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And we begin with breaking news out of Wisconsin where authorities have just updated the public after at least two people were killed and six others, all students were killing injured in a school shooting at a Christian school in Madison. Authorities say two of the injured students are in critical condition with life threatening injuries. Four other students have been hospitalized with what I believe to be non life threatening injuries. Here's Madison's police chief.
Just Moments ago at 10:57am Our team was called to the Abundant Life Christian School in reference to an active shooter. We know that three people are dead, including the suspect shooter. We know that the suspect shooter was a teenage student who attended the school. At this time, we're not releasing the age or gender of the student or any other identifying remarks about the student.
Two other people have died. That died were a teacher and a teenage student. I think we can all agree that enough is enough and we have to come together to do everything we can to support our students to prevent press conferences like these from happening again and again and again. The school building itself is clear.
We have cleared the school. There's no other threats or danger to the community. And as you heard, their officers respond to the scene at the moment Christian school just before 11 this morning. this point, authorities have not released any information about a potential motive and they stress the investigation is very much ongoing.
Here's a bit of what we heard from the police chief just a few hours ago. The truth is today is a sad, sad day not only for Madison, but for our entire country. We have another police chief press conference to speak about violence in our community, specifically one of the places that's most sacred to me as someone who loves education, education and to someone who has children that are in school. The White House has the President Biden has been briefed on the shooting and senior administration officials are in touch with local authorities about providing federal support.
Joining me now is NBC News for Shaq Brewster who is on the ground in Madison, Wisconsin. So Shaq can Update us what we know about the victims at this point. All right, that press conference is still ongoing right now. But we did learn more information, not just only about the shooter or suspected shooter in this, but of the victims.
We know that there are six people in the hospital right now, as the police describes it. Two of them are in critical condition with life threatening injuries, again, in the words of the police chief, with four others who are still hospitalized. We also learned about the three who were killed in the shooting. Who were killed in the shooting.
You know, two of them. One was a teacher and the other was a student. And then the third person that they're listening in that total of three and is the suspected shooter in this case. One thing that was very clear and as this press conference is going on, we're still getting some notes from it, is that they're still doing.
They're still at the very beginning stages of this investigation. They say that there's search warrants that they want to execute. They say that a handgun was used in this shooting. That's something that will be, of course, a focus in this investigation.
But they did say that the suspected shooter's family has been cooperating with police. So there's a lot more that we'll learn as the day goes on. But we know that there are still six people hospitalized. You have the school saying that they're calling for any prayers that they can get at this point.
And Jackie, you mentioned that they are in contact with the suspect's parents, but they aren't releasing much information about the suspect themselves, correct? That's right. We don't know the gender of the suspect. We don't know the age of the suspect.
The suspect is only being described as a teenager who was a student at school. And then the police chief is also saying that they have no idea on motive right now, but he signaled that will definitely be a key focus of this investigation. He was just asked in that press conference that's still ongoing whether or not this person has been had any history with law enforcement, has any criminal history or criminal background. And the chief wasn't able to answer that.
But I think that's one of those questions that will be the focus of the investigation as we look ahead to the hours and days to come. And tell us a little bit about the school. What do we know about the place where the shooting happened? Yeah, this was a small Christian school.
It serves kindergarten all the way up to 12th grade. On the website, it says it serves around 250 families. We don't know exactly how many students attend that school or how big the staff is. The chief also said that there was no city provided resource officer at that school.
He didn't know about any private security. He said he had never been on that campus. Suggest that he was intentionally staying away from the crime scene as he called it, so investigators can work through and process it. But you talk about the 200 people for 12 grades and you can tell the tight knit school that this is.
According to our NBC News tally, by the way, this is the fourth active school shooting this year across the country. This of course is drawing connections to 2023 shooting at a school in a Christian school in Nashville. Of course, this will all be investigated and all looked into as we continue to hear from police and local leaders now. All right, check.
Great job hustling to hit the scene to get all that information. If any other news breaks, let us know. We'll be back on. We appreciate that report on the ground in Madison, Wisconsin.
We'll continue to follow the breaking news. We're bringing updates as we get. But right now we're return to politics as President elect Trump stand by his most polarizing cabinet picks. During a freewheeling and lengthy press conference from Mar A Lago, where he fielded dozens of questions from reporters on everything from vaccine mandates to drone sightings to foreign policy and his legal fights with the media and for announcing a $100 billion investment with the Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank.
The President elect made it clear during the Q and A that he feels emboldened as he gears up for a second term. One of the big differences between the first term and the first term, everybody was fighting me in this term. Everybody wants to be my friend. I don't know, my personality changed or something.
The biggest difference is that people want to get along with me this time. And while addressing reporters, the president elect frequently delved into past grievances even as he previewed plans for his future agenda. On that agenda, he reiterated his ambitious pledges to reduce taxes, cut regulations, slash government spending, while also protecting entitlements and reducing the national debt. Mr.
