Meet the Press NOW — December 30

Hey everyone, I'm Dylan Dreyer, co-host of the third hour of today and mom to three wild boys. I've learned a lot of my years as a parent, mostly that I don't have it all figured out yet. And I'm not the only one. This is my new podcast, The Parent Chat.

Each week I sit down with someone new for honest conversation and real-world advice about parenting. I am over here just like winging it. Hey, I'm trying not to screw my own data. I'm not giving you a mic and I'm not screwing yourself.

Search The Parent Chat on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. As the day wraps up, get the scoop on what's been happening with Here's The Scoop, with a podcast from NBC News with your host, Jasmine Vasugian. We'll take a deep dive into the day's top stories with NBC News' trusted journalist. It's a fresh take, a sharp, awful, and it's informative, bringing you closer to headlines and conversations that are shaping our world.

From the front page to the zeitgeist, here's The Scoop from NBC News. Listen daily on Amazon Music. Welcome to Meet the Press Now. I'm Garrett Haake in Washington, where the Trump administration appears to be significantly escalating its conflict with Venezuela.

President Trump confirming the first known U.S. strike within the country after months of targeting alleged drug boats in international waters in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. That airstrike on Venezuelan soil conducted in total secrecy. The White House is still not confirming basic details of the attack, even after the president addressed the strike in remarks to reporters yesterday.

There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs. They load the boats up with drugs, so we hit all the boats, and now we hit the area, it's the implementation area, that's where they implement, and that is no longer around. NBC News has not been able to verify where or when the attack actually happened, and the president did not confirm whether it was the military or the CIA that was responsible, although he's previously acknowledged authorizing covert operations inside Venezuela, and has been threatening action on land for months. Well, I don't want to tell you exactly, but we are certainly looking at land now, because we've got the sea very well under control.

It's about 85% stopped by sea. You probably noticed that people aren't wanting to be delivering by sea, and we'll be starting to stop them by land also. And now we're going to do land, because land is much easier, and it's even more prevalent. And now we're starting by land, and by land is a lot easier, and that's going to start happening.

So we're going to start hitting them on land, which is a lot easier to do, frankly. All this comes as the Department of Defense announced yet another strike against an alleged drug vote in the eastern Pacific yesterday. That brings the total number of strikes this year to 30, killing an estimated 106 people. All of it raises questions about President Trump's ultimate goal.

In an interview with Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker earlier this month, the president didn't rule out the possibility of outright war with Venezuela, and pushed on what was driving the escalating conflict. The president told Kristen, quote, it's about everything. The Trump administration has not sought authorization from Congress for its latest action in Venezuela, despite Chief of Staff Susie Wiles telling Vanity Fair, quote, if the president were to authorize some activity on land, then it's war, then we'd need Congress. But Mr.

Trump himself recently rejected the idea he needs anyone's approval. Mr. President, will you be seeking any authorization from Congress for any land attacks on cartels in Venezuela? For anyone?

For any land attacks on drug cartels in Venezuela? I wouldn't mind telling them. It's not a big deal. I don't have to tell them.

It's been proven. But I wouldn't mind at all. I just hope they wouldn't leak it. You know, people leak it.

They are politicians, and they leak like a sieve. But I have no problem doing that. My White House colleague, Amish Alcindor, joins me now with more. So Amish, the president first dropped this in a Friday radio interview and almost got buried over the weekend.

He's asked about it yesterday. What more, if anything, have we learned about this strike from the White House? Well, what's remarkable about this, Garrett, and you know this, the White House has literally been almost live-tweeting when they've done boat strikes in international waters, right? They've been putting out this video.

They've been saying exactly how many people they killed. They've been putting out a lot of detail and making a lot of allegations against those folks about narco-terrorists and saying that they are all part of a drug trafficking ring. But when it comes to this, the president basically is the only person giving us information. The White House has been tight-lipped.

We haven't got any more details about what exactly happened, how many people may have been hit, how many people may have been hurt. Is this part of a sort of larger goal? Because we know the president has been saying that he wants to do land strikes, or at least I was hinting that he would do land strikes in Venezuela, but never actually sort of went out of the way to say this is going to happen now. So we don't know if the president sort of inadvertently was sharing this information or whether or not this was something that the White House wants to just let the president speak on and not give any more details on.

So it's really, it's sort of, really, it's confusing, given the fact that the president was able to get this information, able to really, really have this information out there, but the White House won't give us anything else. Garrett. There are very different styles involved here. Some of this matters legally, some of it doesn't.

I mean, you've got the Secretary of Defense slash War, Pete Hegseth, who likes to talk about these strikes. The intelligence community doesn't operate the same way. Does anything about this announcement and its lack of flash, if you will, suggest to you that this was an intel operation, not the military? It's something that we could maybe infer, but I think it's also really hard to tell because we just don't have any more information.

Let's also remember when the president was saying at one point that the CIA was operating within the Venezuelan borders. That's also something that we don't usually hear from presidents. We don't usually hear anything about where the CIA is operating. So I think in some ways it goes for this idea that the president wants to say, I'm doing a lot on Venezuela, and maybe he's getting ahead of the intelligence community that doesn't want to have all this information shared out there.

