visit myoptimizerplus.com to open an account. service. security. savings. synchrony bank engage with us. breaking news, north korea releases two americans that it's been holding for months. it was unexpected. but there's another part of this story raising even more questions at this hour. back to iraq. more u.s. troops headed there to help in the fight against isis. how much actual combat might they see? it's a map with plenty of action. but it means an unseasonable cold spell. the day after, reaction to that meeting between republicans and the white house at capitol hill. is it the start of something big or more of the same?

high noon here in the east. 9:00 a.m. out west. become to "weekends with alex witt." breaking news, two americans who had been detained in north korea are on their way home. a short time ago, the state department announced the release of kenneth bae and matthew todd miller. james clapper is personally accompanying the men to the u.s. bae was arrested two years ago as he entered a northeastern city just near the border with china. north korea says he used his business to form groups to overthrow the government and sentenced him to 15 years hard labor. matthew todd miller was arrested in april after destroying his tourist visa and demanding asylum. he was sentenced to six years of hard labor for what's described as hostile acts. the release following the release of another american, jeffrey fowle. ian joins us. what are you hearing?

>> reporter: what we can say for sure is they are on their way home accompanied by james clapper who was in pyongyang. who's been in pyongyang since midweek. although the u.s. insists there was no deal. also, the swedish embassy's been on this case for some time. now, those two individuals, kenneth bae and matthew miller, couldn't be any more different. miller showed up there, reportedly tore up his visa and asked for asylum. which was puzzling to the north koreans and so they put him in jail for six months. kenneth bae was sentenced for 15 years. he's been undergoing hard labor now for two years. he's a tour operator. after the timing of this, it was one thing that's predictable about north korea is its unpredictability. it's hard to say why they chose this moment to do it.

no americans are now in custody in north korea. it may well be because this is on the eve of a pretty big gathering here in beijing of apec, asia-pacific economic conference leaders, including president obama. and it's not the first time that the north koreans have tried in their own weight to muscle in on proceedings. also, china's become much more lukewarm towards north korea. hard to say for sure, but certainly they are now on their way home. for the first time for some period, there are no americans now being held in the north, alex. >> nbc's ian williams with the latest on this breaking news. thank you so much, from beijing. on the heels of that, joining me now, sumi terry.

what light can you shed on that with your intelligence and background? >> there's another motivation. it's all about what's going on in the united nations and human rights situation. united nations general assembly next month is probably going to pass a nonbinding resolution referring to the u.n. security council, the humanitarian situation in north korea to refer to the icc, international criminal court, this year, the u.n. released a 400-page landmark report criticizing north korea's humanitarian situation calling many of the violations crimes against humanity. since then, north korea has this massive charm offensive, even sending u.n. -- north korean ambassador tried to defend its human rights record.

it's providing yet another motivation. >> but is it legitimate? what makes you think that kim jong-un would be all that caring about the human rights violations? surely he's got to know what's going on inside his own country. >> he could ignore the situation, but i think the u.n. report is talking about just personally saying that kim jong-un himself is committing crimes against humanity, that we should refer to the icc. it's really been bothering the north koreans. it's not the only motivation but it's certainly been a factor, along with some other things we just talked about. china is no longer so supportive of north korea. and north korea is looking at other nations. >> how about the fact that the director of national intelligence, james clapper, is personally bringing these men home. did he travel midweek to the region to do that? they said this was unexpected. but would intelligence have known this was brewing? >> yes, of course.

this was sort of part of how the negotiation occurred. i'm sure north koreans -- they always want some very high-level person, american to go to north korea. but i'm sure they've been asking for former presidents, maybe president clinton. but this is what the u.s. came up with. it's a little bit surprising in terms of clapper as his choice. but i'm sure this is what was negotiated. >> and what was reported by ian williams is that mr. clapper claims there was nothing in exchange for this release. do you believe that? >> i do. i think north korea is on this charm offensive phase. they have their own rationale for it, including to sort of show the world that they're not a bad country and to have a motive of that, as i mentioned to you, about human rights -- >> and what's going on at the u.n. decisions like this are made at the highest level. do you suspect that kim jong-un himself was in on this? >> absolutely. there's no way they can be released without kim jong-un making the call. >> this follows the third

release of the american last month, mr. fowle. does this show a tactics change, do you think, within the north korean government? >> tactics have shifted to the charm offensive phase which means it will then shift back to the provocation phase once things don't work out exactly how the north koreans expect. >> do you think the north koreans expect or want direct talks with the united states? and if so, on what level? >> they would probably want to get back to six-party talks. the problem is what they want is not to talking about the denuclearization of the north, but of the korean peninsula, that means moving the umbrella to south korea. but we have to talk about denuclearization of the north and the uranium enrichment program. so we don't have a xhcommon the on what we're going to talk about. >> thank you so much. another major story developing at this hour, the president named his choice to

replace outgoing attorney general eric holder. it is u.s. attorney loretta lynch. lynch is in her second stint as a federal prosecutor for eastern new york. if confirmed by the senate, lynch would be the first african-american woman to hold that decision. the president said she's the right person to continue to work done by attorney general holder. >> i could not be more confident that loretta will bring her signature intelligence and passion and commitment to our key priorities, including important reforms in our criminal justice system. >> chris jansing is joining us from the white house. how did lynch become the top choice for this president? >> reporter: this happened very quickly. she definitely was the least controversial of a short list that was out there to succeed eric holder. she, as you mentioned, not only was twice confirmed for the u.s. attorney spot but by affirmation -- in addition that, in the political realm, she's

not personally close to the president. given we're going into a republican seat, that might be an advantage for her. so really the outstanding question now is when will these confirmation hearings take place? the democrats have indicated they'd like to see it move quickly. having said that, there was a thought this wasn't going to be officially announced until the president returned in ten days from his asian trip. so the strategy is not fully formed. and we've heard from mitch mcconnell who is the presumed new majority leader in the senate. he said, look, in this whole spirit of bipartisan cooperation, we should wait on this. officially from the white house, i think they feel pretty confident about her ability to get confirmed. they would like it sooner rather than later. but they wouldn't have qualms with the fact if it gets put off until january. >> i want to switch to what happened late yesterday when the topic of iraq came up. the president authorized 1,500

more troops to be sent there in an advisory role. >> reporter: more than doubling. a much larger footprint. on the other hand, it's not totally unexpected. as we've watched the air strikes and seen they've hit with some precision, we've also seen the iraqi forces on the ground have not been able to stop in many cases the forward advancement of the isis forces. so those advisers are going to go in, officially they're not in a combat -- they're in a noncombat role. but they're obviously going to be in the middle of it all. as our good friend, colonel jack jacobs, has often said, there's a fine line between being in an advisory role and being in a combat role officially. that's not what they will be. but they're hoping to get some of the iraqi forces on the ground up and running a little better than they are now to be an addition to what the air strikes have been. >> chris jansing at the white house, thank you so much. another good friend joining me right now, retired general barry mccaffrey.

