lot of hot turkey to a forward operating base, came back. they're going to get another meal tomorrow. they got served on wednesday and friday. and i'm glad you mention the role of the reservists in this conflict. the entire public affairs shop here in kandahar, throughout the resolute mission at least on the -- side done by the navy working hard as well. >> hans, you're working hard as well over there. our own hans nichols. i want to bring in my very favorite aly velshi, but i know you must have heard a minute ago when i was talking to hans, before we talked about the amount of men and women who are serving. when we're back here at home living our lives every day, unfortunately it is very easy and all too common to forget. >> that's right. >> how many people are overseas and the huge commitment they make to this country. >> and it doesn't matter whether you agree with why they're there or you agree with the wars

they're fighting or your puzzled as to why we're in other consistent consistent -- countries, it doesn't matter a bit to them and their families. they are going out there to keep us safe and thank you for remembering that they are the people we should be thankful for. i'm thankful for you too, my friend. sorry i'm not with you today, but it is grateful to be with you every day. >> well, i'll see you next week. i'll hand -- you know, i love to say because you are canadian, you could have taken all the hours yourself today. just saying. >> as we canadians say this morning, happy thursday. stephanie, you have a great thanksgiving. see you tomorrow. >> aly, he's canadian. >> that's right. diverse background fellow. good morning everyone. i'm ali velshi. it is november 23rd. for a number of veteran lawmakers, this holiday is anything but carefree. >> president trump is spending the holiday at his mar-a-lago estate in florida far from the growing sexual assault scandals

rocking washington. michigan democrat conyers denies allegations, now a third a former committee staffer, melanie sloan, is making a different accusation, harsh treatment. >> he became increasingly verbally abusive and would berate me loudly. i've been called to come up and he was walking around in his underwear and i was just so shocked. >> it hurts to have lost annabelle. but i also know that he has a plan that i need to continue to carry out. >> pastor frank pomeroy was away from his first baptist church of sutherland springs on that tragic sunday, returning home to help authorities identify the 26 dead, his 14-year-old daughter annabelle. >> it's surreal in the aspect that it's not the church it was to me before. however, it's still god's house.

>> give god thanks for the blessings of freedom and for the heroes who have really have this tremendous courage and you do to defend us and defend freedom. i know it's hard to be away from home at this time of the year. >> cooking thanksgiving dinner for almost 3,000 soldiers here in kandahar is its own military exercise. officers serve the enlisted with all the trimmings. >> happy thanksgiving! we'll get back to hans in a bit. but we start with what has got to be a pretty uncomfortable holiday for some members of congress, among them michigan democratic congressman john conyers, member of the house for more than 50 years now accused of sexual harassment and verbal abuse. two women have now accused the 88-year-old of touching them inappropriately and making suggestive comments. conyers denies the charges. and while he admits to settling one of the cases, he said it's not an admission of guilt. now a third woman has come out not alleging harassment but repeated cases of verbal and emotional abuse while she worked for conyers.

here's what she told nbc news. >> he became increasingly verbally abusive and would berate me loudly and over ridiculous things. there was also the incident in which i walked in to his office after i'd been called up there and he was walking around in his underwear. mr. conyers' behavior was often problematic. there were lots of stories about him on the hill than in more recently. it's not as if anybody didn't believe these things were happening -- >> i want to bring in nbc's kelly o'donnell who is keeping an eye on all things political today, she's near west palm beach, florida, where the president is but also keeping her eye on these things. kelly, what's the response to this? >> reporter: well, this is certainly at the height of awkwardness for a lot of people involved in this. and it's a part of what we have seen kind of a dam breaking and women feeling more comfortable coming forward with allegations. you laid out the situation with respect to john conyers who is a

michigan democrat and has the honored place of being what's known as the dean of the house. he has served longer than any other member of congress. his attorney says that he maintains his innocence and also made the sort of characterization that if allegations were a cause for people to be forced out of their jobs, there would be an awful lot of people in a lot of different lines of work who would not be working. so there's some defiance from the conyers camp. also an expectation, they say, that the congressman will speak to this after the holiday. for the specifics here, the house ethics panel has acknowledged that it is aware of these allegations. that's a very slow moving process, ali, where that work is done secretly. it's the only committee in congress where it is evenly matched party to party. typically the majority party has more seats on any committee. not the ethics panel. they try to take as much politics out of it as they possibly can. their work is often done in

secret until they release a report. we're not at that point yet. the ethics committee is also considering taking action on the senate side with the issues related to senator al franken. and we've seen that play out publicly. so this is a time when the congressman's maintaining his innocence. you heard the words of melanie sloan, a former staffer on the judiciary committee who made her allegations. and this will wind its way through congress at a time when all of this issue is very politically charged. and it's a part of a larger national conversation. >> okay. kelly, thanks very much. we'll be in touch with you over the course of the next few days while the president remains in florida. kelly o'donnell for us. on this thanksgiving, president trump held a teleconference this morning with u.s. troops in afghanistan, iraq and elsewhere. the president thanked and praised the troops and also used that call to hail progress against isis and in afghanistan. listen. >> everybody's talking about the progress you've made in the last few months since i opened it up. we opened it up, we said go

