This Sunday, raging inferno wind driven wildfires in the Los Angeles area burn out of control, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee and leaving behind apocalyptic scenes. This is one of the most state fires I've seen in California. What are the questions that you're hoping to answer? The same ones you're asking.
The same ones that people when I'm in the streets are asking, yelling about what the hell happened? We'll talk exclusively to California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom and Senator Alex Padilla. Plus, expansive agenda. With just one week before he returns to the White House, President elect Donald Trump suggests he might use military force to take control of the Panama Canal and Greenland.
I can say this, we need them for economic security. How far is Mr. Trump willing to go to enact his geopolitical vision? I'll talk to Republican Senator James Langford of Oklahoma.
And final farewell. The five living presidents make a rare occurrence together at former President Jimmy Carter's funeral with some extraordinary exchanges on display. Joining me for insight and analysis are NBC News chief international correspondent Keir Simmons, Playbook co author Eugene Daniels, Stephen Hayes, editor of the Dispatch, and Jennifer Palmieri, former Obama White House communications director. Welcome to Sunday.
It's Meet the Press from NBC News in Washington, the longest running show in television history. This is MEET the PRESS with Kristen Welker. Good Sunday morning. The inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president is now just one week away.
As the country prepares for this historic change in power, we witnessed a rare moment of unity here in Washington when all five living presidents came together to mourn the death of the 39th President Jimmy Carter. But with just days before taking office, even more unprecedented was Friday's criminal sentencing of President elect Trump in the New York hush money case, making him the first convicted felon to ever serve in the White House. The judge imposing a sentence of unconditional discharge, removing any punishment or jail time or probation. Mr.
Trump addressed the court before his sentence was read. This has been a very terrible experience. I think it's been a tremendous setback for New York and the New York court system. But the most pressing and immediate issue for the country, the deadly wildfires unfolding in Southern California, prompting President Biden to cancel his final overseas trip as president to manage the federal response to the disaster.
Now, I speak for the American people and I say we owe you. We're with you. I want to make sure you get every resource you need. The wind driven wildfires in the Los Angeles area have been burning out of control, wiping out entire neighborhoods, displacing hundreds of thousands, leaving billions of dollars in damage and claiming at least 16 lives.
It is safe to say that the Palisades fire is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the history of Los Angeles. It looked apocalyptic. Not since the 1990s, when Los Angeles was hit with the fires, the flood, the earthquake and the riots have I seen such disaster occur here in our city. As frustrations grow and the search for answers mount, the LA fire chief is now blaming budget cuts and city leaders.
Did they fail you? That is our job, and I tell you that's why I'm here. So let's get us what we need so our firefighters can do their jobs. Did they fail you?
Yes. When a firefighter comes up to hydrant, we expect this to be water. We don't control the water supp. Our firefighters are there to protect lives and property and to make sure that we're properly trained and equipped.
While President Biden has pledged to deliver federal aid to California for the next six months, some Democrats have expressed fear President Elect Trump might withhold aid when he comes into office, a threat he's made multiple times. The water coming here is dead, and Gavin Newsom is going to sign those papers. And if he doesn't sign those papers, we won't give him money to put out all his fires. And if we don't give him the money to put out his fires, he's got problems.
He's a lousy governor. Now, this week, Mr. Trump stepped up his attacks on California's Democratic governor, accusing him of failing to bring the fires under control. I think that Gavin is largely incompetent, and I think the mayor is largely incompetent, and probably both of them are just stone cold incompetent.
What they've done is terrible. On Saturday, Governor Newsom spoke to NBC's Jacob Silberoff in an exclusive interview for Meet the Press from inside the fire zone in Altadena, California. Governor Gavin Newsom, welcome back to Meet the Press. Good to be with you.
Thank you so much for doing this. Thank you. Six different wildfires raging right now. Do you have the resources to combat all these fires at this hour?
Yeah, we have 14,000 people working the line right now. We double the national guard. We have 1680 out there helping on the logistics side. I was just with folks from Mexico.
73 folks will be relieving some of our hand crews. We've got nine states that are now providing another schema system support. So we've got the resources, but we have more important. So this, we have the Wind that have changed and that allows us to be more resourceful with existing resources, particularly aerial resources.
In your opinion, is this or will it be the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States? I think it will be in terms of just the costs associated with it in terms of scale and scope. Don't even remind the folks in California with a tugs fire. 5600 houses were lost and of course Camp fire we had 18,000 housing units lost and 85 people that lost their lives.
