and joining me now, live from paris, is nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard. hn, take us through what's happening right now and what we can expect throughout the day. >> reporter: okay. >> vaughn, are you with us? >> reporter: hey there, charles. you're looking here at the courtyard of the palace. you see the republican guard here just down from where we are at the notre dame cathedral where president macron is set to meet momentarily with president-elect trump who flew overnight to arrive here for this introduction, the reopening ceremony here of the notre dame. this is, of course, a significant day on two fronts. number one and foremost the reopening of this cathedral in which we expect thousands here from across france to descend into the surrounding areas to watch this ceremony unfold. but also politically here, this has become sort of an epicenter of world leaders and other dignitaries at a crucial moment for not only france, the united states, but the greater region at large. this meeting here between president macron came at his own request, inviting pre

joining us now correspondent vaughn hillyard tracking the trump transition from florida and msnbc legalen. vaughn, it seems odd to me that just liz chaney is singled out in this report. do we know in trump and his team have been in contact with republicans about this investigation and final report? >> reporter: this report with loudermilk who put together this report, they are close allies and loudermilk has been on the front lines of calling into question the january 6th select committee's existence and the evidence that it put forward in its final report and has been on the front lines of suggesting that some of the records were illegally destroyed, were his words. there's a lot of layers to this. of course liz chaney has consistently contended she did not interfere or was responsible in any way for cassidy hutchinson leaving her counsel and replacing her counsel and that as a member of congress it was her prerogative of that committee of which other republicans chose not to be a part of to ultimately discard or not archive the materials and notes that ultimately were not imperative t

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 hillyard. peter baker is still with us. rance 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 in

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.

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 hillyard is with us and tara, former gop communications director. 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 tru

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

chris. >> vaughn hillyard, thank you. >>> well, speaking of vaccines, only a third of u.s. kids got their flu shots this year. that's according to brand-new cdc data. nbc's erica edwards is following this story. so i wonder, should pediatricians expect to see a lot of sick kids in the new year? >> reporter: when you talk to pediatricians, they always say they have a feeling of dread ahead of any kind of flu season because they know that they're going to see sick kids. what's unknown is how bad it's going to be. but there are some signs so far this year, as you mentioned, just over a third of kids so far this season have had their flu shot. that's lower than what we saw this time last year, and in fact, the rate of kids getting their flu shots is at its lowest in 12 years. now, unfortunately, the flu shot is not perfect. you can still get sick, you can still become infected. and it's looking like this year, the flu shot is only about 39% effective at keeping kids out of the hospital. that's not reassuring, right? but experts say, number one, it's safe. number two, it's the b

joining us now is nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard in paris, and richard haass, the president emeritusgn relations. vaughn, first to you, what is president-elect trump hoping to accomplish with this trip? >> reporter: right. with 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 mom

. >> i want to bring in nbc's ryan nobles covering capitol hill, vaughn hillyard covering the president-electrom west palm beach, florida, sheryl stolberg is washington correspondent covering health policy michael steele is an msnbc political analyst and host of "the weekend." vaughn, what more do we know about how rfk jr. is approaching these meetings? >> he has dozens lined up and every vote will count for him to pass through this confirmation process. the difficulty for rfk jr. is on the vaccination front. it's not just a one off comment about skepticism or suggesting there was a link between autism and vaccines, instead this is a lifetime of work by mr. kennedy dating back to the '90s in which he has been at the forefront of publishing books and other papers that have defended and argued that vaccines, preservatives in preservatives in them, are linked to autism and other diseases with other science peer reviews have found no such link. that is where this comes down to the incoming president of the united states, donald trump, here in mar-a-lago, in palm beach, florida, mere weeks before

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

joining us now nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard in west balm beach, capitol hill correspondent ryan nobles, "washington post" national editor phil rucker, co-author of two books about donald trump. usa today's washington bureau chief susan paige. the president-elect saying he is a believer in the polio vaccine but in the same sentence going on to talk about connections, disputed, discredited connections between vaccines and autism and we know that rfk jr. is closest advisors, lawyer, just a year or so ago, applied to the fda to revoke its approval for polio. that would end vaccine distribution if they were to grant that. now the trump administration has its own rather controversial picks for all of these choices under rfk jr. if he gets confirmed as secretary at the fda at cdc and the like, medicare and medicaid. 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 w

let's me bring in nbc's vaughn hillyard in west palm beach.entioned the fact that this is a good news for the president-elect, the fani willis case, he's had a long line of people, including jeff bezos coming to pay their respects, let's say, so what's the mood where you are? >> the mood for donald trump came across most in the social media post, everybody wants to be my friend. for donald trump, this go around runs counter to the reception that he received in his first term back in 2017, during that transition, instead, the likes of jeff ezos coming to dine with him at a time when house republicans on the capitol hill are following his every move and elon musk who has essentially been working, it's a proxy on his behalf on x and when he looked at what victory looks like for donald trump, of course last month's election was an outright victory. for him, i think on the budget negotiations, it's a big question mark. elon musk who donald trump has not undercut in terms of his speaking out, in helping sway the conversation up on capitol hill, has