general, is this what mission creep looks like? >> well, i think the white house is very concerned about both mission creep and boots on the ground. but, alex, we've got now thousands of troops there fighting, calling in air strikes, intelligence, advising, training. there's a security detachment at the baghdad airport which includes apache-armed helicopters. so i think we're back in. the numbers of troops you're talking about are being dictated by political optics out of the white house. that's my concern. to avoid being -- talking about boots on the ground, we have to start putting these people in hovercraft because we have to maintain security for thousands of americans at the embassy and try and maintain security over the baghdad airport. >> in addition, sir, as you're well aware, there are several hundred who will be deployed to the anbar province, where cities have nearly all fallen to isis.

it's been a bloody region. how dangerous is that for our troops? >> well, baghdad itself is a constant theme of car bombs and suicide bombings and machine-gunning. so the whole country's in danger. the sunni tribes that tried to ri resist isis are being slaughtered. so the question is, how to get training, equipment and support to the sunni tribes that don't want to fall to isis? and we're going to put people up north of baghdad in taji to an operations center. but my guess is if we took the mission and said, what's the requirement, we'd have 10,000, 15,000 troops back in there. this is a shoestring, risky operation. thank god for u.s. naval airpower. >> how much of a difference can a deployment like this make for iraq and its training purposes? >> well, clearly, the problem

with the iraqi army isn't that they lack training. we put literally tens of billions of dollars in equipment and training for the iraqi forces for nearly a decade. >> isn't that what we're supposed to be doing, sir, going over training and advising? what are we doing? >> it's nuts. they know how to load rifles and run into a room in a stack of ten soldiers. their problem was incompetent politically based officers. they're seen as a repressive shiite army. they're seen as people that can't fight. so shiite militias are doing a lot of the counter-isis work. and then finally, it seems to me, isis ended up incorporating a lot of saddam's generals and colonels because they felt they were repressed by the iraqi government. iraq has come apart. it's hard to imagine the iraqi army putting it back together. >> general barry mccaffrey, thank you as always, sir.

making a big turn now in topics, to the weather. from autumn breeze to wintry freeze. alex wallace has more for us. alex? >> good saturday to you. cool conditions for the weekend setting up across parts of the midwest but not too terrible. maybe 5, 10 degrees below average. tomorrow, more of the same out there for us. 39 in traverse city, nearly 10 degrees below your average. pittsburgh, tolerable at 48. i want to talk about what's coming, though, because big, big polar plunge settling in. right now, all the cold air is bottled up into canada. next week it spills down into the country in the eastern half of the nation, going to be dealing with bone-chilling numbers. highs, 10 to 20 degrees below average as we head through next week. a couple of cities to show you what's going to be like. chicago, 50. but by thursday, only 32. oklahoma city goes from 71 to 38. and rapid city, 60 to 19 degrees.

here's monday as it all begins. highs are in the 20s. i want to point that out. these are high temperatures, not morning numbers. highs in the teens for you in rapid city by tuesday down towards oklahoma city, you'll start to feel that chill as well. wednesday's high, 42 degrees. all these areas very cold. and it's not just going to be a quick-hitter. the forecast goes out all the way through next week, talking about the following week monday, these highs in minneapolis staying below freezing. longlasting. >> just cold thinking about it. thank you very much. as republicans now hold the reins of both the house and senate, will we see any notable changes out of washington? senator bob casey joins me. . and even though their dentures look clean, in reality they're not. if a denture were to be put under a microscope, we can see all the bacteria that still exists on the denture, and that bacteria multiplies very rapidly. that's why dentists recommend cleaning with polident everyday. polident's unique

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appointed leaders on capitol hill, president obama appeared hopeful during yesterday's luncheon with the top members of congress. >> the one thing i've committed to both speaker boehner and leader mcconnell is that i am not going to judge ideas based on whether they're democratic or republican. i'm going to be judging them based on whether or not they work. and i'm confident that they want to produce results as well on behalf of the american people. >> joining me now, democratic senator bob casey, member of the finance committee and the joint economic committee. always good to see you. >> thanks, alex. good to be with you. >> look, that was a nice sentiment from the president. does either side have any real intentions, judging ideas based on merit and not politics? that would be a lot different than what it's been like the last six, eight years. >> i think both sides have a substantial degree of pressure

on each side to come together and work together. i think there's certainly an opportunity, talking about the new congress in january on -- i think an opportunity to come together on tax reform, on the budget, infrastructure, maybe even the minimum wage. all four from a direct and substantial impact on the economy because we know as much as there's been tremendous job growth, probably some of the best job growth since world war ii, we still have wage stagnation for a lot of people. a lot of people in the middle class haven't really recovered fully from the great recession. so i think there's a lot of pressure on both sides to get something done. >> well, the biggest complaint from the republicans for the president yesterday was his plan to use executive action on immigration. they say by doing so, it will ruin any chance of a compromise. do they have a point? >> well, i think -- i don't think they have a point in terms of what's happened in the recent past.

you know from reporting on this, we had a great consensus despite all the frustrations of the last couple of years, a great consensus in the senate where more than -- i guess about 67 or 68 senators came together on a comprehensive immigration reform bill, four democrats, four republicans came together and put it together. and then the senate ratified it. that was the spring of 2013, jii guess about june of '13. and the house did nothing with it. that bipartisan consensus should form the foundation of any legislative effort. and the president's been saying, we have to take action on this. every month that goes by that we don't do something on immigration harms our economy and really harms our long-term fiscal prospects. so i think you're seeing a debate that's in the early stages. i wouldn't read too much into the early skirmishes. >> well, speaking of fiscal perspective, senator mcconnell said yesterday that there was going to be no government

shutdown when the debt ceiling comes up again next year. does majority leader mcconnell have the influence over the party with people like ted cruz who make that guarantee? >> well, that remains to be seen. but as someone who's been condemning efforts to shut tp government down and fought hard against it, that's a good development. it's a very positive development. that should be off the table forever. i think taking it off the table now is very important. but the republican leadership has to be able to prove, as you indicated, whether or not they can control the far right. we'll see what they do. but if they can achieve that, that will be -- that will take one political weapon of mutual destruction off the table. >> and your party now in the minority there in the senate. tell people how that might affect your job as a senator and your ability to do things, if at all. >> well, alex, we still have november and december. and i think it can be a time

period within which we can have a debate about the challenge posed by isis and have an important debate about that. get the budget -- or the appropriation bills done as best we can before the end of the year. and i think one measure that i've been supporting in leading is the able act, which is to create a 529 savings plan for folks with disabilities like we have for higher education. no bill has more support in the congress. so i think we can get that passed. but when we get into the new congress, i believe that both sides have to try to work together. we've been in the majority. now we're going to be in the minority. we have to figure out a way to move forward. doesn't mean you surrender your principles or fight very hard for issues and causes you believe in. but we have to figure out a way to identify common grounden and get there even when there are places we will never work together. >> do you think there may need

