Away in italy. And going nuclear, you heard me, nuclear. Donald trump tells msnbc, let it be an arms race. Then his Transition Team takes it up a step further with matt lauer. Other countries need to be put on notice that hes not going to sit back and allow them to undermine our safety, our sovereignty. Hes going to match other countries and take action. Two days before christmas, not the president yet, putting other countries on notice. Merry christmas. We begin with breaking news out of malta. A libyan passenger plane was forced to land there after two hijackers took control. It was carrying 111 passengers and 7 crew members. We have been watching the live feed. You can see it here, showing dozens of haaostages getting of the plane. Cal perry is monitoring the situation for us. This plane took off from the sort of south of libya, and it was on its way to tripoli when it was diverted by hijackers apparently having hand grenades. Youre seeing again the live pictures from malta where the plane ended up. Less than 50 people remain onboard. We have seen passengers trickle off and we understand from the government in malta that things are being negotiated out. The hijackers appear to be, and i say appear to be because this is unfolding right now, progadhafi loyalists. What you would refer to in libya as sort of the third column, the remnants of supporters of colonel gadhafi who have remained since his death in 2011. Lets make it clear. Air traffic air travel in libya is not safe like it is here in the u. S. There is not the same security apparatus. And we heard from the mayor of the town where this plane originated from saying that the Airport Security was just, quote, poor. You dont have the same kind of system that you have here with the tsa. You have had hijackings in the past. You had planes shot at on the ground in the past in places lick tripoli as recently as december. And what exactly did these hijackers want . Its not clear. They say theyre going to hang on to the crew. Theyre willing to let the passengers go. Its possible they want to travel on to another destination. Its possible they want to leave libya and stay in malta. That we dont know. Were waiting to see that hopefully all of the passengers get off safely. Thanks, cal. Were going to turn to president elect donald trump. This morning, he ramped up his rhoric on Nuclear Weapons in an offair conversation with our own mika brzezinski. Mika asked the president elect while we had the opportunity, what his position was on trying to clarify the tweet yesterday regarding the Nuclear Arsenal and the president elect told you what . Let it be an arms race. We will outmatch them at every pass. And outlast them all. And outlast them all. There you have it. Kristen welker is live in palm beach, florida. Kristen, let it be an arms race. Thats a shocking moment. That is major. The Transition Team also doesnt seem to be trying to walk that back. What did sean spicer tell matt lauer today . Reporter well, right. Sean spicer digging in, essentially saying, look, the tweet was more complicated than it initially appears. The president elect talking about trying to upgrade the United StatesNuclear Arsenal. At the same time, he didnt back away from what the president elect said in the tweet. Let me remind you of the original tweet and then lets hear from sean spicer. The original tweet is the United States must greatly strengthen and expand its Nuclear Capability. Until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes. Heres sean spicer earlier today. Since he was elected in vember 8th, he has had one success after another with carrier, with boeing. This is very different. This is nuclear proliferation. I understand that, but other countries need to be put on notice that hes not going to sit back and allow them to undermine our safety, our sovereignty. Hes going to match other countries and take action. Reporter that posture is a real break from u. S. Foreign policy going back decades, when it comes to nuclear proliferation. And a major break from president obama, who has, of course, made it one of his key Foreign Policy goals to scale back the u. S. Of Nuclear Weapons. In fact, steph, hes convened four different Nuclear Security summits, trying to get the International Community to either draw down its Nuclear Arsenal or to try to secure it. So these are striking comments, but the question is how will they play out . And of course, they came on the heels of similar comments made by russias president Vladimir Putin. And it appears as though he was challenging him and really sending a strong warning, trying to send a strong warning, at least, to russia, that the United States will not be outmatched when it comes to this. As you just heard matt lauer say, negotiating over Nuclear Weapons, a far different prospect than negotiating a business deal. Well have to see how it plays out. Especially doing it over twitter. Donald trump also taking to twitter on another subject this morning. Its amazing. I believe hes going to play golf with tiger woods today, but before he hits the links, he taps in on Nuclear Weapons and puts out a tweet about charitable fundraising. Thats a big focus because those sons don jr. And eric got themselvesa anin a little pr is, kerfuffle. They did. His Sons Charitable foundations came under the microscope this week after erics foundation, which does a lot of work, including for kids with cancer, offered coffee with ivanka. They later said, look, were not going to offer that because there were questions about whether or not that created a conflict of interest. Lets look at Donald Trumps tweets about that. My wonderful son eric will no longer be allowed to raise money for children with cancer because of a possible conflict