Morning Joe - Morning Joe 12/26/22

Episode Date: December 26, 2022

46 killed as freezing temperatures and heavy snow wallop swaths of U.S.

A historic winter storm brings a blizzard to Buffalo and parts of western New York. The same storm system is blamed for dozens of deaths across the country. It also made holiday travel almost impossible on the roads or through the skies, with thousands of passengers stuck at airports desperately searching for new flights. Meanwhile, a Republican governor uses the Christmas holiday to play politics with lives of migrants, sending several children into freezing temperatures with no warning for advocacy groups. Plus, we're going to take a look at the latest testimony released by the January 6th committee, including a conversation the former president had with one of his closest advisors

in the days after the attack on the Capitol. Also ahead, we'll dig into the latest action by the Democratic-controlled House and how the White House is preparing for a divided Congress. Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It's Monday, December 26th. I'm Jonathan Lemire alongside Elise Jordan. We are in for Joe, Mika, and Willie. You're in good hands. Also with us at the table, well, a little less good, MSNBC and NBC News National Affairs Analyst, Executive Editor, always known for his shaky hands, Editor of the Recount, and host of the Hell and High Water podcast. Like Gene Wilder in Blazing Saddles. Your hand's totally straight, but I shoot with

this one. Yes. We want to get start right with that storm, which impacted so many people across the country over the Christmas holiday. At least 46 people have died nationally due to the severe winter storm that has impacted millions this past weekend. Hundreds of thousands are still without power and thousands of flights have been delayed during one of the busiest travel times of the year. The storm has impacted Erie County, New York, particularly hard, where at least 12 people have died. New York state officials report the area was hit with roughly four feet of snow this weekend. At times, the storm's hurricane force winds caused whiteout conditions that effectively paralyzed emergency response efforts and also caused the city's airport to completely shut down. The New York Times is reporting that nearly three days after the blizzard began, people remained stuck rescues were made by a specialized team.

Many of those rescues, including saving other stranded emergency workers. New York Governor Kathy Hochul confirmed Sunday evening she is working with the Biden administration to get federal assistance and commented on the history making nature of the storm. Take a listen. You talk about the nature of the storm. Take a listen. We've talked about the scale of this storm. Those people of my age talk often about the blizzard of 77. That was always the reference. Well, it's not as bad as the blizzard of seven. Today, I'm here to say that is now in the history books. We have surpassed the scale of that storm in its intensity, the longevity, the ferocity of the winds. So we now have what will be talked about not just today, but for generations, the blizzard of 22.

Meanwhile, four people are dead and many more injured after a 46 car pileup on the Ohio Turnpike on Friday as the extreme winter weather blasted through that state. Authorities say the crash was a result of whiteout conditions that left dozens of vehicles, including at least 15 commercial trucks, piled up on the interstate. Photos show crumpled 18 wheelers and cars backed up for miles. Joining us now in New York State is NBC News correspondent Jesse Kirsch. Jesse, thanks for joining us this morning. Give us the latest in terms of where the storm stands now and the latest on how many people have been impacted. Yeah, and Jonathan, you look at those images from Ohio. Obviously, those are scenes that we are seeing across multiple states in recent days. And this is why, at this point, officials in Buffalo, New York

still want people to stay off the roads. This is someone trying to dig out of their home. You can see this is what it looks like on the streets there. And I can tell you, having been in Buffalo in November for a different snowstorm, you do not want to be on the roads. And they are talking about something on a much larger, widespread scale in western New York right now. Nearly four feet of snow accumulating there. The governor talking about wind gusts nearly hitting 80 miles per hour. And unfortunately, the death toll keeps climbing. We are looking at almost 50 people dead. Those deaths all blamed on the weather across multiple states over the past week. And obviously, this is supposed to have been a joyful holiday week. And this is not the kind of white Christmas that people would be looking at.