von hilliard, nbc news. >> our thanks to nbc's vaughn hillyard. keep it right here on msnbc.. back. r, so you wake up ready to go. uhh, hank! try mucinex nightshift and feel the difference. (dramatic music) time is running out to give a year-end gift like no other- -a gift that can help saint jude children's research hospital save lives. those that donate to st. jude, i hope that you will continue to give. they have done so much for me and my family. please don't wait until the last minute. make a difference by supporting the children of st. jude. please donate now. i told myself i was ok with my moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis symptoms... ...with my psoriatic arthritis symptoms. but just ok isn't ok. and i was done settling. if you still have symptoms after trying a tnf blocker like humira or enbrel, rinvoq works differently. rinvoq is a once-daily pill that can rapidly relieve joint pain, stiffness, and swelling as fast as 2 weeks for some. and even at the 3-year mark, many people felt this relief. rinvoq can stop joint damage. and in psa, can leave skin clear or al

i think vaughn hillyard was absolutely right that for donald trump, the straw that broke the camel's back was the search of mar-a-lago. but i want to be clear here. it was not just the right thing to do and the results of it bore that out, but this was a court authorized search for mar-a-lago. the fbi and justice department had to go to court and a judge had to sign off to allow that search to take place. and the fruits of that proved them out to be right. there were tens and dozens and dozens of highly classified documents that donald trump refused to turn over after months and months of repeated attempts. and his keeping those documents in unsecured places including in his bathroom. you remember those photographs of classified documents even in the bathrooms at mar-a-lago. the fbi was absolutely justified in going in and retrieving that information because it was in the best interest of the nation's national security interest. >> anthony, frank, vaughn, ryan. stay with us. again, this is the breaking news that we are covering. fbi director wray held a town hall for his workforce an

. >> 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

. >> 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 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

joining us now, nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard, nbc news capitol hill correspondent ryan nobles, punchbowl news cofounder and msnbc political contributor jake sherman, and "new york times" opinion columnist david french. i want to start with the hill. a lot of the reporting i just cited there comes from punchbowl news, jake. what is your sense, we can take them one by one, but what's your sense of the totality of trump's nominees? is anybody going to find themselves in the same position matt gaetz did? >> you said it right, at this point, it doesn't look like that. it's early. it's only december, only december 12th. so you know, we'll have to see how it unfolds. a disastrous hearing in which democrats find some sort of political or policy cudgel to divide republicans could change the tone and tenor of this debate. could change the tone and tenor of the nomination, but as of right now, for the folks that are up here on capitol hill, that's all the people you named, rfk, i believe, is starting in earnest next monday. they do seem to be heading in the right direction. you have gott

. >> 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.

vaughn hillyard, nbc news. >> thanks to vaughn hillyard. keep it here. back. ection underwear. try always discreet! it's rapiddry core absorbs up to 25% faster than depend and fits up to 95% of body shapes. try always discreet! designed to protect. (dramatic music) time is running out to give a year-end gift like no other- -a gift that can help saint jude children's research hospital save lives. those that donate to st. jude, i hope that you will continue to give. they have done so much for me and my family. please don't wait until the last minute. make a difference by supporting the children of st. jude. please donate now. ♪♪ vicks vapostick provides soothing non-medicated vicks vapors. easy to apply for the whole family. vicks vapostick. and try new vaposhower max for steamy vicks vapors. >>> this is someone who is increasingly unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance, and man is out for unchecked power. >> democrats spent years warning voters that bringing donald trump back to the white house could be the end of our democracy as we kno

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

meetings with senators before he worked to explicitly about to end their political careers. >> vaughn hillyard kapur, thank you very much. we're going to get a health view of this in just a moment. talking about what it might look like to roll back some vaccines. or even just roll back the mandates for vaccines. what's the process, and then what's the risk? we are also still waiting for an update in madison, wisconsin, on the school shooting. police say they will be talking to reporters around 3:30 new york time, 2:30 local time in wisconsin. don't go anywhere. we have all the news coming at you. anywhere. we have all the news coming at u. family, we take care of every kid at st. jude like they are our kid. because at st. jude, we believe all children deserve a chance to live. but one in five kids in the us still won't survive cancer. and globally, that number is even higher. in this family, we won't stop until no child dies from cancer. this holiday season, join our st. jude family. we need you. please donate now. mr. clean magic eraser... wow - where has this been my entire life? having to c

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

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

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

joining me now is vaughn hillyard near mar-a-lago, michael steele and former u.s. hn, who does the transition team have rfk junior meeting with today? because he's already got 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 thr

