, chris wray went up

thank you so much, vaughn hillyard.ways good to see you. >>> now to washington, where president biden remotely led a meeting of the g-7 today. nbc's aaron gilchrist joins us now. what was on the agenda? >> reporter: this was a wide ranging agenda today that the g-7 leaders went through as they met early this morning. president biden, of course, here at the white house engaging in the meeting that was led by the italians, part of the meeting focused on the transition from italian leadership to canadian leadership of the g-7. they talked about venezuela, africa, and central among the topics they addressed in the meeting today was syria. the overturning of the assad regime there and their desire, the g-7 leaders' desire to make sure there is a smooth peaceful transition process to a syrian-led outcome in terms of how that country moves forward. there was also a focus on ukraine, as has been the case for this group for a couple years now. the focus really on the idea of making sure that they, again, articulate their support

joining me now for more and live from paris is vaughn hillyard.nsight into what was discussed during that meeting between trump and macron? >> reporter: well, the biggest development was the fact, katie, that just a little while after that meeting began, that cameras were allowed back in to the palace and president zelenskyy of ukraine was in on what appeared to be a three-person meeting between the french president, the incoming united states president, and the ukrainian president. of course, this is all, we should note, we're just about 40 minutes away from when the reopening ceremony of the notre dame cathedral is slated to begin here and of course, president macron is going to be giving remarks as well as president zelenskyy and incoming incoming president trump are going to be attending. this is of course politically and geopolitically a huge meeting. for macron, it was a priority of him to bring president trump here and particularly around concern over the trump, incoming trump administration's threats about cutting off future financial aid

vaughn, who does the transition team have rfk junior meeting with today?two republicans expressing doubt about his skepticism. that doesn't mean voting against, but he's being called to task and they're trying to soften his position. at the same time, you know, president-elect trump raised questions about the growing number of autism diagnoses over recent decades, and the suggests were that it's somehow related to vaccines, which is totally debunked. >> reporter: he's been very deferential to kennedy. if kennedy were to be confirmed, right, if you're president of the united states, there's a broad number of agencies and departments under your purview. and of course, in the oval office there is a lot that would be missed by the sitting president of the united states. that's where you have somebody serve as secretary of hha, for example, to oversee the 13 different health ieagencies. that is where you have kennedy up on capitol hill today. so far he has met with three republicans. we expect him to visit several others today. not only facing questions for the

vaughn hillyard is back for us, he is still in west palm beach. also joining us, publisher of the bulwark group, political strategist sarah longwell. and joining me at the table, former congressman from florida, msnbc political analyst david jolly is here. vaughn hillyard, i am a student of patterns and the pattern is that when someone near trump looks more likely to be named the next "time" person of the year than trump himself, that person is sometimes cast off the island. is musk anywhere near that danger at this point since he seems to be running washington? >> reporter: the part for donald trump that person that we are talking about is somebody who is wealthier than he is. somebody who has a greater number of companies and arguably somebody with a larger footprint on his social media platform is bigger than donald trump's. elon musk hasn't been pushed away at this point. i have to go back. i remember sitting on the side of the road in my car in 2022, nicolle, when there were tweets that were going out in real time between donald trump and elo

and in studio, vaughn hillyard. julie, where do things stand with the hegseth conversations?'s back on the hill today as you saw in those videos meeting with senate republicans. most friendly meetings today except for senator rounds who said after meeting with hegseth he still had some questions. he wasn't fully there yet but felt good about the meeting. i asked hegseth himself if he's going to stay in through the end and he said he will. he told garrett haake that as long as he has the support of president-elect trump behind him, he will continue to stay in and not withdraw his name despite the allegations surrounding him. i talked to many senators yesterday who met with him. their point, this alcohol problem is definitely an issue sparking concerns among republicans in the senate but also his comments about women in the military. especially women in combat. that is something that of course perked up the ears of joni ernst who is the first woman combat veteran to be in the senate. she's also been outspoken about her on sexual assault survival. she's been an advocate for vict