But ultimately, it also proves that President Trump continues to be almost his own White House press secretary, right? He's his computer, caterer, and chief. He's going to be the one that gives out the information whether people want it out there or not. At the end of the day, the bus stops with him, and he feels comfortable with that.

Yeah, that's always been the case. And the other piece of this, the Treasury Department today also announced new sanctions around Iran and Venezuela. Both. What do we know about that?

Yeah, so with this, I had to do a little bit of homework because what we know now is that these sanctions are targeting actual individuals. It's a group of 10 individuals and entities based in Iran and Venezuela that are allegedly linked to weapons, trade, and between the two countries. The target includes a Venezuelan company that has allegedly linked to millions of dollars of Iranian drone sales to Venezuela. So what we're hearing from the Treasury Department is that we're really trying to, in some ways, escalate targeting both of these countries.

And to me, in some ways, when you think about Venezuela and Iran, you can't, of course, not think about the fact that there was also that oil tanker that was seized that was supposed to have oil from Venezuela and Iran on it. So in some ways, this is the U.S. once again saying that they're going to try to step up their attacks on both of those machines. Yeah, the linkage there is fascinating.

And Michelle Sindor apologizes against me to press now policies to assign homework between Christmas and New Year's. We're going to get that fixed. But thanks for getting us started. Thank you.

Well, it doesn't matter, really, in terms of the ultimate effect. But yes, it does have some legal distinctions in our system, and it has some crucial impact on Maduro, probably. So if it was done by the military, it should have been cleared by Congress under the War Powers Resolution. And that hasn't been done yet.

It gives the President a certain number of days before he has to come in with an explanation of what's going on. The President's really never done that. If it's done by the agency, it goes to the gang of eight, so-called, the top committee leaders in the House and the Senate that are associated with security and foreign policy. And that hasn't been done either.

If you're looking at it from Maduro's perspective, it's a sneaky peak operation. Maybe Maduro didn't even know what happened. It's deniable. It could have been Bandito's or something down there in the global warehouse if it was done by the agency.

If it's U.S. military, it becomes a matter of state. It makes it more incumbent upon him to have official government response to it. Yeah, I mean, the President's kind of downplaying these strikes.

If you complain about them, they've been issuing statements. They've gone to the U.N. But at some point, do you expect the Maduro regime to feel like they have to respond I think he's going to hang on as long as possible and not respond and play the victim. And, you know, hoping to get Russian-Chinese support.

The word this morning was there might be some Chinese tankers testing the naval blockade that the U.S. has put up. Maybe we're not going to stop Chinese tankers. It depends on what the arrangements were.

But he's going to hang on down there and avoid a military response just as long as possible because look at the power that's offshore against him. Right. But you know what's really important about this is why don't we go to Venezuela's neighbors? We have the Organization of American States.

We have other countries in the region. Nobody likes to see force use down there. So if the objective is to have a better government in Venezuela that takes better care of its people, more democratic, you would want the neighbors involved in that. If the purpose is just to show the fist, okay, I'll keep doing what you're doing.

But the more effective way and the way it's more likely to produce the outcome we would want is to have some diplomatic and legal involvement as well as the use of the intelligence agencies in the U.S. military. Well, General, you and I both know those kind of big multilateral organizations are not the way that the Trump administration likes to do business. But you raise an interesting point because there is this question about what is the goal here?

When the president started bombing these alleged drug votes, the explanation was it was about narcotics. Then we were seizing oil tankers, and the explanation was at least to some degree this was about oil. There's also still a bounty on Maduro's head suggesting that regime change could be a goal here. What do you think is the administration's main driver based on what we've heard and seen?

I think foreign policy is always a function of domestic politics, and this is true of every administration. And I think in this case, the move forward against Venezuela is to some extent a function of domestic politics. Venezuela has been a source of immigrants in the United States. Using force against Venezuela shows a powerful U.S.

presidency, a presidency that, as President Trump has said, our greatest enemies are within. So if you're going to use force out there, maybe use force within. So I think there's a broader context than simply going after regime change. But I would say this.

If that's really the objective is to get rid of material and get a better government in place, then why wouldn't you use all the tools of statecraft? As you said, they don't like multilateralism. I'm sorry if you don't like them, but what if they work? What if it gives you the 10% or 20% greater edge that lets you get rid of material sooner and have a better outcome in the end?

Could you get over your distaste for those big multilateral organizations? It would seem to me logical that you would. So not using them seems to me to be a waste of U.S. military resources and a waste of time, and it may be worse than that.

All right, General, we have to leave it there. I will mark you down as thinking that the next tool the president should use here is his phone. Thank you. All right, General, let's the clerk.

Thanks. And joining me now is Michigan Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell. Congresswoman, thank you for being here. I want to start with the news of this strike within Venezuela.

It seems like a lot of members of Congress heard about this on social media. How did you find out, and what was your reaction to this escalation? Social media, the news, just like everybody else did. And I have to tell you, I agree with the president's chief of staff, and I agree with the general.