Currently we're, you know, we're getting confirmation from the corners. We always have to be careful on the death toll but it's in the 13 range and I got search and rescue teams now we got to have our dogs out and there's likely to be a lot more. What is your biggest concern over the course of next 48 hours? I think is making sure the life safety focus, property focus is there at the same time addressing the perimeter issues.
The challenge is the winds. We've got these winds coming back this evening. Sunday night we got peak winds. On Monday we're going to see 50 plus mile an hour gusts subject to change.
So now we're pre positioning assets and we're prepositioning not just here in the theater, those existing five plus fires but now broadening that to a number of other counties and moving farther south with some of those resources in anticipation we can see some flare ups and new places, new starts. You're here with us and meet the press to announce a new executive order. What is the executive order? What are you hoping to accomplish?
Look, we've got to be thinking three weeks, three months, three years ahead. the same time we're focusing on the immediacy which is life, safety and property. And so that's exactly what we're doing with disaster assistance. Making sure people are getting our applications, addressing the issue of fraud and that's an issue we've got to address.
Price gouging. So executive orders on price gouging, recovery. We want to get inspections, units like this, we want to get our inspection teams out here. They're already starting to get out here.
We come up with some timelines so we can get within the next few weeks all that done so people can get their insurance claims. We can then start the big contracts to remove the debris to address all the hazmat issues. Same time, I gotta button up the canyons here as it relates to potential flooding with a lot of atmospheric areas. Remember we're in the middle of the winter, this is January.
In fact the day of this fire, not a stone throw away, it's a crow fires. There was snow right up the mountain here. Same day as this devastating fire here in Altadena. And so all those things have to happen currently.
But here's the big thing. I'm worried about issues of rebuilding as it relates to scarcity, as it relates to property taxes, meaning scarcity of resources, materials, personnel. I'm worried about time to getting these projects done. And so we want to fast track by eliminating any secret requirements.
I got Coastal act changes that we're making. I want to make sure when someone rebuilds that they have their old property tax assessments and that they're not increased. All of that's been done in the executive order we just announced. CEO, governor and the coastal lack of both environmental regulations.
If you're going to be suspending those temporarily, are you concerned about problems that may result from the suspension of those environmental regulations and the potential use by developers? Yeah, we're not going to end within this executive order we frame those abuses. We basically bookmark that in the context of maintaining the existing footprints. The Coastal act, they allow just a 10% variant.
So we'll be very mindful now. California leads the nation in environmental stewardship. I'm not going to give that up. But one thing I won't give into is delay.
Delay is denial for people lice, traditions. Places torn apart, torn asunder. Families, schools, community centers, churches. You've seen the number of schools that have been lost in this community.
And we've got to let people know we have their back. We're going to be back. We're going to do it efficiently and effectively. Don't turn your back, don't walk away because we want you to come back.
Rebuild and rebuild with higher quality building standards, more modern standards. We want to make sure that associated costs with that are not disproportionate, especially in a middle class community like this. You've also called for an independent investigation into issues around water supply that we see real questions that you're hoping to answer. The same one you're asking and ones that people, when I'm in the streets are asking, yelling about what the hell happened?
What happened to the water system? Was it. And by the way, was it just overwhelm that you had so much that was used? We drew it down.
Was it pipes? Was it electricity? It was a combination of pipes, electricities and pumps. What was that drawdown?
Impossible because you lost seven plus thousand structures right here anyway and every single structure we lost had a pipe that was leaking. And we would have lost that water pressure anyway. Did it contribute in any way to our inability to fight the fire? Or were 99 mile hour winds determinative and there was really no firefight that could have been more meaningful.
So I want all of us want to know those answers and I just want to wait because people asking me, I want to know those facts, I want them objectively determined and that the chip swallow that when they may is not about a finger point. You say what to people who insist that these independent investigations are calls for them? Are you passing the blame on other people? How could it be when we do an independent investigation and we just want the, the fact, as I said, it's not about finger pointing, it's about answering the questions you and everybody wants answered.
And I think there's a propensity to wait to answer those questions. And people want immediacy, they want response and responsiveness. And so that's the idea. Ultimately here does the buck stop with you?
You're governor of California, you might know me, the mayor of California. We're all in this together. We're all better off. We're all better off.
We're all better off. We're working together to take care of people and to make sure people are supported. We're empathetic and we're here not just in the immediacy of the crisis, but we're here after the crisis as opposed to creating a crisis in the middle of this by trying to divide people and play political, take cheap political shots. Do you have faith in Los Angeles Mayor?
