Meet the Press NOW — December 3

If it's Tuesday. U.S. officials say they're gravely concerned about the chaotic situation in South Korea, as the nation's parliament boasts to block the president's shock declaration of martial law while protests and clashes erupt inside and outside the national assembly building. Plus, U.S.

security officials reveal new details on a broad and significant breach of US Telecom companies by Chinese government hackers that the US Says is still ongoing. And President Biden speaks in Angola, making history as the first US President to ever visit the West African nation. But his decision to pardon his son Hunter and the escalating blowback to your home threatens to overshadow the trip. Welcome to Meet the Press Now I'm Dave Gutierrez in Washington, and we begin with breaking news and chaos.

Chaotic situation in South Korea that's been developing all day after the country's president suddenly declared martial law overnight in a stunning move giving him powers that clamped down on media and political rivals. After several hours of protests and clashes at parliament, President Yoon Suk Yeol appears to be backing down, agreeing to lift his declaration of martial law after members of parliament passed a resolution demanding he do so. In declaring martial law, President Yoon claimed that his opponents were sympathizing with North Korea and plotting an insurgency to overturn the government. South Korean troops were dispatched to parliament and forced a decree, the first time the country had seen a declaration of martial law in more than 40 years.

Some lawmakers in the opposition party said they had to climb the fence to get into the building so they could vote the decree down. Then came confusion as South Korean soldiers entered parliament through smashed windows, and military officials said the law would remain in place until the president himself lifted it despite parliament's vote. Now, with the decree being lifted, ruling party leaders are demanding Yoon explain himself and that those responsible be held accountable. The White House, meanwhile, says President Biden, who's in Angola right now, has been briefed on the situation and he's in contact with the South Korean government.

The US has tens of thousands of troops on the Korean peninsula, and the Pentagon says it continues to monitor the developments. This afternoon, before Yoon agreed to reverse the declaration of martial law, a top State Department official addressed what was unfolding in Seoul. So we are watching the recent developments in the ROK with grave concern. We're seeking to engage our ROK counterparts at every level, both here and in Seoul.

I do want to underscore that our alliance with the ROK is ironclad, and we stand by Korea in their time of uncertainty. I also want to just underscore that we have every hope and expectation that any political disputes will be resolved peacefully and in accordance with the rule of law. We'll have more to say as the situation develops. Joining me now is NC News international correspondent Janice Matthew Fair.

And also with these NBC News senior White House correspondent Kelly o'. Donnell. Janice, I'll start with you. Walk us through this.

What led up the President Yoon's to his declaration of martial law? Well, this is an extraordinary turn of events with President Yoon Sokyo agreeing to lift martial law forced by an emergency vote held in the midst of protests. In declaring martial law, he said in a TV address that he had no choice to to do it in order to safeguard constitutional order. It was basically a move against the government, against what he called North Korea anti state forces.

He's been in a bitter standoff with opposition members since he was elected and most recently failed to pass the budget which had also been drastically reduced. Yun somehow believes that martial law was the solution to overcoming political gridlock. It was a dramatic move and a risky one. U.S.

officials almost seem to be caught off guard here. Was there any surprise that he agreed to reverse martial law in mass PRs? By law he had to and without hesitation. Otherwise it violates the constitution.

And the vote was pretty resounding, 190 lawmakers to zero against it there. Even lawmakers scaling the fence of the national assembly to get back inside for the vote. There have been large crowds outside of the building in Seoul. People also inside the building windows have been smashed, smashed.

Police have surrounded it. There is still some confusion about where things stand because under the order, political activities are banned, protests are prohibited, media is censored, but military officials have been ordered to pull forces back. You mentioned that President Yoon had been this bitter standoff for the opposition party since he's been elected. But in the hours leading up to this, to his declaration, in the days leading up to it, is there anything particularly that change mentioned the budget.

But what led him to take this extraordinary step? Well, the protests had grown overnight and there is still some confusion. People have been stunned by this gig. The last time there was martial law was 1979 after an assassination.

If the opposition had not rallied as quickly as they had within three hours, South Korea would be waking to a very different situation. And now there's the question of what's next. Lawmakers are calling for you to be impeached. They say there's no way for him to continue and that his ousters is not a matter if but when.

So it's still a very shaky political situation in South Korea, with North Korea increasingly hostile and very much closer to Russia. Instability, as we know, is nothing new to the Korean peninsula. But this is a very new and uncertain phase that we see unfolding. James, thank you very.

Watching all this wars from Beijing. Thank you. Turn out that killer. Donald at the White House in Kelly, a top State Department official said that the US was watching these developments with grave concern.

So what is the US's biggest concern about what's happening there? Well, certainly there is great concern because the US is a close partner with the Republic of Korea. And to see these extraordinary steps shaking the foundation of democracy there is alarming. There are lots of US troops in the region.