If we are undertaking an action in the Venezuelan governments in Venezuela, then I consider that a military act and a potential act of war, and the president needs to be talking to the Congress. I think the timing on this may be very deliberate, that we are on holiday, that members aren't around. It is not clear that the gang of agents, the general referred to them, the Intelligence Committee leaves, have been briefed. And I'm just very worried.

Congress has a responsibility here. You do have a responsibility, but just before you left for the holidays, the House rejected your Democratic colleagues' War Powers Resolution on this exact issue. Do you think there is will to take that up again when you get back? Are Republicans going to feel like their toes are getting stepped on enough here that they're ready to reassert some authority?

You know, I've talked to some people back home who are hearing from their constituents. It's clearly much louder on the Affordable Care Act and the tax credits. But I think people are worried about us not getting entangled in another war. It is Congress's responsibility to vote the War Powers Act, as the general referred to it.

It is Congress's responsibility. And I know that this president does not want to deal with the Congress, but at some point, it is. If we get into another war, it is the children of all Americans that are going to be called up to a potential draft. I think it's got consequences, and every member of Congress has got a responsibility to pay attention to it.

So what's your sense? I mean, do you expect this to dominate the conversation when Congress comes back in the new year? Or what do you see as the most pressing issue that you all need to tackle about January? I think it's a true issue.

So I think we've certainly seen a holiday season full of much international action. And that obviously concerns us. And I think that there will be a lot of questions about Venezuela. And the last class, the only briefing Congress had did not answer a lot of questions.

I also think, though, tomorrow is the last day that the Affordable Care Tax Credits are in place. And millions of Americans across the country are going to greet a new year with not being able to afford insurance, worried about what's going to happen to health insurance, and worried about how they're going to get by next year. So I think that extending the Affordable Care Tax Credits will be one of the first actions up in the House. And then figuring out, with the Senate, how we're going to make sure that millions of Americans have access to health care is going to be a number one priority as well.

I mean, realistically, though, how do you think that? And let's not forget, Gareth, January 6th is Tuesday, too. And we will be talking about what happened in this country that day, too. In a very different environment than previous conversations prior to President Trump coming back into office.

On the health care part of this, though, I mean, how do you put the toothpaste back in the tube at this point? The tax credits will expire before Congress comes back. And what do you think you can actually do as a body to help people? Well, you can't give up.

You've got to give people hope. But there are people that are really not buying health insurance for next year that, I mean, I've heard the stories. I have a family whose child was placed in hospice over the holidays that said, when their child passes, I want you to come back up and meet the other families. They don't know if they're going to have any hope either because of what's happening.

We're going to have to figure it out. If we pass, which I think we will, the extension through a year, the tax credits, because there will be enough Republicans that go for it when we return the first week. Senate is working with Republicans and Democratic senators who we have met with. We've got to get this figured out so that people then do have the ability to go back to the exchange and purchase health insurance.

Our health care system is broken. And we've all got a responsibility to be working together in this country. Because I do believe that when you're sick in this country, you should be able to go to the doctor, get the health care that you need, and afford your medicine, period. This is a miracle.

We spend twice as much on health care as any other industrialized nation in the world and have worse outcomes. We've got to get it fixed. I don't think anybody disagrees with that. But you're also talking about kind of a triple bank shot here to get this through the House, through the Senate, and then get a president to sign it who said he wants nothing to do with that as a solution.

That's sort of a political strategy question about all this. You will have potentially the opportunity for another government shutdown in January when the latest funding patch comes up. Does it behoove Democrats to shut the government down over health care again to continue this argument if you're not successful in passing that extension? Or is it better to say, look, we've done what we can, and it is Republicans who are responsible for those price increases, and make this the premier issue of the midterms?

So I'm not looking for another government shutdown. We'll have to see what happens, because you can't sell yourself either. But I'm not interested in this. As you're talking about, do you do this for a political man?

I know the human stories. I have so many people in my district and people in Michigan and people I've met across this country that are really scared, that are losing their health insurance. They can't afford it. They don't know whether they can go to the doctor.

By the way, all Americans are going to pay a price. I'm not trying to downplay the human impact of it, but what I am suggesting is that you're more likely to be able to solve it in the manner that you think is appropriate if you're in the majority this time next year. I think we'll try to fix it. When we do get the majority back, we will.

But in the meantime, we've got to get a fix, because people can't live for 11 months waiting to see Democrats back in office. I'm going to get something done now for the people that are scared and worried. I understand that entirely. So if that's the case, then, what do you think needs to be the Democratic message heading into the political part of next year, the midterms, late next fall?

Look, people need to know that Democrats are going to deliver for them. There are the number one issue out here when I'm home. You've heard it. I don't like the word affordability anymore, because I think it's becoming a – but go to the grocery store with me.

I'm going to come with me here. If you come out to Michigan, I'll take it Sunday morning. at Kroger where people come up to me with the cost of what their groceries are. I don't know, and they come up to me.