Ambassador? I have absolute faith in our community. I have faith in our leaders. I have the faith of our capacity to work together.
President Electron has blamed you for this crisis. He called you incompetent. What's your response? I called for him to come out, take a look for himself.
We want to do an experiment. Open hand out, close fist. He's the president elect that respect the office. We have United states that within 36 hours provided a major disaster declaration over a text.
We had support from the President of the United States, Joe Biden, with 100% reimbursement, all the resources you could hope for. Imagine constant communication. I'd like to extend that to the president elect. I don't know what he's referring to when he talks about the Delta smelt and reservoirs.
Reservoirs are completely full of state reservoirs here in Southern California. That misses disinformation. I don't think advantages or aids any of us responding to Donald Trump's insults. We would spend another month.
I'm very familiar with them. Every elected official that he disagrees with, very familiar with him. We do know, though, from reporting here locally, that one reservoir, that search the Palisade, was not full. And that's exactly what triggered my desire to get the investigation to understand what was happening with that local reservoir that was not a state system reservoir, which the president elect was referring to as it relates to the delta, and somehow connecting the delta smelt to this fire, which is inexcusable because it's inaccurate, also incomprehensible to anyone that understands water policy in the state.
My understanding is that you have put a call in the president elect. He's called you back. No, that was months ago. That was after his victory.
So I look forward to him again coming out here in spirit of. You didn't like him to come out here? He had any response? No, nothing.
Multiple times Mr. Trump has threatened to withhold aid for California wildfires, both as president and now again as president elect. You worthy that actually did that? Well, I mean, he's done it to Utah, he did to Michigan, to Puerto Rico.
He did it to California back before I was even governor in 2018, until he found out folks in Orange county voted for him and then he decided to give the money. So he's been at this for years and years and years. It transcends states, including, by the way, Georgia. He threatened similarly.
So that's just, that's his style. And, you know, we take it seriously to the extent that in the past it's taken a little bit more time. I've been pretty expressive about that. In the context of someone threatening our first responders in terms of supporting the immediacy of their needs.
Well, that's what he said. He said, I'm not going to support the firefighting efforts. I'm not going to support the state of California as it relates to its emergency management. He made this pretty clear during the election, unless they do my bidding.
And again, these are familiar terms and they're familiar to a lot of other states, not just my state. And they're familiar to not just me as governor, but the previous governor of California, Governor Brown, that was battling with these same things. So you just work through these things. And I'm just blessed.
I mean, this. I'm blessed. I have 40 million Americans. I live in California, Joe Biden's president, United States, and did what he did immediately.
And to the extent that we can work with the same relationship and the same spirit with Donald Trump, I hope we can. Last time I Saw you in the Palisades on Wednesday, right at the fire started. You were on the phone at the side of the road trying to reach President Biden. Subsequent to that, he pledged 100% of the disaster recovery relief for the next six months.
Is that enough? Well, it's significant. I mean, in fact, when I was on the phone, you saw me on the phone, I was trying to get the satellite phone work. I asked for 90% and he said, no, I'm gonna do 100%.
It was a big deal. 180 days is a big deal. But he also had just provided a major disaster declaration. And we did the press conference the next day.
And that is profoundly significant because that's individual assistance. Disasterassistance.gov, people should go to disasterassistance.gov and start filling out applications, get that immediate relief and then get longer medium term relief. But no, he stepped up in a way that American President should step up. And I couldn't be more proud of.
That's not a political statement. It's not because I'm a Democrat saying that. That's because I'm a human being trying to help other human beings in the most extreme elements, the most difficult time in their life. Some of these Californians in homes that burnt like this were thrown off of their policies, their fire policies, before this fire season.
What do you say to those you break your heart? I mean, this is an issue and by the way persists in California because of the acuity of the new reality. Hots getting hotter, dries getting drier, wet's getting wetter. These atmospheric rivers, all the flooding that we've experienced in California, but also across the rest of the United States, you're seeing insurance rates through the roof.
But here's the point. We've been proactive in trying to stabilize that market. That was executive order year and a half ago. Insurance commissioner has been moving in that direction.
I'll give you a proof point of some of the success of that. Just a week ago or a major insurer announced they were reinsuring in Paradise California, where the campfire was because people repopulated, farmers said they were coming back. So we were very mindful of that. And that's why the Fair plan is that backup plan.