The number of power outages, thankfully, has been dropping. And you talked about delays, plenty of cancellations, too. And the problem is, even as the weather improves, because so many planes have been stuck in places they were not supposed to be, it's possible it could be days before the airlines have their crews and planes fully back on track. Back to you. The power outage is so important to be rectified as temperatures remain so bitterly cold throughout the area. NBC's Jesse Kirsch, thank you so much for joining us this morning. And that brutal weather continued to disrupt airline operations over the holiday weekend. By mid-afternoon yesterday, airlines across the country canceled more than 1,800 flights. That is a major improvement, though, compared to Christmas Eve, when carriers canceled close to 3,500 flights. Southwest Airlines was one of the hardest hit, canceling about 15 percent

of its schedule yesterday. And now let's take a look at the weather and meteorologist Angie Lassman for the forecast. Angie, is it warming up? Are things going to get better out there? Yeah, things are going to get better. We're going to see some improvements temperature-wise, but I want to bring attention to what Buffalo is still dealing with. We still have those strong northwesterly winds. The system has moved up into parts of Canada, but that means that they're continuing to be downwind of the lake and the lake effect snow band remains persistent. They could see another 12 inches of snow by the time we finish the day. Now, the good news is they will see some improvements as far as those snow bands. But still, we're going to have to monitor that.

There were blowing winds that left 16 foot snow drifts in many locations. So difficult situations there. And they saw blizzard conditions for more than 35 consecutive hours. So just put just to put that in perspective for you, the good news for them and many other places across the country is we are going to see some improvements as far as our temperatures, but we're monitoring this next system, a clipper system that's come down from Canada. It's going to bring some snow flurries to parts of the Tennessee Valley, places in the Midwest, not expected to disrupt travel anymore. Of course, we'll see the

disruptions continue from that last storm, but this next one, not expected to do a whole lot. We have another secondary low pressure system that will move down and bring some snow to parts of Michigan as well. But we also still have those freeze watches and warnings in effect along the Gulf Coast and extending into the Sunshine State. Temperatures at this hour into the 20s, into the teens in Montgomery and Orlando right now at 39 degrees. The improvement comes as we go into the next couple of days, though. Still on the eastern side of the country, well below normal. 34 degrees for Cincinnati, but check out Amarillo 64. And by the time we get into the later parts of the work week,

even tomorrow, we're seeing major improvements. And then that warmer air starts to filter in, and we're talking above normal temperatures stretching from Pittsburgh to Chicago and parts of Little Rock will eventually see temperatures in the 60s, guys. Angie, thank you so much. We will be checking back with you later this morning. And those dangers below freezing temperatures were what migrants from Texas faced when they arrived on Christmas Eve at the home of Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington, D.C., once again arranged by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Three buses from Texas dropped off about 140 people outside the U.S. Naval Observatory on Saturday, Christmas Eve. Immigration activists called the incident particularly cruel because there were young children and babies among those dropped off. And many migrants lack shoes and other clothing. The Migrant Solidarity Mutual

Aid Network, as well as other groups, then picked up the migrants and brought them to shelters where they receive food and warm clothes. The group is also helping many of the arrivals find transportation to reach their final destinations. The White House released a statement accusing Governor Abbott of having abandoned children on the side of the road in below freezing temperatures on Christmas Eve without coordinating with any federal or local authorities. And at least we say on the show often, two things can be true at once. Certainly, the situation at the border needs to be addressed. But this here, leaving these families, particularly those children, outside in frigid temperatures on Christmas Eve, hard to describe that as being anything other than cool.

How does that accomplish any political purpose whatsoever? And given that's what these men and women and children were used as on Christmas Eve, political pawns, It just is a disgusting act that had no place really happening any time, but especially on Christmas Eve. And it's kind of hard to believe that Greg Abbott saw this as politically expedient. I'm thinking about somebody else I'd like to abandon on the side of the road on a cold Christmas Eve, maybe Greg Abbott. We could figure out a place we could dump him to suffer in the cold. There's never been a moment when this stunt, which is all it's been from the very beginning. We've now seen it repeatedly. I've been doing it now for months in different forms.