to be at least a consideration of a change in democratic leadership? >> no, i think harry reid's been a very strong and effective leader. he's going to run for the leadership of our caucus again with his leadership team. and i'll support them. i think this is more about folks identifying areas where we can work together that will help the economy. reforming the tax code, both sides understand the urgency of that. that could give a really kick-start to the economy as could investment in infrastructure and increasing the minimum wage. republicans have told us they support an increase in the minimum wage. we hope it's the bill that we have, which is raise it to $10.10 over three years. it would provide an injection of economic help that would be great for the economy. >> absolutely. it was revealed as we switch gears here that the president sent a secret letter to iran's

ayatollah khamenei. here's what john boehner had to say. >> i don't trust the iranians. i have my doubts. >> a few years ago, they were attacking and killing our troops in iraq. can they be trusted? >> i have real skepticism about that. the iranian regime for a long period of time has been the leading state sponsor of terrorism. so that in and of itself makes it very difficult to get to a consensus or conclusion when it comes to the negotiations about their nuclear program. it also makes it very difficult to work with them in the region. so i have a lot of skepticism. if the administration can demonstrate that they can make progress through some kind of engagement, i'm willing to listen. but i have real skepticism

because of the recent history. it wasn't long ago, only a few years ago, back in 2011, they were helping -- not helping but leading a plot to blow up a restaurant in washington, d.c. which would have killed a lot of americans. whether it's that example or multiple other examples, i have real skepticism. >> senator bob casey, thank you so much, sir. the index of ignorance. a new international poll reveals the most ignorant countries. [singing to himself] "here she comes now sayin' mony mony". ["mony mony" by billy idol kicks in on car stereo] ♪don't stop now come on mony♪ ♪come on yeah ♪i say yeah ♪yeah ♪yeah ♪yeah ♪yeah ♪yeah ♪yeah ♪'cause you make me feel like a pony♪ ♪so good ♪like your pony ♪so good ♪ride the pony the sentra, with bose audio and nissanconnect technology. spread your joy.

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." protests are expected today in mexico after what appears to be a horrific mass murder. the government says 43 missing students were killed and their charred remains thrown into a garbage dump and river. nbc's gabe gutierrez is in mexico city for us. gabe, what's the reaction been to this news there? >> reporter: alex, even for a country that is sadly accustomed to violence, this crime has set off a wave of outrage. 74 people have been detained, including dozens of police officers. and even the mayor of the town where these students were abducted. overnight in mexico city, prayers and protests. >> it could be any of us. >> reporter: after the apparent massacre of 43 young college students who had vanished six weeks ago. >> it was obscene.

absolutely barbaric. >> reporter: three drug members confessed to brutally killing a large group of people, burning their bodies for 15 hours. on september 26th, the students had been traveling by bus to a protest in iguala in southwestern mexico. prosecutors say the mayor and his wife, a couple with ties to a local drug cartel, ordered the local police to stop the students. after six people were shot dead, authorities believe the corrupt officers then handed the 43 students over to the cartel. this man this farmer says his son recently enrolled in this teachers college in search of a better life. he says it's a pain he can't possibly explain. the remains haven't been identified and the families of the missing students say they are awaiting dna test results before they believe their sons are dead.

it's unclear when that might happen. alex? >> horrific story. thank you very much, gabe. new reaction today following president obama's meeting with congressional leaders yesterday at the white house. they met for over two hours and discussed several topics, one being immigration. the overall theme, whether they can get anything done in the president's last two years. >> it was a good spirit and frank discussion which was beneficial both for us and hopefully for the president. he heard where republicans on capitol hill are coming from. but i hope we can create a foundation to actually get some things done. >> joining me now, lauren fox, staff correspondent for the national journal, and beth fouhy. beth, first question to you, was this meeting just about optics or was there a spirit of "let's get something done"? >> probably optics to begin with. but sounds like they got heated

about immigration. that was the most substantive thing they discussed. and this is the thing they're on a collision course about. it's just rerl canthey really ce to any common ground. he says it's a line in the sand he can't cross. the republicans are listening to their base, which wants no part of this. and the president is listening to hispanic voters. hispanic people in this country want some sort of path to having a life out of the shadows. >> on the heels of that with immigration, why is this such a corrosive subject between democrats and republicans? >> this is one issue that has been difficult to tackle over the last several decades. but what we've seen on capitol hill, in the senate, republicans and democrats came away with a bipartisan bill. this is something that in the house of representatives just hasn't gotten through. a lot of it has to do with the republican base. republican voters and the people

who came out in the midterm elections on tuesday are some of the voters that are most unlikely to support any kind of immigration reform. that's why it's corrosive. part of the problem is the president is between a promise he's made to constituents and latino voters for the last year or two years, really, and the promise that he has made to try to break gridlock on capitol hill. doesn't seem like he's going to be able to do both. >> here's something that john boehner said in his weekly address. let's listen to that. >> we'll take on obamacare regulations that threaten the 40-hour workweek and the pay and peace of mind of so many americans. >> take on obamacare? that does not sound like something that is an interesting compromise at all. >> yeah. well, mitch mcconnell, the new senate majority lead, said earlier in the week, they would chip away at some aspects of obamacare. but he and boehner came out in a big op-ed and said they were

going to try to get rid of it completely. that's another collision course. this law has benefited millions of americans. >> is that any different than the president saying, okay, in the last couple of months before we have this new congress, i'm going to take on potentially his executive authority, executive action to deal with immigration? is there any difference here in these two approaches? >> you make a good point. he does not want to take executive action, clearly. we do have a bill that was passed in the senate. could pass in the house during the lame duck. that's what the president is going to continue to say. until and unless you pass this law that had a bipartisan majority in the senate, there's nothing stopping me from taking executive action. >> lauren, seems like every single time one party gets a big electoral results, it overplays its hand. hasn't the obamacare issue been asked and answered? >> this is an issue that

republicans are going to move on on capitol hill especially with the op-ed we saw from mcconnell and boehner. but the president has the veto power. he's going to veto it. he's obviously not going to allow for the repeal of his signature accomplishment as the president. but, yes, i think there's a very good chance that republicans come into congress in 2015 and they find that they have schisms within their own party that are going to be difficult to overcome. once they get over something like repeal obamacare, it will be interesting to see what they take on next. in 2016, the map looks different. there's the possibility that republicans don't do enough in congress and when voters go to the voting booth in 2016, we might see a democratic president back in the white house. i think it might be difficult for republicans to really prove to voters that they have the power to legislate. >> lauren fox and beth fouhy, thanks so much. unpredictable, north korea does it again. what's behind the latest move of kim jong-un?