They know I'm there and they talk to me. But I think we've got to tell people we understand that they can't afford their groceries, that they're worried about their jobs, they can't afford a house, their rents are out of control, and we have to show them how we are going to deliver for them, and then deliver. One last question before I let you go. Do you think that message, as we're looking forward, do you think your party has been enough to grapple with sort of where you missed on 2024, that that kind of messaging will be forward-looking enough to carry you in 2026?

I think that we've got to get our apps together. I mean, remember, this is the woman that told you in 2016 that President Trump was going to win. I'm in those union halls, and I'm hearing from people on all sides. I mean, they're sort of mad at all of us.

Let's just be honest. They don't think that the President's delivering for them, but they want to know how we are. They want to know who's going to fight for them. So we've got to really stay united.

On the health care issue, we stayed united, and we broke through. We have to keep that unity as we go into next year, and really understand that we've got to connect with working men and women across this country, which, quite frankly, we haven't done as good a job as we need to. All right, Congresswoman Debbie Dingo, we have to leave it there. I'm up for the grocery trip, but just so you know, I go up and down every aisle.

Some people think that's weird, so just, like, save some time. You and I can have fun in this career. We will. I do that.

I take pictures every week. I know what the price of milk is since I got Alexis. I think we just got a segment book. Congresswoman, thank you for your time.

And coming up, pipe bomb suspect in court. A judge is set to decide whether the man accused of planting explosives near the DNC and RNC's headquarters will be released pending trial. Plus, fear, fraud, and the FBI converge in Minneapolis after a conservative YouTuber went viral for alleging that daycare centers run by Somali immigrants are illegally collecting taxpayer money. You're watching Meet the Press now.

NBCnews.com slash membership to learn more. Xfinity, and that, and that. Subscription automatically renews each year at $65.99 plus taxes and fees until canceled. Offer ends May 20th, 2026.

Prices subject to change. Visit NBCnews.com slash Xfinity for full offer terms and details. Stay informed with the NBCnews app. Breaking news just coming in moments ago.

Watch, read, and listen throughout your day. And now, unlock even more with a subscription. It's the best of NBCnews with fewer ad interruptions, including ad-free articles, podcasts, and full NBCnews shows. Plus, deeper access and exclusive content.

Let's just take a step back. It's more context and clarity from the reporters you trust. Download the NBCnews app now and subscribe for more. Welcome back.

Right now, we're awaiting a judge's decision on whether the alleged D.C. pipe bomber will remain in custody until his trial. Brian Cole appeared in court today where his attorneys argued that he should be released from jail. Federal prosecutors say Cole planted explosive devices at the DNC and RNC headquarters the night before Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

He was arrested earlier this month. In a court filing this past weekend, the Justice Department revealed that Cole appeared to believe in conspiracy theories around the 2020 election, and that he planned to attend a protest in support of President Trump on January 6. NBCnews legal affairs reporter Gary Grumbach joins me now. So, Gary, where does this go next?

So, a judge has to consider various different things by deciding whether or not to detain somebody pre-trial. Risk of flight, past criminal history, serious misuse charges, those types of issues. The defense attorneys for Brian Cole said none of those things are an issue. He has no risk of flight.

He's been living in the same home for the past several years, even after he allegedly placed these pipe bombs. He has no criminal history whatsoever beyond this incident. And he does say the charges are for serious, but that's the only issue here. Now, there is a complicating factor with all of this that comes when it relates to the indictment of Brian Cole.

There was a D.C. Superior Court that indicted Brian Cole yesterday, according to this judge, but this judge did not accept that indictment because it was a D.C. Superior Court. Meaning the local court here.

This is one of those only in D.C. issues, where if this was any other state, we would never have this problem because a federal grand jury can only bring a charge to a federal court. So because this is a local court to district court issue, this entire situation may actually not be a problem for Brian Cole. He may get released if this judge decides to do so.

There's another thing that seemed unique to me, and perhaps you could correct me. His attorneys just pointed out that Cole's been diagnosed with autism as part of the reasons they say he should be released. What does that tell us about his defense? And is that the kind of thing that would normally lead to a defendant being released for trial?

So this is a very interesting, challenging part of this whole case. This is not exactly the image of what I think most of America thought the pipe bomber would be, right? And so the fact that he does have autism is something the defense brought up several times today in their case and saying that he was living in the same home. He was erasing things every day.

That's just because he has OCD. That's just because he has autism. It does not speak to the criminality here. Interesting stuff, Gary.

I know you'll be following it for us. I appreciate your reporting. And turning down to the Department of Homeland Security, which says it's conducting a, quote, massive investigation in Minneapolis, knocking on doors at more than 30 businesses to determine if the owners are fraudulently collecting taxpayer money. It comes after a conservative YouTuber, Nick Shirley, who calls himself an independent journalist, says he visited 10 child care centers receiving federal and state subsidies and found no children inside.

Rhea Katigme from our Twin Cities affiliate, KRE, spoke to the manager of one center being accused of fraud who says the facility where he works is legit. For eight years, this child care center has operated on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis. But it's now the focus of people and politicians across the country. Have you ever seen any children here on?