There's never been a moment when it's been anything other than that. It's just this theater of cruelty, theater of absurdity. They apparently, they meaning Republican border state governors who are trying to make this point, see some political mileage in it. I don't think there's any empirical evidence that this has paid off for any Republican that's done this. Now, look, people like Ron DeSantis and his team will say, you know, it obviously didn't hurt me in my reelection efforts, didn't hurt Greg Abbott in his reelection efforts either. And because they haven't paid a price for it, I think the logic of it is, well, if it was politically astute in their minds to do this over the summer in

Martha's Vineyard, it's even more astute to do it because it highlights the thing and makes the case more dramatically. Now, I think for most normal humans, we sit here and look and say, these are children and you're using them in this disgusting way. But as I say, it's always the case with Republicans who do these things and any politician who decides to play games like this. If they don't pay a price for it, they'll do it again. And so far, these guys haven't paid a price for it. What's the audience for this? Is this being cheered on Fox News and other conservative cable networks? We know that the border is an issue, Title 42.

There's a matter of days before the administration believes those scenes at the border are only going to get worse. But that could be a separate than this. It's Christmas Eve. It's freezing temperatures. Who's cheering this on? I don't even see the most hardcore of red meat Trump supporters watching state media enjoying this because it's Christmas Eve. And who wants to see babies and children and people who don't have shoes dropped in freezing, frigid temperatures? It's just I do not know why Greg Abbott thinks that this is actually something that's going to bolster his political fortunes.

It makes no sense. Give me a half an hour on the Internet. I'll find somebody who thinks it was a good thing. Yeah, that is where we are, I guess. I mean, honestly, look, I agree with you guys. Obviously, it's appalling and disgusting. I just think that in the end, the only thing that people understand who want to play these games are consequences.

Well, trying to one-up the other, trying to one-up DeSantis for Martha's Vineyard, you know, just the back and forth. DeSantis going out of his way to find migrants who aren't even in his own state and using his money to send them away. And again, the guiding principle seems no matter the consequences, no matter what lives are impacted, simply own the lips. And that's what it is. It's owning the lips. Former President Trump spent much of the Christmas weekend on his, you know it, social media site. He railed against the final report from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol, which

concluded that Trump was chiefly responsible for the insurrection. On Friday, the committee also released its latest batch of interview transcripts. One of them details the committee's interview with former White House communications director Hope Hicks. Hicks, one of Trump's closest advisors. According to the document, Hicks spoke with Trump on January 11th, several days after the attack, and he complained that the blame he was getting was unfair. She said, quote, he asked me if I thought it was really as bad as everyone was making it out to be. And my answer was, yes, I thought it was. She added, I think he felt like it wasn't fair. The response to it wasn't fair. We also got to see the transcript of the committee's interview with former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. She revealed that former

President Trump had tried to call her after she received a subpoena as part of the committee's investigation. She said she did not answer the call and hasn't spoken to Trump since being subpoenaed. Joining us now, political investigations reporter for The Guardian, Hugo Lowell, and New York Times congressional reporter, Luke Broadwater. Luke, alongside Robert Draper, wrote what could very well be the definitive piece for New York Times Magazine, taking us inside the January 6th committee. And Luke, let's start with you. In terms of what we just heard there, get your reaction.

We'll get into your piece in a moment. But what we just heard there from the testimony to Hope Hicks, Kayleigh McEnany, what are some of those revelations saying to you about conclusions reached by the committee? Right. I think you're correct to highlight Hope Hicks's transcript. I mean, she was one of the later witnesses who was brought in by the January 6th committee. So we haven't heard a lot of her testimony yet. I think one of the things that she pointed out, in addition to what you highlighted, was that she and Eric Hirschman, one of those Trump lawyers who many people will remember, had had concerns about the potential for violence before January 6th. And Hirschman and Hicks,

Hirschman had gone directly to Trump about it and said, you need to put out some sort of statement about telling the supporters to be nonviolent and that he had refused to do that. And so I think that gets a lot to this sort of central question that everybody's been wondering about, which is how this rally turned violent, who's to blame for it and whether the right precautions were taken. And what they're showing pretty clearly is that Donald Trump was made aware this could turn violent and chose not to do anything about it. There are a number of other big revelations, both in this report and in the nearly 100 transcripts we've seen so far, including

documenting exactly how many times more more than 200, that Trump officials reached out to state and local officials to try to pressure them to overturn the results of the election. But there's just so much voluminous evidence to go through. And we're going to see hundreds more transcripts released this week. So it's going to be a very busy holiday season for us reporters tracking this story. Hugo, I was struck by Hope Hicks' testimony that she has no contact with Trump anymore, given that she was such a close advisor for so long and even left the White House and came back again. And much like Ivanka releasing a statement saying she wanted no part of another presidential campaign,