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it's not unusual for a second-term president to have a rough political landscape in their final years in office. for example, ronald reagan, bill clinton, george w. bush, all the faced the same problem. congress controlled by the opposite party but they still managed to pass meaningful reforms. what could this mean for the president's legacy? douglas brinkley joins me. how do presidents navigate a political landscape in their final years where congress is controlled by the opposite party? >> they start ginning up executive orders. you'd be surprised how many the president is going to sign. he has to do a lot of vetoing and some executive orders. and there's the issue of immigration. the president and congress both need to do something about it. that's going to be the interesting story, whether congress develops a bill that the president could sign, whether barack obama does an

executive order. that's going to be the big political issue over the next six months. >> what area can this president make the most impact to define his legacy in office? you talk about immigration, would it be that if he could get something done as compared to the aca? >> i think on foreign affairs, you still have quite a free hand. what's going to be our posture in the middle east? there's the chance of more troops going to iraq. you will get congressional support on fighting isis. and we're going to judge barack obama in history as how did he fight the war on terror. but there's a lot that needs to be done to repairing the nato situation, perhaps dealing with climate change, the president's talking about signing a lot of climate executive orders. there will be new national monuments signed in executive orders. but you won't see any bending on

the affordable care act. that is the signature piece as your last guest just said of president obama. he's not going to negotiate that away. that's what he's doing to going living on in history, he got that major piece of legislation through congress and he's not going to water it down. >> the president came into this hope riding a wave of hope and change. >> when we have faced down impossible odds, when we've been told we're not ready or that we shouldn't try or that we can't, generations of americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people -- yes, we can. >> where are we on that message? >> well, it's not a "yes, we can" climate in washington, d.c. the gridlock since president obama's entered the white house

has been the worst. but for gay americans, they're feeling more civil rights. gay marriage is becoming the law of the land. marijuana being decriminalized. climate change being addressed at least in a fairly serious way by the president. i think some of the changes will look good. but that idea that i'm going to come in -- it's a new america just did not happen under the president's watch. >> douglas, i'm looking at an article from february this year in which you said that the president was an above-average president. do you still stand by that characterization today? >> absolutely. you've got to get away from the politics of the moment. imagine two years from now if this economy holds up and he leaves office, a president who inherited the great recession and leaves office with wall street at all-time highs, hard not to give him a good grade on the economy. and on the war of terror, the

creating of drones as part of our strategy, the killing of osama bin laden, the vigilance he's shown on the war on terror. the middle east is a strike against the president but it's always a muddle in the middle east. so i think you might see some moves, for example, of doing more with cuba coming up. and you're seeing today's news cycle in north korea -- there are some areas in foreign affairs that this president could score some further gold stars in his last two years. >> enough to have you characterize him as a great president? does he have the time, is there the political temperament, the culture in washington, for him to get that? >> no, he's not a great president. there is such a thing as an obama democrat. and it's african-americans who 95% have stayed by him. but he's not a larger-than-life figure for the general population. he's more jimmy carter or george h.w. bush than say ronald reagan or fdr. i don't think he's going to live

in the imagination the way john f. kennedy did. but there's been a competence level from this president, but he sometimes falls short due to personality on selling his own agenda. he might have the right policies but he doesn't market it. and at president has to do that. he seems to have marketed himself when he runs for election for himself very well. but there's not a lot of coattails with barack obama. it's really an insular presidency in some ways. many democrats are very sore at him. if you just lost a governorship as a democrat or senator, you're blaming barack obama. and the democratic party didn't really double down on obama's record like they probably should have. easy to say now that we know the election results. but the democrats, it's really the party of the clintons, not obama. that makes him impossible to ever be seen as one of those seminal presidents like fdr or

reagan. >> douglas, thanks so much. ahead, the new documentary that takes a life-affirming look at soldiers coming home from the battlefield. ♪don't stop now come on mony♪ ♪come on yeah ♪i say yeah ♪yeah ♪yeah ♪yeah ♪yeah ♪yeah ♪yeah ♪'cause you make me feel like a pony♪ ♪so good ♪like your pony ♪so good ♪ride the pony the sentra, with bose audio and nissanconnect technology. spread your joy. nissan. innovation that excites. [singing] ♪mony mony ♪ ♪ ♪ are we still on for tomorrow? tomorrow. tomorrow is full of promise. we can come back tomorrrow. and we promise to keep it that way.

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as america embarks on another conflict in the middle east, the impact of the past 13 years of war is still being felt by the men and women who fought there. "the last patrol" ends thousands of miles from the front lines but it is very much a war film about men brought together in war lines, talking about the lasting impact of war and what it means to be a man in the modern age. >> the idea was to take a series of trips throughout the course of a year, walking through every season, starting in washington, d.c., and just heading north. we would bring my dog daisy for company and protection and a cameraman to record our experiences.

and while we were moving through america, we would have a 300-mile conversation about war, about what it does to you, about how it changes you and about why you miss it. why it's so hard to come back from war and reenter society. >> joining me now is the director of "the last patrol" sebastian younger. so glad to talk with you. during the commercial, we were talking about the previous film that had a much different tenor to it than this one did. did you want to end on a note where we could understand in the minds of our veterans? >> yeah. i wanted to be helpful to soldiers and to the nation. the former film came out when we were in the middle of a war. it was shocking for people to see the reality of that. but coming home is actually more complicated for soldiers than going to war is, in an odd way. this film is about the process

of coming home and the way four men, me, guillermo and two soldiers, did it along the railroad lines. sort of an out of the box solution but it worked. >> it worked because what you were doing as this group of four guys together, you were together as a unit. and that really mimics, it mirrors what happens when you're out in combat together. but it's different than the reality of when you come home. >> absolutely. they come home to a very fragmented, alienating society. you see the casualties of that in the suicide rate, the rate of depression in industrial society. not just with vets but with everybody. it's through the roof. and so you come home from a place of great bondedness and combat to this. it's very hard for people. we were basically vagrants on and off for a year. we didn't have tents. we carried everything we needed. we slept under bridges, in

abandoned buildings. we were on the margins of society. we had to stay out of sight for the police. they were looking for us. and those stresses created an incredibly close bond between us. we just weren't getting shot at. >> but you talk about as individuals, a lot of times these men and women come home and they have to be treated with medication as individuals to deal with their problem because you think that society has somewhat broken down in its ability to bring these people home. >> humans are a community-oriented collective species. we evolved into living groups of 30 or 40 people in a harsh environment. that's combat. that's a platoon in combat. young men and women have that experience and then come back to industrialized society that doesn't function like that and it's deeply shocking to them. >> i want to play a clip, it's when you stopped in chester, pennsylvania, a manufacturing community that's fallen on hard times. let's play part of that.