That's an issue. The rise of tensions with North Korea, that is a great concern, especially when you consider North Korea's partnership with Russia in Ukraine, for example, and broadly, and instability in that part of the world with China as also a superpower. That is all a challenge for the United States, where the Biden administration has worked during the four years of President Biden's term, to try to have a solid footing of partnership in in the Pacific, especially with Japan, South Korea, and so forth. And this is a concern because obviously we talk in our country in our own context about threats to democracy.

Here's a very real example of how political opposition and protest and discord can trigger events that people don't know where it's going. So there's been tension certainly on. On its face and with the underpinnings of how this represents partnerships and tensions with the US in global strategy. Certainly the president of the country.

That's another wrinkle of this. He has been close to President Yoon in the sense that he held a trilateral summit at Camp David that was considered very significant. They also hosted a dinner, a state dinner, with all of the trimmings, pomp and ceremony for President Yoon on behalf of the US partnership with South Korea. That was last year.

So there's a real relationship here. And certainly President Yoon has had his own political difficulties. President Biden has had his as well. This is the kind of thing that rattles democracies.

They've not been able to get significant conversation going between the US and the Republic of Korea. We have not gotten any indication that President Yoon has been reached by phone directly. And so that adds to some of the uncertainty right now. And Kelly, that was my question.

The President has been briefed on this, but do we know whether Secretary State Blinken or anyone else in the administration has actually made contact with the South Korean government? We don't have a direct answer to that because the spokesperson at the State Department has said that they don't want to read out specific conversations. They wouldn't say that they're been a leader level conversation at the level of President Yoon or at the secretary of state, ministerial level. So we don't know that certainly government to government, because there are a lot of relationships.

We have our embassy there and all kinds of business and international relationships there. There may be some communication, but specifically at that high level, we have not been given word of that yet. Gail Dono live for us at the White House. Kelly, thank you.

And with me now is Victor Shah, president of the Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department and Korea chair at the center for Strategic and International Studies. He's also NBC News foreign affairs contributor. Thank you so much for joining us, Victor. President Yoon agreed to lift martial law, but as we were discussing with Janice, what happens now in terms of unrest in the country?

Well, it's a really good question, Gabe. I mean, I think he was compelled once the legislature came together and had a majority vote to overturn his martial law declaration, and that was bipartisan, included members of his own party joining with the opposition to overturn it. He was mandated by the constitution then to lift martial law. He hesitated in doing that for at least an hour or longer.

And there was real concern that by daybreak, if he had not done that, we would be in a real constitutional crisis with Korea. But he did lift it. And so in that sense, a constitutional crisis has been avoided, but it's really hard to see what comes next. I think that the opposition will, rather than take this as a sign of trying to turn down the heat in terms of the political polarization of the country, they will double down and try to push him out of office.

They'll need a much bigger majority than what they had to overturn the martial law declaration in order to impeach him, much bigger than what they have. They need many more lawmakers in the ruling party, but they may just take to the streets and try to get the public to go out there and force him to resign. Victor, we were talking about this with Janice, but I want you to take viewers and just give us a broad context here. Just how did we get to this point in Seoul, so many people around the world, my political leaders were just not expecting this to happen today.

Yeah, nobody was expecting it to happen. I certainly wasn't expecting it to happen. And I follow this pretty closely. I mean, in one sense, the story is not that unfamiliar to democracies around the world.

We see political polarization taking place in many different democracies around the world. And that's what happened in Korea. The ruling party lost a major midterm election that put them in the minority. And the opposition party used that legislative majority to basically block everything that the ruling party and the president wanted to do to the point where they couldn't get a budget pass.

And I think that might have been the straw that broke the camel's back. I think the president got bad advice if somebody told him or didn't stop him from wanting to do this in terms of martial law, not a very good move because in the end, as I said, it will only harden the opposition. And now he's got the public, although he never really had the public on his side in the first place. He's not very popular at 10%.

He really doesn't have the public on his side now. So President Yoon is claiming that North Korean sympathizers have essentially infiltrated that opposition party. Is there any merit at all to those allegations? So there have been rumors of that in the past.

And if that's the case, and if he wants to make a strong case, he really needs to present that to the public. I don't know if he will for reasons of intelligence and sources and methods. But if that's a critical missing piece to justify what he has done, then he needs some way to present that to the public. Right now, it doesn't look like they're going to do that and he's going to suffer politically because of it.

And Victor, South Korea, of course, as we were discussing with Kelly, has been a key US Allies ally in our efforts to contain or neutralize North Korea. So this instability in Seoul emboldened North Korea. It could certainly bold in North Korea. But at the same time, I think the North Koreans are enjoying watching the South Korean public polarized and fighting with the president of their country.