this is another longtime advisor who has seemingly fallen off the radar with Trump. What is your reporting? Are a lot of the inner circle deciding, hey, this is just out of control. We're finally going to step back. I think the people who are in the administration on January 6th and were around the decision-making on January 6th have largely stepped away. But as ever with Trump, it's always been a revolving cast of characters. And in her place and in the place of other aides who were at the White House that day, you have the survivors from the 2016 campaign, the 2017 part of the administration step in. And so I think you're seeing a bit of a shifting dynamic inside Trump world. I mean, certainly Trump's current inner circle is really limited to a small number of people

who are involved in a lot of the post-election challenges. If you think about people like Boris Epstein, who's now Trump's in-house counsel, Stephen Chung, Trump's spokesperson now, was someone who did communications back in 2017 and then kind of was in a bit of a self-imposed exile when Bannon left the White House. And so I think you're seeing a bit of a generational and sea change here of who is talking to Trump and who is advising him. And I think that really speaks to where Trump's mindset is currently as he goes in to another campaign. Hey, Luke, when you and I last spoke, I think on television, it was Thursday

while we were waiting for the release of this report. And it's now, I believe, Monday, if I'm if I if I've got my calendar straight, which means that there have been a few days that normal people would spend opening presents and and and unplugging from the work grid. I know that's not what you've been doing. You've been like plowing through whatever documents have been released in the time intervening time. I want I just want to ask you from a slightly higher perspective, like stepping up a little bit into the clouds here. Now that you have your arms around, we have the final report has been put out. As you said, you and your colleagues are making your way through it. You know that there are some more, there are still interview transcripts

to come out in the course of this week. What's, in terms of either documents that you're waiting for, like with some eagerness because you think they might be important, or things that you're still going through documents that you think where there could be advances in the story that are material, what's ahead for the, what's left to be exhausted that might yield something that genuinely moves the needle in this investigation, as opposed to kind of adding just some kind of illuminating color? Right. Yeah, I think that's a that's a central question. You know, we do have more than 200 interview transcripts left to be released at minimum that I know about. So there could be some explosive new evidence in there. But generally, you've got to figure if there was a big finding, that's already been in the report or a hearing.

So generally from these transcripts, we're finding new interesting details, some new color, maybe some new stuff that adds a little more to the mountain of evidence that we've already seen. But you've got to believe at this point, if there's going to be any really material revelations that change the course of events, that's going to have to be done by either the Justice Department or the prosecutors in Georgia. You know, they're going and they're re-interviewing a lot of these same people, and in some cases, new people. And they do have, in some cases, greater investigative tools and abilities than

a congressional committee would have. So, you know, I think if there's going to be additional real big breakthroughs, that's going to have to be done by prosecutors. And what we're likely to see from these transcripts is, yes, more damning information, but probably unlikely to change what we already know from what the January 6th committee has discovered and put out. So, Luke, we mentioned the sweeping piece that you co-authored for The Times. And in it, you talk about the unheard of amount of power that Congresswoman Liz Cheney wielded as committee vice chair. I will quote you back to you right here. As the stress and friction among staff and committee members grew, one constant source

of conflict became increasingly acute. How Liz Cheney had turned the typically ceremonial role of vice chair into a position of unmatched power, much the same way her father transformed the vice presidency 20 years earlier. Cheney had a significant hand in the writing and editing of the scripts. She also shaped the committee's interview process down to who has served subpoenas and the lines of questioning. Some staff members worried that the vice chairwoman could be using the committee's platform to advance her own political future. Though reviled by the Republican base and its avatar, Trump, Cheney did not renounce her party affiliation and her roots remain deep. Unlike her father, when he accepted Bush's invitation to be his running mate in 2000,

Liz Cheney had at no time publicly vowed that her designs on higher office were behind her. You continue. What was impossible to ignore in the end was Cheney's contribution to a committee that was expected to flounder as so many other congressional hearings had before it. The vice chairwoman was its most public facing member and her position of leadership complicated the assertions by members of her own party that the January 6th inquiry was nothing more than a Democratic witch hunt. Luke, take us a little further behind the scenes there in terms of tension, it sounds like, between Cheney and her fellow committee members. Right, well, I think there were more tensions with members of the staff than there were necessarily internally among the members. But, yeah, Liz Cheney took what is normally a ceremonial role in a committee, a vice chair, which usually doesn't have any real roles or responsibilities.