But I'm also mindful this, as someone on the Fair Plan, intimately aware of how it works. It's not the kind of insurance that you get on the private sector, meaning you're not getting as much in terms of that protection. Over the course of next several years, Los Angeles will Be host to the World cup and then the super bowl and then the Olympics. With this rebuilding effort needing to take place, is it going to be ready for all those events?
My humble position, and it's not just being naively optimistic, that only reinforces the imperative, moving quickly, doing in the spirit of collaboration, cooperation. President of the United States Donald Trump, to his credit, was helpful in getting the Olympics to the United States of America, to get it down here in la. We thank him for that. This is an opportunity for him to shine this country, to shine for California and this community, to shine the opportunity with all of that and all that opportunity and the pride and spirit that comes from not just hosting those three iconic games and venues, but also the opportunity, I think, to rebuild at the same time.
And that's why we're already organizing a Marshall plan. We already have a team looking at reimagining LA 2.0, and we're making sure everyone's included, not just folks on the coast, people here that were ravaged by this disaster. You just said you're organizing a Marshall Plan for the rebuilding of California. What is that?
Marshall plans, mergers starting to lay out. I mean, we're still fighting these fires. So we're already talking to city leaders, we're already talking to civic leaders, we're already talking to business leaders and non profits and we're talking to labor leaders. We're starting to organize how we can put together a collection of individuals on philanthropy for recovery, how we can organize the region, how we can make sure that we are seeking federal assistance for the Olympics more broadly, but also federal assistance for the recovery efforts and how we can galvanize the community with folks that love this community to really develop a mindset so that at scale, we're dealing with the scope of this tragedy and responding to it at scale with efficiency, like the executive order.
I talked about time value of delivering projects, addressing building codes, addressing permanent issues and moving forward to rebuilding and being more resilient. And Jacob Soborough joins me now, standing in front of more of the wreckage and devastation in California. Jacob, you did just a tremendous job with that interview with Governor Newsom. I know you had a chance to talk to him even more after that interview and you got new details on the timeline, how long he thinks it will take just to remove the debris before the rebuilding can even be again.
After the interview, Chris and Governor Newsom. I walked a little bit, neighbor. We visited with the National Guard troops that he has called up and deployed across Southern California. And remember, there are effectively tens of thousands of instantly homeless people in Southern California.
The question on everyone's mind is how long will it take to rebuild? And the beginning of that rebuilding process is just the sheer environmental remediation, the mitigation, the removal of the debris from these neighborhoods. That alone could take nine months to a year before any of the rebuilding even begins. And on top of all that, Grison, just in the next couple of hours and next couple of days, we have the recurring threat of wildfires.
The wind is starting to pick up again this morning. It is forecasted to increase over the course of the next couple days. This is not over yet. Well, Jacob, this I know is personal for you.
This is your home state where you grew up. Your reporting has just been fantastic. We'll continue to follow you throughout the week. Thank you so much for bringing us that interview.
We really appreciate it. And to help those who've been impacted by the fires in California, please consider getting to organizations like these when we come back. Democratic Senator Alex Padilla of California joins me next. Welcome back.
Joining me now is Democratic Senator Alex Padilla of California. Senator Padilla, welcome to MEET the press. Good morning. Thank you for having me.
Well, thank you for being here. Our thoughts are with all of you in California during this devastating time. We appreciate your perspective this morning. I want to start by asking you about the LA city fire chief who has said that the city has failed her, that the mayor's budget cuts have made it harder for the fire department to fight the fire.
Do you believe that budget cuts have played a role in the challenges that firefighters have faced? On the one hand, yes. On the one hand, no. We can always use more resources.
That's just, you know, public safety in general. But because every city, every county has different capacity and capabilities, we have this federally led mutual aid system. You know, when the government segment talked about the number of personnel fighting these fires, it is buttressed by crews coming in from Central California, Northern California, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah. Understand crews coming in from north and South Dakota are expected today.
Idaho is helping out. So collectively, National Guard, firefighters, et cetera, we're putting as many resources on these fires as possible. Senator, do you believe you have the resources that you need right now to fight these fires? Because firefighters are still in the thick of it, particularly with those winds expected to kick up, as you just heard the governor say.
Yeah. Well, collectively we're putting all the resources we can towards fighting these fires. And as Nacho Sagar, others have reminded us, the biggest factor in the next 24, 48 hours, hopefully not longer than that are the wind conditions. And now the whole world knows what we mean when we say red flag warnings.