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, ce

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. >>

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

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 hillyard spoke to president-elect trump as he's transitioning from the new york stock exchangef he wanted to comment on director wray's announcement, he said, i wish him well. >> thank you for participating in the conversation. >>> the new evidence investigators say links luigi mangione to the murder of the health care ceo. >>> also, president biden's pardons. who it impacts. >>> and the deepening drone mystery in new jersey. >>> and dick van dyke's wildfire scare. >> i exhausted myself. i couldn't get out. >> soaking wet. >> three neighbors carried me out and saved me. and tab. all three on us. survive the holidays with samsung, powered by verizon. life, diabetes, there's no slowing down. each day is a unique blend of people to see and things to do. that's why you choose glucerna to help manage blood sugar response. uniquely designed with carbsteady. glucerna. bring on the day. with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis my skin was no longer mine. my active psoriatic arthritis joint symptoms held me back. don't let symptoms define you... emerge as you, with clearer skin. with tr

. >> with us now, nbc's vaughn hillyard and frank an msnbc national security analyst. ghn, good morning. what'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

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

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

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

afterwards when asked by my colleague, vaughn hillyard, about wray's decision, trump said he wishes himl. mr. trump is heralding wray's designation as ending what he calls the weaponization of the united states department of injustice. wray announced his decision wednesday saying it is in the bureau's best interest. >> in my view, this is the best way to avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important in how we do our work. this is not easy for me. i love this place. i love our mission. and i love our people. >> had hand picked wray after firing then fbi director james comey back in 2017. but quickly soured on wray after the russia investigation. the classified documents search. in a comment that wray made after trump was shot in pennsylvania as he explained to kristen welker on "meet the press." >> i can't say i'm thrilled with him. he invaded by home. i'm suing the country over it. he invaded mar-a-lago. i'm very unhappy with the things he's done, and then when i was shot in the ear, he said, oh, maybe it was shrapnel, w

. >> joining us now nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard from florida covering the trump transitionwe heard trump said that he'll be less radical. >> donald trump has not explicitly said what kennedy has vowed to him his policies on vaccines if he were to get this position atop hhs, of course there's nearly three-decades body of work of robert f. kennedy not only scrutinizing vaccines in the extent to which he has argued they have caused ism and other diseases which research has shown not to be the case. there's questions based on his associations with other individuals over whether he would try for instant to take some certain vaccines off the market. he even has called into question the measles vaccine for instance at time not only domestically but also globally there has been an increase in measles outbreaks as well as others from vaccines that have plummeted in the number of individuals who have been taking them. i think the question that senators are now facing is, what will robert f. kennedy jr. ultimately direct his agencies to do and if he'd attempt if there was another pand

joining us now, nbc news correspondent, vaughn hillyard, who's in west palm beach. courtney kube who's at the pentagon and punch bowl news cofounder and msnbc contributor, jake sherman on capitol hill. courtney, the comment he made about drinking alcohol and how he's not going to do it any longer, he doesn't need to, he will be available 24/7 no matter what. it speaks to what you were telling me yesterday. that there are calling that come in anytime of the day, maybe the middle of the night, where you have to make a split second decision that's a matter of life or death when you are the secretary of defense. >> yeah. exactly. and it also speaks to what we were hearing about concerns from republican senators about his ability to carry that out. now, we have to say, remember, pete hegseth, he did serve in the military. he did deployments, iraq, afghanistan. he was stationed at guantanamo bay. he would have been subject to those deployments to general order one. not allowed to consume alcohol during his deployment. so when he talks about that, it is legitimate that he

. >> vaughn hillyard, thank you for being with us today.>> a quick programming note. kristen welker sits down with an exclusive interview with president-elect trump. his first interview since winning it is election. you can see it sunday on nbc's "meet the press." >>> after a break, syrian rebels have seized another government city. what's next in the intensifying struggle for power? >>> president-elect trump's is weighing where to deport hundreds of thousands of migrants if their home countries won't take them back? we'll bring you new exclusive reporting. nbc news next. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." watching diaz-balart reports. ["the glory of love" plays] giving. [♪ you've got to give a little ♪] [♪ take a little ♪] giving without expecting something in return. ♪ giving that's possible through the power of dell ai with intel. so those who receive can find the joy of giving back. ♪ [♪ that's the glory of love. ♪] the best moments deserve the best eggs. especially when they're eggland's best. taste so deliciously fresh. with

jose, he'll be leaving florida and flying to new york, according to our colleague vaughn hillyard wherehe new york stock exchange. so while his nominees are up here on capitol hill trying to make their case, trump playing with that status of president-elect and going back to his original hometown of new york for the day tomorrow. >> and meanwhile, how is hegseth doing today? what's on his schedule? >> reporter: he's one of several nominees that are up here on capitol hill, yet another day this week. for hegseth, it's clear his fortunes have changed, but only if you're talking relatively to how his fortunes were faring last week when most of the conversations that me and others on the team were having about how hegseth's nomination couldn't possibly continue to go forward. you look at this week and the fact that he is still continuing with meetings and at least the tone in the hallways seems to have changed. you have people like senator joni ernst who you and i were talking about yesterday saying she will support him through the process. that's not saying i'm going to vote for him at the