Not at all. After this video, by conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley gained almost 2 million views. So this is Quality Leering Center. As well as the attention of FBI Director Cash Patel and Vice President J.D.

Vance. In the video, Shirley claims the Quality Learning Center is fraudulent because of the locked doors, misspelled sign, and nearly empty parking lots. Who runs it? Who's supposed to run it?

It's Mullins. Are you trying to record that we're doing fraud or are you trying to put somebody's name and the fraud in the same sentence? Ibrahim Ali is a manager here who says his parents own the Quality Learning Center, which Ali says serves roughly 50 to 80 kids on an average day. There's no fraud going on whatsoever.

Ali says the viral video was shot outside of the facility's operating hours, which are Monday through Thursday from 2 to 10 p.m. and posted on the door. He came. I think it was 11 a.m.

Obviously, there's no car in the parking lot. If you look at wrong, there's cars now. Yeah, because our employees are here. Our children are here.

You guys can come tomorrow. You guys come on Thursday. You guys come on Monday. If there's not this many cars, let me know.

There'll be this many cars. While we have questions about some of the methods that we use in the video, we do take the concerns that the video raises about fraud very seriously. Commissioner Tiki Brown leads Minnesota's Department of Children, Youth, and Families, the agency responsible for licensing and monitoring child care centers for compliance. Each of the facilities mentioned in the video has been visited at least once in the last six months as part of our typical licensing process.

She says staff members on Monday again visited the centers mentioned in the video to evaluate the claims and the agency will have those results on Tuesday. As for the now viral misspelled Quality Learning Center sign, Ali says it was a mistake by the graphic designer and will soon be fixed. We do nothing but to uplift the community, uplift our children, uplift one another, uplift non-so-wise, uplift some bodies to make a better community for all of us. Thank you, Ryan and our NBC affiliate in the Twin Cities for bringing us that story.

NBC News has reached out to Shirley about the timing of his visits, but he's not responding to us yet. And joining now in studio with more is NBC News Senior Homeland Security Correspondent Julia Ainsley who's been following all this for us. This is obviously not a news story, but it's become a politically charged one. What have we heard from Governor Walz about all this?

That's right. Well, it's really reignited this very, like, catnip on this issue for Trump and a lot of Republicans because they're pointing to a state run by Democratic Governor Tim Walz, who, of course, was Kamala Harris' running mate and saying that this is for all that they've just allowed to run rampant, that there are people getting billions in taxpayer money. Of course, it's an immigrant community, the Somali community in Minneapolis, a place where they had ICE operations earlier this month, and basically saying that they're ripping off Americans by operating these businesses that aren't doing anything. The same video also featured home health care as well as non-emergency medical transport and all these businesses that they said were doing anything, vans sitting in parking lots, not taking people to appointments, daycare centers that were shuttered.

But the key is, tiding, right, with any business, if you go and they're not operating and they're not there, that's something to know about. I looked through the businesses that he had in this video and they were still licensed and according to the department that oversees these all, but one is still in operation, including the one quality learning center where our affiliate had an interview. So I think the key is, you know, what are these results? Are they actually seeing children?

If not, you know, what can be done about it? We know that each of these facilities had visits at least once in the past six months as they have to do to keep their licenses and some of them did deems for some other things. One had, where they were, had something that was toxic or harmful to children too close to the children. A lot of mattresses that weren't suitable for young children to be sleeping on.

But no one was ever investigating fraud, although this seems like something that would have been fairly obvious if there were no children there. Should be simple to answer. For some reason, it's not. Well, to that, and now the FBI's involved.

What are they investigating here? Well, they continue to investigate fraud. When we first saw issues of fraud in Minneapolis, this even goes back to people collecting small business loans during COVID in this area. Then it turned into fraud related to immigration benefits.

That was something that the Justice Department released earlier this year in September. Now the FBI says they're investigating any of these businesses that might be collecting taxpayer money or grants or immigration benefits that they shouldn't be. But Cash Patel, for his part, says they're saying, of course, they've been investigating the first time. Meanwhile, Christy Noem at Homeland Security put a fresh badge of Homeland Security investigators on the ground yesterday door-knocking at over 30 business shows.

It's fascinating. It's such a huge story in conservative media. There's a little bit of a vicious cycle, I think, too, that's going to continue to pick up speed. I know you'll be all over for us.

Julia, thank you. And up next, new numbers from the CDC show flu cases spiking nationwide as the U.S. may be on the verge of getting rid of the recommendation that children get flu vaccines or RSV vaccines and others. You're watching me for now.

Welcome back. In the midst of holiday celebrations and family get-togethers, newly released data from the Centers for Disease Control today shows flu infections are surging across the country. Over 30 states are reporting high or very high respiratory illness activity with much of the East Coast being hit especially hard. And total flu cases have nearly doubled in just one week.

The CDC estimates there have been at least 7.5 million illnesses this year and over 3,000 deaths from the flu so far. And in other major public health news, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to soon announce changes to the childhood vaccine schedule which could decrease the number of kids being vaccinated against illnesses like the flu.

