>> announcer: "this week" with george stephanopoulos starts right now. >> martha: stunning takeover. overnight, syrian rebels seize control of damascus in a lightning offensive, overthrowing decades of brutal assad family rule. syrians take to the streets in jubilation as bashar al assad reportedly flees. james longman reports on the breaking developments and former centcom commander, retired general frank mckenzie joins us. a brazen murder grips the nation. >> this was a premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack. >> martha: unitedhealthcare ceo fatally shot in manhattan. the murderer on the loose as the manhunt now spreads across the country. >> we're seeking information from the public to help identify the shooter. >> martha: this morning, aaron katersky and our law enforcement experts break down the latest. plus, democratic congressman

ro khanna on the fallout. and -- >> the first thing we have to do is get the criminals out of our country. >> martha: donald trump taps hardliners for top border enforcement jobs as his defense secretary pick faces new challenges. >> as long as donald trump wants me in this fight, i'm going to be standing right here in this fight. >> martha: we speak with republican congressman byron donalds, and our powerhouse round table weighs in. good morning. as we come on the air this morning, we are tracking one of the most extraordinary events in middle east history. in syria overnight, rebel forces sweeping through the capital city of damascus putting an end to the brutal 24-year dictatorship of bashar al assad. the rebels seen celebrating the stunning turn of events as people poured into the streets

in jubilation at assad's fall. this will have a profound impact on the region and beyond with almost all the major global powers involved in syria's ongoing war including the u.s. syria's allies, russia, iran, and hezbollah, have been weakened and distracted by their own conflicts leaving assad with little protection. in a moment, i'll speak to the former commander of u.s. forces in the region, retired general frank mckenzie on what this means including for the 900 u.s.-based forces in syria, but we begin this morning with abc's chief international correspondent james longman with the latest. good morning, james. >> reporter: yeah. good morning, martha. quite simply assad's regime was seen tock completely hollow without the support of hezbollah, iran, and russia. he inherited power from his father nearly 25 years ago. he's been clinging onto power through years of civil war, but now a new rebel movement has managed to topple him in less

than two weeks. this morning, history in syria with syrian dictator bashar al assad overthrown with breakneck speed by rebel fighters. in his palace and office, in his private home, discovering the wealth at the assad regime accumulated over decades in power. the streets in the capital filled with people celebrating. few saw this coming. rebels in the state tv studio announcing their triumph saying the city of damascus has been liber liberated. the tyrant has been toppled. al gentleman zee ra in damascus following the rebel takeover. >> this is the center of the syrian capital, and this is -- this is the syrian state tv and radio which is now under the control of the opposition. people are in the -- there's a lot of celebratory gunfire. >> reporter: rebel military operations now claim assad has fled damascus. his military appeared to completely dissolve leaving damascus with little opposition.

the group managing to overrun key cities in less than two weeks. for 24 years, assad ruled nation propped up by allies iran, russia, and hezbollah who helped through 14 years of civil war and the brutal crushing of the resistance to his regime. turkey quietly supporting the various islamist rebel groups jockeying for power. an offshoot of al qaeda emerged from that chaos taking advantage of wars in ukraine, gaza, and lebanon, which weakened and distracted assad's allies. on saturday, the group stormed the city of where a syrian rebellion began. and they languished in syrian jails for years. chants of long live syria and down with assad while setting fire to a poster of the now former syrian president. and earlier this week, rebels seized a city tearing down this large statue of assad's father.

hundreds cheering in support. president biden and the united states have acted with caution with no plans to step in. u.s. national security adviser jake sullivan assessed the st stunning rebellion on saturday. >> assad's backers, iran, russia, and hezbollah, have all been weakened and distracted and so he has not had the support from those three actors that he expected to be able to count on and has been left basically naked. >> martha: and james joins us now, and james, you have covered the syrian conflict since its very beginning. how did this happen so fast? >> reporter: well, quite simply no one saw this coming. the rebel movement has been boiling in syria for some years, but without the support of his allies, bashar al assad just could not keep them at bay. i have been speaking to syrians that i have met over the last 13 years. they are overjoyed at what they're seeing. they're desperate to go home. millions of syrians have been displaced by this war. big question now, can whatever transition happens, happen peacefully?

martha. >> martha: our thanks to james longman. former centcom commander retired general frank mckenzie joins me now, and general mckenzie, this must have been extraordinary for you to watch, the speed of this happening. >> over the last 48 hours, it has been a remarkable chain of events, you know, bad news for a lot of people, less clear who the good news is going to be for, martha. >> martha: i want to take it country by country in a moment, but let's talk first about those u.s. troops. 900 u.s. troops in syria. what happens to them? what do you think they should do at this point? >> well, martha, it's important to understand why those troops are there. our troops east of the ewe frats river are there to keep a lid on isis and prevent violent extremist organizations from gathering strength and being able to attack the homeland of the united states. isis, aspires to attack us. as we know, isis launched a successful attack against russia just a few months ago.