of interest with my presidency. Isnt it a ridiculous shame . He loves these kids, raised millions of dollars for them and now must stop. Wrong answer. It underscores just how complicated the trump familys business and charitable ties and entanglements are, and the president elect said hes going to talk about all of this during a press conference in january. Of course, that press conference was initially schedule to be held several weeks ago but was postponed until after the new year. Or maybe the ridiculous shame is offering up events, access to the president and the president s children in exchange for those donations. Its not necessarily that you cant raise money for children in need. Its how youre doing it. Thank you so much. Enjoy the good weather in florida. I want to dig into this deeper, talking about president elect donald trump answering the, quote, let it be an arms race, when hes asked about his tweet on nuclear capabilities. How will leaders around the world react to Something Like this . For more, im joined by steve clemons, editor at large at the atlantic. Steve, what message does that send to the rest of the world . I mean, people are filling their stockings with care. Singing some Christmas Carols and they see this tweet heard around the world. It adds already to a very big pile of doubts and concerns that other World Leaders have about the United States. I mean, right now, i just need to say one thick. I have admired donald trump on some of the things he has done, but we need to be honest and candid when he doesnt get it right. There is not genius behind this tweet. The notion, and every u. S. President has known that has come into thisophil office and the responsibilities that a president has, when you look at the nuk leer arsenal, it is something that is a necessary evil, that you have it, but you must be very careful with it. Actually, among the new millennial generation, theres a lack of appreciation, i think, for nukes, for institutions like nato. They dont have memories of the cold war. So donald trump is treating this terrain like every other race hes in. Theres somehow a winner in this. But in nuclear races, there are only losers on all sides. I think the rest of the world is just wondering what he knows and what he doesnt know. And look, i think hes trying to study up really fast to become president of the United States, but this is an area in which he shouldnt be stretching his legs yet. Earlier today, on today show, sean spicer was talking about donald trump not backing down. He wants the world to be on notice. You will not be undermining the United States and our position of power. But does it undermine president obama that the president elect is weighing in so heavily on so many issues, specifically Something Like this when hes not even in office yet . Of course, it undermines obama. As Kristen Welker just said, president obama has been worried, fought only about what the russians have and trying to keep arms negotiations, we have been worried about the proliferation of Nuclear Materials by nonstate actors and from trying to remove from the ecosystem the kind of Nuclear Materials, nuclear knowledge, Nuclear Substances that could be used by dirty bombs and nonstate actors and trying to make the russians, the chinese, the americans, and other players in the Nuclear Arena responsible stakeholders in the system. By trying to destabilize this arena which obama has helped support, it not only undermined obama, it undermines the United States and the world. It makes the rest of the world think were the rogue country that needs to be organized against and contained. Its something we need to get our heads around. The more we become the disrupter player in the world and not the de9 contributor to global stability. Other nations will organize trying to constrain our options. What you heard from spicer, what you heard from donald trump, is extreme unilateralism. In extreme unilateralism, america is very alone. Wow. Thats a lot to take in. All right, thanks. Thank you, stephanie. Didnt think we would be digesting all this this morning. Were going to turn to breaking news on the berlin truck attacker. The most wanted man in europe is now dead after an overnight shootout with police in milan, italy. Thats right, 650 miles away from berlin. I want to take you now to nbcs Claudio Lavanga in rome. How did they get this guy . Reporter well, it was the very early hours in the morning here when two policemen were on patrol in milan, and they saw this guy hanging around outside a train station there. A local train station, so somewhere not many people would mingle at that time, at 3 00 in the morning. They deemed this person suspicious enough to get out of the police car and ask the suspect for documents or i. D. The suspect put his hand in the rucksack and instead of pulling out i. D. , he pulled out a. 22caliber pistol and shot one of the policemen in the shoulder. The other policeman was swift enough to respond fire, and he shot the suspect dead. Only later, they found out that this was anis amri, who i believed to have driven the truck into the Christmas Market, killing 12. He has been on the run in europe ever since. Well, the two policemen are fine. The man who was shot in the shoulder will have surgery soon, but hes expected to leave the hospital fine, and the policeman who shot amri dead is known to be a 29yearold policeman who is also a rookie and has only been nine months in the police force. Only in the police force for nine months now. Now, this is what we know. What we dont know is why was amri in that very small neighborhood in the outskirts of milan . Police found the train tickets of amri in his pocket, in the pocket of his jacket, and they seem to suggest he