Trump also dangled expedited permits for businesses that invest in the US he threatened more defamation lawsuits against media companies. And he said that there's quote, gotta be a deal in the Ukraine war. He also defended his picks for top positions in his administration with an apparent warning to Republican senators if they oppose his nominees, if they're unreasonable, if they're opposing somebody for political reasons or stupid reasons, I would say has nothing to do with me. I would say they probably would be primary.
I think Pete Hexth is making tremendous strides over the last week. He's gonna be great. And he didn't even hesitate when I said, do you want to do this? He said, absolutely.
The president also veering toward conspiracy theories, appearing to lend credence to disproven claims that vaccines might cause autism as he defended his choice of vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. To lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Follow up on Robert Kennedy.
He's on the Hill today. He's meeting with senators. What do you say to people who worried that his views on vaccines will translate into policies that will make their kids less safe? No, 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 put him there. He's going to be very much less radical. Let's bring in some of Miami, seeing his colleagues. Gary Hake is covering the Trump transition in South Florida.
He was in the room for that press conference this morning. And Sahalkapur, he's on Capitol Hill. So, Garrett, we heard a lot of things from the president like today. We're certainly reminiscent of some of the events from his first term.
But give us a quick fact check on what we heard today. Where do you want to start? Right. I mean, look, this was, I think, a version of Trump that we see sometimes a little bit all over the map on some of his claims here on the politics.
I think he has a pretty good read on it in terms of what's going to happen to his. The people on the Republican side who don't support his nominees, don't support the people that he's going to put forward. I think where he kind of wandered most widely off into the fact checking territory of things like his comments about TikTok, where he sort of floated the idea that he might stick up for the company and made its impending ban. He talked about winning young people by 34% of the vote or something like that.
There's no way that I can find that those numbers add up. And on the Kennedy stuff, that was interesting because I think he framed it correctly. He sort of flirted with the idea of some of these conspiracy theories around vaccines without actually coming right out and embracing them, saying that he does wonder why autism rates have risen in this country in recent years and they have, but wouldn't go so far as Kennedy has gone to link that the childhood vaccine is just saying this is something that he wants to get. It clearly wants to defend Kennedy.
They just want to throw him over the edge for Kennedy pushing these widely debunked claims about vaccines and autism. But he wants to kind of protect him a little bit while not endorsing the most far out claims that perhaps his single most polarizing pick for a candidate selection has made. I should have been a little more specific about things to fact check, but you've got a couple of there, Garrett. But let me do.
Let me get a little more specific. He did attack President Biden for what he claims is undermining his border plans. What's the difference between fact and fiction there? Yeah.
So what's going on here? Trump made a point in his prepared remarks to talk about the idea that pieces of the border wall are being sold off, he says, for pennies on the dollar instead of being used and in some cases being offered back to the federal government at a higher price later. He is in the neighborhood here. What he's talking about is something that was something the ndaa, the National Defense Authorization act last year, which essentially authorizes the government to get rid of wall pieces that have backed up for years and years not being used, including by selling them to the states, if states are willing to use it to refurbish wall instead of put up new wall.
The idea of pieces being sold back to the government right now is not something I can either confirm or deny, but it speaks to Trump's willingness to get into shading the truth shading we want to talk about here to make a case for his pet issue with, frankly, there's not much other news on it. He wants to get restarted on building the border wall quickly. He's getting money to do it, and it's not clear the Congress is gonna have any to throw him anytime in the early part of his administration. Well, the current plan on Capitol Hill, as you well know, is to kind of break off immigration first and try to do that through a Republican only bill.
I think it's gonna be a lot more complicated than Capitol Hill Republicans believe right now. Yeah. And let's bring Sahil on that point. He's up on Capitol Hill.
Sahil, what is the reality of the money that he is looking for when it comes to this border plan? I mean, how quickly could Congress appropriate that? It's not something that's happening on January 20th, that's for sure. Well, Brian, I think the first question here is which approach Republicans take.
There's still a fight happening within the party as to whether to do this all in one big bill. As Jason Smith has shared the way the Means Committee is cleaning with Republicans to do or go the John Thune route, the route that many Senate Republicans want to take, which is to break off one bill, do border security, energy and then do tax later. There's yet another idea that was proposed just a few days ago by Freedom Caucus, which is to do one bill with only border provisions and then do everything else later, including energy taxes. So that's a big question that they have decided at the beginning.
But in terms of border funding, there's plenty of support all over the Republican Party for that. I think even the tiny House majority of them are going to get enough support for putting money into that bill for President Elect Trump to crackdown on immigration enforcement and FIFA border security. I don't think that's going to be controversial issue within the party, which is why some people want to do very quickly claim, win, go on to the other things later. So, Gary, let's go back to another one of the hot topics that the president elect addressed, and that was the situation in Ukraine, which he has promised to end that war as soon as the day takes office.
Listen what he said today. Too many people being killed. That is a war. That's all.