those folks are in the game and they have the control here. >> vaughn hillyard aislely vitally, ashleyr, michael steele, thank you. >>> joining me chris coons much delaware. member of the foreign relations committee and the judiciary committee. senator, you're close with the biden family. talk to us first about what you tink was persuading the president after the election to pardon his son. we know how he feels about hunter and how important family is. why didn't he say so before the election is one of the questions being asked by some of his democratic allies? >> there's a lot going on in the world. i hope we'll get to today in south korea and angola, but to your question, what the panel was just discussing with you, the nomination of folks like kash patel to be director of the fbi, matt gaetz to be attorney general, weighed heavily on the president and despite repeatedly saying he would not pardon his son, he looked at these two and said, trump's campaign rhetoric that he would use the levers of power of the federal government to go after his political opponents and enemies he conclu

vaughn? >> exactly. he received quite a few questions about robert f. kennedy jr. specifically and the extent to which he would seek to block vaccines that are on the market from access to the american public. i want to let you listen to our garrett haake's questions who was in the room there at mar-a-lago and was able to ask kennedy one of those questions about not only those folks who are concerned about their kids' access to vaccines, but also the extent to which the polio vaccine specifically is under threat. take a listen. >> what do you say to people who are worried his views on vaccines will translate to the policies that will make their kids less safe? >> i think it's going to be much less radical than you would think. i think he has an open mind or i wouldn't have put him there. he's going to be less radical, but there are problems. i mean, we don't do as well as a lot of other nations and those nations use nothing. >> what about the polio vaccine? >> well, i'm a big believer in it. >> i think it's an understatement to say he was very noncommittal about ex

vaughn hillyard, nbc news. >> and thank you for that reporting.aid, a jury found donald trump liable for sexual abuse in the e. jean carroll case, i want to bring back with us now, former assistant manhattan district attorney catherine christian. catherine, i want to start with this particular case. judge merchan, which was brought up in vaughn's piece here, has not issued a decision on trump's sentencing for the hush money case and we don't know when he's going to do it. he did say after the election, where does that stand, and i understand know him professionally? >> quite frankly, it's inexplicable why judge merchan has not issued a decision yet. some judges are more decisive than others. you know, tomorrow's christmas eve. the courts are open today in manhattan, and they're open tomorrow. it's possible he could issue his decision today or tomorrow. it's inexplicable why he is taking so long to issue this decision. he's either dismissing the indictment or he's not. and if he dismisses the indictment, the case ends. if he's not, then the next is

. >> and young me now, nbc news correspondents ryan nobles from capitol hill, vaughn hillyard in west palm beach, and ashley parker. so ryan, first to you and what a drama. what options are now available to speaker johnson? what could be done to avert a shutdown, and potentially save his speakership? >> well, first addressing the most immediate need and avoiding a government shutdown, speaker johnson has to come up with a bill that can pass both the hahouse and senate, and i thinkt is very important to emphasize that that package has to been bipartisan. yes, republicans will eventually control the house, the senate, and the white house, but at this current juncture, they do not. so that means it needs to be a bill that democrats can support in the house because there will be a gaggle of republicans that vote no against any sort of y continuing resolution no matt how slimmed down it is. so you're going to need democrats in the house. y democrats control the senate, plus you need a 60-vote margin for anything to pass in the senate, and otthen of course, e president biden has to sign i i

joining us vaughn hillyard and ken dilanian and rob d'amico. vaughn, good morning.atel wasn't necessarily a surprise pick. how did it come together? >> this was a conversation taking place between the transition at the onset of their election night victory on november 5th that kash patel wa white house, but even in the lead up to his election defeat and especially in the two months following his election loss, when he went around the country and was promoting the election conspiracies that the election was stolen from him, but even more so he was serving at the time in capacity as chief of staff to the deputy secretary of defense for chris miller. kash patel served as the effectively the number two to the acting director of national intelligence during the first administration and this is somebody donald trump has seen as a key loyalist who would root out effectively the idea of the deep state within the department of justice, the fbi, and somebody who he had his eyes on naming to this fbi director post, but part of the conversation among the transition was the exte