If they were to intervene in some way, they might unite the South Korean public behind the president. But you're absolutely right. This was a major issue for the Biden administration because South Korea is a key ally of everything, like supply chains, the CHIPS Act, North Korea, China, Taiwan, support for Ukraine. So they're very important alliance.

When you see this sort of instability in a key democratic ally in Asia, it's something that will concern you. So you became president after winning a close election in 2022. And South Korea has a history of issues with its presidents. In fact, one of its recent presidents was impeached.

So what if Anything makes this crisis so different. So it isn't different in the sense that there's a lot of political polarization in Korea. Korea has a single five year term presidency, which means the president can't run again, which often means by the second half of their administration, they're already a lame duck and the public is not very happy with them. But again, in all these cases, we have to remember, as rambunctious as Korea's democracy is, when the previous president was impeached, it was done constitutionally.

There was an extraordinary election that was done within a very short period of time to elect legitimately a new president. This current president won by the narrowest margins, even narrower than our own election in the United States. And yet nobody in Korea claimed that there was anything wrong with the voting booze or with the ballot boxes. The opposition loser candidate within four hours admitted defeat and congratulated the winner.

So, you know, there is something very strong about South Korean democracy, even though it can be quite rambunctious and quite climbing. Victor Shah, thank you so much for putting us all in context and we appreciate your expertise. Thank you. And coming up, Pete Hegsett is back on the Hill meeting with key Republican lawmakers and senators downplay misconduct allegations against the president.

Alex Pick to lead the pega. Plus new fighting today between Israel and Lebanon as President elect Trump threatens there will be, quote, hell to pay if the hostages aren't released from Gaza by the time he takes office. They're watching. Read the press now.

Welcome back. President elect Trump's pick, the lead of Defense Department Pete Hegseth is back on Capitol Hill for the second day in a row to rally support among Senate Republicans for his nomination. On the heels of a piece from the New Yorker revealing the contents of a previously undisclosed whistleblower report sent to a veterans organization. Hegseth ran with allegations from foreign employees that he was repe.

Intoxicated on the job, that he ran up enormous debts and engaged in sexist behavior. NBC News has not seen the report and Hegseth's attorney declined to comment to NBC. But in a statement to the New Yorker, he said that the claims were outlandish. Hegseth repeatedly dodging questions about that reporting as he was back on the Hill today and yesterday meeting with senators.

The Trump team signaling they aren't worried about the potential impact of the allegations, with senior advisor Jason Miller saying they feel, quote, very good about his confirmation process as some Republican senators signal they're willing to overlook the allegations. I've looked at all the personal stuff and again, I've known him for a long time and I would. There's not gonna be anything to this. At the end of the day, throwing disparaging remarks at someone who has heard a great deal of credibility.

Are soldiers sometimes wild Chinese? Yeah, that can happen. But it is very clear that this guy is the guy who at a time with Americans losing confidence in their own military and our ability to project straight the real world, that Pete Hexa is the answer to that answer. Wild Childs.

Well, joining me now is Vaughn Hillier. The latest on the Trump transition and Saha Kapoor. He's covering the reaction to the Hexath allegations from Capco Hoover. I want to start with you.

We noted earlier that Trump adviser Jason Miller said they're feeling good about Hexath's confirmation chances. What makes him so confident? Donald Trump nominated him. And until he is rejected, Donald Trump and his transition team will at least publicly present a posture that has faith that their nominees will not be embarrassed and will be confirmed by the Republican majority Senate.

Of course, he is only able to lose three Republican senators if every Democrat were to vote against him. And this is where a tough reality sets in, is that by naming these nominees so early on in the process, still almost about two months until they would likely be able to begin their confirmation proceedings, it allows for extra scrutiny by the press, asking questions, looking into their backgrounds, and in the case of Pete Hegseth, quite banning allegations and accusations, a series of them that stem to his time overseeing the veterans organization in which he was forced out, allegedly over financial mismanagement, sexual misconduct and repeated intoxication. But also the New York Times printing out an email in which his own mother condemned his actions, his sexist actions towards women. Of course, she, in the aftermath of that email, said that she took back what she had said and that was an accurate representation of her son.

But right now, Donald Trump, we should be clear, is not coming out even on social media. And outright defending Pete Hegseth instead has largely left this up to him to go senator to senator up on Capitol Hill to make his own case ahead of his likely nomination. Upon the transition team announced that it entered to a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Justice. So is there any concern that a lack of vetting so far has been leading to a two front fight on some of these nominations?

Even outside of the sexual misconduct allegations, hexathic skepticism over experience and comments about women in combat. Right. This is actually quite big news here. Coming, we should note, almost a month after Donald Trump won this election and it is a tradition and protocol in that presidential transition teams, they sign memorandums of understanding, enter into agreements, including with Department of Justice, to allow for FBI background checks of nominee picks.