Joining now is Dr. Paul Offit. He's the director of Vaccine Education Center and Infectious Disease Physician at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He's also a former member of the Vaccine Advisory Committee to the FDA.

So, Doc, let's talk about these latest numbers. What's behind this surge in infection we're seeing? Is this just the usual seasonality? Well, it's probably the worst than the usual seasonality.

I mean, every year you can expect that hundreds of thousands of people will be hospitalized with influenza. You can expect that tens of thousands of people will die from influenza. Sadly, we only have influenza vaccine rates in this country of about 40%. So much of that hospitalization and death can be prevented but it isn't because people often make a choice not to vaccinate themselves.

But the current strain that's circulating, that's dominating, the so-called H3N2 strain does seem to be more prevalent than the H1N1 strain which often is more prevalent. But yeah, I mean, it's right now pretty much a typical flu season which is to say we're coming into December, January, and February where flu dominates. This is also the super-called super-K variant. Is that the same thing?

What should people know about that? Right. I think it's the same to some extent of unfortunate. I think that what's going on right now, we aren't seeing more deaths from flu than we typically see.

We'll see though, but we certainly could. We're entering the flu season of January, February, and March. I want to turn to President Trump's memorandum directing the Health Secretary to align the U.S.'s childhood vaccine schedule to that of Denmark. This surprised a lot of people.

It would eliminate recommendations for the vaccines you'll see on your screen here in a second in bold. It includes things like RSV, chickenpox, meningitis, to name just a few. What are the biggest differences between these two countries' vaccine schedules? Why are they like this?

Because Denmark has made a financial decision not to cover certain vaccines. I mean, they have a universal healthcare system. We don't, and we have made a decision to cover vaccines. They don't.

So, for example, they don't cover the respiratory-sensitial virus vaccine. So last year, 1,300 children were hospitalized with RSV in Denmark. Now, Denmark's 57 times smaller than we are. So if you just multiply that out, that would equal the roughly 80,000 hospitalizations that we have in this country.

But because we have an RSV vaccine for pregnant women, because we have a monoclonal antibody against RSV that we give for babies, we have over the past year decreased the RSV hospitalization rate in babies less than 7 months in babies by more than 50%. They haven't. Similarly, they don't give a rotavirus vaccine. So last year, they had roughly 1,200 hospitalizations from severe dehydration caused by rotavirus.

Again, multiply the numbers out. That equals the roughly 70,000 hospitalizations that we had from rotavirus every year until we had a rotavirus vaccine in 2006, which eliminated that. They've chosen not to do that. I think the real question is, why aren't they emulating us, not why are we not emulating them?

Well, can you explore that a little bit further? Because I don't think people think of Denmark as a place that's particularly unhealthy, right? This isn't some ill nation. They have a different set of healthcare priorities.

Why does the idea that they have universal healthcare and they sort of treat things differently make a difference when we think about how we vaccinate people differently on the front end? Well, they do do better in terms of longevity, in terms of infant mortality, in terms of obesity, in terms of diabetes. They do. But I think what people don't realize, and I think what Robert F.

Kennedy Jr. and President Trump don't realize, is that some diseases like rotavirus or respiratory syncytial virus are going to infect every child by the time they're 10 years of age, independent of the level of hygiene in the home or sanitation in the country or general health of the country. Yeah, my daughter had RSV a few weeks ago. It was a very scary situation and that's after being vaccinated.

The care standards are important too. Helping understand to sort of consumer impact here, I mean, these vaccine decisions start at the CDC but they're ultimately state-based. What does it mean if the federal government starts to sort of cross things off the list like this for the availability of vaccines that I might think are important to my kids in Maryland or Virginia or Pennsylvania? What has an impact?

I mean, the CDC is a recommended body. When they make a recommendation for a vaccine, that has an impact. So for example, recently, they moved COVID vaccines to shared clinical decision-making, meaning that you could reasonably choose not to get the vaccine. Now we know that last year about 10,000 children, you know, less than 18 years of age were hospitalized with COVID.

We know that one in five were admitted to the intensive care unit. We knew that half of those children were previously healthy, they virtually all run vaccinated and 152 children died. That vaccine should be recommended for young children who've never been vaccinated or naturally infected, but RSVK can remove this away from that because he has a war against vaccines and children are suffering that war. Dr.

Paul Offit, thank you for bringing us your expertise on a topic I suspect we'll be talking a lot more about as this winter progresses. And after the break, Kyiv versus the Kremlin. Russia doubles down on accusations that Ukraine targeted one of President Putin's residences with drones, allegations that Kyiv says are baseless lies. That story's next on Meet the Press Now.

Welcome back. As the U.S. presses forward with its effort to broker an end to the war in Ukraine, both sides of that conflict are accusing each other of undermining the peace talks. Today, Russia's doubling down on its claims that Ukraine attempted to attack one of President Putin's residences with drones to disrupt peace talks.