. >> vaughn hillyard, thank you very much. this morning the suspect in the fatal shooting of united healthcare ceo brian thompson is awaiting extradition to new york after the manhattan district attorney filed its indictment yesterday. the grand jury charged luigi mangione with 11 counts, among them one count of murder in the first degree, in furtherance of terrorism. >> frightening, well planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation. this was a killing that was intended to evoke terror. >> joining us now antonia hylton from pennsylvania, near the prison where mangione is being held and here with me in new york tom winter and the former federal prosecutor with the southern district of new york. what more are we learning this morning? >> reporter: good morning, jose. well, we know now that officials in new york are preparing for that extradition process. now that a source has spoken with nbc news has indicated to us that he's going to waive extradition, in other words, stop this fight

joining us now, nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard in west palm beach near the president-elect's florida home. nbc news capitol hill correspondent ryan nobles, and "punchbowl news" cofounder and msnbc political contributor, jake sherman. matt gaetz is getting into it at the very end there, trying to i guess throw another speaker under the bus? rer. >> reporter: yeah, and he's even suggested on another post on x that he may even come back to congress and take his seat he won in the last election cycle and be seated on january 3rd, just to vote against mike johnson as speaker and resign his seat after the fact. it's not as though he was saying that in jest, that's not to raise any alarm bells that we think that's going to happen. it shows the level of discontent with the fact that the ethics committee report is going to be released. matt gaetz has done everything in his power to try and avoid this ethics report from being released. he resigned his post in congress and stepped down from his pursuit of becoming the next attorney general, probably because he didn't have the votes. the

vaughn hillyard joins us in paris with more. >> reporter: good morning, willie. this really was a major geopolitical moment with the cathedral as a backdrop to it all, a dramatic return for president-elect trump to the global stage. president macron inviting him here to paris for the reopening of the cathedral. during the ceremony president macron seating the inn coming u.s. president between him and the first french lady. on the other side of the french first lady was the american first lady, jill biden. photos from the ceremony showing the two exchanging conversations during this service. now, notably before the ceremony began at the palace of the french president macron had a one-on-one meeting with the incoming american president, which quickly expanded into a three-person meeting that included ukrainian president zelenskyy. now, this all comes as just yesterday current defense secretary lloyd austin a annound an additional $1 billion in u.s. aid to support ukraine in its defenses against russian military aggression, and it's amid this consternation here in t

joining us now from west palm beach is vaughn hillyard. another legal victory for the president-elect. how is trump world reacting? >> we're waiting to hear directly from the president-elect about this. of course, this is part of the appeal that after the trial judge back in may made the determination that fani willis would be able to stay on this case as long as the special prosecutor who she had a romantic relationship with, nathan wade, removed himself from the case, and resigned which he did. over the course of the months, we have been waiting for the appeals court decision, and here just in this last hour, the determination made by the georgia court of appeals that fani willis, as well as the entirety of the district attorney's office in fulton county, shall be removed from these proceedings. the indictment itself against donald trump and the other now 14 defendants who have not pleaded guilty at this point, has not been tossed out, and we should expect district attorney fani willis to appeal this decision to the georgia supreme court

nbc's vaughn hillyard takes a look back at the now president-elect's legal battles. >> reporter: forth his political and legal future. >> they want to put 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, fingerprints and photographed him. >> when i did the mugshot in atlanta, that mugshot is number one. >> reporter: trump turned it into a symbol of the fight for freedom, using it for merchandise. >> any time the radical left democrats indict me, i consider it a great badge of honor. >> reporter: in 2023, the indictments coming in rapid succession. >> i got arrested four times in the last -- it's almost like i wake up in the morning, do you think they'll arrest me today? i never got arrested before. >> reporter: some of trump's primary opponents trying to benefit thems

president is convicted of a crime, nbc correspondent vaughn hillyard takes a look back at donald trump'se status of each of his different cases, and how the indictments ultimately helped shape the narrative of his re-election. >> reporter: for defendant donald trump -- >> donald j. trump is guilty. >> reporter: -- the fate of the election could determine both his political and legal future. >> they want to put 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 mugshot that trump capitalized on. >> when i did the mugshot in atlanta, you know, that mugshot is number one. >> reporter: trump turned sbiet a symbol of his fight for freedom, using it for merchandise and fundraising. >> every time the radical left democrats, marxists, com