And she slowly, over time, became the most powerful and important member of the January 6th committee. And she didn't do this through some sort of sneaky overtaking of the committee. It was that as she basically outworked every single person, including staff, I mean, sitting in on the vast majority of the interviews, reading almost every transcript, becoming super aware of every detail of the multi-part plan to overturn the election, other people started to cede ground to her because they saw how into it she was, how driven she was. And so when she would speak at a meeting, she spoke with this really high level of authority and backed with all the facts and the evidence. And so she became this sort of singular force on the committee. And, you know, she was always deferential to Chairman Thompson when Chairman Thompson had an idea or wanted to steer the

committee in one way or another. That always took shape. But there was a lot of deferring to Liz Cheney and how the January 6th committee operated. And one thing that all of the members told me, including the Democrats, was they could not have gotten some of their key witnesses in the door without Liz Cheney and some of her top staff who had deep ties to the Republican Party and were well-respected within conservative circles, and that some of these Republicans would never have spoken with the committee if Liz Cheney hadn't asked them to do so. And if you recall, nearly every witness at these hearings was a Republican. And so I think it made a lot of

them feel more comfortable to have a Republican and a Republican staff who are bringing them in the door. It's a terrific piece worth reading and published over the weekend. New York Times congressional reporter Luke Broadwater, thank you. And at least Hugo agreed to come on the show this morning, working the holiday week, but he had one condition. He said he needed to appear at Buckingham Palace. As you can see that we made that happen. Hugo, we greatly appreciate it. And good job to you. Good job by your agent to insisting that happened.

Hugo Lowell from The Guardian. Thank you, as always. Meanwhile, in Arizona, a judge has rejected Republican Carrie Lake's latest bid to overturn her election loss to Governor-elect Katie Hobbs, citing a lack of evidence behind Lake's two most recent claims of misconduct by Maricopa County election officials. The ruling came down over the weekend after a two-day trial. In his decision, the judge said Lake and her witnesses failed to provide any evidence that suggests intentional misconduct to change the election's outcome, saying the

court, quote, cannot accept speculation or conjecture in place of clear and convincing evidence. Lake lost the Arizona gubernatorial race by roughly 17,000 votes. Cobbs is set to be sworn in next month. Lake says she will appeal the ruling. John Heilman, the losing streak continues for election deniers. Another legal setback. Your reaction and also give us a prediction. What's next for Carrie Lake? It's a really good question. You know, if you would if you had seen Carrie Lake, if you if aside her election denialism, you would have thought,

here's a person with extraordinarily good candidate skills. For a first-time candidate for office, she's compelling. She's got energy with the base. She knows what she's doing on camera. She can tell a story. And in a normal candidate context, you'd be like, well, she lost a very narrow race for governor her first time around. This woman has a bright future. She'll be back. Right. That's what you would have said about Carrie Lake in the before times, before we had before Trump and before election denialism.

Now you see this person who is not Donald Trump in the sense that she doesn't have some national following of tens of millions of voters. And she's out there basically still. Now she looks like she's playing the sore loser card. She's going back and back again and again. She's going to do what Trump did basically in 2020 and litigate these unfounded claims of election fraud. She's going to lose. None of these are going to be validated, as happened with Trump. Does she, in the state of Arizona, does that turn into something that solidifies her with what is the Republican base there and gives her more credibility going forward because that's how loopy the Republican base

has become there? Or do we go back after this to a more normal construct of politics where Republicans look up and go, you know what? I kind of liked her until she started acting like a sore loser. And I'm kind of done with her now. Let's find somebody who's more in the traditional mold of a candidate. That is the question in microcosm that the whole Republican Party faces all around the country now.