And yet the Trump transition team made the very clear decision to not enter into that agreement with the Department of Justice and with the FBI, suggesting that they would be conducting their own background checks. And yet what we have seen is Matt Gaetz, number one, his first attorney general pick, go down and remove himself from the nomination process after multiple Republican senators indicated that there were going to be no votes on him after further allegations arose publicly after Donald Trump had selected him. But now with Pete Hegseth so much of this reporting coming as a surprise to even the report senators who it's going to come down to whether he becomes dependent on chief or not. And so this announcement here, literally just in the last few minutes by the Trump transition team that they entered into an agreement to allow these FBI background checks to go forward, would appease the great many Republican senators, including likes of Susan Collins and even Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who over the last 24 hours have expressed a desire to have these FBI background checks be able to help them better discern whether these individuals should be confirmed to their post or not.

Don Hilliard and Ross Palm beach governing the Trump transition for us. Thank you. And I want to turn out to Sahil. And look, we played some of the reaction from Republican senators, but what's the mood in the Republican conference and what's been the reaction to the allegations of alcohol abuse specifically?

Okay, well, first I'll start with the fact that PTAXF has largely ignored hallway questions on this matter, including from our own team yesterday. When we talked to Republican Senator, they were largely dismissive of these allegations of this new report that includes solid Trump allies like Rick Scott, who said his experience with Pete Hexa has always been positive. He defended him. Ted Cruz decided to criticize the media for focusing too much on his view about the allegations against Hexa.

Today, however, there's been a bit of a vibe shift. There's some more skepticism coming from Republican senators about all this than we heard yesterday. The most notable here is Roger Wicker, the incoming chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He's a very important figure in overseeing this nomination.

He said he has questions for hazards in light of this. Take a look at what he said. I'm working to be supportive. Are you concerned about reporting to not much.

Are you concerned about reports that come out about his drinking and treatment of women, those sort of things? Well, I think there are questions that some members have, and we're going to be working for an answer. So he's not closing the door there, but he's not the only one. Senator Joni Ernst, military veteran herself, said she expects to have a really frank and thorough conversation with Hegset this week.

And Lindsey Graham, a firm Trump ally, said some of the things that he's read are, quote, concerning to him, Gates. I think this is very much at the air at the moment. So compare this to Matt Gates for me, at this point. Is he facing as much or even higher of a hill than Matt Gates was?

Well, considering the fact that Matt Gates withdrew and that nomination has already been scuttled, I don't know if I would compare Hegseth to Gates just yet. The problem with Gates was a series of ethical problems, but also a lot of senators viewed the nomination as simply preposterous. They didn't believe that Gates would minimally qualify for the position. I don't know if Hagseth, you know, it's kind of that low bar that Gates was in terms of qualifications with some senators, but, you know, this is far from a done deal at this point, except it's facing not one but multiple questions now about character.

There's a sexual misconduct allegations. Now there's allegations about drinking, and he denies all this. But there are, there is such a thing as straws on the camel's back. You know, a drip, drip.

Pick your miff metaphor with senators. If one thing is concerning, it doesn't mean that nothing ultimately will be. And up next, President Biden makes a historic visit abroad amid the bipartisan blowback here at home over his decision to pardon his son, a decision that most top Democrats like Senator Chuck Schumer clearly don't want to talk about. Do you agree with some of your Democratic college to see that President Biden's pardon under Biden was wrong or unwise?

Personal interest ahead of duty. I got nothing for you on that. As I said, I got nothing for you on that. Thank you.

I've got nothing for you on that. Now we're back. While President Biden's decision to pardon his son hunters reverberating throughout Washington, is making history of a different kind Today. For the first time ever, a US President spent the day in Angola meeting with their president and delivering remarks at the National Museum of Slavery.

President Biden acknowledged America's difficult history with the African nation and addressed the US's original sin of slavery. Our people lie at the heart of a deep and profound connection that forever binds Africa and the United States together we remember the stolen men and women and children who were brought to our shores in chains, subjected unimaginable cruelty. I've learned that while history can be hidden, it cannot and should not be erased. It should be faced.

It's our duty to face our history, the good, the bad and the ugly, the whole truth. That's what great nations do. That's why I chose to speak here at the National Slavery Museum today. And joining me now from Angola is Miami News White House colleague Aaron Gilchrist.

Aaron, thank you so much for joining us. Now, President Biden had promised to make a trip to Africa during his presidency. He's there today. What else have we heard from.

You're right, Gabe. The president made that promise when the president of Angola, Joao Lorenzo, was sitting in the Oval Office with him last year. He said again earlier this year he would make this trip to the continent. And as you said today, he made good on spending some time at the presidential palace with President Lorenzo here and then making his way to the National Slavery Museum here in Angola.