traveled from germany to france to the big italian steen and then milan. Instead of staying in the big italian cities where it would be more difficult to be singled out, he traveled to this small, local train station in the outskirts of milan at 3 00 in the morning. Why . Why did he go there . Atailian authorities are now looking into the possibilities that he may have plans to meet someone, maybe a safe house, a safe passage through italy. That wouldnt be surprising because the italian authorities knew about amri. He spent four years in prison after he arrived here in italy from tunisia. Wow. The long history, the colorful past this guy has had. Now, that suspect, who conducted the attack in berlin, is now dead. Thanks so much, claudio. Glad where hear its moving on. Now we have to move on because donald trump and his Transition Team, theyre painting a very different story when it comes to a possible nuclear arms race. So where exactly does the president elect stand . Were going to look on what he has said in the past, what we heard this morning. What it could look like in the future. How else do you think he gets around so fast . Take the reins this holiday and get the mercedesbenz youve always wanted during the winter event. Now lease the 2017 gla250 for 329 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Everything your family touches sticks with them. Make sure the germs they bring home dont stick around. Use clorox disinfecting products. Because no one kills germs better than clorox. Generosity is its oyou can handle being a mom for half an hour. Im in all the way. Is that understood . I dont know what shes up to, but its not good. Cant the world be my noodles and butter . Get your mind out of the gutter. Mornings are for coffee and contemplation. That was a really profound observation. You got a mean case of the detox blues. Dont start a war you know youre going to lose. Finally you can now find all of netflix in the same place as all your other entertainment. On xfinity x1. Welcome back. Im stephanie ruhle. Youre watching msnbc. Were talking president elect trump, who is taking on new and somewhat startling stances on a host of issues. In just the last 24 hours, he addressed Nuclear Weapons, military jets, and the ongoing israelipalestinian conflict, all of this coming in 140 characters or less. Via his favorite medium, twitter. With me now to break this down, two msnbc political analysts, rick tyler, former spokesman for ted cruzs president ial campaign, and governor howard dean, former governor of vermont and 2004 president ial candidate. Governor, i want to start with you. Donald trump saying to mika this morning, let it be an arms race. What do you make of that . You know, at this point, i think were just he just does this for musings. You cant take it seriously. First, if he were to increase the Nuclear Arsenal, he would need an enormous appropriation from a congress that doesnt want to spend more money. You cant take these terribly, terribly seriously. Im sure he believes all these things, at the moment he says them. But, you know, 48 hours later or 48 minutes later, he may walk it all back. You know, its alarming. It puts people into orbit. People get upset, especially when youre talking about Nuclear Weapons where. I think you cant take any of this seriously until you see what he proposed in a budget or in an inaugural address. Rick, we have been told a number of times from trump Transition Team members and supporters, dont take donald trump literally. Take him seriously. So help us walk through what he has said in the past by your estimation, back in march, donald trump said he didnt want any more nukes. Then he said, well, maybe countries like south korea and japan should get them. Then he adone point not that long ago said, well, if we have them, why dont we use them . So all of those, he said in the past, and then boom, let it be an arms race. How do you take all this . I mean, nukes arent something to joke about. No, thats right. I think theres a lot of political paosturing going. Were limited by a treaty that barack obama signed in 2010. That treaty doesnt expire until 200021. It doesnt strike me that hes willing to break a treaty. Remember, this isnt an agreement like we have with iran. This is a treaty. So that would take a long process. And by the way, he just got a briefing about Nuclear Weapons, so its kind of interesting that he would get a pentagon briefing on our Nuclear Capability and then come out and tweet about it. He must have known that that was going to be provocative because if you look at the tweet, it raises a lot of questions. Its cryptic. Were not clear, what is his vision for our Nuclear Capability . Does he plan on continuing to upgrade our Nuclear Capability. The russians have to continue to upgrade their nuclear capabilities. We dont know. He hasnt had a press conference so we dont know the answers. Putin had a pres conference, a fourhour one. And recently, people have been very concerned about Donald Trumps relationship with russia, specifically Vladimir Putin. But now that we have heard from putin, trump, putin, are you concerned that maybe they arent so cozy . Maybe things are a bit nasty, or is this just a public show . I think its a public show. Look, putins press conferences arent to be taken seriously either. This is like the old kremlin watching before the cold war ended where you sort of guess affwhat theyre really saying because theyre really saying whatever they want. And trying to hint at this and hint at that. In a way, theres some similarity between trump and the old soviet leaders, which is be unpredictable. Say things that have a little edge to them, and then move on. Look, heres what i think. I think rick is right. I