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On Sunday morning, all three of the hosts of MSNBC's "The Weekend" laughed off a report that Donald Trump's inner circle has instructed his cabinet nominees to stay off social media until after they have had their confirmation hearings.

Earlier in the week the New York Post reported that Trump's incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles sent out a memo to nominees, instructing them: "While this instruction has been delivered previously, I am reiterating that no member of the incoming administration or Transition speaks for the United States or the President-elect himself."

“Accordingly, all intended nominees should refrain from any public social media posts without prior approval of the incoming White House counsel,” she added.

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That led to a round of sarcasm on the MSNBC morning show.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) raised his voice at Republicans who want to pass tax cuts at the same time as border security measures.

While speaking to Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday, Graham accused some Republicans of "playing Russian roulette."

Reacting to a report from Vaughan Hilyard of NBC News that Donald Trump held a secretive Mar-a-Lago celebration Saturday night when he invited several architects of the attempt to overturn the 2020 election results, MSNBC's Michael Steele warned the country that things are about to take a turn for the worst.

After co-host Symone Sanders Townsend called the honoring of disgraced attorney John Eastman, who came up with the failed plan to push ex-Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify the 2020 election results, "sickening," Steele had a few things to say.

"The reality, at least for me, goes to the heart of what Symone said," he began. "Folks, the slime you feel right now when hear this story, that thing in your gut that goes, us, this doesn't seem right? We only have one president at a time and Trump didn't give a crap about that. He's the man and that's all that matters,"

Also read: 'Bring it on': Defiant Raskin responds to GOP threats of retaliation for J6 investigation

'"Donald Trump at this point is going to re-litigate 2020, so you all need to buckle down, and Vaughn, get your pad ready, baby, because you will be writing about 2020 as if it happened yesterday. Because, from where he sitting, he wants to prove that that election was stolen. That is why he is loving up this menagerie of misfits. He didn't want them around him because he had no use for them because he didn't know if he'd get back in the White House but now he's back and they are back."

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) would not commit to voting against Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for FBI director, despite his vow to conduct a revenge tour against MAGA opponents.

During a Sunday interview on NBC, host Kristen Welker noted that Patel had written about getting retribution for several federal prosecutions of Trump.

Fox News host Guy Benson, Rachel Campos-Duffy, and Charlie Hurt expressed outrage Sunday after President Joe Biden awarded the Medal of Freedom to people like Michael J. Fox, Hillary Clinton, George Soros, and Robert F. Kennedy.

Biden's awards came years after former President Donald Trump gave right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh the same medal.

The entire panel on MSNBC's "The Weekend" reacted with disgust on Sunday over a report that Donald Trump held a secretive ceremony at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday night where he celebrated the work done by one of the lawyers who tried to get the 2020 election overturned.

On Sunday morning Vaughan Hilyard of NBC News reported that the celebration was not advertised in advance and the press was excluded, but comments Trump made were leaked where he praised attorney John Eastman as film clips were shown documenting his attempts to get former Vice President Mike Pence to not certify the 2020 election.

During the evening, Trump told the gathering, "I'm a big fan of John Eastman. Y'know, he was right. He happened to be right. That's why they changed the law and nobody wants to talk about that...They said he's not allowed to do it, he's not allowed to do it, and they convinced him he's not allowed to do it –– our vice president –– then right after the election they changed the law so he can't do it."

Also read: 'Bring it on': Defiant Raskin responds to GOP threats of retaliation for J6 investigation

"What was the sense in this room, what was the purpose of this gathering, is it just an in-your-face-moment or just a tale of things to come?" co-host Michael Steele asked.

"Right, let's be very clear," Hilyard replied. "There's no coincidence that this event in which he welcomed not only John Eastman, but Michael Flynn, and Jeffrey Clark, the man that urged the DOJ to put off all statements about the 2020 election, and they were up onstage, Rudy Giuliani was up onstage, and Peter Navarro, who spent time in prison for not complying with the subpoena from the January 6th committee, and they were watching a film that was a documentary about John Eastman."

That led co-host Symone Sanders Townsend to blow up.

"Let's just say –– let's just put a finer point on it, this is sickening!" she exclaimed. "This is sickening, I am sick. Peter Navarro, Jeffrey Clark, the people that went to the Capitol to take up arms against the United States government, because the president at the time lied to them, that's what happened."

"Those are not patriots," she continued. "What Donald Trump did last night is a disgrace to the country and Constitution, and the fact that they didn't tell anybody about it lets you know that they knew what they were doing was untoward, and they wanted to do it anyway."

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A Washington, D.C., insider reminded MSNBC viewers on Saturday about the time Donald Trump reportedly rejected a request for funds from the now-deceased Jimmy Carter.

Longtime Washington insider Jonathan Alter, who wrote a book about Trump's criminal trial, has previously commented about the President-elect's state-based criminal case.

Despite reports that Judge Juan Merchan will not impose any jail time on Donald Trump at a sentencing hearing scheduled for Jan. 10, the president-elect will walk away still facing a loss of rights as a convicted felon.

Unless an appellate court steps in and tosses all 34 of Trump's felony convictions for business fraud, he will spend the rest of his life with what the New York Times' Peter Baker called a "brand on his forehead" as a convicted criminal.

Discussing the upcoming sentencing hearing on MSNBC on Saturday morning with host Alex Witt, law professor and former House select committee lead Jan. 6 investigator Tim Heaphy explained that, as a convicted felon, the president-elect will find some of his rights curtailed.