>> what are you guys doing? >> walking around the country to see what it looks like. >> you're kidding? >> yeah, we've walked from washington, d.c. >> that's great. >> trying to figure out what the best thing about america is? what do you think? >> free, freedom of speech. >> freedom of speech, man, freedom of religion. >> free country. >> i love that guy's reaction. man, that's great. how did those responses compare to other things you heard in different communities? >> we walked through some very depressed communities, very poor african-american communities in baltimore, chester, western philadelphia, invariably will people said, the best thing about america is freedom. political freedom. in the wealthier communities it was, land of opportunity, that kind of thing. and i feel having walked through this country, if you're sleeping under bridges at night, you're very vulnerable. so it allows you to understand

what you're walking through in a very intense way as opposed to driving through it. so what i saw an america that was very divided racially and socioeconomically. very, very divided. i feel as a nation, we're in a complicated place right now. if we can get rich people to understand that political freedom is incredibly valuable and actually think of that and we can get poorer people to think that this might actually be a land of opportunity for them, too, we'll be on a healing path. >> do you think putting that all together, sebastian, would negate what you hear so often, that a lot of these returning vets want to go back to combat? do you think if they felt more welcomed, more comfortable, more at home here? >> i think what they miss in combat is feeling necessary to a small group of people who are important to them personally. and they miss the brotherhood of combat. i even mean brotherhood in a nongender sense.

>> the community. >> the community. and people you'd be willing to risk your life for, die for. they miss that. obviously when they come home, they can't find that here. and no healthy person misses war, right? you would think. but actually -- i think there are some good things in war. and that's what they miss. that's the tragedy that it's not being reproduced in our society. i think if we're going to save the vet, we're really saving ourselves. >> sebastian, can't wait to see what you do next. but we celebrate this film with you. it premieres on hbo, check your local listings for time. brilliant skies in parts of the country right now. but in some places in days could turn into an arctic zone of sorts. [ telephone rings ] [ shirley ] edward jones. this is shirley speaking. how may i help you? oh hey, neill, how are you? how was the trip?

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why did it take the director of national intelligence to get them out? it's an introduction, president obama's choice for new attorney general. we'll show you why she's up to the task. miraculous rescue, a sleeping 5-year-old girl kidnapped from her bedroom, a 911 call and a family member's quick action saves her. and cold reality, the nation prepares for a brutal blast of winter. good day to all of you. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." breaking news to share with you. two americans held in north korea are on their way home. director of national intelligence james clapper is personally accompanying kenneth bae and matthew miller on their journey home to the u.s. a short time ago, president obama spoke about the release. >> it's a wonderful day for the families and obviously [ inaudible ] -- did a great job

on what was obviously a challenging mission. >> kelly cobiella is following the story for us. kelly, what do we know about the circumstances of north korea releasing bae and miller? >> reporter: well, good afternoon, alex. we still don't have a lot of details about how this all went down. but we do know that national intelligence director james clapper held talks with north korea to get kenneth bae and matthew todd miller released. bae had been held for nearly two years, sentenced to 15 years hard labor. his health apparently failing. matthew todd miller was in the country for seven months after ripping up his entrance visa. the state department released a statement on this today. and in it, they said, we are grateful to the director of national intelligence clapper who engaged on behalf of the united states in discussions

with dprk, north korea, about the release of these two citizens. this comes just a few weeks after the release of another american, jeff fowle. the swedish government helped negotiate his release and was said to also be involved this time as well. but there are still questions like why the director of national intelligence? how long were these so-called discussions? and are there any conditions tied to bae's and miller's release? and, alex, one u.s. official told the "associated press" that nothing was offered in exchange for the return of these two men. but clearly a lot of details about how this happened still to come zblout. >> kelly cobiella, thank you so much. i'm going to turn to someone who's helped negotiate the release of some other americans from north korea. i'm joined now by former ambassador bill richardson. how does a release like this get accomplished, sir?

>> well, it gets accomplished by opening a channel, a channel of communications with north korea with either the north koreans at the united nations in new york or a separate channel in another country. what's interesting here is that it was not the state department that obviously opened this channel because the director of intelligence, james clapper, is picking up the north koreans, held discussions with the north koreans. so this means a new channel has been opened, a separate channel, which is good because i've always felt we need to talk to the north koreans on various levels. and my view is that what probably was offered in return was just a dialogue itself. we have not talked to the north koreans in a long time. so just a talk with an american official, a discussion, a dialogue, is probably what sprung them loose. no conditions, at the same time, it's a good sign because not

just the americans are coming home, but i think the new leader of north korea is sending a signal. we're ready to start talking to lower tensions. maybe we need to open a new dialogue and this was a humanitarian release. and it's good news. i think the administration deserves credit for having done this. >> and having the director of national intelligence accompany these two men home, how unusual is that, someone at that level, to come over and return with them? >> well, the north koreans probably said, look, we want a high-level person to come pick them up. the last release about a month ago, they demanded an airplane. and we sent an airplane to bring back jeffrey fowle. now, with kenneth bae and miller, it could be that the north koreans said, you have to come pick them up yourself

because we've been talking to you. obviously the channel we opened with them was through the intelligence community, our negligence community. i'm sure state department helped, too. but possibly that was the price. you come and talk to us and we want to tell you something. so, again, i think it was simply a dialogue message. but the u.s. has been pretty clear in our policy. we're not going to talk to you, north korea, unless you start reducing or terminating your nuclear weapons. and north korea's said they will not do that. but based on just this humanitarian release, it probably took a clapper at his level to go to north korea and get them out as a price for their release. so this is good. this is fine. i don't think the u.s. has made any concessions. i don't think there were any real conditions. the good news is these two guys, these two americans, one especially, kenneth bae, that's really suffered, is out.

>> can you give me an overail big picture of where things stand in u.s./north korea relations right now? >> well, the relationship is still very hostile, very bad. we know very little about kim jong-un. but what this may open is some kind of a dialogue, not necessarily just with the u.s. but may lower tensions with their neighbor south korea because they're always sort of shooting at each other. maybe china has helped a little bit on this. we don't know. but it reduces tensions in the korean peninsula which is in our interest. north korea has nuclear weapons. they have missiles. they shoot them off. they're hostile. so an incident like this, a humanitarian incident, reduces tension and maybe opens up a dialogue possibility, the six-party countries up in north korea or just us directly talking to north korea or the

south koreans and north koreans talking about family reunification and other issues that are humanitarian. and then you hope to get them to do what we need them to do, which is eliminate their nuclear weapons, joining the community of nations and they'd get some help in return. they'd get food, fuel, some kind of assistance. they're a desperately poor country. >> step by step, certainly. ambassador bill richardson, thank you for your time and insights. i appreciate them. we're also following a developing story from washington. president obama has nominated loretta lynch to succeed eric holder who announced his resignation back in september. in the ceremony this afternoon, the president touted her record of success as u.s. attorney for the eastern district of new york. >> he has boldly gone after public corruption bringing charges against public officials in both parties. he's helped secure billions in settlements from some of the world's biggest banks accused of fraud and jailed some of new