When it's dry, when it's warm and the winds kick up, regardless of the cause of a fire, it has the chance to spread much more quickly. And it's exactly what we've seen both in the Eaton Canyon areas, Altadena, Pasadena Sierra, as well as the Palisades, of course, and the other fires that are also still burning within the reach. As Jacob was just discussing with the governor, there is a lot of frustration with state and local officials. Let me ask you bluntly, Senator, do you have faith in Governor Gavin Newsom?
Do you have faith in Mayor Karen Bass? Look, I do have faith in our leaders and not just as individuals, but especially because we, after disaster, after disaster, after disaster have gotten really good at working together. And it's not just the elected officials. Let me give even more credit to the first responders of the emergency response personnel, police officers, firefighters, we have federal agencies, state agencies, county and city agencies, all collaborating to work very effectively, very efficiently.
That's how we're able to protect lives and save lives and protect properties and respond to whether it's fires. In this particular case, it could be atmospheric rivers and floods and other disasters we've had here in California. But most importantly, let me send a message to all the families out there. There were a hundred thousand families displaced, the families of those who have perished in these fires.
Our hearts are with you. And the perspective of these families are what's driving the urgency of the efforts to put these fires out as quickly as possible and begin the planning process of providing the temporary assistance shelter and otherwise impacted families and the planning that we know is going to happen for the recovery and rebuilding of these neighborhoods. Has I had a chance to tour these communities. Every house is a home.
Every home is a family. We can and we will rebuild. Well, to that point, President Biden has pledged that the federal government will pay for the efforts to rebuild 100% for the next six months. Are you confident that the incoming administration, the new Congress, will follow through on that pledge?
Senator, first of all, God bless you. Big thank you to President Joe Biden. Consider this, Kristen. He wasn't in THE SITUATION ROOM when this happened.
He was in the situation and presence. His presence here in Los Angeles, I think, helped that master the major disaster declaration be approved in record time. And I pray, and I hope that's not just President Trump, but my colleagues in Congress continue to support these efforts. I've already been in touch not just with Democratic leadership.
Senator Schumer, Senator Murray, who chairs the Appropriations Committee, but Senator Collins remain, who's the lead appropriator on the Republican side, Senator Cassidy from Louisiana, who's no stranger to disasters. Just as Californians have been there for other regions of the country in their times of crisis, it's time for the country to unite behind California, and that includes incoming President Trump. You know, at the end of the campaign, he talked about uniting the country. Here's his first opportunity and he can begin accepting the invitation to come and tour the impacted areas just as he toured areas impacted by wildfires during his first term.
Let me ask you about something that happened this week in Washington, a crucial vote on the Lake and Riley Act. Let me just explain for viewers what that is. It's a bill that allows federal law enforcement to detain undocumented migrants who commit theft related crimes. More of your fellow Democrats supported this bill.
This go around this vote, do you support will you vote yes on the Lake and Riley Act? Yeah. So my understanding is there's a procedural vote to allow the measure to come up in the Senate for purposes of allowing a debate, allowing us to offer amendments. The bill currently as written is, first of all, it's not immigration policy.
Second of all, it is already in law that those who commit violent crimes, Canada, should be detained and are in that deportation. Are you a yes or a no, Senator? Just to be clear, I just want to say, are you a yes or a no as currently written? I'm a note because it opens the doors for people typically being charged without conviction to be detained and deported.
That includes minors. That includes Dreamer sets, shoplifting, a pack of bubblegum. There has to be a more of a focus on a piece of legislation like this. Senator Padilla, our thoughts are with everyone who is suffering right now in California.
Thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it. And when we come back, Republican Senator James Langford of Oklahoma joins me next. Welcome back.
Joining me now is Republican Senator James Langford of Oklahoma. Senator Lankford, welcome back to MEET THE press. Thanks. Good to see you.
It's great to have you back on an important Sunday. You just heard from Governor Gavin Newsom. You heard from Senator Padilla. Are you confident that this new Congress will continue to fund disaster relief for California for as long as is needed?
Senator? Yes is the simple answer that I would tell you that our hearts go out. We've been praying for the people of California. We've all as a nation and quite frankly, globally watch what's happened in Los Angeles.
All of us have concerns there. When Republicans met privately with President Trump just about three days ago, President Trump opened his statement by saying, we're all watching what's happening. The fires we're all grieving about, that we're all paying attention and we know something needs to be done there. So everyone is very focused on that.
Okay, let me ask you about this incoming administration. There will be confirmation hearings. They begin this week. Let me ask you about Tulsi Gabbard, Mr.