And I don't know what's going to happen for her. Clearly, she thinks she has a big future in Arizona politics, and I would say national politics. Whether this sore loser slash defiant denialist, depending on your point of view, whether that performance helps her or hurts her, that's the story not just of Carrie Lake, but where the Republican Party goes. She was a good candidate on the stump until she misread what the electorate wanted. And it wasn't crazy. The election denier who's unhinged. And she didn't she didn't pivot at all. Well, in general election.

And she did that thing that that's been remarked on. Joe on the show has talked about it, but it was quite something at the end of the election to see her saying to McCain voters, we don't need you, you know, not failing on the fundamental test of every political campaign I've ever covered, including Trump's, which is that, you know, addition, you need to get more people, more voters is good. And you don't turn away people who are maybe thinking about voting for you, you know, at the close of that election to turn to normal Republicans in Arizona and say, we don't want you in our camp. Stay away. You Republicans are rhinos. You McCain people. That was a lunacy and, you know, suggests some real problems about her ability to do math. And no attempt to moderate or move to the middle in the general election. Staying on the extreme

right wing that may help be helpful in the Republican primary, Trump Republican primary, but not to win the seat in November. Still ahead here on Morning Joe, we're going to break down the big legislative achievements for the Biden administration over the past year. And there are a lot. Plus, a bill to fund the government is headed to the president's desk, despite no votes from almost every House Republican, as well as one notable Democrat. We'll show you what that Democratic lawmaker had to say about her decision.

Also ahead, the latest on the war in Ukraine, as Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a suspicious claim about negotiations to end the conflict. You're watching Morning Joe. We'll be right back. Huge lanes for these running backs. Third and two. Cook. And here's Cook. To the ten. To the five. To the end zone. Sandy Dobb with that group up front. Good point.

Third and four. Bunch kill a block. Oh, indeed. Purdy's got him. Touchdown. Kittle and the lead. Have a little fun. On third down and goal.

Mahomes stepping up. Looking. Mahomes chase. Diving for the pylon. Patrick Mahomes. Is it a touchdown? No signal. Yes.

Touchdown, Kansas City. Michael Gallup can continue with T.Y. Hilton. Four-man rush, Prescott going deep Has land, he's got it And the spin, and he's in Touchdown Dallas From the Raiders 14 Pickett

Over the middle, touchdown George Pickens With 46 seconds to go. Inside the one. They give it to Dillon again at the goal line. He spins in for the Green Bay touchdown. Those were some of the biggest touchdowns by winning teams across the NFL over the weekend, including the big win for Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers,

who keep their unlikely playoff hopes alive thanks to great defense down the weekend, including the big win for Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers, who keep their unlikely playoff hopes alive thanks to great defense down the stretch, three picks from Tua and the Dolphins. Meanwhile, Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are on the brink of another playoff berth. It wasn't pretty, but Brady was able to lead the Bucs to a comeback victory against the injury-plagued Arizona Cardinals, and I'd argue Tom Brady always looks good. He drove them down the field for a late field goal to tie it in regulation, then again in overtime, setting up that 40-yard game-winning kick. Tampa Bay now faces a huge showdown next week with the Carolina Panthers. If the Bucs win, they'll lock up a division title and a playoff spot.

Let's turn now to Major League Baseball, where a blockbuster deal to bring star shortstop Carlos Correa to the New York Mets is still on hold this morning. It comes as the two sides try to work through an issue with his team physical that was performed on Friday. The Mets reportedly have an issue with an ankle injury that Correa suffered in 2014 that required surgery. It's said to be the exact same injury that the San Francisco Giants had an issue with,

causing that team to put its deal on hold last week, which then allowed the Mets to swoop in and sign Correa in the middle of the night. John Haman, I just received the unlikely news that you actually passed your physical in order to be here this morning. Yeah, they're very low, very, very low bar for my physical. It's like in my ambulatory. That's not it. It's like if I can walk, you know, 15, 20 steps from my house to the car, that's all I need to do to clear the physical part. Thank God for that. Well, we're glad you're here, especially on this holiday week. Elise Jordan, happy holidays. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. What did you do to celebrate? Santa was very generous. Stayed home. Both boys were well

taken care of. It was brutally cold as we were just talking about it as we talked about the top of the show. It was a cozy, warm Christmas. How about yours? That's what we did. I mean, who wanted to leave in that weather as we were discussing? Windchill was just incredible. We had a very good Christmas, though. Santa Claus, also very generous. My toddler wanted a rocket ship and was a little disappointed. She got one, but I think she really thought she was going to get a rocket ship that took her up.