vaughn, donald trump is saying he wants her investigated. he also said he doesn't believe he needs to tell his doj what to do, but they believe they know what to do. is this an instance that donald trump doesn't have to actually direct anyone because everybody knows what he wants out of them if they get into positions of power? >> because he said it for the last two and a half years, ever since liz cheney began investigating him through the january 6th select committee. let's be very clear, i think it's important to go back to 2022 and the decision by then speaker mccarthy and republicans not to sit anybody, any of their own members outside of kinzinger and cheney on the january 6th select committee, and barry loudermilk, the chair of the oversight subcommittee is extracting some issues that he has with the january 6th select committee. made the allegation that liz cheney, illegally tampered with cassidy hutchinson, and let's be very clear, liz cheney has denied that the acts that she remembers were illegal, and that she had no role in convi

. >> joining us now, nbc's vaughn hillyard in west palm beach, florida, near mar-a-lago.se people's concerns about rfk jr. what did he have to say? >> reporter: right. this was a line of questioning that the president-elect faced, understanding that if robert f. kennedy jr. were to be confirmed to the post of top hhs, which oversees nih, cdc, the fda, that would fall under the discretion of kennedy. that's where trump was asked specifically about the position on vaccines and whether he stood by the vaccine skepticism that let's be very clear for that image that you just saw of kennedy up on capitol hill, walking stoically and silently to meet with republican senators, he has been all but quiet about his position on vaccines for the last 30 years. that's where i want to let you hear from the president-elect about the man who hes is is pu. >> i think he's going to be much less radical than you would think. i think he's got a very open mind or i wouldn't have put him there. he'll be very much less radical, but there are problems. i mean, we don't do as well as a lot of other

vaughn, first, trump's paris trip this week, why france? why now? what's he trying to signal to world leaders? >> reporter: yeah, this is notable. it will be his first foreign trip not only since winning the election but since 2023 where he visited his golf clubs in europe. donald trump in west palm beach has been the haven for not only justin trudeau to visit him and have dinner over the course of this week and also the new nato secretary-general here just a week before that to meet with donald trump. but this is for the president-elect a trip in which he is going to go not only to celebrate the reopening five years after the fire damage to the notre dame, but also emmanuel macron will be there at that service. you could expect the two men to see each other, at least in that setting, along with other dignitaries. this is coming just days after he announced he intends to appoint charles kushner, the father of jared kushner, to be the ambassador to france. emmanuel macron and donald trump through the course of the first four years of his presidency,

but first, hillary vaughn live on capitol hill where autoall the fun is happening. hello, hillary.laughter] >> reporter: hi, larry. well, consider the bill killed, because fox news digital is confirming the details of this new deal that was brokered just moments ago. house appropriations chairman tom cole leaving speaker johnson's office saying they have a deal. here is what it would entail, a clean 3-month continuing resolution to keep the government funded and open, a clean farm bill package, also disaster aid as negotiated with democrats. that's $110 billion. clean health extenders, also a 2-year suspension if of the debt limit the january 2027. there also would be no e-15, no year-round ethanol if gas sales. but in the leadup to all of this, congressional democrats had been very mad that elon musk exposed all the unnecessary and unpaid-for extras that were stuffed in this government funding bill, and it seems that under musk's leadership at doge the era of smuggling all these extra perks into must-pass legislation may be over. >> mike johnson negotiated a deal with leader jeff

. >> correspondent vaughn hillyard here following the trump transition and former white house aide undere jordan and cornell belcher, political analysts. key senators on the previous like joni ernst are now seeming to i guess at least give hegseth the benefit of the doubt. what's changed. >> benefit of the doubt is most politically beneficial if you will. these are senators who are looking to represent their constituents, have a seat at the table, republicans have a majority in congress and they would like to use their political power to some degree for their own benefits over the next years, even if they were to ultimately fet primaried in 2026 or 28. keeping the door open and having those conversations an allowing those confirmation hearings to proceed january or february, it is beneficial to them. i want to let you listen to jason miller, senior adviser to donald trump, who talked this morning about the posture towards these republican senators. take a listen. >> i think a lot of that is hyperbole. right now there are no hard nos from republicans for any of president trump's nominees.