Trump's pick for Director of National Intelligence. You have said that she needs to clarify where she stands on 702 and just to let our audience know what that is, that's a critical intelligence gathering authority. She consistently opposed it when she was in Congress. But here's what she said this week.
She came out in support saying, quote, if confirmed as DNI, I will uphold Americans 4th amendment rights while maintaining vital national security tools like section 702 to ensure the safety and freedom of the American people. Are Mrs. Gabbard's assurances enough for you, Senator? Are you now?
Yes. On her? Yeah, I am. And that was a very important piece for me.
Obviously, she voted against 702 authority. And just to clarify that that authority is for actually trying to be able to track terrorists overseas. It has nothing to do with American citizens or anything that's happening in the United States. It is, if someone's planning to attack us overseas, we find out about that, we should be able to act on that.
That's what 702 authority allows us to be able to do, is be able to track international individuals overseas before they come and actually attack us. She voted against that in the House when she was a member of the House Representatives and said she wanted changes. She's now coming and say those changes have been done because even since she was in Congress, there have been quite a few changes that we've made in Congress to make sure we're protecting the civil rights of Americans. But when she came out and said, hey, this is something I'm stand for, that's part of the role of the Office of National Intelligence is to make sure we're actually watching for people to come attack us and stopping them before they do.
Okay, so significant news made here. You are now. Yes. On Tulsi Gabbard.
Let me ask you about a top agenda item for President elect Trump, his mass deportation policy. And nine one want to interview with him. He said that is agenda item number one. He said wants to support everyone who is here illegally.
I want to ask you Senator, do you agree with that? Is that your plan to deport everyone who's here illegally? Well, to be very clear, if someone is violated the law in the United States, there should be consequences for violating the law in the United States. I'm not gonna come out and say, hey, someone breaks the law, we're just gonna look the other way.
That's not who we are. We are a nation of laws. If we have a law, we should enforce that law. That's who we are as Americans.
I think that's one of the ones the President made very clear when he sat down with you in that great interview was we have to. This is the law of the United States. We're going to do that. He also made very clear he's going to go to people have committed additional crimes here in the United States.
He's going to go after people that a court has already said to them they have to be removed. We have over a million people in the United States right now that a federal court has already looked at their case, examined the facts and said, no, you have what's called a final order of removal. You have to leave the country. But they haven't left country.
That should be the first priority for those individuals. There's some that are still working through their asylum cases and such. Let them work through their cases on that. Once a court has said you have to leave, we can't just ignore court orders.
The Senator, you have in the past talked about how logistically challenging this is. Obviously, it's expensive. It could cost tens of billions of dollars every single year. Do you think it's realistic to remove all of the people who are here illegally?
More than 11 million people by some estimates, yeah. So there's this perception that somehow there's gonna be gathering of buses out in the city square and everybody's gonna have a low ev. That's just not how it happens in real life. This will take a long time.
This will take some dollars. But again, if somebody's committed a criminal act, if somebody has a final order removal from a course, we should not just ignore that and say the court rulings don't count, that we're ignore what the court says. When a federal court says this has to be done. We are a nation of laws.
We should actually enforce that. If you'll permit me, I do have a bit of a process question, but it's the big debate on Capitol Hill right now because obviously President elect Trump wants to address the border. He wants to get tax cuts pass. He proposed a slate of Them, including the extending the Trump error tax cuts.
Do you think this should be addressed in one big bill, as President Elect Trump has said is his preference. House Speaker Mike Johnson has said that's his preference. Or two bills, which Majority Leader Thune, for example, has said might be more realistic? Well, I would say whether we do one bill or two bill, we need to get this done.
I know there's a lot of this Buzz in Washington D.C. about what's the process of how things are gonna get done. Probably no one outside Washington D.C. cares one way or the other.
The issues are still the same. We've got to be able to get our taxes balanced out. We're not gonna have a $4 trillion tax increase at the end of this year. So we have a ticking time bomb on taxes.
Let' resolved. We have to deal with border security issues. That's what the American people demanded in their election. That was very clear.
The American people want to be able to get our economy back on track. That's a lot of the energy issues that are out there on that. They want Greater government efficiency, $2 trillion in overspending this last year. Everyone knows you can't do that.
So people are looking for how we get more efficiency, how do we actually get our economy back on track, how do we actually enforce existing laws and how do we make sure our tax policy is actually fair. Those things we need to do in the first five or six months, whether there's one bill or two, I don't think will matter. The American people, let's just get it done. Senator, finally, after its reaction to comments this week, President Elect Trump not ruling out using military force to take Greenland, which is the territory of Denmark, which is a NATO ally.