that's why those troops are there so any decision to bring them out would need to weigh that going forward, and i'm certain the new administration will take a hard look on that when they come into office. >> martha: but what has been the chaos that's happening right now? the change that's happening. what does that mean for those u.s. troops who are there? is there more danger? >> we'll be able to defend ourselves. i think actually there's probably less danger right now than there was before because what you see are the iranians, lebanese hezbollah, and, in fact, the russians are all on their back heels now as a result of what has just happened in syria. one of the best equipped, best trained, and most capable forces in all of syria today is actually our kurdish partners. they'll be able to defend themselves. i'm confident of that, martha. >> martha: you brought up russia, iran, hezbollah. what does it mean for all of those countries and the region? >> they all placed -- they all placed a bet on bashar assad,

and that has turned south for them. russia's interest is maintaining its air base and naval base in the eastern shores of the mediterranean. they're going to try very hard to keep that base with whatever entity comes into power in the wake of bashar assad's departure. the iranians need syria as a land bridge so that they can move equipment into lebanon in order to threaten israel. so that's going to be -- they're going to be very concerned about that, and of course, lebanese hezbollah has also propped up the syrian regime for many years. for all three of these entities, this is bad news because now they had a partner -- not necessarily a good and capable partner, but a partner, and he is gone. he's left the stage so they're going to have to negotiate with who comes in. so it's bad news for them. it's less obvious, martha, who it's good news for. i'm not sure it's ultimately going to be good news for the people of syria. you know, we could have an islamic state arise there which will have profound negative implications across the region. that is possible. there are other possibilities as

well, and i think in the next 48, 72, 96 hours, this will begin to become clearer to us. >> martha: and you talk about an islamic state. the islamic group leading this rebel offensive is considered a terror group. they had ties to al qaeda. who are they? i know they say they're trying to be different now. what do you expect? >> well, we have a $10 million bounty on the head of that group. so he has -- he has a significant track record. certainly he could advance new ideas coming in. it's been my experience though, that typically they don't. i think what you're going to see is a period of infighting, you know, they'll hold the capital. they'll try to establish themselves. they'll try to seek recognition. russia will try to work their way back into their good graces. iran will do the same. i think israel will be concerned about the possibility of attacks across galan. it's my understanding that the israelis will probably move forces into a buffer area in syria to protect themselves.

it's a significant moment in syrian history. i wish i could be more hopeful that it will mean good news for the syrian people. i think that's very unclear right now, martha. >> martha: and president-elect trump has weighed in on his social media platform saying, syria is a mess, but is not our friend and the united states should have nothing to do with it. this is not our fight. let it play out. do not get involved. so what do you think will happen when president trump takes office? >> i think president trump will look at the -- look at the merits of the case. our interest in syria is probably preventing violent extremist groups from being able to plan and execute attacks against our homeland and the homeland of our friends and partners abroad. i agree with him. it's a mess. they are no friend of hours. they have never been a friend of ours, but we have interests and those interests are preventing attacks on the u.s. homeland from ungoverned spaces. if syria could very well become an ungoverned space. so we'll have to approach that and look at it as he comes into

office, and i'm sure he'll take a good, hard look at it. >> martha: okay. thanks very much for joining us this morning. very interesting. up next, we'll have the very latest on the urgent nationwide manhunt for the suspect in that brazen shooting of the health care ceo on the streets of new york. we're back in two minutes. >> announcer: "this week" is sponsored by pacific life, creating financial security for nearly 160 years. (♪) during its first year, a humpback calf and its mother are almost inseparable. she lifts her calf to its first breath of air, and then protects it on their long journey. one of the most important things you can do is help the next generation. protect the ones you love with pacific life's trusted financial solutions. talk to a financial professional about life insurance and retirement income with pacific life. hank used to suffer from what felt like a cold & flu medicine hangover in the morning. ha ha. haha! then he switched to mucinex nightshift.

mucinex is uniquely formulated to leave your system faster, so you wake up ready to go. uhh, hank! try mucinex nightshift and feel the difference. an alternative to pills, voltaren is a clinically proven arthritis pain relief gel, which penetrates deep to target the source of pain with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicine directly at the source. voltaren, the joy of movement. think scaling your ai pilots is hard? think again. with watsonx, you can deploy ai across any environment. above the clouds and on lots of clouds. with your secured data on prem, in real time on center court and assisting bank tellers on the edge. watsonx helps you deploy ai wherever you need it. so you can take your business wherever it needs to go. ibm. let's create.

>> martha: this morning an assassin is still on the loose and a nationwide manhunt is now in its fifth day to capture a bold and determined murderer who police say escaped new york city after gunning down health care executive brian thompson early wednesday morning. we watched him stalk his victim in darkness and then flee on a bicycle. we saw what authorities believe are images of his smiling face days before at a manhattan hostel, but as of this hour, the suspect has neither been found

nor even named. the brazen murder, the bullet casings found with deny, defend, and depose etched on them. words and allegations sometimes leveled at insurance companies who avoid paying claims, prompting a cascade of ugly reaction online. we'll have more on that fallout in a moment, but we begin with our senior investigative correspondent aaron katersky who is tracking this shooting mystery minute by minute. good morning, aaron. >> reporter: martha, good morning to you. the search for whoever gunned down the insurance executive outside this hotel here in midtown, manhattan is now nationwide, and for a fifth suspect's movements, and that forensic timeline begins ten days before the insurance executive was gunned down. police say the suspected shooter arrived in new york two weeks ago, november 24th on a greyhound bus that originated in