And the sound that you displayed really takes a look at the story of these two countries, the history that they have together and the future that President Biden has been trying to build with Angola over the last several years of his administration. Obviously, the slave trade, the connection between Africans being taken from their homelands here in Angola and other parts of Africa and to the United States, or What was the 13 colonies at the time, Virginia, namely, the president talked about today. There's that history and also the reality that the Biden administration has been spending a lot of time, energy and money investing in Angola. In particular, there's a Libito corridor the president will visit tomorrow, where the US has poured in some $3 billion over the last year or so to refurbish and rebuild this railway system that will help move precious metals from the Republic of Congo and Zambia, for example, into Ang to the port of Libito, where they can then be distributed, shipped out, sold to other parts of the world, a major economic boon for Angola and some of these other neighboring countries as well.

The president noted that there's been a tremendous amount of work that's happened between these two countries as it relates to trade, as it relates to infrastructure, energy, defense, coordination is something that's going to be amplified over the next administration, possibly as well. And Aaron, that's turning out to another topic that has been threatening to overshadow this trip. You know, the president's been on a lot of cameras here. Have you heard anything from him about the Hunter Biden pardon.

You know, Gabe, the president has not taken advantage of these little gaggles, as we call them, these opportunities when cameras are around and reporters will yell questions at him. Since the election, he hasn't really done many of these sort of impromptu sessions with reporters. In particular, since this party was issued for his son, the president hasn't taken time to step before the cameras and address that at all. The White House obviously put out that statement from the president, president where he talked about how he believed that the system had been politicized against his son.

That was his reasoning for issuing this pardon. And that's all he said about it. He hasn't said anything more than that. Of course, we know the first lady did say that she supports this pardon.

An unusual step for her to take, to step away from microphones and then step back in front where there's music glaring for her to make that sort of statement. But that really is the extent of a response that we've heard from mouths of the Bidens at this point. Aaron Gilbert, live for San Angola. Aaron, thank you.

Back here at home, President elect Trump and his allies are seizing on President Biden's pardon of his son Hunter as a justification for Trump's plans to overhaul the Justice Department. Here soon to be White House press secretary Carolyn Levitt. Joe Biden's pardon of Hunter Biden proves President Trump's signature campaign promise to end the weaponization of our justice system needs to happen. And President Trump has made that promise.

He's going to deliver on it. He's going to root out the corruption. He's going to restore the justice system to apply the law equally to all Americans, not based on political party or who you voted for. And of course, President Elect Trump has been quite vocal about his desire to exact revenge against his political opponents.

And he's tap loyalists for the top jobs at the Justice Department and the FBI. Joining me now on set is o panel Michael Shell, congressional reporter the hilt Chuck Roca, founder of Northwest Pack and co host of the Teen of a podcast. And Mark Short, former chief of staff, the vice President Mike Pence and director of Legislative affairs in the Trump White House. He is also an NBC News contributor.

Thank you all so much for joining here. Michael, I want to start with you. So we just heard the incoming press secret Perry, Carolyn Levitt and what she just said, this has changed anything for the Trump administration was just unfolding here with Hunter Biden pardon. I don't think necessarily.

I mean, one caveat is President Elect Trump actually left the door open to potentially pardoning Hunter Biden if he wanted to. Obviously that's not the table I was actually talking to about House Democrat in recent days and said what's her react? And they told me well it takes one thing off of Trump's to do list on day one that he had left the door open to. So aside from that which questionable if it would ever actually come to fruition, I don't think this really does change anything.

We're still seeing Trump install loyalists in some of those key law enforcement positions. FBI Director Cash Patel on Pambandi as Attorney general. So I think it's still status quo though. Absolutely.

In terms of messaging as mentioned seizing on this, what do you think of this idea of floated by Joe Manchin that Biden should pardon Trump? It seems very must wing esque to me. Right. Sometimes, you know, things that are described Washington as West Wing if it's too realistic and too perfect, I don't see that really coming to fruition.

Joe Manchin is someone who wants way out from Congress, not really tethered to the implications of re election. He can speak his mind. So I don't know if I see that coming to fruition. But it's interesting that it's being floated.

Chuck. I want to put a post for Michigan Senator Gary Peters. This is it. President Biden's decision to pardon his son was wrong.

President's family and his allies shouldn't get special treatment. This wasn't a proper use of power. It was trust in our government and it emboldens others to ban justice to suit their interests. You agree?

You know I said that I'm behind Biden on the pardon even though I think that he shouldn't have missed that the people should just run up front of our leaf as a good strategist just pivoted away from it. I don't want to put my finger on the scale. I'll wait till justice. I've done messaging all of a sudden the message for candidate a better way to handle that.

But the most important thing is while as a Democratic strategist I'd love to be here talking about the difference between my philosophy of government and Republican philosophy on government around picture of the cabinet legislative policies. But I'm going to be here talking about Hunter Biden's pardon, which is me losing. Okay, well do you think Democrats should be owning this more? Do you think that he should have just done it and you know take questions from nobody going to going to fault him for pardoning his son.