But, you know, Santa didn't. So what did she get if she didn't get a real... She was just like, eh. Santa brought her a toy rocket ship. You gave her a fake rocket ship? Santa did. I'd be pretty disappointed with that, too. I mean, it was vicious here this weekend.

You know, like, it was just cold. I mean, I'm always hesitant about traveling over the holidays, and I'm always like, if I'm going to go someplace, I'm always like, back time it by like a week. Don't get anywhere near the holiday crowds. When you saw that thing coming, this weather system coming, it was pretty well advertised. It was as bad as it was promised to be. And just looking at the number of people who were stuck places over the course of this weekend, it was like, whew.

I was very happy to just be here in New York City. Well, the coal you received in your stocking, useful to warm your house because of just how chilly it was. Exactly right. All right. Coming up on Morning Joe, we're going to move to the war in Europe. And Russian forces continued their deadly assault on a part of Ukraine they once controlled. It comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin once again tries to blame Western allies for his deadly months-long war. That's straight ahead.

Welcome back. Russian troops over the weekend shelled the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson. The attack killed at least 10 people and injured dozens of others in the city that Moscow's troops were forced to abandon last month. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted photos of the assault on Telegram and wrote in part this. This is not a war according to the rules defined. It is terror. It is killing for the sake of intimidation and pleasure. The world must see and understand what absolute evil we are fighting against. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin claims he's ready to negotiate with all parties involved. In an interview yesterday, Putin said negotiations had stopped

because Kyiv and its Western backers have refused to engage in talks. In response, an advisor to Ukrainian President Zelensky says Putin needs to return to reality and acknowledge it was Russia that did not want negotiations. The Kremlin says it will fight until all its aims are achieved, while Kiev says it will not rest until every Russian soldier is ejected from all of its territory. Joining us now, former CIA officer Mark Palomaropoulos. He is an NBC News security and intelligence analyst. Mark, thanks for being with us this morning. Happy holidays to you. Let's start there with that disconnect. Let's fact check Putin. The Russians have had no

interest in negotiations at any point during this war. And Putin is suggesting it has to come on his terms, meaning Ukraine would have to recognize the territory that Russia has seized. That's obviously a non-starter in Kiev. Do you see any way we get to the negotiating table anytime soon? Well, first of all, good morning and happy holidays to everyone in the Morning Joe family. It's great to be here today. The traffic coming in from Northern Virginia took about 20 minutes. So this is a perfect day to come in. Look, I think when it comes to what Vladimir Putin said, you know, we should be skeptical. He said these things before. But I put this in the context of really, you know, near term collection and opportunities

for the U.S. intelligence community. These are requirements that that, you know, that the president and the National Security Council are going to put on the CIA and the NSA and other entities because we need to see if Putin is being serious or not. So what does that really mean? Well, it's things like what do our human spies on the ground tell us? You know, penetrations of the Russian government. Is Putin serious? What about communication intercepts of Russian leadership comms? So ultimately, the degree of, you know, whether this is the same old Putin kind of spewing nonsense or is he really ready to negotiate? It's not going to be based on analysis. I think it's going to be based on hard intelligence. My sense is there's nothing to this, but I think the intelligence community is going to be laser focused on this, in particular on the heels of really historic Zelensky visit to Washington and

the 10th month mark of the war in which, you know, Ukraine is doing far better than anyone ever expected. Yeah. And that Zelensky visit came against the backdrop of needing Republicans next year to keep funding to Kiev, against the backdrop of reassuring Western capitals in Europe stay with Europe even as the winter gets hard and their economies are brittle. And then lastly, Mark, coming as there are reports of a Russian troop buildup and some fears among Ukrainians that they may be being preparing to mount another major assault, perhaps even towards Kiev. What's your assessment from what you know of the Russian forces? How concerned should Ukraine be about that? Can Russia pull something like that off? Well, I don't think so, because ultimately, you know, the Russian military has shown itself to be, in essence, a Potemkin village.