been -- hillary vaughn is a great reporter by the way. here is the thing, why do you all want to suspend and pay go. you spend on one side, nobody knows how much, nobody knows first bill. nobody knows this bill cost, i think this is a great disservice to took payers. pay go, remember that, if we'll increase spending on one side we'll cut it on the other, because idea was senator lummis, we spend too much money or, joe biden spent to much money creating inflation, we know that still around, i will get to federal reserve system in next segment. with charles, but point is, ha w -- what happened to pay go. >> democrats use pay go to spend more and raise taxes. republicans use pay go to spend more and borrow more. but neither party suesses -- used is to cut spending that is why it does not work. i am so pleased that elon musk and vivek ramaswamy are taking this doge effort to really dig into the inefficiencies and poor spending and consolidates government agents and ferreting out waste, they are the last hope, congress does not have it in them

nbc's vaughn hillyard is there too. vaughn? >> reporter: good morning. for the cathedral reopening, but a late addition to the grippings of world leaders to attend were president zelenskyy of ukraine. it was notable because donald trump initially at the french president's palace had a one on one meeting that quickly expanded into a three-person meeting that included ukraine. there is consternation regionally that trump could seek to cut off the financial support to ukraine or force it into an untenable settlement agreement with russia that would include potentially ceding some ukrainian land to russia. that's why you saw in the aftermath, in the meeting of the three, they all went to the cathedral for this service that officially reopened the notre dame after five years, in which it nearly burned down, but also saw overnight, a long post from zelenskyy in which he said that an agreement to bring the war with russia to a close is going to have to include more than just signatures on a paper, but it is going to have to include the return of ukrainian priso

michael anderson and vaughn hilliard. you think he'd get through?nk he gets through. >> i think they all do. yeah. alicia and rev, stick around. up next we'll turn to trump's plan for day one mass deportations and his vow to go as far as he can to make it happen, including using the united states military on american soil to help him. reaction from a retired u.s. major general right after a quick break. don't go anywhere. general ghrit quick break. don't go anywhere. mmmm, kinda needs to be more...squiggly? perfect! so now, do you have a driver's license? oh, what did you get us? with the click of a pen, you can get a new volkswagen at the sign then drive event. lease a 2024 tiguan for zero down, zero deposit, zero first month's payment and zero due at signing. limited inventory available. big news for mahomes! i'm switching to iphone 16 pro at t-mobile! it's built for apple intelligence. that's like peanut butter on jelly... on gold. get four iphone 16 pro on us, plus four lines for $25 bucks. what a deal. ya'll giving it away too fast t-mobile, sl

hillary vaughn what's cooking. reporter: well, president-elect trump gave pete hegseth some advice when he picked him as secretary of defense, according to pete hegseth trump told him, you have to be tough as blank. i can be say it on tv, pete is not backing down from this fight, despite unproven accusations swirling related to his drinking and treatment of women, which pete hegseth denies and points out are from anonymous sources he so capitol hill to make case face to face with every senator he is call kawhid for the job. >> -- he is qualified for the job. >> i spoke with president-elect trump this morning, he said keep fighting. >> you are in this all the way. >> why would i back down, i will keep fighting. reporter: hegseth fights on there are reports indicating that trump might be mulling a possible plan b if hegseth cannot win enough support sources tell fox trump continuing good good governor ron desantis as a back up, they spoke yesterday about this idea which has some republican senators today wondering wh