But why not do this before the election, after election and be honest with the American people and then pin away to whatever you're supposed to talk about. Look at me at home. That's the way you're supposed to do. Mr.

President. One look, a lot of Democrats are sounding the alarm about Trump potentially firing Christopher Wray and installing loyalists and toppos and the FBI Justice Department. Does this pardon and does this make that argument weaker? Oh, I think actually it strengthens Trump's hand about what he wants to do in pardon justice.

But for Democrats complain. Oh, for Democrats complain, Sure, I think it makes it weaker. I mean look, Chuck's greater his job in spinning things but I think the reality is that a lot of people are saying it's the fatherly thing to do. Not a lot of people have sons who have slept with their, you know, dead brother's widow and then slept with her sister and got them on dictated on a cocaine when a grieving and meanwhile when he's vice president of the United States having a seven figured contract before governments, this is pretty extraordinary.

And meanwhile in the campaign promising he would never do it. And for a lot of voters saying, you know what, yeah, he opened the border and he did a bad job in inflation. But the thing difference between us is we believe in the rule of law, unlike those Republicans, we're standing on the rule of law and there's no two tier system. And then you see this and it shows how hypocritical Democrats were.

This entire campaign is like what do you think of Cash for Talisman? Do you think he's someone who could fairly serve as. I think that people underestimate Cash because Cash was one of the first ones out there highlighting the Steele dossier and saying how false the rumors of the discussion was about a Russia hoax. And he doesn't get enough credit for that to this day.

And Michael, I want to place some of what Cash said on the trap, the truth on their side. They sling arrows. They literally allow gunfire at our President. They allow assassination attempts to come to our President's chores.

And what we must do is band together and take the message that the swamp no longer works for the swamp. The swamp will be run out and the Washington D.C. bureaucracy will finally once again work for you all. Like the Trump transition will say that's what Americans voted for.

But will Republican senators stand for? That's obviously the big question right now. We're still getting the first reaction from senators. It broke over the weekend, they returned last night.

Now they're here today right now There are no vocal public nos against we are hearing from folks that they want to see him go through the process. They want to give the benefit of that doubt. They're going to have these meeting senators one on one with Cash Patel. Then we'll have that hearing.

You know so we'll see how this all pans out. But I will note there have been some folks who have not who have sort of cautiously approached Cash Patel. For example, Mike Rounds was on the Sunday show this weekend and he did give a glowing doors of Cash Patel. That's not saying he's against him but it's not quickly going behind him.

But he also said he's happy with the job that Christopher Wright is doing. Of course Chris rice still has three years left of his ten year term that runs through 2027. So then we talk about cash telder two of these discussions. A it's his background and some of the controversial things he said but B it's the idea of taking out the current FBI director which typically you don't do.

Trump did do in 2017. Moving James Comey to put Christopher Rayan I'm curious to see if Albus is inclined friendly Republicans senators. Chuck, I do want to switch gears. As you're well aware, Democrats are looking to pick a DNC party chair by the way you want to it's not made up of mind yet.

There will be an announcement coming tomor but there's one thing that stuck with me on all of this and you know I joined the Democratic Party because I want to fight nafta. I want to drain the swamp. I want to stop investing our money and foreign wars. I thought I'd invested back in my small town in Texas.

What does that sound like? It sounds like Donald Trump. And it drives me crazy every single day that Democrats lets these guys steal our message and at the core we forget about that. And that's why I'm so aggravated.

So is your answer to fix the Democratic Party you got a Trumpifying party? No. He's got to go back to the values of what we stand for. One party in my opinion talks about it live those values.

The other ones knew that there's only so many old rich white men that gets them. They can figure out how to talk about they don't crisis too. So they're bipartisan too. It's a party brand problem messaging or politics.

So I'm on the last route to rig rugs racism. Every day we're in green room talking about Senate racism and harsh racism and I'm in focus groups. And I tell folks, regular worker folks want Joe Biden midwife. Good.

They're like, they didn't believe it. They didn't believe things he had actually done. Hey, the Republicans have done a good job of telling folks that he didn't do it. But me, they didn't believe the brain would even do that.

When you're at that point and you have like Latino voters whose average age is 28, you have folks just frustrated. That's why you see all the things you see because American people are frustrated. And at least Republicans gave them somebody to blame. We caught our pearls and go running the corner.

Okay, well, we expect announcement tomorrow. And that's good to hear, Mark. I do. As we wrap up here, I do want to make a point.

President Biden not going to France this weekend for the reopening. Murder down. Firstly, is President elect Trump is. Do you think that Trump is violating the principle of only one president at a time here?