Too many. Gotta make a deal. Do you believe that Ukraine should cede territory to Russia? Well, I'm going to let you know that after I have my first meeting.
But a lot of that territory, when you look at what's happened to this, I mean, there are cities, there's not a building standing. It's a demolition site. There's not a building standing. So people can't go back to those cities.
There's nothing there. It's just rubble. So here, I mean, it sounds in many ways that he wants Zelensky just to give him what he wants. I think that's partially right, Ryan.
I mean, you can hear Trump the real estate guy kind of trying to devalue the property that Ukraine might have to give up to Russia to get some kind of a peace deal. But he also think an important point I think should be lost, which is that Putin has to be willing to get to a deal as well. And especially to tell from all of our reporting, our national security team here, NBC News, a lot of reporting that exists in other outlets is that there's no indication that Vladimir Putin, Putin is ready to come to the table and talk with Zelensky either. I mean, Zelensky had his meeting with Trump in France a little over a week ago now when Trump was there for the reopening of The Notre Dame Cathedral.
I find it hard to believe that Donald Trump would have said anything to us in that room today he hasn't already said to Zelensky in private. And so I think what we're looking at right now is a little bit of posture, a little bit of preparing the table, if you will, for what could be a deal that's not going to be great for Ukraine, but it's probably going to be better than a stalemate that exists right now and I think is absolutely contingent on vanity Putin being willing to sit down and talk this over with someone. But that was interesting to ask a couple of different ways. In that news conference, Trump wouldn't say one way or another whether he has talked to Putin at all.
Not quite denying it, but not confirming that there's been any kind of impact channel communication with the Russian president, which would be critical to any deal. Yeah, I found that interesting, too. Dancer tried to touch on certain topics anytime Putin or conversation came up. He just did not even want to entertain it.
Saho, back to you. And President Elect today was talking about RFK Jr says that he's not going to be radical. In response to Garrett's question, RK on the Hill today for the first time since we picked to lead the hhs, have we got anything out of the meetings that he's out? He has been up there that long?
Yeah, not much so far, Ryan. We know that in the last hour, Kennedy arrived the first time on Capitol Hill to begin a series of meetings. The first meeting was with Senator Rick Scott. Heading into that meeting, Kennedy didn't really engage with chatty questions from reporters about his stances on vaccines and abortion tuition that are looming over his confirmation process.
He's also expected to meet later today, we believe with Senator Ron Johnson, Markwain Mullen, Tim Scott, and later this week with heavy hitters like Johnson and John Barrasso and incoming number one and two Republicans as well as Mike Craig, the chair of the Finance Committee, to report out his nomination and kind of determine what he has the votes to get to the floor. So a long way to go here just to start the process. I think Trump's comments will signal to Republicans that he's standing by rk, that he doesn't consider his past comments as past views on vaccines to be problematic. And very interesting that Trump isn't explicitly endorsing the primary challenges to these Republicans, but he's not disabling them either.
I think many will construe that as they're going to happen. All right, Garrett Sahil, thank you both. Appreciate it. And coming up, media bias, election integrity and transition politics with more takeaways for President Elect Trump's wide ranging press conference, which is five weeks ago until the inauguration.
Plus, Bashar Al Assad appears to speak up for the first time since his regime was toppled and fled to Russia. Well, the very latest from Syria. You're watching Media Press now drive off in a new Hyundai laundry today with $0 down during the Hyundai Advantage sales event. Take advantage of the $1,000 Spring Drive bonus and lease the 2026 Elantra Essential for just $73 weekly at 4.99% for 60 months.
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As we mentioned, President Electronic answer questions at length. For the first time since winning the election, he also renewed his attacks on two pillars of democracy, fair elections and a free press. Take a listen. We have to straighten out the press.
Our press is very corrupt, almost as corrupt as our elections. That election, if it were an honorable election, we wouldn't have had any of the problems that we're talking about right now. Joining now on set is Shelby Talcott, politics report for semifor Democratic pollster Cornell Belcher. He's also an NBC News political analyst.
And Brendan Buck, former advisor to House Speakers Paul Ryan and John Boehner. He is also an NBC News political analyst. So Shelby, you just heard the president elect. Does he hope for somebody who just won the last election, what would you take from him today?
Yeah, I mean, I think Overall in the 62 minute remarks this was just one small part of it. But it is clear and it has been clear throughout this entire election that he is still somewh focused on the last election. Actually, while he was running, there were a lot of Republicans privately and publicly urging him to move on because they said voters are just tired of hearing about 2020. Now, of course he's won this election so he can theoretically talk about it as much as he wants because he does not need those voters.
He wasn't penalized for the amount of time they talked about it. But did you keep that? I made this joke a couple of times. It's like we fell asleep and woke back up in 2017.
This reminds you of what we deal with four years ago. Four years, eight years ago. Is it going to be more the same or is this gonna be a rerun of what we saw before? You know, I think we can expect Donald Trump to continue bringing it up, but I will say the vast majority of that, of that press conference was focused partially because the questions were focused on what he's going to do once he takes office.