Do you support that type of action against a NATO ally? The United States is not going to invade another country. That's not who we are. The president speaks very boldly on a lot of things.
We've seen this over how he's done negotiations, whether it be for real estate or whether how he served as a great president just four years ago. He makes a bold statement. He gets every one of the tables to be able to talk it out. He's done this with Canada, with Mexico, with Panama.
He's going to continue to do this. Quite frankly, the president's been very clear. He is the president that kept American troops out of war. He's not looking to be able to go start a war, to go expand American troops.
What he does want to be able to protect America's national security. And part of that's our economic security and our future. He said it very quickly because we're just about out of time. He did propose tariffs on Denmark.
Would you support that? Well, he's actually proposed tariffs on just about everybody at this point. Said we're going to have fair trade across the entire world. We're going to make sure that American and American workers are not abusing, quite frankly, what he's looking for and what he said over and over again, this, he wants companies around the world that sell the United States to come build it in the United States.
So he wants open up the country, more jobs, more economic activity. So he's laid a marker out there internationally saying we're not going to be taken advantage of anymore. Senator Langford, always great to have you. Thank you so much for joining the program.
We really appreciate it. You might go see again. You too. And when we come back, the fight over who controls this vital shipping channel for global trade army.
The president is next. Welcome back. It's been close to 50 years since the United States signed control of the Panama Canal over to Panama. But as we saw this week, President elect Trump now wants to reverse that and wouldn't rule out taking it by force.
In 1976, negotiations between both countries were ongoing and they emerged as a flashpoint in the GOP primary. President Gerald Ford supported the transfer, but his challenger, Ronald Reagan, criticized his position as irresponsible. Senator Barry Goldwater weighed in on Meet the Press. I have to support Ford's position on it.
I think Reagan would, too, if he knew more about it. As I say, I'm as completely opposed to giving that canel away as anyone. I also know from personal visits to that part of the world and my personal friendship with people in that part of the world that unless the United States begins to bend a little bit now, this could be a gradual little more economic control, a gradual little less military occupation that we're going to be faced with the problem of guerrilla warfare whether we like it or not. And the question is the question I ask anyone who comes to me on the subject, Are you willing to go to war over the Panama?
President Jimmy Carter signed the treaty a year later. He was laid to rest this week in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. When we come back, the final days of the Biden presidency as Donald Trump prepares to take office. The panel is next.
Welcome back. The panel is here, NBC News chief international correspondent Keir Simmons, Eugene Daniels, co author of Political Playbook, stephen Hayes, editor of the Dispatch and Jen Paul. Mary, former Obama White House communications director thanks to all of you for being here. Kier, thank you for being here and traveling in.
We're thrilled to have you. Eugene, let me start with you. We are about a week out from President elect Trump being sworn into office. Take us inside your conversations.
How do you think Washington's preparing for this moment? They're kind of girding, they're prepping. On one hand, they kind of know how he operates. In an interview with Senator Langford, he kind of talked about how Trump gets into the negotiating table by saying some things that folks might think are outlandish right now.
So they figured out some of the ways that he operates. But for Democrats, they don't really fully know what it's like to oppose him in this current climate. Right. Do they help govern still as you guys are party that thinks that that's supposed to be happening, or do they let Republicans kind of fail in the House over and over and over again and just let that go?
For Republicans, this is everything is going to be seen on the lens of the next four years of this is a part of Trump's party, period. Four years ago you had a Republican Party that expected post Trump, there'll be something else to get back to the Bush party, back to the party. Reagan, that's not the case. So every decision they make moving forward is going to be in that way.
Well, the gut check of where we are as a country was on display this week in various forms when Vice President Kamal Harris certified her own election loss to President elect Trump, Jimmy Carter's funeral. We were all talking about this in the commercial break. These extraordinary scenes. Trump shaking Mike Pence's hands, Obama and Trump sharing a laugh.
Steven Hayes. This is a moment of bipartisanship that it seems to be from a bygone era. Almost. Well, it is from a bygone era.
That was an interesting moment. There were 50 things that we saw that we could talk about for hours. But I think Donald Trump is at his absolute strongest right at this moment. Look at the fight that we were respecting.
House of Representatives, his pick. Speaker Mike Johnson wasn't really a fight. Senate Republicans loving him right now. Most of his nominees are on track.
You have corporate America spending the knee to Donald Trump. His legal problems seem to be over. This is peak Donald Trump right now. But he could have a very short honeymoon.