atlanta. police have not determined where he boarded. just after 10:00 p.m. that night, officials say he pulled into port authority bus terminal and immediately took a taxi to the hilton. a half hour later, he took another taxi to a hostel where he stayed for the next ten days. he checked in using a fake i.d., paid with cash, and kept his face covered with a mask, except once. hi obliged the desk clerk, pulled down his mask, and smiled. a moment captured by a surveillance camera and shared by police. >> we're asking every new yorker and american to look at the picture, the photo and to assist us. >> reporter: on wednesday, december 4th, the morning of the shooting, the suspect set off before dawn leaving the hostel at 5:41 p.m. app 11 minutes later, he was seen walking near the hilton at 46th street and 6th avenue. he then stopped into a starbucks where police saw these images. he bought a granola bar and a water bottle from which police later took a smudged fingerprint. then the shooter went back to

the hotel to wait. at 6:44 a.m., thompson crossed 6th avenue where he was staying to the hilton where he was going to present to an investor conference. he walked alone without security. brian thompson never saw his killer. the shooter approached from behind, opened fire, and left the chief executive of unitedhealthcare dying on a manhattan sidewalk. >> it does appear that the victim was specifically targeted, but at this point, we do not know why. >> reporter: at the scene, police discovered shell casings with the words, deny, defend, depose written in marker. one word per bullet. they're words associated with the insurance industry, and echo a 2010 book "delay, deny, defend: why insurance companies don't pay claims and what you can do about it." the suspect immediately fled on foot through an alleyway. he was then seen on an e-bike. he exited the park eight minutes later and he was seen here pedaling on west 85th street. the suspect had then ditched the

bike and minutes later, hailed a taxi. at 7:30, the suspect was seen on video by the bus station by the george washington bridge. it's believed he boarded a bus and escaped the city. on friday, police found what they believed to be the suspect's backpack in central park, containing a jacket and monopoly money according to police sources. they also took dna samples from a cell phone and other items recovered near the shooting scene. the medical examiner's office is trying to find a match. on saturday, police searched a pond in central park near the spot where they discovered the backpack. they've not recovered the shooter's distinctive gun. police say they're looking into the possibility it's a veterinary weapon used on farms and ranches the put down an animal without a loud noise. the gun does not have a silencer, but rather a large barrel that enables the 9-millimeter to shot. they're looking at whether he may have been a disgruntled employee or someone who lost a family member or friend because

of lack of insurance coverage ongss. the fbi has fielded hundreds of tips that have come in from around the country, and they've sent detectives down to atlanta. that's where the bus the suspect believed to have taken the suspect into the city originated. so far, the suspect has not been identified. the fbi is now joining to follow these leads from around the country. martha? >> martha: and our thanks to aaron katersky. for the latest on how law enforcement is working to track down the shooter, i'm joined now by former nypd chief of detectives, robert boyce, and retired fbi special agent and profiler, mary ellen o'toole. tl welcome to both of you. th thanks for joining us and let me start with you, robert. it's been interesting watching this unfold. give us a sense of how they're doing this. they have all those cameras. this is kind of reminiscent of going after the boston bomb ner

2013. >> good morning, martha. it really is. it's biefr kated. right now you're in central park trying to find that evidence that he left there. you see we found the backpack last night. there were surprises with that, and he leaves -- he only has 12 minutes in the park. so you got to figure where he went on that bicycle and what happened to that weapon. you really want to recover that weapon. he goes up the west side of the park and there's a lake right there. so they were dragging the lake last night looking for the possibility to recover that. when they get that weapon, you'll be able to help identify the perpetrator at some point, and also put to bed all those things. it's important. the second part of this investigation is the apprehension. identification apprehension. he left the city about 45 minutes after he committed this crime. that's really quick. we have him on a bus. we think we have him on a bus out of upper manhattan. if it takes him to a different spot, that has to be tracked as well, but right now the nypd slookinis looking at atlanta, georgia. detectives went down there last night to forward information back from people they speak

with. the number of tips they're getting is larger than anywhere else, those tips coming out of atlanta, georgia. >> martha: but how much more difficult is it now that he has left new york city, and it is a nationwide search? >> it complicates things, there's no doubt, but the nypd -- listen. he did this in manhattan. we have the largest police department in the country, second largest in the world. so we have a lot of resources and a lot of partners. so it complicates it, but it doesn't make it impossible. i've sent detectives all over the world at some point, especially in the united states. you operate and you send someone down there. you create a base and go back and forth and work with every police department in the country. it complicates this, but it's not over. you can quickly overcome it with the right resources. >> martha: and mary ellen, you were an fbi profiler. when you look at this case, when you look at him, when you look at those videos and what they found in that backpack, they found monopoly money.

what does this all tell you about -- about this suspect? >> when i look at the suspect and i look at his behavior from beginning to what we think is when he left new york city, there's a quality to it that suggests there's a little bit of practice there, and there's almost a lack of experience, and those two things are very different. so what i mean by that is it looked like he practiced things. he probably had been to new york before and knew what the route was. he knew where the victim was going to be. he knew what his schedule was going to be. that would come with knowledge, but the experience means -- is heassassin? i would disagree with that. practice versus experience -- >> martha: what about that monopoly money? there the >> there's almost a gamelike quality to this behavior. so the way he's caught on a number of video cameras, and i know with the ballistics, there were some interesting behaviors there as well. so that may come from the idea that the way he got practice is