So I do anticipate that while we will continue to hear about 2020, as long as the press is asking questions about the future, that's probably where his focus is going to largely be. So Brady, I'm thinking about you when he talked about this. Well, I'm not asking the primary, anybody that votes against my nominees, but if they get primary because they vote against my nominees, well, I'm going to stand in the way of that. I mean, do you think a Republican senator hears that message, could influence how they handle the confirmation process?
Honestly, I was struck by the sort of off ramp he offered people too though he followed that by saying, but you know, they have reasonable concerns. I get that too. Which is not very Trump like I thought he would stop right at now. I, like any Republican senator needs reminding that there are Trump voters out there who potentially primary.
And that's obviously what we have seen with Joan Niers and her issue with Pietech. She has very real and legitimate concerns about statements that he's made and accusations that have been made against him. But then she got herself in the middle of this story. I don't think she wanted to be in the middle of the Pieteza story when she's for re election, has to win her primary.
Very subtle, maybe not so subtle threats that someone's got that gets people thinking. And if you hear Jimi Ernst, that's very easy to understand. I don't think I'm trying to be able to say that, but it's interesting that at least to me that he wasn't as trident as I expected it to be now because I can't wait to see him this weekend. The Speaker's there, the new Senate Majority leader, Jonathan is there.
They all seem to be singing from the same hymnal right now. How long can this last? They are and they are. I mean, as Sahil talked about earlier, they haven't quite figured out how they're going to order their agenda yet.
But I can tell you from my experience eight years ago, right after you win, that was a great contest. Everybody's happy, everyone's getting along. Winning makes everybody feel good. They're going to very quickly run into some difficult issues.
Their agenda, how do you get money for immigration? These nominees, I'M glad, Jonathan. Establishing a relationship with the President. I know he had one much of before because at some point one of his nominees is going down.
He's going to have to phone him up and tell him about the situation. So that relationship is actually really important for their course of the press conference at all of this. Saying that this table could be subject to a lawsuit from Donald Trump. That sometimes or another.
Yes, Yvonne Cornell, because he was talking about suing polsters, not you specifically, pollsters in general. He raised the possibility of suing the Des Moines Register over that poll that had him losing. He called it election interference. Is that an actionable legal offense?
Well, look, I'm not gonna play lawyer on television. I will say that pollster apparently is a step above you two. But look, I think it is problematic coming from the President of the United States who is in fact that, you know, chief law enforcement officers of this country, this sort of nonsense. But I think he does run into political problems.
Like you said, this is supposed to be the honeymoon time. This is when he's supposed to bring people in and make nice. And I think he's gonna run into some political tough spots. Just what things that he said today, what did he say?
I'm gonna protect entitlements, I'm gonna cut taxes and I'm gonna protect all these programs. We all know that's not possible, right? And somehow the math of that doesn't all add up. So he is going to run into political problems real soon with what he's laying out here.
Especially he's not bringing more people into this, into the process. By the way, threatening to primary other people in your party. I've been around politics a long time. I've never seen him from a Democrat or Republican president this flat out threatening.
If you don't go my way, I'm going to make sure you get primary. It's interesting to Cornell's point about these promises, right, that he can do all these things that we know just physically is impossible given the reality of the federal budget. But we've already started to see him walk back some of these campaign promises, right. He said, well, when I get back in, grocery prices are going to be back to what they were in 1950.
And now he's saying, well, I don't know if I can bring grocery prices down. Will voters, and not necessarily as hardcore supporters because we know nothing sways them, but that there was a sizable part of the American electorate that doesn't fall in that die hard supporter range that voted for him this last Time around, could they penalize him if they don't see these results that he keeps promising? Well, exercise. People who didn't vote or don't care for the promises that he made in the first place, I don't think they're gonna penalize him.
The people who love him are never gonna blame him. That's one of his superpowers. He is faultless. There's always someone else to blame, someone who didn't fight hard enough for him, someone who led him astray.
So he's never gonna take blame from his supporters. He's ultimately gonna be judged, I think, on one thing. How does the economy do? If he blows the economy through terrorism, some type of immigration policy destroys the economy, they're gonna hold him account for that and probably lose the House.
All these other things that he says he has a mandated for. I know he actually has a mandated. I don't know that people are expecting him to follow through on a lot of these things. Those people who don't want that to go from the first.
Can I make one quick point? Right. It's not about him at this point. It's about those senators and members of Congress.
It's about midterm election, I think I've seen this play 46. This is four or eight years ago from now. Yeah, I've seen this play before. And it becomes 2018 along this path.
And we know what happened in 2018 or 2022 or 2010. Then how important is this confirmation process to get him off on the right foot and for the Senate to demonstrate to him where they're willing to stand up to him and where they're willing to work with him. I think it's important for Trump in the sense that it'll give people a really good idea of how much the lawmakers are going to just go along with a lot of what he wants. Right.