york's most violent and notorious mobsters and gang members. >> and joining me now, nbc news senior white house correspondent, chris jansing. given what the president just listed, that litany of accomplishments, you would think that may be how all this came about. how confident is the white house about her confirmation? >> reporter: i think they feel good about it. when you look at the short list of who was considered, she's the least controversial. and one more to that list, her office, which is the brooklyn d.a.'s office, one of the most high profile in the country, one of the most important, deals with a lot of terrorism cases, she is known to have a lot of national security expertise, you can't overstate the importance of that. the question now is when will this confirmation happen? the lame duck session is one possibility. there had been some indication from democrats that they'd like to look at that. but this happened suddenly. her name leaked out. originally the white house wanted to wait until after the president got back from his trip

to asia ten days from now. we heard from mitch mcconnell, the presumed majority leader come january, and he said, let's not do this. let's not rush into this, let's get the confirmation going when the entire new senate is in. of course, that's a senate that's controlled by the republicans. having said that, if there is one area where people are looking at that maybe there will be a little bit of pushback, there are five republican senators who have said that a litmus test for them for a new attorney general would be whether or not they would approve of these executive orders on immigration that the president had said that he would take. so that will be one area of tough questioning. but twice she was confirmed by affirmation. and she is someone who has kept a pretty low profile for someone in such a high-profile office. one more thing on the political aspect of it, she's not personally close to the president. and that could actually help her with some of the republicans who will be voting for her, whether

it is here in the lame duck session or come january. >> a very good point you make because she is considered by many to be a washington outsider. good points, chris jansing. thank you so much. a cold front is heading right here into the united states. it's about to send temperatures around this country plunging. the weather channel's mike seidel has more from minneapolis. >> reporter: in the twin cities, they are bracing for the arctic shock. not half bad here at the mall. the shoppers coming out. also a big football game in town. under cloudy skies with a breeze and temperatures in the mid to upper 30s today. the average high is in the mid-40s. we're a little cooler than average. take a look at the jet stream, a big kink coming down all the way down to the gulf coast. that's going to usher in the arctic air. then on monday, we'll have a snowstorm. it will start late sunday in montana. we have winter storm watches out there. that band of snow will stretch

across the plains into the midwest. in minneapolis/st. paul, looking for 5 to 8 inches of snow. and snow all the way into parts of northern and lower michigan. chicago will miss out on the snow this time. the cold will come in beginning tuesday and tuesday night. we're talking about very cold temperatures. here we could drop down to the single numbers. we may have our first subzero lows of the season in parts of the dakotas and montana this week. and this cold air heads south, down to dallas, the mexican rio grande border. so millions of americans will be in the cold, some in the deep freeze, a lot of us in the midwest and plains will be shoveling and blowing snow for the first time. top numbers, probably double-digit totals by the time we wrap up on monday. alex, back to you. >> okay, thanks so much. the presidential powwow with

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mixed reaction today after that big meeting with president obama and republican leaders at the white house. different reads on exactly what compromises, if any, might come from the two-plus-hour powwow. let's take a listen. >> i've committed to both speaker boehner and to leader mcconnell that i am not going to judge ideas based on whether they're democratic or republican. i'm going to be judging them based on whether or not they work. and i'm confident that they want to produce results as well on behalf of the american people. >> it was a good spirit and frank discussion, which i think was beneficial both for us and hopefully for the president. he sort of heard where republicans on capitol hill are coming from.

but i hope we can create a foundation to actually get some things done. >> at least for now, sounds like there's reason for optimism that the white house and congress might find some middle ground. joining me for analysis, executive editor of "blue nation review" jimmy williams and mercedes schlack. i'm a little bit cynical given the history. i'd like to think going forward it's all kumbaya. jimmy, what are you hearing or reading about that meeting and was it all for show? >> no, it's not for show. it's important that it happened. there should be lots more of those. and i think mercedes would probably agree with that. i think what we found -- what we know from history is that the house will pass what it wants to pass. it will send it to the senate even when it's controlled by the republicans. and the republican senate will do what it wants to do, which will not always be the same. when newt gingrich took over in 1995, january 1995, and the

senate went republican as well, it was not all kumbaya. the house and the senate have natural tensions amongst themselves even when it comes to same party rules. don't expect everything the speaker sends to the senate to be rubber-stamped and sent to the president and vice versa. that's just not how the chamber works. the president said he wants ideas. doesn't care if they're democratic or republican. so we'll see what the congress sends him. they have to send him bills. >> mercedes, let's take a listen to speaker john boehner from right after the election and then listen to what congressman john yarmuth told me today. >> when you play with matches, you risk burning yourself. >> i was disturbed at speaker boehner's remarks the other day. i thought he was very condesc d condescendi condescending. i get along very well with the speaker. but i thought his tone was

totally wrong and adversarial and snarky. >> i think if president obama decides to throw the grenade and move forward on executive action on immigration, i believe -- that 63% of americans don't agree with -- i believe that will start a hostile -- possible hostile relationship with congress. i think it would be starting on the wrong foot. and quite frankly, the president's been put in a box. he leaked out the fact that he was going to move on executive action. he then pulled back which then of course shattered the hopes of the latinos. and then now he's at a point that he's forced to do something. this is going to be an interesting play if he moves forward on pushing immigration through unilateral executive action by the end of the year. >> but, mercedes, in sort of a tit for tat concept here, come january, if republicans decide

to overhaul parts of the aca, obamacare, isn't it the same thing? >> yeah, it's not a great place to start. i think at the end, what we have to look at is in the house right now, they've passed 40-plus job bills, which as we know, the voters made it very clear in the exit polls that the economy was still the most important issue for them and they wanted to solve this gridlock in washington and find those areas where both the president and congress can work together. they might be small legislative victories. but at the end, if we can start seeing progress in washington, i think that's going to be incredibly important. >> jimmy, last week i asked you what this election was about. what were your friends outside the beltway saying and telling you and did we figure out what the election was about? >> well, it's about the economy, as mercedes said, which by the way the unemployment rate just dropped down to 5.8%. corporate profits never higher in the history of the united states. the stock markets never higher in the history of the united

states. so what is not happening in the economy is the middle class is just not getting a break. >> is that why the democrats didn't just sweep, then? what you just said, the middle class, they're not feeling it. it's not trickling down to people's wallets, jimmy? >> brinkley talked about the coattails of the president. sometimes coattails aren't always good. the bottom line -- mercedes alluded to this. the dysfunctionality, if that's a word, of washington, d.c. and the hostility. that's a two-way street. i'm not offended by what john boehner said. the speaker, he leads a house that the majority rules. i get where he's coming from. by the way, every deal is made in the senate. and i'm a former senate staffer. i'm supposed to say that and it's always true. but it's simple. they have to pass bills and send them to the president. if they don't pass bills, they will be treated just like we were three or four days ago in 2014.