how? video games, tv shows. >> martha: that's a very interesting point, but those shell casings, that said deny, defend, depose, can certainly offer some clues perhaps to motive. >> they could, and the motive would be very specific then because then it would go to issues relative to the health and that system and being denied that sort of thing. however, when you have a game player who's your offender, you have to be open that that is a ruse to cause law enforcement to look in a different direction, and i'm sure they're aware of that. they are great investigators up there. so they're looking at the possibility. it has to do with the field, but they're also considering the possibility maybe this offender wants us to look in a different direction. >> martha: and robert, i want to au ask you, do you think the fbi knows more than they are telling

us? and are you surprised that there is no name yet? given those pretty clear pictures of his face. >> no, ooii'm not surprised and don't know that, martha. that he's not identified. in my time of 35 years in the police department, we don't give out the name until we make an apprehension effort. once that fails, you give out the name. once we know that, you don't know. it would be surprising, but that image is pretty good and we have another one that came in from a cab where you have a partial. things are mounting up right now. so that's -- putting that out there, engaging the public through media, through social media, and through law enforcement partners, that's how this gets done. >> martha: okay. we're so hopeful that they will catch him and catch him soon. thanks to both of you. >> thank you. >> martha: the murder has sparked shock, but also a cascade of vitriolic comments online towards insurers about the high cost of health care. many with a blatant lack of

sympathy towards the murder victim. democratic congressman ro khanna joins me now, and this is obviously just a horrendous crime, but has this online vitriol surprised you? >> first of all, let me just say it was horrific. i mean, this is a father we're talking about of two children, and my sympathies to the entire family. there is no justification for violence, be you the outpouring afterwards has not surprised me. look. i as a congressperson had unitedhealthcare deny a prescription for a nasal -- a $100 pump spray and i couldn't get them to reverse this. so imagine what ordinary people are dealing with. the biggest denial comes when it's cancer treatment. people are getting denied on cancer treatment, and my view is very simple. why can't we have a rule that if a doctor prescribes something and if medicare -- traditional medicare is going to cover it, then private insurance companies should be forced to cover it? i mean, it's absurd in this country what's going on. >> martha: i want the -- you

reo retweeted a post by bernie sanders that said, yes, we waste hundreds of billions a year on health care administrative expenses that make insurance ceos and wealthy stockholders incredibly rich while 85 million americans go uninsured or underinsured. health care is a human right. we need medicare for all. gymnas that's not really going to happen. what would you say to those americans who are frustrated right now? >> bernie sanders is absolutely right. i believe we can make medicare for all happen. he was retweeting elon musk who was pointing out that the united states spends the most on administrative waste. if you care about efficiency in government, medicare is 2% administrative fees. the private insurance, 18% that they're wasting, but as we fight for medicare for all, what we can do is require private insurers to cover anything that medicare would cover. we can require a cap on out-of-pocket costs. we have to understand people with cancer, with

with diabetes, with insurance r aren't car aren't getting the care that they need. they're getting stuck, and we have a bill for medical bankruptcy. after years, sanders is winning this debate and we should be moving to medicare for all. >> martha: you mentioned bernie sanders responded to elon musk. he said, shouldn't the american people be getting their money's worth? he and vivek ramaswamy have been tasked to lead the government of public efficiency, doge. what do you think they could do in terms of health care realistically? >> well, they should look at the extraordinary waste and they will find that medicare is the most efficient and they should be looking at where the private health care costs are, but there are other areas that bernie sanders and i have said we could work together on. the defense cost. defense contractors, look. lockheed martin has with the f-35s gone about $2 billion

over. there is waste when it comes to breast pumps being purchased at $1,400 instead of $200. soap dispensers, $150,000 we paid boeing for soap dispensers. that's the waste they should go after. there are places i disagree. they should not touch a penny of social security. they should not touch the cfpb. they should not touch medicare in terms of this funding. >> martha: you have been talking to elon musk. tell us a little bit about those conversations. he has welcomed your input. what has that back and forth been like with elon musk, and what do you think about what a huge role he's playing so far? >> well, there's one area elon musk was brilliant in that he worked with president obama and ash carter to have spacex, and that disrupted boeing and lockheed. we were getting ripped off, the american people, and putting satellites up to space, and president obama, under his leadership, ash carter's leadership, they said elon, with spacex, you can bid on launching

these rockets. he had reusable rockets -- >> martha: okay. go to your conversation with him. what have you talked about? >> we've talked about that, and i've made the case to him that tesla and spacex have been funded by the obama government and let's look at what you did with spacex. why can't we do that with other parts of the five primes? to produce costs? i think when it comes to defense, getting better defense for our value and cutting costs, there can be huge bipartisan cooperation. >> martha: and i want to talk to you just quickly as we finish up here, i spoke to you of in march right after the house passed a bill to effectively ban tiktok unless they got -- unless they divested from their chinese owner. you were against that and said you didn't think the bill would pass. first amendment scrutiny, and federal appeals court rejected tiktok's first amendment argument. do you think that will be banned? >> i don't think so. i mean, since i have been -- i was on, i had a minority position. now every politician is

celebrating their tiktok following, but let's see where it goes with the supreme court. >> martha: okay. thanks so much for joining us this morning. we appreciate it. up next, we're just six weeks to inauguration day when donald trump promises to launch his deportation program on day one. so what will that look like? we'll ask trump ally, congressman byron donalds when we come back. how are folks 60 and older having fun these days? family cookouts! ♪ playing games! ♪ dancing in the par... (high pitched sound) (high pitched sound) (high pitched sound) your record label is taking off. but so is your sound engineer. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. our advanced matching helps find talented candidates,