hillary vaughn reporting on the cramp th -- swamp we appreciate it. >> thank you. larry: doge taking out regulatory state that is the -- subject of the riff. >> if you have not followed story, department of government efficency. run by elon musk and vivek ramaswamy, announce governmental department, that is wonderful. two super stars running all day today on the hill briefing members of both parties and president trump is behind their effort. most everyone seems to be in favor of the work of doge, even though a lot of people don't understand what doge is trying to do. for example many elected officials are saying how wonderful it is we have a commission to get rid of waste, fraud and abuse. reduce government costs, and cut the budget deficit. that is true to some extent, i think real purpose is doge is vast under taking to stop unelected regulatory state that has been misgoverning america for too long, as steve forbes put it, socialist type val -- central plans in modern able operates through hundreds of thousand of unelected bureaucrats who exercise their vast pow

liz: hillary vaughn, thank you so much for the concept about terrorists, the worry about them they couldflation because any incoming goods to the u.s. from foreign nations would be more expensive but this moving out the wire, federal reserve governor christopher waller saying even though decline is an inflation that has been stalling, he's leaning toward lowering interest rates further with the federal reserve meets later this month. he was speaking at a conference of the american institute for economic research you see a little bit of a reaction in the ten year treasury yield. the earlier gains as a future slightly raised the odds of the 25 basis point cut this month, right now the yields are still up one basis point for the ten year, the dollar is peering games despite the waller warning that inflation progress is stalling and with tariffs and tax cuts on the horizon will inflation move in the wrong direction meaning heat up, with just the woman who predicted the last great recession in the form of the housing crisis respective analyst and founder of ceo meredith whitney advisory group

hillary vaughn shakes us down. fox business, live from the white house on that. hillary, hello. >> from sources at the table with trudeau and trump the idea that canada would become the 51st state of the u.s. made trudeau laugh nervously but trump then said look, if canada becomes a state, you could be the governor of canada. admitted prime minister of canada is probably a better title. the whole table erupting if laughter at the idea. the point was made clear to trudeau. trump expects change before he gets into office on january 20th. trump wasn't just hammering home that trudeau needs to tighten up the northern border but the trade deficit between the two countries needs to be addressed right away. if trudeau doesn't fix that there will be a 25% tariff on all canadian goods and canada would have a lot to lose. they export 77% of their goods to the u.s. a 25% tariff could cost the canadian economy a whopping $110 billion. the canadian ambassador to the u.s. also at this dinner said that trudeau wanted to make the point to trump about the border that canada's bor

vaughn hillyard, there are a lot of things about pete hegseth that trump likes. the tv persona being one of them. i'm guessing the toxic male aura another one of them. there is many things he doesn't like. the accounts as recently as one month ago from our nbc news colleagues reporting from ten sources, current and former employees at fox news about him being drunk and smelling of alcohol until moments before he went on the air. >> that's something donald trump doesn't like, and i think that this is a conversation that should be around donald trump's judgment. let's be clear. this isn't about pete hegseth to a degree. this is about donald trump making decisions from his gut in hayes without consultation and fbi background checks. donald trump feels like he won this election and the american people told him he should proceed with the band of brothers who he believes he can best run this administration through. that's exactly what donald trump did in those first two weeks filling out the cabinet with pete hegseth, with very little outside counsel and frankly it was

. >> so now let's bring in vaughn hillyard who is in paris, france for a tough assignment covering thesident-elect there in beautiful paris. it is that scene behind you, the beautiful building a reminder of what paris almost lost. tell us more about the meeting, the unexpected meeting between president-elect donald trump along side not only the french president but the ukrainian president. >> reporter: right. this was supposed to be a one on one meeting between president macron and president-elect trump here this afternoon in paris ahead of the reopening ceremony. it ended up turning into a three way meeting that included ukrainian president zelenskyy who was slated to have his meeting with macron after the trump-macron meeting. but this was several days in the making. trump indicated he would take macron up on the request that he would attend the cathedral opening. it was not until yesterday afternoon that it was announced that zelenskyy would be attending. and suddenly ahead of the major event here with the reopening of the cathedral, major for paris, major for the catholic church, t