that's a reality. >> that's right. and jumping on jimmy's point, the mere fact is that they need to find that bipartisan support in congress. for example, the job bills passed in the house, that was bipartisan support. that's going to move on to the senate. we'll see what happens with keystone pipeline and tax reform. if we get that bipartisan support, which i believe senator mitch mcconnell will make sure that he gets some of those democrats to come along and keep the republicans in line, i think we could see good progress. the key here will be what the president does with immigration reform if he moves forward on the executive action. i think that could really hurt the relationship between congress -- and it's a very fragile relationship between congress and the president. >> let me follow up on that quickly. what mercedes said is exactly right. mitch mcconnell can cobble together those bills. that's exactly right. the question is, can you get them out of the house? they have to go -- >> they're out of the house, jimmy. >> no, no, those bills are dead.

there's a bipartisan immigration bill sitting on john boehner's desk right now -- >> you are right on immigration. that's right. >> the bottom line -- let's take everything and wipe it away. house sends the bills over to the senate. the senate is going to cobble together hopefully bipartisan bills. they have to be reconciled in conference. you can't get those things out of the house chamber if the far right wing of the chamber doesn't approve it. if mcconnell is making deals with democrats, that's going to upset the lower chamber. and barack obama, the box that he's in, he's going to sit back and look remarkably presidential because it's republican-on-republican infighting. >> not if he's vetoing bipartisan legislation. if he goes -- >> you can't veto -- you understand this as well as i do, having worked in the white house. the president can't veto a bill if it's not passed out of both chambers. >> absolutely. >> i don't think that the senate

and the house are going to be able to reconcile -- >> i disagree. i disagree, jimmy. >> i think i described myself as being cynical from the top. just for no real good reason, right? good to see you both. thanks. the rescue of a young girl kidnapped from her own bedroom, how a family took matters into his own hands to save her. that's next. i'd just gotten married. i was right out of school. my family's all military. you don't know what to expect. then suddenly you're there... in another world. i did my job. you do your best. i remember the faces... how everything mattered... so much more. my buddies... my country... everything... and everyone i loved... back home. ♪ [ male announcer ] for all who've served and all who serve, we can never thank them enough. ♪ ["mony mony" by billy idole she cokicks in on car stereo]y". ♪don't stop now come on mony♪

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aattempt. >> reporter: he then grabbed the girl from her bed and carried her upstairs and outside where the girl's stepfather saw them crossing the front lawn. >> and we happened to wake up and he had my daughter outside and my husband ran out there and got him from her -- but he took my 5-year-old daughter. >> reporter: meantime, the man then ran and hid in the basement of a nearby home where he was discovered by the owner. >> i went downstairs and he was crouched up kind of by the back door with no shirt on. >> reporter: shortly afterward, he was arrested. the girl is now safe with her parents, a family spokesman saying she was unharmed. >> she is physically fine. she appears to be emotionally fine. >> reporter: the case is eerily similar to the 2002 kidnapping of 14-year-old elizabeth smart, tak taken from her home in nearby salt lake city. she was held captive for nine months. police say they don't know why

morley took the little girl. >> that was mark potter reporting there. the president's choice for new attorney general, in a moment, what you should know about her. and he's the pastor to the presidents. what does billy graham think of how president obama's dealt with his burden of history? his son franklin graham joins us. that dares to work all the way until the am. new aleve pm the only one with a sleep aid. plus the 12 hour strength of aleve. for most people, earning cash back ends here, at the purchase. but there's a new card in town. introducing the citi® double cash card. it lets you earn cash back when you buy and again as you pay. that's cash back twice. it's cash back with a side of cash back. the citi double cash card. the only card that lets you earn cash back twice on every purchase with 1% when you buy and 1% as you pay . with two ways to earn, it makes a lot of other cards seem one-sided.

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." this morning, president obama made an historic choice when he selected loretta lynch to be the next u.s. attorney general. lynch would be the first african-american woman in the job if she passes that confirmation hearing. >> no one gets to this moment by themselves. i also must thank attorney general eric holder for your support and friendship over the years as well as by leading by example and always, always pushing this department to live up to its name. >> joining me now for more on the nomination, is ian

millheiser. why did the president not wait to make his selection until the new congress is seated? >> i don't know that he's under any obligation to wait. there is a question of whether this confirmation is going to happen in this congress during the lame duck session or in the next congress when the republicans take over. and i think based on who he picked, it seems likely he thinks it's going to have to wait till the next congress. what's striking about ms. lynch is that she's very apolitical, compared to the other people he could have named -- >> not an insider. >> well, the way she became u.s. attorney is she worked her way up as a career prosecutor. she was the highest ranking career prosecutor in the office she leads now before president clinton made her u.s. attorney, president obama gave her the same job. so she's not someone where when you look at a resume, she

screams democratic establishment. he's a very competent prosecutor and she's there because she distinguished herself as a career prosecutor, not as someone with political connections. >> how do you think the timing of the nomination affects the president's dealings with republicans on other issues or does it matter? >> if he pushes for the confirmation to happen during lame duck, some say it might poison the well. but the well is already strychnine. hard to imagine how it could be more poisoned at this point. i think republicans are going to want her to wait for later. democrats might want to do this confirmation now. but she's such an apolitical nominee unless something comes out that we're not aware of, this is as much a test of the republicans as it is of president obama. it's a question of whether when he puts up someone that it's hard to see how they can object to, they're still going to be

willing to work with him. >> do you have a sense of the questions she should expect to face from republicans? >> well, certainly immigration. there's a sense amongst republicans that anything president obama does in the immigration spacen o his o on h illegal. i don't agree with that assessment. but i think they want to get her on record saying that certain things the president has or might want to do are illegal. unfortunately, i think her confirmation hearing might descend into a kind of bobbing and weaving where she tries to avoid those questions or say she needs to research them rather than giving answers that could box her in once she actually has to evaluate them as the nation's chief legal officer. >> given what you've just said, do you have an idea how long it would be expected to last? >> the confirmation hearings could go on for hours or even a few days. when you look at the senate judiciary complete, even before

the republicans take over, the republicans on the judiciary committee are very, very conservative. you're looking at ted cruz, mike lee, people who are very, very committed not just to a conservative vision but a conservative vision of the role of law in society. so i think that it's going to be a pretty grueling confirmation process. the republicans might want to drag it out to score points and try to get her on record saying things that can hurt the president. ultimately, though, if anyone can be confirmed, i think she's going to be confirmed because, again, it's hard to look at her record and see, okay, there's something in there that looks particularly partisan. >> ian, thanks so much. >> thank you. the reverend billy graham is known as the pastor to presidents, having met with every president since world war ii. today he's celebrating a big milestone. reverend graham is now 96 years old. but he's not slowing down with his organization releasing this video message of the evangelist talking about heaven. listen.