so you can connect with them fast. visit indeed.com/hire what's up, you seem kinda sluggish today. things aren't really movin'. you could use some metamucil. metamucil's psyllium fiber helps keep your digestive system moving so you can feel lighter and more energetic. metamucil keeps you movin'. and try fizzing fiber plus vitamins. known for pursuing your passions. no one wants to be known for cancer but a treatment can be. keytruda is known to treat cancer. fda-approved for 17 types of cancer, including certain early-stage and advanced cancers. one of those cancers is early-stage non—small cell lung cancer. keytruda may be used with certain chemotherapies before surgery when you have early-stage lung cancer, which can be removed by surgery, and then continued alone after surgery to help prevent your lung cancer from coming back. keytruda can cause your immune system to attack healthy parts of your body during or after treatment. this may be severe and lead to death. see your doctor right away if you have cough, shortness of breath,

chest pain, diarrhea, severe stomach pain, severe nausea or vomiting, headache, light sensitivity, eye problems, irregular heartbeat, extreme tiredness, constipation, dizziness or fainting, changes in appetite, thirst, or urine, confusion, memory problems, persistent or severe muscle pain or weakness, muscle cramps, fever, rash, itching, or flushing. there may be other side effects. tell your doctor about all medical conditions, including immune system problems, such as crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, or lupus, if you've had or plan to have an organ, tissue, or stem cell transplant, received chest radiation, or have a nervous system condition, such as myasthenia gravis or guillain-barré syndrome. keytruda is an immunotherapy and is also being studied in hundreds of clinical trials exploring ways to treat even more types of cancer. it's tru. keytruda from merck. see all the types of cancer keytruda is known for at keytruda.com and ask your doctor if keytruda could be right for you. amy m writes, if keytruda could be “my kids are having a wicked-themed sleepover. will my internet hold up?"

well our xfinity gateways are like magic, designed to easily power a ton of teenagers and their devices. they're so magic, i'm like the good witch of engineering. and i'm the wicked witch of beta testing. and i'm the wizard of spreadsheets. i knew he'd excel at that job. get xfinity gig internet for $25 a month when you add mobile. or lock in your internet price for two years. and see “wicked” in theaters now. >> martha: when you look at immigration today and the border and what's happened, and you see so many people coming across, what do you think? >> i don't believe anymore on the democrat body because they promised and promised, and then they never do anything. so ooirm i'm voting for donald >> martha: that was one of the many voters i spoke to this

election cycle who said they were voting for former president trump because of immigration. this week, the president-elect announced several new nominees and appointments to lead his aggressive immigration agenda including rodney scott as commissioner of customs and border protection. he led border patrol in the final years of trump's administration, and the start of biden's back in 2019. we toured 14 miles of the southern border with him near san diego. >> we cannot effectively control the border without barriers to slow down illegal entries. >> martha: is there any part of you still where you look at that family and think, ugh. got to help them? >> on many, many levels i feel compassion for those people, but i also feel compassion for the several thousand people that have been in line at the san ysidro port of entry waiting for weeks to do it right, and those people have cut in front of them. >> martha: i'm now joined by byron donalds. thanks for joining us this

morning. we know there were record-breaking border crossings during the biden administration, but since june, migrant encounters between ports of entry have decreased by 55% in every month since july. those encounters have been below 60,000. the last time those numbers were that low was when president-elect trump was in office, but you think more needs to be done. >> well, first of all, martha, it's great to be with you. second of all, the reason those numbers were decreasing since june is because joe biden was trying to win re-election. obviously he didn't make it to the election. kamala harris then tried to win the office. she couldn't get it done, but the entire time we knew that this border crisis was manmade, and politically made by joe biden and kamala harris. so they were the ones that tried to tweak those dials which you can do. they were defeated, and so now what president trump is going to do, he's going to secure our border. he's going to shut down illegal immigration, and the american people are going to see those

numbers go down even more. secondly,a lot of what the biden administration has been done is using the cbp1 app for illegal immigrants to basically get an appointment time for when they can cross our southern border. the american people have soundly rejected that, and so the appointees that have been made by president trump to secure our nation on day one are going to get this under control, and have members of congress working under donald trump are going to make sure we secure the country's borders, both southern and northern once and for all. >> martha: let's talk about how he's going to do it. he said he's going to declare a national emergency and use military assets to execute his mass deportation plan. what does that look like? >> well, first and foremost, we have been very clear throughout the entire campaign that the first order of business is going to be removing, repatriating these criminal illegal aliens, almost to the tune of a million

of them back to their home countries. that is step one. step two, we already talked about, making sure that our borders, whether it's at the point of entry -- >> martha: but how do you do that? i want some detail there. >> or illegal points they're not allowed to come through. >> martha: give me detail there. what's the military going to do? >> well, first of august, when you're talking about military assets being used, that's only in an extreme last resort. there are more than 6,000 officers who have been -- who have dedicated their lives to having to remove illegal aliens from our country. people who already have illegal deportation order, but they haven't -- it hasn't been affectuated by joe biden. what donald trump is going to do, we're going to repatriate those people using those personnel at i.c.e. and other parts of the department of homeland security to remove them. i think if you are going to use military assets, that's in the last resorts, but it's only for a logistical purposes, martha,