let's start with msnbc news's vaughn hilliard in paris. a tough assignment for you. we knew president-elect trump would be meeting with macron. how unexpected was zelenskyy being added to this meeting? what more do we know about what's happening right now? >> reporter: this is a significant geopolitical day here. this is donald trump's first trip out of the country since election day and you're watching this feed come in in real-time as we are watching the president-elect. he just entered the notre dame cathedral here in the last two minutes. we're told by our reporter colleague inside that upon the face of president-elect trump being shown inside the notre dame cathedral when he was being greeted by president macron outside upon exiting his motorcade, there were actually boos and laughter inside the cathedral. this is really quite a moment in, you can say, this regional history here. because he is joined by president zelenskyy just an hour ago inside of a meeting at the palace of president macron. initially there were supposed to be two separate meetings. instead, i

joining now is vaughn hillyard who has the very tough assignment there in paris, although it's been raining so i'll give you that. sources were telling me that this meeting was cobbled together kind of at the last minute. is that what you're hearing? how did this come about? >> reporter: hello, my friend. we should note it is a little chilly and raining but this is a celebratory event and welcomed one to be covering here with the cathedral reopening. we should note president macron and president-elect trump just walked out about two minutes ago. but this is a major geopolitical moment as well. in terms of the extent to which it was planned to have all three of these leaders meeting at once, very unclear, but it would not be surprising that president macron was the orchestrater of this. because president zelenskyy upon leaving this meeting, he tweeted out and thanked macron for organizing it and zelenskyy was not an announcement to be attending this event until late yesterday afternoon here in paris. of course, president-elect trump, he decided multiple days ago to come and be a part of the

from mar-a-lago all the way to manhattan nbc news correspondent vaughn hilliard takes a look back aton trial. >> for defendant, donald trump -- >> donald j. trump is guiltymer. >> the fate of the 2024 presidential election could determine both his political and legal future. >> they want to built me in jail. >> reporter: trump using his own potential imprisonment to rally supporters around his defense. >> our enemies want to take away my freedom because i will never let them take away your freedom. >> reporter: as a candidate arraigned on criminal charges in new york city, washington, d.c., florida, and atlanta, where a local fulton county jail formally booked, fingerprinted, and photographed him for a mug shot that trump capitalized on. >> when i did the mug shot in atlanta, you know that mug shot is number one. >> reporter: trump turned it into a symbol of his fight for freedom, using it for merchandise and fund-raising. >> every time the radical left democrats, marxists, communists, and fascists indict me, i consider it a great badge of honor. >> reporter: in 2023 the indictments

joining me now, live from paris, nbc news correspondent vaughn hilliard . thanks so much for being with us, can you take us through what we have seen since donald trump has spoken of the public? >> reporter: right, president- elect trump is currently meeting with resident macron. it was president macron who urged the incoming united states resident to come here to paris for the reopening ceremony of the notre dame cathedral. that ceremony is set to begin just about a few hours from now. so there is still much on the plate of president macron politically. he is said to also have a one- on-one meeting separately with president zelenskyy of ukraine after the conclusion of the meeting with the incoming united states president. you see these two men who have a long, deep history now together. when you saw president-elect trump notably get out of an suv, not the typical, because he is not the sitting president of the united states. this is his first international trip since his election victory last week, and you saw a rather intense handshake, which we've all be

elizabeth neumann, vaughn hillyard, thank you very much. >>> ming up, what democrats are saying about biden's decision to pardon his son. yes, democrats, what they're saying. first, what happened in south korea today that briefly paralyzed the government. what is going on there? what am i going to use on the bathtub? i don't have to think about that. with magic eraser... i use it on everyday messes. i even use it on things that i think are impossible to clean. you just add water, and then i'm good to go. i can go from the countertop, to the stove, to the microwave, and just use one magic eraser. if you're a mom, you need mr. clean magic eraser in your life. it gets the job done. >>> the president of south korea just lifted a moment ago his martial law declaration accepting the national assembly's vote to override the order. the country was thrown into turmoil this morning when the extremely unpopular president made the sudden decision. saying it was necessary to declare martial law because the opposition party which is in control of the country's parliament was paralyzing his agenda.