Ukraine is denying the allegations and accusing Moscow of trying to justify the ongoing war. The Kremlin has provided no public evidence for its claim. President Putin, or excuse me, President Trump, who spoke to Putin on both Sunday and Monday, weighed in on Russia's allegations yesterday at Mar-a-Laga. I heard about it this morning.

You know who told me about it? President Putin told me about it. Early in the morning, he said he was attacked. That's no good.

This is not the right time. It's one thing to be offensive because they're offensive. It's another thing to attack his house. It's not the right time to do any of that and can't do it.

And I learned about it from President Putin today. I was very angry about it. NBC News correspondent Danielle Hamamgen joins me now. So Danielle, what are both sides saying about this alleged attack on Putin's residents?

Yeah, well, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said yesterday that Ukraine had used 91 long-range drones, but all of them were destroyed. Now, this number appears to contradict a number that was put out by the Russian military earlier in the day. As you know, every day during this war, both sides put out the official number of strikes launched their way. And yesterday, the Russian military earlier in the day had said that there were 89 across eight different regions.

So a discrepancy there. Dmitry Peskov, who is the Kremlin, spokesperson was asked about this of course today and he was asked is any evidence going to be provided the short answer is no he said why would there be any evidence provided when all the drones were shot down when he was asked about specifically drone debris he said this was a question for the military he also declined to say where vladimir putin was at the time of the alleged attack on the other side the ukrainian foreign minister said there is not going to be any evidence provided because there is none because there was no attack so fascinating stuff so russia's also going to retaliate for this what would that look like have they been trying to kill zolensky the whole time they've been invading his country they sure have and well you said both sides have been accusing each other now are accusing each other now of derailing the talks he said yesterday this is a way to jeopardize the ongoing negotiations and most likely now he says is that ukraine and russia rather is going to use this opportunity to attack government buildings in ukraine now it should be noticed and we should remind the audience that just hours before zolensky flew to north america hours before he met with donald trump there was another fierce attack launched by the kremlin towards ukraine more than 500 drones and missiles so even when there were times when the timing seemed unthinkable for another attack the strikes have kept coming and they just keep coming danielle thank you for that reporting and some sad news now to report from the world of journalism and politics patiana schlossberg has died schlossberg is the daughter of caroline kennedy and the granddaughter of president john f kennedy she passed away today a little more than 18 months after she was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia and less than six weeks after she first revealed her health struggle in an essay in the new yorker in it she revealed that she learned of her diagnosis after the birth of her second child last may express sadness that she would be another in a long list of her family's tragedies despite that famous family schlossberg lived life largely out of the spotlight she was a writer and environmental journalist and a mother of two young children tatiana schlossberg was 35 years old welcome back and joining now is our panel melanie zanones capital correspondent for nbc news michael aroso former special assistant to president biden and former house democratic leadership aid and rick tyler republican strategist and co-founder of foundry strategies so now we can talk about this venezuela strike it led the show here today you heard about for debbie dingle say she found out about it from social media how big of a priority do you think this will be for congress when they come back after a lot of talk about this before they went home for holidays well this has been the ongoing storyline of congress and this trump administration they've been left out of the loop consistently when it comes to some of these foreign policy modes the difference here though is that these strikes were conducted through the cia not the military so technically they don't need permission from congress in order to conduct these strikes that being said there is going to be a huge hunger particularly by democrats to get more information in fact i was just told before we came on air that house democrats have officially requested a briefing from the trump administration for all the relevant committees so certainly this is going to be top of mind the other question we're looking for is whether democrats try to force some floor action on a resolution that would effectively block the trump administration from continuing any further action military action in venezuela without congressional approval there has been some republican support but certainly not enough to actually overcome a presidential event has been the season of the discharge petition we've not heard much from republicans so far but i want to play something mike mccall told kirsten welker just before they went home about the prospect of a strike on venezuela we'll talk about it afterwards as a federal prosecutor there's the law of the sea treaty that we never were signatory to if this happened in international waters and it was truly in self-defense of the nation under article 2 i believe the president would have that authority now kirsten the thing is if it changes to an attack in venezuelan waters in foreign waters or on land that would invoke the war powers act maybe it matters legally if this was the cia or the military but nevertheless we are talking about a different animal here than strikes in international waters how should congressional republicans react in this moment after having something or sort of giving away so much of their authority on this issue to the white house you know ironically the uh... trump's position vis-a-vis venezuela gives a strange coherence to his what is otherwise known as his incoherence of his foreign policy because what he's been able to do politically is wrap up this foreign intervention war and what he's doing let's be clear um this has very little to do with drug interdiction that's part of it that's a pretext but oil is but oil is a driver here venezuela is a very oil rich nation and maduro is a weak guy for trump to bully around so it checks a lot of political boxes he can look really tough he can face off with china and russia via proxy because they're probably not going to make a big deal out of this because both of them are entwined uh... in venezuela uh...

and he looks like he's doing this all politically under law and order uh... immigration as opposed to intervention in foreign wars i think there's zero chance that the president would put boots on the ground or even have uh... any major cause he wants to bully maduro uh... out of office uh...