and so i think that what we have to be very careful of is not to try to throw out this idea that you're going to have troops in the united states going door to door. that is not going to happen. >> martha: a recent analysis found it would cost about $315 billion and take at least ten years to deport everyone in the u.s. without legal status. you often talk about the need to cut government spending. so how is this mass deportation going to be paid for? >> well, martha, i will tell you what realready know is, is that the cost of massive illegal immigration to the federal government, to state governments, and to local governments is more than $150 billion per year. so if you are going to say that it cost us $300 billion over a decade to repatriate illegal aliens to their home country versus the american taxpayer having to pay more than a trillion dollars over the same decade to keep those illegal aliens in the united states, that is a savings to the

american people, and so it is important that yes. we are going to have to use resources to repatriate these people back to their countries where they belong, but it pales in comparison to the costs of massive illegal immigration ending in the united states, not just trying to subsidize people living here, but it's also the crime that has occur. you can bring up rachel nongarry with the tragedy that's happened to her. laken riley, the tragedy that's happened to her, and not to mention the displacement of americans in their own cities when it comes to rampant illegal immigration. as far as i'm concerned this is a savings for the american people. >> martha: quickly if you will, how many undocumented immigrants do you expect president trump to deport during his four years? there are 11 million, 13 million. how many? >> listen. as far as i'm concerned, stopping the flow is number one, and then at a minimum, i would say just speaking with you

anecdotally, it's at a minimum going to be 2 million, but it's going to be more because the amount of people who already have a deportation order, people who are in our country who have committed crimes, people who have already been convicted of murder, they need to go, and go immediately, and then when you have an active deportation process, we do know that there are aliens who are going to want to go back to their home country. they're not going to want to be caught up in the process of dealing with i.c.e. because if you are deported through that process, then you will actually be barred from returning to the united states for a period of ten years. >> martha: okay. i'm going to have to stop you there. >> when you turn off -- martha -- hold on, martha. real quick. when you turn off the spigots of opening our borders, when you turn off the spigots of all this aid going to illegal aliens in the united states, and then you have a president of the united states and a government who is serious about repatriating people back to their home country, you will see that the -- the enticement of coming

to america is not going to be what it was under joe biden. >> martha: okay. thanks for joining us this morning. we appreciate it, congressman. up next, the round table breaks down the latest on the trump transition and president biden's pardon of his son, hunter. we're back in a moment. (fisher investments) at fisher investments we may look like other money managers, but we're different. (other money manager) you can't be that different. (fisher investments) we are. we have a team of specialists not only in investing, but also in financial and estate planning and more. (other money manager) your clients rely on you for all that? (fisher investments) yes. and as a fiduciary, we always put their interests first. (other money manager) but you still sell commission- based products, right? (fisher investments) no. we have a simple management fee structured so we do better when our clients do better. (other money manager) huh, we're more different than i thought! (fisher investments) at fisher investments, we're clearly different. sometimes jonah wrestles with falling asleep... ...so he takes zzzquil. the world's #1 sleep aid brand. and wakes up feeling like himself. get the rest to be your best with non-habit forming zzzquil. ♪ ♪

hon', take airborne! it has 7 key nutrients to help fill those holes your immune system may have. what holes? [screams] new airborne. 7 immune supporting nutrients. our most complete support yet. ♪ ♪ have you always had trouble with your weight? same. discover the power of wegovy®. with wegovy®, i lost 35 pounds. and some lost over 46 pounds. and i'm keeping the weight off. i'm reducing my risk. wegovy® is the only weight-management medicine proven to reduce risk of major cardiovascular events such as death, heart attack, or stroke in adults with known heart disease and obesity. don't use wegovy® with semaglutide or glp-1 medicines, or in children under 12. don't take if you or your family had mtc, men 2, or if allergic to it. tell your prescriber if you are breastfeeding, pregnant, or plan to be. stop taking and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or any of these allergic reactions.

serious side effects may include pancreas inflammation and gallbladder problems. call your prescriber if you have any of these symptoms. wegovy® may cause low blood sugar in people with diabetes, especially if you take medicines to treat diabetes. call your prescriber about vision changes, if you feel your heart racing while at rest, or if you have mental changes. depression or thoughts of suicide may occur. common side effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, stomach pain, flu, or upset, headache, feeling tired, dizzy, or bloated, gas, and heartburn. some side effects lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. with wegovy®,... ...i'm losing weight,... ...i'm keeping it off,... ...and i'm lowering my cv risk. check your coverage before talking to your prescriber about wegovy®. >> martha: the round table is all here ready to take on another busy week in washington and around the world. we'll be right back. it is inevitable. they will grow up.