>> i know i'm going to heaven. i'm looking forward to it with great anticipation because of what jesus did on that cross. >> joining me now, reverend graham's son, franklin graham, president of an organization active in the fight against ebola, samaritan's purse. franklin, how is your father doing on this his 96th birthday? >> thank you. good to be with you. he's doing quite well. he doesn't hear very well, doesn't see too well. but his mind is clear and he understands what's going on. and so we're just grateful and thankful to god that at 96, he is still with us and we're able to celebrate this birthday with him. >> he is probably the world's most famous evangelist. how does he see his legacy? >> well, you know, he sees himself as a farm boy from

charlotte, north carolina. he's never seen himself as a celebrity. he doesn't think of himself in that way. i talked to him a few years ago about what he wanted on his tombstone. and he thought about that for a while. and he just said, just put, billy graham, preacher. he's a preacher of the gospel of jesus christ. that's what he's been all of his life. that's what he's continuing to do with this film that was released yesterday on heaven. he wanted people to know how to get to heaven and how to be sure that once sie's sins are forgivd how we have a right standing before almighty god so when our day of death comes and death is coming for all of us one day, he wants to make sure that people are prepared so that god would welcome them into his presence for eternity. >> that's a legacy right there. the reverend graham has met with each president since world war

ii. what are his thoughts on how this president, president obama's been able to handle his time in office after being elected the first african-american president? >> well, i think my father would want to encourage president obama to work with the republicans, those across the aisle. we have to remember that everyone has been voted into office and they have the constituents that they have to represent. and the president is going to have to, i think for his legacy, my father would encourage him to work with those in congress these next two years and not try to bypass them but to work with them. i think this would help secure a much better legacy for him if he would do that. so we pray for both those in congress and for our president that god would guide and direct them. we need to recognize almighty god. and as a people, we have kind of

turned our back on god. we've taken him out of our schools, we've taken him out of government. and we need more of god, not less of god. and we need his help. our country is facing some tremendous challenges. and we're not going to be able to work our way through them without god's help and without god guiding and directing our hearts. >> franklin, you mentioned the challenges and certainly your organization, samaritan's purse, has dealt with the -- has been a central figure in combatting ebola in africa. talk about your organization's efforts and how confident you are that ebola can be eradicated. >> i'm pretty optimistic. i know some vaccines that are in the works right now. also zmapp which dr. brantly and nancy writebol received which i believe helped to save their life, looks like there's going to be quite a bit of this available by the first of the year. so i feel that with the attention that is being given -- and i want to credit president

obama. he does have a good team of people in place right now that are focusing on ebola. and i believe that in the next few months, we will begin to see ebola decline. we've already begun to see it a little bit on the ground. but we don't want to be too quick and pat ourselves on the back. this could be a lull before another storm. but right now, we are seeing a decline. our people on the field are seeing this right now. but we are not backing off. we are working full speed ahead. and we need, if anything, we need an air bridge going into liberia. all the airlines have quit going. i know the president didn't want this to happen. but airlines themselves have made the decision not to go. there's only one airline. and that's sabriina out of brussels. i would hope the united states government would put an air bridge in, a couple of charter flights a week to help all of us

to get in and out of that country. >> franklin graham, best efforts on your behalf and thank you so much. give our best to your father as well, our best wishes. thank you for your time. >> thank you and god bless you. a deer in distress? no one can explain why this happened. [♪] great rates and safety working in harmony. open an optimizer +plus account from synchrony bank.

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>>. the death toll has risen. this week's terrorist attacks in jerusalem, an israeli man died yesterday in a palestinian attack in which a man rammed into pedestrians, killing three people. tensions are flaring in jerusalem as israelis fight over access to one of the holiest sites in judaism and i slam. it takes us back to equal tension, but much different dip ploem us a. "13 days in september" chronicles camp david in 1978. president jimmy carter, egypt's anwar sedat, they came together to create a peace deal that would survive 35 years and counting. welcome, lawrence. so glad to talk to you about this. >> great, good to be with you. >> tensions were incredibly high, months before the talks, it was the palestinians, israel's invasion of southern lebanon. how was this ever able to come

together? >> well, i think carter was naive to begin with. he told me god placed him in office for the peace in the middle east. in camp david, there was very little evidence of divine assistance. it was a time when wounds of war were still very fresh and anwar sedat had gone to jerusalem shortly before that. he had come home empty handed. he felt he had been spurned. and begin, nobody thought he was going to cede the peninsula to gain peace with israel. it was a highly fraught 13 days, but it accomplished a peace that has stood the test of time. >> i'm curious, you talk about highly fraukt fraught. can you give a move of camp david? one way to look at it, anwar

sedat, he never loosened his tie, right, he was tough? >> well, but begin was the one always dressed up. i'll tell you a story, alex, that i think kind of encapsule lates the tension. carter thought he finally had the agreement in hand. this has been every day had been a roller coaster, had been all these different drafts of the treaty. and there was a letter, a side letter, that had to do you with jerusalem. no legal standing, but jerusalem was a very hot issue, remains that way today and the letter he had asked, sedat had asked him to supply this. in the letter, he says that coral previous u.n. ambassadors, the status of jerusalem is that it's occupied territory and on that sunday they were setting up

the white house for the signing. the networks were alerted they were going to have a speech. begin got this side letter and demanded carter withdraw it. carter said it has nothing to do with the agreement but gentleman g -- begin said if you do it, we will not sign. carter was depressed and he had photographs of the three men signing the treaty. he brought those back to begin and when gentlembegin saw the photographs, he began to weep. carter began to weep. he said i hoped your grandfather and i made peace in the middle east. they said the signing was off.

the phone roong, it was begin saying he would sign. up to that last moment in history turned on those signatures to the grandchildren. >> oh, that's a great story. here's another interesting thing you have to think about what this meeting is. you have these three men, all extremely devout in three religions, which guide global flibl i lick, how did that affect the talks? >> well, it was, it was, you foy, there were as you say three very religious men. they came together to solve a problem that religion, itself, had largely caused. >> yeah. as i mentioned carter thought god put in there to resolve the problem and sedat also thought that god had asked him to be the leader of the egyptian people in order to steer them into peace. begin was less pious than the two. he was the first ob servant or to docks jew in israel's young

history. i think they all felt in some way they were a part of a prophetic tradition and that you know peace was a part of their mandate. >> yeah. >> i do think it made a zblimpbs a question i want to ask, not too long to answer. it's about isis. the definitive history of al qaeda. you study organization, how they evolve. do you see an ending for isis? >> well, isid invited us into this contest by cutting off the heads of american journalists. and we should ask ourselves why. i think it's because isis had no allies, had no friends anywhere in the region and if you can make the rooungs united states your enemy, will you have more friends. we have to keep that in mind. i think the administration has done a wise job of recruiting sunni countries in the region to participate. we will have to keep up that kind of relationship because we

don't want this to go any further into chaos than it already has. >> lawrence wright, that's a wrap right there "13 days in september." the most recent book. thank you so much. >> it's a pleasure, thank you. >> speaking of wrap, it's a wrap of the show. have yourselves a great saturday. see you then. you need a permit... .

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