I mean, look, there's been a lot of traditions that have been broken over the last probably decade or so. And I think there's probably a lot of support that this is, this is probably broader than the individual presidency. And don't you see, McCrew? And this is about supporting Notre Dame for people at this time where they play football.

It's real. All right, on that note, thank you all so much for joining me. Michael, Chuck and Mark, we really do appreciate it. Instead of come the president, President elect Trump trumped up rhetoric and Middle east threatening to quote all hell if Hamas fails to release threatening hostages by migration day.

A veteran diplomat to the region, Jersey next. Stay watching me Press now. Stay with us. Hi.

Welcome back. As the Biden administration continues to work behind the scenes towards a ceasefire and hostage agreement in Gaza, President Elect Trump is putting his demands for a deal out in public posting yesterday on social media. If the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the day that I probably assume office as president of the United States, there will be all hell to pay in the Middle East. For those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against humanity, those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied history history of the United States of America.

While not immediately clear what kind of actions Trump is threatening to take once in office, his warning is being welcomed by Israeli leaders, with Prime Minister Netanyahu thanking Trump for his strong statement, saying it adds pressure to the ongoing efforts to release the hostages in Gaza. Joining me now is Ambassador Dennis Ross, former US Envoy for the Middle east and an NBC News foreign affairs analyst. Thank you so much, master, for joining us. And do you see any scenario where the US Becomes directly involved in the Israel Hamas war under a Trump administration, such as carrying out US Strikes inside Gaz?

No, I don't. Look, one of the things that President Elect Trump has been saying is that he intends, he wants the war to be over before he comes in. He's been very clear he wants to be seen as the president who's producing peace. I don't think that he's looking to engage in a war with Hamas.

There's nothing the US can do that approaches what the Israelites, Israelis have done militarily to Hamas. That doesn't mean he doesn't have leverage. He does have leverage. He has a relationship with Erdogan, President Erdogan of Turkey, where Hamas leadership has gone from Qatar.

President Erdogan has made it clear he wants to have a good relationship with President Trump. President Trump can make it very clear. If Erdogan helps to ensure that Hamas releases the hostages, he can have a good relationship. And if he doesn't, he's not going to.

This is certainly a form of leverage. He can apply leverage to President Sisi Egypt, who he often referred to as his favorite dictator. He can make it clear, look, I want to have a very good relationship with Egypt, but Egypt has to use the leverage it has on Hamas because it borders Gaza, to help make this happen. So he has forms of leverage that will be, in fact, effective, and he can apply them.

The fact that his rhetoric is very strong will actually give an incentive to those in the region to see what they can do to be responsive to him. And, Ambassador, on the subject of leverage, what about leverage for President Biden? You know, we've been discussing today that there can only be one president at a time, and President Biden says he is still pushing for a ceasefire deal in Gaza. So from a diplomat's point of view, how much more complicated does that process become when he's a lame duck and the president elect is making these kinds of declarations?

Well, one of the things it does for sure is you have a number of leaders in the region here. I would say the Arabs and Israelis alike who do want to know what Trump's going to do. They want to know that if President Biden is doing something and they respond to it, that it's not going to be reversed by President Trump. I think here, the more that President Biden is doing to get the hostages released, to get a ceasefire deal or to come out with what might be described as an end of war plan based on hatches being released.

I can see President Trump or the people around him sending a signal. They want to see that signal succeed. That way he actually can help the success of what is being done right now by the Biden administration. If it looks like he's sending a message that's contradictory to it, that's a different story.

But I think actually right now what he's saying about getting the Hashis released, I think that actually reinforces what the Biden administration is trying to do. I don't think it complicates it, actually. It actually reinforces it. Ambassador, we continue to see some Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon as part of the ceasefire agreement.

President Biden said Israel retains the right to self defense. But how concerned are you that this fragile deal could unravel before the 60 day implementation window is over? I don't think it's going to, yes, it's fragile, but this, this agreement was a product of a couple of realities. One reality was that Iran wants to preserve his Hezbollah.

Hezbollah has been dramatically weakened by the Israelis, weakened to the point where it has become vulnerable within Lebanon to the Sunnis, the Christians and the Druze. Had they become weaker because Israel is going to continue to hit them, they might actually have lost their position within Lebanon. This is the most important proxy that the Iranians have. It's sort of the crown jewel of their, what they call their axis of resistance.

They want it, they want to ensure this is, this ceasefire actually is one that was not only achieved but will hold. I think the Israelis have a memory of getting stuck, as they put it, for 18 years in Lebanese mud. They don't want to be stuck there either. If there's a little bit of testing that's going on right now, the Israelis are determined to make it clear they will answer that.

So I, I think yes, there are, this. Is there details here? There's testing, some testing that he may be doing. But I would be surprised if this didn't hold.