He can only lose three votes, and they know that. And so a big thing, a big reason that I've been told that they're backing Pete Hexaf so aggressively is because they already lost Matt Gates and they're worried, their concerns inside Trump's orbit, that losing Pete Hexaf as well, will sort of open the floodgates and allow some of these more moderate Republicans to start pushing back on other things that Donald Trump wants to happen. So I think it's important for Donald Trump from that sense, and in terms of, you know, where he spends his political capital, is there a particular amount of money that's more important or less important or is it about getting as many through as possible. I think right now it's about getting as many through as possible.
Again, this is a situation where the more people, if you have another Matt Gates, if you have two more Matt Gates, three more Matt Gates. In Donald Trump's eyes, that is the floodgates opening and will allow for Republicans to continue to push back on some of the things that he wants to do. So we want all of them to Brendan, will he let one of these zombies go all the way to the floor and lose? Is that something he'd be willing to send?
That's a tough call. I think you guys can call of the Republican leader. You never want to bring something up that's going to fail. I think that's why a lot of these senators are trying like hey, now we have a good time to move, move somebody out because he wanted it.
But this is a different. If he tells John, dude, I don't care, put him on the floor. I want no one names on the board who I can go after if they fail. I think that he could probably win standoffs like that dude, that's a much tougher, it's much easier to quietly push somebody outside but to go floor to do a thumbs down and that becomes an ad right.
If you're running against your nearest primary. All right, thanks everybody. Shelby, Cornell, Brennan, thank you all so much for being here. Appreciate it.
Next. President elect Trump accuses the Biden administration of hiding the truth about recent drone sightings as US Officials downplay security concerns and try to reassure an anxious public. The latest on that story and I'll talk to a New Jersey mayor about his search for answers. You're watching me the press now.
Welcome back. President elect Trump is now weighing in on the drone sightings over the tri State area, accusing the federal government of withholding information from the public. The government knows what is happening. Look, our military knows where they took off from.
They know where it came from and where it went. And for some reason they don't want to comment and I think they'd be better off saying what it is. Our military knows and our president knows and for some reason they want to keep people in suspense. I can't imagine it's the enemy because it was the enemy that blasted something strange is going on.
For some reason they don't want to tell the people and they should. Now the fact that I said that the military, drones, not the military does not I should say the drones and that they're not coming from Iranian ship as some have speculated. Other Federal agencies insisted drones do not pose a national security threat, even if they don't know the origin of some of these sightings. An FBI official told reporters this weekend that members of the public are frequently making mistaking commercial airliners for drone sightings.
Still, New York Governor Kathy Hochul says the government is sending drone detection systems to her state. And New Jersey Congressman Josh Schottheimer urging the federal government to be forthcoming with what it knows. People in New Jersey, around the country deserve clear answers. They deserve transparency from their government.
Is it possible that some of these sightings are airplanes or helicopters or enthusiasts putting up their drones to mess with other people? Sure. But what I find insulting is claiming to people that they're not seeing things that they're seeing with their own eyes. That just doesn't make any sense.
NBC's My Elin joins me now from Teaneck, New Jersey. So what do we know about this drone detecting detection technology that may be deployed to both New York and New Jersey now? Ryan, we know that Governor Kathy Hogle posted on X that the federal government is sending some of those drone detection systems to the state of New York. They are really going to expand and elevate the current capabilities that the state has in terms of locating and identifying and getting more information about these drones.
She is one of many local officials continue to put pressure on the Biden administration and Congress for increased resources and access to conduct these investigations. Ryan and my holy Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas offered this explanation yesterday. Take a listen. There are thousands of drones flown every day in the United States.
Recreational drones, commercial drones. That is the reality. And In September of 2023, the Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA, changed the rules so that drones could fly at night. And that may be one of the reasons why now people are seeing more drones than they did before, especially from dawn to dusk.
So, Maya, is it likely that people are just now becoming more aware and then more concerned about drones? Right. It's a question that a lot of residents I've spoken to here in New Jersey have asked. Just to put this into context, though, there are so many drones registered here in the US we know there are over 790,000 registered in this country and more than 883,000 drones that require a pilot's license.
We heard from an NYPD official today that also said many residents are sending up their own drones to try and investigate. So it really does kind of seem like this mix of folks trying to figure out for themselves what's going on and officials trying to determine where these objects are coming from that they're not able to identify Brian. All right, Maya, thank you so much for that. I appreciate it.
Let's talk more about it now with Mayor Michael Mellon. He's the mayor of Belleville, New Jersey, so he's in one of the cities where they've been dealing with this quite a bit. So, Mayor, thank you for being here. Federal officials say they can't confirm where these drones are from, but then at the same time, they say they do not pose a national security threat.
Do you and your constituents believe that assurance enough? We do not. And frankly, we're getting tired of being insulted. I just got off a briefing with the White House Intergovernmental affairs, and again, we're being told that there's absolutely.