(♪) discover who they are (♪) what they want from this world. and how they will make it better. and while parenting has changed, how much you care has not. that's why instagram is introducing teen accounts. automatic protections for who can contact them and the content they can see. (♪) what are folks 60 and older learning these days? new perspectives! ♪ how to fix things. ♪ fun recip... (high pitched sound) (high pitched sound) (high pitched sound) (♪)

(♪) voltaren... for long lasting arthritis pain relief. (♪) this holiday season, send a reminder of how much we mean to each other. shutterfly, make something that means something. enjoy 40% off your order with code cards40. order now for holiday delivery many remedies you take for chest congestion only mask the symptoms. you're gonna love this property. try this. mucinex 12 hour treats the mucus that causes chest congestion for all-day relief. ahhh! mucinex in, mucus out! treat the cause. >> umgc gave me the ability to succeed again. it allowed me to understand my true potential in life and gave me the tools to go get it. i feel i can accomplish anything. >> learn more at umgc.edu. known for creating memories. no one wants to be known for cancer,

but a treatment can be. keytruda is known to treat cancer. fda-approved for 17 types of cancer, including certain early-stage and advanced cancers. one of those cancers is a kind of bladder and urinary tract cancer called advanced urothelial cancer. keytruda may be used with the medicine enfortumab vedotin in adults when your bladder or urinary tract cancer has spread or cannot be removed by surgery. keytruda can cause your immune system to attack healthy parts of your body during or after treatment. this may be severe and lead to death. see your doctor right away if you have cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, diarrhea, severe stomach pain, severe nausea or vomiting, headache, light sensitivity, eye problems, irregular heartbeat, extreme tiredness, constipation, dizziness or fainting, changes in appetite, thirst, or urine, confusion, memory problems, persistent or severe muscle pain or weakness, muscle cramps, fever, rash, itching, or flushing. there may be other side effects. tell your doctor about all medical conditions, including immune system problems, such as crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, or lupus,

if you've had or plan to have an organ, tissue, or stem cell transplant, received chest radiation, or have a nervous system condition, such as myasthenia gravis or guillain-barré syndrome. keytruda is an immunotherapy and is also being studied in hundreds of clinical trials exploring ways to treat even more types of cancer. it's tru. keytruda from merck. see all the types of cancer keytruda is known for at keytruda.com, and ask your doctor if keytruda could be right for you. >> martha: let's bring in our powerhouse round table, former dnc chair donna brazile, former rnc chair and trump white house chief of staff, reince priebus, abc news contributing political correspondent, rachael bade who was just named as politico's new capitol bureau chief and senior washington columnist, and new yorker staff writer, the great susan glasser. i'm going to start with you, rachael. with all your new titles there. donald trump just said on nbc,

speaking of immigration, that he is willing to work with democrats for a plan to keep -- protect dreamers, the people who came into this country as children. >> i mean, first of should check on stephan miller and his blood pressure right now. i'm sure this is not something his top immigration adviser is going to want to hear. i take -- i see this in two ways. number one, is if he wants to pass a big immigration bill through congress, he's probably going to have to give to some moderate republicans or democrats, but to me this more seems like him trying to sort of give a little sugar to make the medicine go down. donald trump, he has made clear he's going to deport migrants. he's going to crack down at the border on day one. i mean, he was just talking about trying to end birthright citizenship. that's obviously not going to happen because it's in the constitution. >> martha: he's said that before, yep. >> but look. maybe he's trying to soften things right now.

he ran on immigration and least going to be tough on immigration. people should expect that, and this seems like an odd tone to me. >> martha: and same kind of doubling down in this interview as well about pete hegseth who he seemed ton wavering there for a while. his pick as defense secretary, but really doubling down now. >> yeah. i mean, look. we all know, you know, about former and future president trump that he likes a fight. he has chosen a certain number of extremely confrontational nominee, but remember the math is the math in the u.s. senate. pete hegseth is in trouble as a defense secretary nominee -- >> martha: with all these new allegations. >> there are an array of allegations both about his personal conduct, about his alleged mismanagement of two small veterans groups that he was in charge of running. this is the world's largest, most complex bureaucracy. some of his views as well have caused key concerns for senators for example. his questioning of women in

combat roles. he can only afford to lose three republican senators, and the math suggest that is his nomination remains in trouble. >> martha: and perhaps the most important player in all of this is joni ernst who's met with him. she's the first female veteran to serve in the senate. she met with hegseth this week. let's put up what she said after that meeting. i appreciate pete hegseth's service the our country, something we both share. today is part of the confirmation process. we had a frank and thorough discussion, not exactly a rousing endorsement, but late friday she tweeted that they planned to meet again, but she is key. >> no question. first of all, she's a champion of women in the military. she's a veteran herself. she speaks for not just republicans -- i think republican women, but she speaks for women in general when she is concerned about these allegations against the nominee for the defense department. she has every right to ensure that he is properly vetted and given a hearing, but i think

what her main message is, is that women in the military will be respected. >> it's amazing to me that just real quickly on joni ernst, the trump campaign clearly is trying to make an example of her right now. i mean, look. there's a pressure campaign going on behind the scenes. i mean, people are talking about her divorce records, talking -- threatening about primarying her, calling her a rhino, only a republican in name. this won't help pete hegseth get to his confirmation, but it sends a message to other republicans, you stand against donald trump's nominees, we're coming after you too. >> martha: reince, i want to ask you because you've seen the stories. you've seen the allegations. hegseth says now he is a changed man. do you think from what you've read, that he had a problem with alcohol? >> well, i don't know whether he did or didn't. i think he is a changed man. i think i've seen that myself just in talking to him over the

years. >> martha: what do you mean by that? >> because i have had personal conversations with him, talking about faith. when i worked in the white house, i met with pete. i talked to him a few times during this process. i get the sense of a pretty -- a good spirit in pete, but one thing i just want to keep in mind, the number one, these are the -- the keyword here are allegations, and the senate's going to have an opportunity to take donald trump's nominee and examine the nominee and make a decision. i'm not so sure that pressure isn't going to work. i think pressure's worked pretty well for donald trump over the years, and he's won about everything that he's -- that he's set himself out to win. >> not on obamacare repeal when you were chief of staff. >> that's true, but -- but those people paid a price too, and they're no longer around. the other piece is i think this election was about, you know, what has these traditional picks done for us in this country? i mean, we've got debt out of control. we've got low morale in the military. so yeah.