I think it will hold. Speaking of Iran and its proxies, we've also seen a Syria reignite. So what does that say about the volatility of the region and what impact does that have on Iran and its proxies? Well, I think what we're seeing, we've seen hts, which is in a sense an amalgam of different opposition groups, the different Islamist groups that were based in the northwestern part of Syria and the Idlib area.

We've seen them carry out an attack I think it would be, it would have been highly surprising for them to have done this before they saw how much Hezbollah and Iran had been weakened by what the Israelis have done. I don't think what we've seen is an accident. These groups are also backed basically by Turkey. So you have an interesting mix here.

Turkey is strengthening its position in the northern part of Syria at the same time that you have these Islamist groups doing it. Iran is sort of bringing some of its proxies from, from Iraq in to shore up the Assad regime. What you're seeing is a lot of people within Syria, but you're also seeing a sign that Iran and Hezbollah are significantly weaker than they were. And you see some groups now trying to take advantage of that.

Ambassador Dentist Ross, thank you so much for your expertise and thanks for joining us. Let's go ahead. New details on the Chinese hacking breach that some congressional leaders are calling one of the worst cyber espionage incidents in U.S. history.

You're watching Media PRESS now. And welcome back. U.S. officials today went public with new details about a massive and ongoing Chinese hack of multiple US Telecom companies.

Officials telling reporters that an investigation into the breach began in late spring, but they still do not know the full extent of the damage or how far the Chinese government affiliated hackers were able to penetrate. According to members of Congress who've received classified briefings on the matter, it's one of the worst cyber espionage incidents in U.S. history. Join me now.

Dennis News justice and intelligence correspondent Ken Delaney. Ken, thank you for being here. What more are we learning about the scope of this breach? Gabe?

The scope appears to be breathtaking. Federal officials today were pre candid that they don't even really know and understand the extent of the Chinese penetration six months after they first began investigating. But what they do know is that they believe that Chinese hackers have gained access to most of the major American telecom companies. So really any American who's not communicating through encrypted means, and for example, Apple messages are encrypted, some other messaging services, but if you're not using encrypted communications, your communications are vulnerable to interception by the Chinese.

And they said that these hackers have targeted a limited number of Americans. We've already reported that among them include members of the Trouble and Harris presidential campaigns. They targeted their phones, they got access to interceptions of their calls, but they're doing in a very targeted way. This is an intelligence operation.

But what the officials said today is they are still working to try to expel these hackers from the network. Then it works and they have not yet been successful. So, Ken, on that point, this is still an ongoing attack. So does the intel community feel like they have a grasp on this or at least how to stop it?

No. That was really the most surprising and disturbing thing about this briefing to reporters today on background from the FBI and from the cybersecurity agency, is that they really don't have a grasp of it. They're very upfront about that. They said, we're learning new things about this every day and we're working very hard with the telecoms to try to get these hackers out.

One thing that they have said and industry experts have said is that part of the problem here is that some of the telecom infrastructure in the United States is old and outdated and needs to be replaced on a massive scale. That's very expensive and it could cause outages in some areas. The companies have not really kept their networks fully up to date. So that's one of the issues.

But this is going to be an ongoing problem. And there's also some national security implications. Remarkable. Yeah, on that point.

Now, this comes in the middle of a presidential transition and potentially a tumultuous time for the FBI, which you've been reporting. What do we know about what kind of communication there has been between the Biden administration and Trump transition, their national security teams about this? We don't know a lot about that, Gabe, but one thing we do know is that the Trump transition has not signed a memorandum of understanding with the Justice Department that will allow the FBI to start doing background checks to grant security clearances to transition team officials. Anything that's classified about this, and most of it is the FBI would not be able to pass on as of now to the Trump transition team.

So it stands for reason cooperation has not been great. One of the things to say about this is that Trishel said today that the Chinese hackers are gaining access to the law enforcement portal that the DOJ and FBI uses to get lawful wiretaps, interceptions on American phone calls. Some of that could be national security information. So really, really dangerous stuff.

Candelani, JUSTICE INTELLIGENCE CORRESPONDENT and we, as we reported earlier in the show, just some breaking news. The Trump transition did sign that memorandum of understanding with the Justice Department, but a lot of unfolding developments here. So, Kendall Lanya, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

Thank you. No, all good. Thank you for watching as well. I'm Dan Gutierrez and we're back tomorrow with more MEET THE Press now, but the news continues with Hallie Jackson right now.

Hey, It's Kate Snow, NBC News anchor and host of the Drink. This month, Demi Lovato is my guest. The global superstar tells me that she is the happiest she's ever been right now. But getting there, it wasn't simple.

Demi opens up about starting in Hollywood young and why she now thinks she may have started too soon. She talks about recovery, her new marriage, and the deeply personal reason behind her new cookbook. The Drink is always about the journey to the top, and this was an honest conversation about what that takes. Hope you listen and follow the Drink wherever you get your podcast.