We're seeing nothing here. We're not seeing any drones. We're seeing basically. I mean, they're starting to really insult myself, our constituents, and many, many mayors around the state of Jersey who've literally had these things hovering 100ft over their houses.
I mean, we literally just got told once again that there's nothing to see here. We're getting tired of it. So you were part of a meeting last week with more than 200 mayors that was held by the New Jersey State Police Department. You say that you just got off a briefing with the White House.
I guess the thing I keep coming back to on this story is it's one thing for you to tell us there's nothing worry about, it's not a foreign threat, there's no sort of national security concern here. But at the same time, you can't tell us specifically what it is that we're seeing. Is that the same frustration that you have that if it's not a threat, why can't you tell us specifically what it is that we're seeing? It is.
And frankly, you're right. You can't have it both ways. You can't say, we have no idea what you're saying, but there's no known threat. You just can't have it both ways.
I mean, we were told by our state police that they know for a fact these things are hovering over our critical infrastructure. We had a mayor in North Jersey who has 80 acres or 80 square miles under her belt, and she's got four critical infrastructures, four sets of reservoirs there. She had 60 drones hovering over them this past Sunday. You can't keep telling us that we're imagining this stuff.
We're not imagining it. Our own state police in our own briefings is telling us these things are not emitting a radio frequency. Our own governor has said, with the state police standing next to him, that our pilots witnessed the lights turn off and saw them disappear. I mean, we're having really.
We're having a lot of issues here yet. Yeah, they keep telling us we're not gonna shoot them down if they think there are a threat. We're not gonna do a temporary ban. You can't have it everywhere.
Our residents are getting concerned, and the lack of transparency is doing nothing but fuel conspiracy theories on social media. Yeah, and maybe expand upon that thought about the conspiracy theories, because it does feel as though we've entered a new phase of this story where there is the sense that people are overreacting, that they're actually seeing regular commercial airliners landing and taking off, that perhaps that they're police helicopters that they're witnessing. I'm sure that's true. I'm sure more people are now taking the time to look up in the skies and are concerned as to what they're seeing.
But do you feel as though that concern and these new levels of reporting that are probably just basic things are because of the void that was filled from before? Absolutely. I'm here in Belleville. We're in northern New Jersey.
We border the largest city in New Jersey, New York. We are dead smack in the middle of Newark International Airport and Teterboro Airport. And our residents in this area are starting to look up to the sky now. And every single night, they look up the sky.
There's no doubt. I mean, there's no doubt that there is some misidentification that's happening. We know that to be a fact. But I've had trained police officers, drone operators who are police officers, video things and say, absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, these are drones.
These are not manned aircraft. And somebody needs to finally get to the bottom of this. I mean, it's ridiculous that we have technology that, you know, they can read your driver's license from a mile up in the sky. Probably why it's still in your pocke.
They can't tell us what's flying just above our homes. So a congressman monkey. Cheryl Hometree knows. She represents Bellevue.
She's a former Navy helicopter pilot. She released a plan to identify drones and then improve communication with the public. So they know what those drones are. And we think about the congressman's plan.
And at least this is the idea, what needs to be accomplished here, filling this gap between what exists and getting that information, people so that they're worried about it all the time. We welcome all the congressional help. I saw Josh, you know, on the program just earlier. They're calling for federal assets to come in here.
We were told by our state police that New Jersey has among the best drone detection equipment. We have MetLife Stadium that has drone detection equipment. It's gonna do very little if these things are not emitting greater frequencies, which is the reason why we can't jam them and bring them to ground because it's kind of unique. That said, I do not think it's going to be a foreign adversary act.
I actually do believe that, that if you listen to a little bit of information that we've had and more so what they're not telling us, especially about the fact about the blinking lights and everything else, I don't think this is a foreign adversary. I'm of the belief that these things are probably federal assets. I can't imagine that our U.S. senators and Congress people aren't aware of it, but they very well may be US Assets that are being deployed to look for something that's not concerned.
I'm no longer worried about who the drones belong to. I'm more concerned with what they're doing up there. Are they potentially sniffing for something? They keep flying in a grid like pattern.
All right. Mayor Michael Mallon, thank you for the reality check as to what your constituents are dealing with. We appreciate it. As the story continues.
Thank you. After the break. We're on the ground Israel, where the clock is ticking for Biden officials to rover a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza before the next administration takes over. You're watching Beat the Press now.
Now. Welcome back. Secretary State Anthony Blinken confirmed over the weekend that the Biden administration has made direct contact with hts, a designated terror organization and the main rebel group that overthrew the Assad regime in Syria. It underscores the ongoing diplomatic challenges in Syria with the US Urging a peaceful and Syrian led political transition and that the and that contact with HDS is part of the renewed efforts to find American journalist Austin Ty, who disappeared in Syria back in 2012.