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"Once Donald Trump is sentenced, he officially becomes a convicted felon. What is the legal significance of this?" host Witt asked.

"Tremendous, Alex," he replied. "There's obviously a legal consequence any time someone has a felony conviction: can't possess a firearm, in some states you can't vote unless your rights are restored; lots of lateral consequences of conviction that afflict men and women across the country every day."

"Those are the legal consequences, the reputational consequence of having a felony conviction," he added. "So while it's not a period of incarceration or monetary penalty, there are still collateral consequences just by having the status of being a convicted felon."

"Hang on," the stunned MSNBC host interrupted. "You're saying a president of the United States would not be able to vote. There are certain states in which he could, Mar-a-Lago being his primary residence. I know they tried to restore a felon's ability to vote in the state of Florida. Could Donald Trump potentially not vote down the road?"

"It depends on the state of residence, right?" the attorney explained. "Voting is a state function, Alex, as you know. The rules that govern elections are state laws. I don't know exactly what the law is in Florida, but, yes, in some states a felony conviction precludes participation with many civil rights including the right to vote, the right to possess a firearm, lots of others."

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Following up on a high-profile opinion piece he wrote for the New York Times calling billionaire Elon Musk a "national security risk," retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré wondered aloud on MSNBC how the U.S. government allowed itself to be put at the mercy of the billionaire.

With Musk now having the ear of president-elect Donald Trump, Honoré claimed the danger to America from within has reached a new level.

Speaking with "The Weekend" co-host Michael Steele, the man who was widely praised for his leadership in coordinating military relief efforts in gulf states after Hurricane Katrina, listed off the government's overly extensive reliance on the controversial wealthiest man in the world.

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"Elon Musk has already shown us in the Ukraine situation, he is not unconcerned about using that leverage to his advantage against the interests of an ally of the United States, and getting concessions, and getting whatever he thinks that he needs in that scenario. How dangerous is that aspect of this?" host Steele prompted his guest.

"Well, right now, we never want to get into a single source of intelligence, a single source of communication," the retired general replied. "I don't know how we got into this mess contracting with one contractor, SpaceX, doing rockets for us as well as controlling communications."

"There have been many reports and suspects that some of these systems were not optimized to help the Ukrainians," he continued. 'We have been dealing in Haiti and the Kenyan forces were only given one Starlink, one Stalink in that fight."

"So, I don't know how the U.S. government –– we have the National Reconnaissance Office, we got Space Command, we got NASA," he detailed. "How in the hell the people in Washington have subjugated our intelligence and our communications to a private company. Why in the hell did we do that? And it is going to get worse, Michael."

You can watch below or at the link.

Reacting to Judge Juan Merchan compelling Donald Trump to undergo a sentencing hearing next week related to his multiple hush money convictions, former RNC chair and current MSNBC host Michael Steele stated that the president-elect will never shed the stain of being known as a convicted criminal.

Acknowledging the president-elect will not be getting any jail time, as Merchan indicated in his Friday ruling, Steele said the judge's maneuvering left Trump with nowhere to go to clear his name and that is entirely appropriate.

As he explained to his MSNBC co-hosts, "But here is the beauty. That is why I keep saying those two words: 'still convicted.'"

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"When the jury says you are guilty, that is the seminal moment in any criminal case is when the jury of your peers say, 'You did it and you are guilty for it.' When the judge comes back and goes, ''Okay, they found you guilty, you are guilty. I've got a range of things I do to you,' and all the judge is saying, 'Okay, I will acknowledge the fact you are now coming in in a week's time as the new president of the United States ––you are still convicted. I may not fine you, I may not give you jail time, but you will not be able to erase what that jury did.


"By the judge saying what he is saying, that is an important piece," he added. "So everyone don't get tripping out about 'Oh, my god. He didn't give him any time, he's not making him pay.' He's still convicted. Two words, baby, that's all it takes."

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A panel discussion on MSNBC's "The Weekend" was disrupted with laughter on Saturday morning after co-host Symone Sanders Townsend read a post that Donald Trump had just put up on Truth Social moaning about how he has been treated.

In the midst of a discussion on a ruling from Judge Juan Merchan that Donald Trump will still have to sit for a sentencing hearing next week even though it has been implied he will see no jail time, Sanders Townsend pointed out the the president-elect was addressing it at the same time on his main social media platform in two rambling posts.

With Sanders Townsend reading from the Trump post, dryly telling her co-hosts, "The president-elect has thoughts on his social media site. –– he is not happy about this," she then did a dramatic reading of Trump claiming, "There has never been a President who was so evilly and illegally treated as I. Corrupt Democrat judges and prosecutors have gone against a political opponent of a President, ME, at levels of injustice never seen before."

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"In case it wasn't clear!" co-host Alicia Menendez laughed at Trump's mention of "me."

That led co-host Michael Steele to interject, "Me! I'm the president! Waaaaa, waaaaa."

You can watch below or at the link.

Disgraced and ousted former Long Island Rep. George Santos (R) had some crucial tips for former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) – but not for his political career or new hosting gig.

Instead, Santos – at Gaetz’s request – offered the former Florida congressman make-up advice and expressed concern for his appearance. The moment came Friday on a segment titled “Makeup-Gaetz” on his new One American News Network program, “The Matt Gaetz Show.”