You know, it's something that that was at once seen as 10 feet tall and certainly has performed spectacularly poorly, in fact. But again, I think this is where the intelligence community is going to be focused on. You know, we're going to see what what what imagery, what satellites tell us, what again, what our spies on the ground, what our intercepts tell us. Because ultimately, I think there's two things that are important. One is, you know, will there be kind of future, you know, Russian offensive moves on Ukraine? But number two, I think we're going to be looking at, you know, things like what about provision of additional military equipment, for example, from Iran, these suicide drones. You know, there are reports over the last week that, you know, the Iranians are ready to provide more to Russia, and in addition, even some advanced missiles. I think that's really important as well, both for, you know, assessing the numbers that

come, also the shipment routes. Maybe there's ways to interdict them, and finally, what bases they are going to inside Russia or in Crimea as well, perhaps so we can assist the Ukrainians in targeting. So when it comes to kind of future Russian military moves, again, I go back to my old colleagues in the intelligence community. I think they're going to be laser focused on this. My sense is Russia is still militarily weak. But, you know, we have to keep vigilant. Certainly the Ukrainians will as well. Mark, the Zelensky visit was no question a huge PR coup for the Ukrainians. And in contrast with Putin and how terrible and how he's failed to anticipate so much of the world public sentiment. What do you think the strategy is

with Putin now going forward in the aftermath of that successful visit? So it's interesting because, you know, if you're if you're Putin and if you're surrounded by hardliners, you can read this kind of in a different fashion. I think a lot of us saw this as historic. It was inspirational. Certainly it was it was designed to shore up Republican support, you know, for what is going to be kind of a fractious house on this issue. But from the side, what Putin might be thinking about is he's actually seeing this as, you know, almost a move that Zelensky had to make because there are kind of cracks in the United States. So it all depends on how Putin reads this. I think a lot

of us were certainly buoyed by this. Putin, on the other hand, could read this in the sense that he just does have to kind of, you know, play for time to, you know, to prolong the war as long as possible. When will U.S. and Western resolve, you know, start to waver? And so I think that's going to be the big battle there. And the Biden administration has done a fantastic job in keeping NATO motivated. You know, the relationships with the Ukrainians are pretty extraordinary. Even, you know, as some say that the war aims in the end, there will be some divergence. You know, when will negotiations be something that have to be taken seriously? But again, I think Putin's looking at this perhaps in a different light in that the Zelensky visit was something that actually showed some potential fissures in the U.S. And again, I go back to our intelligence collection. What does Putin really

think? What's going to drive him perhaps in the negotiating table or not? All signs are that Russia is in this for the long haul and what they are calling and Putin himself is calling an endless war. And, you know, that means a lot more carnage in the days and weeks and months to come. Senior Biden administration officials tell me that they've been surprised and so heartened at Europe's resolve to this point to recognize that's only going to get harder in these next few months. trying to keep money coming from home and keeping their counterparts abroad with Kyiv will be a tall order in the months ahead, despite how well things are going for Ukraine at this moment. Former CIA officer Mark Palmaropoulos, we hope the traffic remains light on your way home. Thanks for joining us this morning. Still ahead, a look at the stories making headlines in newspapers across the country. Plus, from from the expansive behind-the-scenes look in The New York Times

inside the January 6th committee. Morning Joe will be right back. Time now for a look at the morning papers. The Courier-Journal reports that Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear is dedicating $38 billion toward eviction relief efforts. The funding will be used to build more affordable housing and provide financial assistance for rent and utility costs. Meanwhile, in Delaware, the News Journal reports that car prices are expected to drop next year. Prices could drop up to 5% for new vehicles and between 10% and 20% for used cars. Industry experts attribute the expected price relief to improved inventory. The Times reports that Netflix has unveiled plans for a production facility in the great state of New Jersey.

The $900 million facility would serve as the streaming giant center of East Coast operations. During construction, the project is expected to generate up to 3,500 jobs. And the Press and Sun Bulletin reports that upstate New Yorkers will see a hike in their minimum wage in the new year. Workers outside of New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County will start making at least $14.02 an hour. In addition, all fast food workers in the state will make $15 an hour.