Here's what his mother Deborah Ty, told Kristen Amit the press yesterday. The US Government has made the decision that they're not going into Damascus. So my feeling is if they don't want to be there, they shouldn't be there. And the people that are there are the people that are determined.
They're going into some really deep and dark places and obviously they are compelled to be there. And US Government is not. Should the US Government be there? What do you think it comes to the ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad posited what appears to be his first statement since fleeing to Russia.
NBC News has not been able to independently verify that Assad remains in control of the telegram account where the statement was posted. But in it, Assad claims he did not plan on fleeing this country. NBC News international correspondent Matt Bradley is in Damascus and has more. Well, we just learned from Bashar al Assad over his telegram platform over the official Syrian presidential telegram account saying making his first statement, if confirmed, this is the first time that the world has heard from Bashar al Assad directly ever since he left Syria and sought asylum in Moscow.
He said in this statement, which was kind of a defense of his actions last week when this regime fell. He said my departure from Syria was not a plan, nor did it occur during the final hours of the battles, as some have claimed. And he said at no point during these events did I consider stepping down or seeking refuge. Now, he said that on the morning of December 8th, the day that this regime fell, that he actually had been in Damascus, prepared to fight on until the last, and that he was advised to move on to Russian air bases in Latakia in the west of the country, which he did.
And it was by the evening of that day on December 8, that he was advised to leave the country and to head to Moscow. Now, it's unclear whether this statement is going to move anybody here walking around this city, this country for the past couple of days. Everyone is ecstatic that the dictator has left. And for most people here, this statement is going to come as little more than just the death rattle of a regime that is dominating this country for the past half century.
And there are signs that this country is already moving on. Yesterday was the first day of school for students here in Syria. We were seeing embassies open, businesses are opening back up, people are in the streets. And despite the fact that everybody is going to have to rebuild, this country is mired in economic Crisis after nearly 14 years of a terrible, horrific civil war.
And the pain is still being felt by so many people walking around and talking to people. They're all smiles. They can't wait to move on. And even though there's so many unanswered questions about the nature of this new regime, which is tinged by Islamism and has past associations with al Qaeda and Islamic State, most people here, at least for now, seem ready to trust them.
Matt Bradley, thank you for that. Reporting with me from Tel Aviv is misinterpreted international force. Mike Raf Sanchez. So raf, Israel is carrying out military operations in the Golan Heights and as well as carrying out strikes in Syria.
What more can you tell us about that? Is there a concern that they will expand fighting if Israel's already involved? The fighting? They are already involved.
I should say, Suran, Israel has moved very swiftly, very aggressively since the fall of the Assad regime. As you said, they've carried out hundreds of airstrikes inside Syria. They say they are targeting not just the biological and chemical weapons stockpiles left over by the Assad regime, but basically destroying all of Syria's conventional military equipment also. So it's fighter jets, it's helicopters, sinking pretty much the entire Syrian navy.
And they say the goal here is to make sure that these weapons do not fall into the hands of extremists. They have also sent Israeli troops into what was a UN Designated buffer zone in between Israeli and Syrian positions on the Golan Heights. And then those troops have gone further into Syria itself, taking up strategic positions there. Now, Prime Minister Netanyahu's says that this is a temporary move.
It is designed to stop the chaos in Syria spilling over into Israeli controlled territory. But the deeply held concern among many Syrians and many Arab states is that Israeli forces are going to entrench themselves there and that this is basically a stealth annexation of Syrian territory. Your question is this going to lead to Israel being mired in war fighting? The reality is Syria is so weakened right now, it has very little ability to threaten Israel even if it wanted to.
Right. So RAF Rep. Of course, a senior NSC advisor, he remains in the region to work on a ceasefire deal. What's the level of optimism there in Israel that we could see a deal this month, which is the timeline that Jake Sullivan laid out last week.
So the Israelis have a calendar too. They can see there's not a whole lot of this month left, but there is optimism that we are going to get to a deal. Israel's defense minister was speaking in a closed door parliamentary committee earlier and he told lawmakers Israel is closer than ever to reaching a hostage ceasefire deal. That was confirmed to me by an Israeli lawmaker who's in the room.
And what's notable about that, Ryan, is this is Israel's new defense minister. He is very loyal to Prime Minister Netanyahu. He would not be out there raising expectations if he didn't feel that his boss was indeed open to a ceasefire deal. Another tea leaf as we try to read what's going on in these negotiations is what you mentioned, Brett McGurk President Biden's most senior Middle east adviser, has extended his trip here in the region and that is seen as a sign that potential deal is coming together.
Right. Okay, Roth, thank you for that. Still to come, what's next for a key ally after South Korea's parliament impeach the president for attempting to declare martial law? You're watching esn.
Welcome back. South Korea's embattled president defied a summons for prosecutors today in their investigation into his short lived declaration of martial law earlier this month. President Yoon, who's facing possible charges of rebellion and abuse of power, was also impeached on Saturday by the opposition controlled parliament. His presidential powers were immediately suspended and the country's prime minister is now serving as acting president.