This is somebody who has campaigned on fixing things with a snap of a finger. So he comes in, he says he's going to end the Ukraine war on day one. That's not going to happen. He's going to fix grocery prices.
He's already backtracking on that. There are all sorts of things that I think have set him up for some trouble if he doesn't. Not accomplishments real early in this first couple. Yeah.
And here the world is watching so closely. We just heard, we talked to Senator Lankford about President elect Trump saying that in fact he's not ruling out taking Greenland by military force, potentially the Panama Canal. And you actually think a lot of this has to do with China? Talk a little bit about that and this world order that we're watching.
Oh, no question to Eugene's point about Democrats who thought they kind of had it figured out. European leaders thought they hadn't figured out this week. They were spun out. I don't think they're going to be reassured to hear that.
He's read Paris on everybody. Now, there are diplomats who have told me that his unpredictability, his bomb is helping negotiations in the Middle east, for example. But look, this is the prologue this week, right? And next week, President elect Trump will try to impose his will on the world.
The world will attempt to impose its will on him. President Putin does not have to agree to end his aggression towards Ukraine. Ayatollah Khamenei of Iran can decide to move towards nuclear weapons. We've seen in California, events, events, events affect politics.
And to your point about China, China is the elephant in the room, right. It is the big struggle. It is the one country with the capability and the intent to try to transform the international order underneath it. The question has to be, is President Electron able to shift the attention to that?
He wants control. And what's interesting, all this comes with President Biden who was awed by what is happening abroad in his re election efforts, as if he'd stay in the race here, thinks he could have beaten president. He has to say that, right? He has to say that, yes.
He thinks she should run it. I thought that was fascinating. She hasn't made up her mind yet. We're watching closely.
What did you make it weird for him to say? Of course I would run. He's going to be supportive of his vice president as he was, you know, throughout her campaign. But I bet that for Democrats, you know, Steven said, you know, they're going like they understand that Trump has had a very high bar for himself, right.
So it's like less resistance this time and more about accountability. So he said, I am going to lower prices. He said, America's going to have the greatest economy in the history of the world. Okay?
Great. So look at what Leader Jeffrey said this week. You can talk about real and house. I can lower prices.
Right. You know, there is, you know, every opportunity. I think Jefferson particularly did this. And houses are really focused on accountability.
How is anything that comes up and help. Right now the middle class is getting smaller and price are going up, and that's been happening for decades. They're not just pushing back on Trump, they're trying to larger stories to the American people about what's going on with the economy. And it's like, play your game.
He's going to do what he's going to do. You can react to it real time when you need to, but really it's all about saying he's not accomplishing her. Or maybe he is, but like it's all about what are you doing to lower prices, help the middle class grow. Yeah.
And Eugene, on Wednesday, President Biden's going to deliver his federal draft. Undoubtedly he's going to be talking about his record on the economy. He's going to try to argue that he had a strong record. What are you going to be watching for?
I mean, both in that seat and on Monday, he's going to the State Department and he'll be doing kind of a foreign policy speech. Right. I think one, it's interesting he's doing it in Oval Office. He's not doing his final speech like Obama did, somewhere big.
I think what I'm looking for is does he understand the things, the failures of the, of the, of his time? And what does it actually look like when you say that I did a good job. What are you going to be watching for his foreign policy speech that Eugene just talked about? Well, he's slightly strong.
Right. But I feel like the modern world is always disappointed with the American president until you get two decades later and it gets reassessed. Right. And neither the Trump administration or the Biden administration is going to like this.
But internationally, at least their legacies are intertwined, actually. So how, how has, as I mentioned, how has the US Confronted China is going to be a question. There's going to be about the Biden administration and the Trump's administration before the Biden administration and the Trump administration that will enter just with a minute left. Jen, I'm told these speeches are going to be in the spirit of the farewell addresses that was delivered by former presidents Clinton, George Bush and Barack Obama.
This is a big moment for him. He gets to say the final word in some ways of how he wants. Right. Because he has, I mean, like he's leaning office with the economy, the communist strongest in the world.
A remarkable record of accomplishments for debt decades. Trump won, you know, and I think how but he can lay out what that was and how. I think he's got a good case to make about a sort American leadership in the world. And so he's going to try to shape his legacy in these speeches.
But let me clear this was a failed presidency. This is somebody who buys only feel like his own arguable address failed on his own terms and is marked by a stand where he see the American people about his mental acuity for years. All right, guys, thank you. Great conversation.
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