you know what? pete's not a traditional pick, but part of this election was the american people saying, i think we're kind of going against traditional right now for a while. we're going to see how we do. >> martha: well, donald trump sort of did that the first time around too. donna? >> he's back in action. >> well, look. he's back in action. look. the pressure campaign i think is going to work up to a point, and because many of these republicans are institutionalists and they respect not only their constitutional responsibility, but they also understand that the norms are rules should not all be broken simply because donald trump or his allies will threaten you with, you know, a primary. >> and i want to point out there's one thing which is the question of pete hegseth's extreme views which fall outside the mainstream, and which may be an example of what reince is talking about in terms of trump's, you know, desire to sort of blow up the system right now, but then there's many of these allegations that go to his personal conduct, to his behavior towards women, to his

use or abuse of alcoholism. that has nothing to do with his faith. remember that in nbc's report about the nominee, they were quoting ten current and former fox employees expressing concerns up to recent weeks about his behaviors. >> martha: which he denies, but at the same time -- >> right, exactly. >> martha: but at the same time, he says he's a changed man. i want to talk about, if he makes it, susan, and you know the pentagon well. he is someone who said he doesn't think women should be in combat. he doesn't like diversity training. so how do you think that would go over in the pentagon? >> yeah. i mean, i'm really struck by -- it's a very different view of national security that you hear from hegseth, that you hear from another of the incoming president's controversial nominees, kash patel. it's essentially repivoting the idea of america first to be about national security threats from within. they've talked about the enemy within. hegseth's writings and speaking in recent years have focused on

internal, you know, essentially loyalty tests or the idea that, quote, unquote, woke generals are undermining our national security. it's going to be a focus on the institution itself rather than external enemies and that's in line with what trump has been saying. >> martha: not only the enemies within, but -- which leads me to what joe biden said this week. he's already pardoned his son, but says he may give pre-emptive pardons to people like mark milley, to people who were in kash patel's book for instance, a liz cheney or -- go ahead, reince. >> he has an opportunity to do that as president of the united states. he'll make the decision. he has that power. the other piece of this, two quick things that are missing here. number one, pete hegseth has two bronze stars, three tours, princeton, harvard, and he's no dum dummy. he knows the military number one. there's going to be a deputy

secretary and potentially talking about steven feinberg. this is a big brain guy who runs ma massive, detailed finance company in wall street. so it's not just pete hegseth running the department. the second thing is donald trump is getting stronger. he's in france. biden's in angola, you know, trump's talking about hell to pay. biden's talking about don't do that. it's a strength and weakness, and donald trump's actually getting stronger as we move forward through this. >> martha: i want to stick to these pardons for a moment which we have reported that he is considering. didn't actually say that out loud, but donna, what do you think about that, about the pre-emptive pardons? adam schiff said i don't want one. >> that's fine. there is some precedent for that versus a blanket pardon system, but the bottom line is the president has to powehe power t it. we know why he did it. his son has been harassed.

his son has been prosecuted for crimes that aub whenoften when your taxes, the penalties. no one is threatening you with jail time. they get the money and they say, let's get the next person. the president has every right to wrestle with these decisions and i hope he comes out with something that is standard and something that everyone can apply for. >> martha: and rachael, i want to end with you. i want to go to syria and what has happened there overnight. really stunning, and comments by tulsi gabbard who is nominee for intelligence chief. >> yeah. no. she has benefitted from the fact we're all talking about hegseth and a few weeks ago, matt gaetz. she visited assad when he was killing his own people. she has been pro-russia in the past. democrats have said she's a russian asset. this is going to bring her nomination back into the spotlight in a way that is not beneficial to her or donald trump. >> martha: okay. thanks to all of you. we have so much more to talk about as the year rolls on. we'll be right back.

jen b asks, "how can i get fast download speeds while out and about?" jen, we've engineered xfinity mobile with wifi speeds up to a gig, so you can download and do much more all at once. it's an idea that's quite attractive. or... another word... -fashionable? i was gonna say- "popular! you're gonna be pop-uuuu-larrr!" can you do defying gravity?! yeah, get my harness. buy one line of unlimited, get one free for a year with xfinity mobile. and see “wicked,” in theaters now.

>> martha: that's all for us today. thax for sharing part of your sunday with us, and we leave you on a happy note with images of paris' notre dame cathedral reopening this weekend five years after that devastating fire. have a great day. ♪

[elevator bell dings] ♪ na, na, na-na-na ♪ ♪ na-na-na-na-na ♪ ♪ na, na, na-na-na ♪ ♪ yeah! come on! ♪ ♪ take a look at us, yeah ♪ -oh, hi. -hi. ♪ from the top to the bottom, yeah ♪ ♪ you know we got it ♪ ♪ hey, we about to turn it up ♪ -hey. -hello. ♪ just can't get enough ♪ ♪ hey, we don't even have to flex ♪ ♪ yeah, already know we the best ♪ ♪ got me like na, na, na-na-na ♪ ♪ na-na-na-na-na ♪ oh. i love your music. thank-- thank you. ♪ we're just getting started ♪ [♪♪]