for a lot of reasons uh... and they're calling it a monroe doctrine 2.0 that may be right um... china and russia do need to be checked they should not be uh... messing around and we should check them and i do think it's about time that some president paid attention to south american policy i mean there's a lot to be a lot there's a lot there's a lot there's a lot there's a lot of to remember when donald trump was against foreign engagements in in the metro states around the globe you are involved with the cia in central america you're old enough to remember that disaster right now all of a sudden it's a great policy but my god so this is an interesting moment for democrats here on the one hand they can play this card of trying to hold the president accountable but the other hand it's not like maduro is popular right and it's not like drug smuggling is something the democrats want to look like they're defending how do you thread the needle here of saying you can't do this without authority but also like you should probably continue to do this there's very little they can do you know especially being a minority i mean first of all the president you know even if he wanted to go in on land or uh...

he could totally get around the war powers act i mean president bush in 1989 invaded panama under the same similar pretenses uh... they tried to intimidate noriega for about two years and eventually they just went in the president could do that in venezuela if he wants to totally get around the war powers act uh... personally i'm fine with a lot of uh... latitude given to any president for uh...

foreign affairs to conduct conduct military strikes or cia strikes as obama did in syria in afghanistan i'm sorry in syria somalia yemen and he killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people using the unilateral authority hundreds of thousands sorry hundreds yeah yeah but that's a lot more than we've seen so far i mean compared to what we did what obama didn't get used as executive authority this is pretty light um no is the happiest person in america right now mike johnson if he's not in town here and having to deal with this and talk about this and what does it look like for him to come back into town in the middle of this and in the middle of what would be a probably renewed fight about healthcare which was sort of pressed on pause when they all went home for the holiday yeah i'd also know that congress is out of town on the fc files really so there's a pile of questions that we have for these members when they return next week top of mind though will be the aca because before they left town there was a discharge petition which means johnson has seven legislative days to schedule a floor vote on this bill that jeffries was able to get four republicans to sign on to that's a three-year clean extension of those affordable care act subsidies however that is going nowhere in the senate the question is whether the senate will come together and feel compelled to come together to cut a by-person deal will president trump feel compelled to cut a by-person deal that is going to take center stage and of course we have january 30 of another looming funding deadline so all of that is going to be center stage for it's fascinating because in the days of the old mcconnell-led republican senate they were very good at resisting this kind of pressure from the house no matter where it came from it may be different now rick mike johnson put out a waltz journal out there when she said the house had an excellent year do you agree with that assessment especially given the degree to which as nell alluded to he lost control of the floor repeatedly look you have to put everything in the context i think mike johnson has done an extraordinary job given the circumstances he's in he does not have a mandate to govern he has a he has a slim if zero margin the fact that he and he claimed what is it for president trump thinks they have a mandate to do whatever and he uses the bully pulpit effectively to do that but mike johnson does not and the nature of the speakership has changed it used to be that you could you could go to the backbenchers take them aside and say knock it off uh we'll get rid of your committee we'll run something against you won't raise money for you that's not true anymore it doesn't matter it doesn't matter you have these people that raise money and five dollar comments and they go to the speaker and he's like responding to them it's like completely opposite like putting seats down on the floor of the house it's kind of like it's kind of like that well speaking of the throwbacks and former speakers i want to play something for you from speaker amerida nancy pelosi mich member never shy about her opinion this is what she said so if the democrats win the house back no no no when when the democrats win the house back then we will so how does the next democratic speaker of the house deal with donald trump what would be your advice be yourself just do your own thing just be yourself hakeem jeffries is ready he's eloquent he's respected by the members he's a unifier and he will have no doubt it'll be hakeem jeffries michael how do you react to the former speaker's confidence here and her assessment of a team jeffries readiness to take the big job should they get that far yeah during the administration in our midterm year we had about 18 republicans who were in biden districts uh this time around there are about three in harris districts so the landscape is different than it was four years ago but the strategy will be the same and it's it's almost to say as though uh you know candidate quality will be a big issue because everything will change no matter what district you're in there's not one unifying message um and so it will be sort of a you might not like us but they're worse kind of message and that's how we won or that's how we overperformed in 2022 i think we're calling that a win now for democrats yes yes mel you get the last word here very quickly we've seen almost a record number of retirements here does that show is that where policy gets her confidence from yeah i think so and i think we're going to see more retirements in the new year after members go home speak to their families sort of have come to jesus moment why are we doing this uh but you know policy's not the only one who feels that way i talked to senior house republicans who think they're going to lose the majority and one of them even said to me that members are just holding on for dear life right now okay well that's a good note and i will leave it there for now mel michael rick thank you for coming in and thank you all for watching we'll be back tomorrow with more meet the press now because we're ahead on nbc news now as the day wraps up get the scoop on what's been happening with here's the scoop with a podcast from nbc news with your host gavin vasugian we'll take a deep dive into the day's top stories with nbc news's trusted journalist get the fresh take that's sharp thoughtful and informative bringing you closer to headlines and conversations that are shaping our world from page to the zeitgeist here's the scoop from nbc news listen daily on spotify