Yesterday, President Biden spoke with the acting president and expressed his appreciation for the resiliency of democracy and the rule of law in South Korea, according to the White House readout of their conversation. Joining me now is Victor Chubbs, the president of the Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department and the Korea Chair at the center for Strategic and International Studies. He's also an NBC News foreign affairs contributor. Mr.
Cha, thank you for being here. Let's about talk talk about President Yoon and this defiant speech that he gave after the vote to impeach him. What happens now? How long do you expect him to continue to fight this?
Well, I think he said, as he said he's going to fight it till the end, Ryan. I mean, where we are now is that there was an impeachment vote that successfully passed the national legislature over the weekend. It now moves to the Constitutional Court where they need a minimum of six judges to agree that the motion is constitutional. In the meantime, the prime minister becomes the acting president.
And then if all this goes according to plan, after the Constitutional Court rules, which could be up to six months to make a ruling, then there's a two month campaign period before we see the next president in South Korea. What do we know about the prime minister who's serving right now as the acting president? Is he seeing someone who can handle the challenges in the region, particularly dealing with North Korea and China as well? Yes, I certainly think so.
His name is Han Duk Soo. He is truly a technocrat. He has served both in progressive and conservative governments in South Korea. He was once ambassador here in Washington D.C.
as well. So I think he's a very competent individual. He's not political, but it's just a situation that he's now in in this sort of caretaker role. As we wait to see the outcome of the.
Of the impeachment process, the Constitutional Court, and potential election. But this could take as well as the 2025, long after Donald Trump takes office in the White House. And we've obviously seen a lot of protests in the country as a result of this. How much confidence do the people of South Korea have in the prosecutor's ability to carry out this investigation into President Yoon?
And ultimately, do you expect that people will trust the outcome of the parliament's impeachment inquiry? I think, in general, that they will. I mean, this is not the first time we've seen impeachment happen in South Korea. Two other presidents have been impeached.
In one case in 2004, the legislature voted for impeachment, and then the Constitutional Court convened and they overruled the impeachment, and the president went back to work. In another case, they impeached the president, and the court agreed, and that person was ousted from office. So there is confidence in the process in South Korea, even though it's a very rambunctious and rowdy democracy. In the end, in most cases, we see democratic resiliency as these institutions are tested and they prove to work.
And you rightly point out that this process could take a while. So there could be an acting president in place when Donald Trump resumes the presidency here in Washington. How should this acting president deal with Trump as he prepares to return to the White House? What does that relationship look like?
Well, it's difficult. I think, for one, there's very little chance that the acting president will become the next president of South Korea. So that raises the question of whether Donald Trump would even want to meet with an interim president. A lot of the affairs of state I imagined between the two in the alliance would be handled by the Foreign Ministry, the foreign minister in South Korea, as well as the confirmed Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.
But as we all know, it's important for leaders to connect with Trump, and that will put Korea at a significant disadvantage, as many other world leaders, as they already have done, have started to try to meet with Trump and establish a personal rapport. And then, of course, there's the North Korea of all of this. How do you think Pyongyang is viewing this situation? Does Kim Jong Un see it as an opportunity to sow more chaos, or does his relationship with Trump play a role here, and does he ultimately show restraint as South Korea figures this process out?
So it's an interesting question, Ryan. I think there are two dynamics taking place. On the one hand, I think that the North Korean leadership is enjoying the political divisiveness in South Korea. And it's kind of sitting back and watching.
If they do anything to South Korea, they could end up uniting the country rather than dividing it. So I think they're watching it all happen at the same time. We know that every time a new president comes into office in Washington, D.C. north Korea likes to take some sort of action.
They did a nuclear test after Obama took office. They did it after Trump took office. They didn't do it after Biden. But that was because they were in a COVID lockdown.
So I expect the North Koreans may do something when Trump comes into office as well. Again, January, and of course, we know that North Korea has been engaged with Russia in some of their military operations. The Pentagon confirmed today that North Korean troops are engaged in combat alongside Russian troops in the Kursk region. And the Pentagon has even taken it far enough to say that North Korean troops have suffered casualties.
If their troops continue to be killed and wounded, how long will North Korea be willing to continue to send their own people to the front of the Ukraine war? It's a good question. I think on the one hand, the North Korean leadership sees sending these troops as a way to establish a relationship, a security relationship with Russia, demonstrate the strength of their troops, give them combat experience. On the other hand, if the news keeps coming back that they're getting killed and captured and even defecting, this could create a disincentive for the North Korean leader to continue helping Putin in this way.
All right, Dr. Shaw, thank you so much for your time, your expertise. We appreciate it. Thank you.
And I'll be back tomorrow with more Beat the Press now. But we've got more news straight ahead as the news continues with Hallie Jackson right now. I'm Craig Nol. Cheers.
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