ahead, we're going to fight to win. we're not fighting anymore to just walk around. we're fighting to win. and you people have really turned it around over the last three to four months like nobody's seen. and they are talking about it. so, thank you very much. and major, to you and to all the marines doing this great work, in delivering defeat after defeat to isis, what you're doing with isis is, again, being talked about. we're being talked about again as an armed forces. we're really winning. we know how to win. but we have to let you win. they weren't letting you win before. they were letting you play even. we're letting you win. >> the president speaking there from his mar-a-lago resort in palm beach, florida, where he's spending the holiday weekend with his family. joining us now is former naval intelligence and counterterrorism officer malcolm nance who is now an nbc news

terrorism analyst. malcolm, it's a great day. it's a day for us to be thankful, it's a great day for us to try and think about the thing that's working. i have to say it was weird of the president to say we didn't let you win before. the implication is for those of you who've been serving all these years in afghanistan and iraq and all those places in the world it was a negative implication. for them i don't think they want to feel like their last ten years or 15 years have been wasted. >> well, i know there are people who are nearing retirement who started in the armed forces after 9/11. that's 16-plus years of combat. and there was no, not let you win, the environment is what the environment is. and we have been deploying in and out of afghanistan and iraq, you know, for almost 20 years now. we have been fighting this enemy. and this last three years has been a decisive fight against isis. look, as we know u.s. forces provided air support, combat

sustainment, training and equipping of the iraqi armed forces after they collapsed in 2014, but the iraqi army has really turned around. and they took it to isis. we have been providing fire support and air strikes and special operations training and forward deployed forces, but the iraqi forces kicked down door to door and went in and have destroyed isis. same with our syrian democratic forces in northern turkey. they took the city of raqqah with special forces with marine fire support and air strikes. that does not mean we won these battles. that means we as a coalition came together in operation inherent resolve and fought those battles together. and whatever he's talking about of loosening the rules of engagement over the last few months, this is the end culmination of three years in iraq. in afghanistan we're still in a stalemate after 16 years. >> yeah, i guess one of the things that's worth remembering is the pressure that we've put on isis in syria and in iraq

does come from the training that u.s. troops were able to give these other troops that have significance. so bottom line when u.s. troops or our expertise are brought to bear on these things, they do succeed. but the success the president seems to be enjoying claiming in iraq and syria, where isis as a territorial force has largely been wiped out, that's been in the works for a long time. >> you're absolutely right. i mean, when isis manifests -- isis is an old organization. it's the fifth generation of al qaeda. they came together in 2006. and then took off in 2011 and in 2014 they started seizing territory. but, you know, isis is also an organization that is like a ball of mercury. and you step on an organization like that, they break up and they spread out elsewhere. they're in yemen, they're in afghanistan where they're starting to have -- we thought we'd gotten rid of them a year ago, they're starting to have more success. they're now in the islamic south after we pushed them out of libya. and as you saw we had that ambush against our special forces troops.

they're in somalia and northern nigeria. these areas have to be dealt with. and you cannot call this winning when all the enemy is doing is displacing. but we have definitively won in iraq and syria. no doubt about that. but it was mainly our allies who put their blood, sweat and tears up there. and, you know, my fellow men and women in the armed forces, my brothers and sisters who gave them that capacity and helped them with the air strikes, they played a decisive role too. >> right. and i'm really not meaning to get into politics or be critical on this day. i just don't think it's fair not to recognize the last 16 years. and by the way, longer, that there have been active duty troops all over the world away from their families on thanksgiving, all of whom are leading us to the safer world that we wish to live in. as stephanie just pointed out we sometimes take advantage of when we're not out in the field. you're a navy man. what do you have to say to the active duty troops who are serving out there all over the world this thanksgiving?

>> well, you know, i give them my thanks and my family's blessings. i'm a navy man, but i spent my entire career in the desert sands of middle east and south asia, north africa. so i know exactly what they're going through, especially out there iraq and afghanistan. you know, we want them all to come home safe. we love them. we miss them. and this thanksgiving hopefully can be one where they can rotate out of their having given that capacity to our allied forces and put an end to some of these conflicts. >> and, malcolm, my personal thanks to you because what a lot of people don't realize is sometimes when my phone rings, it's an off hour and i'm not otherwise working and there's been a terrorist attack somewhere in the world and i'm asked to come in to work, like many of my colleagues are, one of the first questions is where's malcolm and usually you are right there helping me make sense of it in the initial hours when we don't have any information because you've got such a great depth of knowledge. we're thankful for you and your family. and you have a great thanksgiving, malcolm.

>> thank you. you too. >> all right. standby everybody. we are going to talk about congress when we come back. it's off for thanksgiving but next week they're back on the hill. they have a major, major to-do list before the end of the year. about a month left. stay with us. you're watching "velshi & ruhle" on msnbc. watch me. ♪ i've tried lots of things for my joint pain. now? watch me. ♪ think i'd give up showing these guys how it's done? please. real people with active psoriatic arthritis are changing the way they fight it... they're moving forward with cosentyx®. it's a different kind of targeted biologic. it's proven to help people find less joint pain and clearer skin. don't use if you are allergic to cosentyx. before starting cosentyx you should be checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms of an infection.

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why are they making me talk about congress today? why? it's thanksgiving. come on. congress is off. it's reconvening next week and i guess the issue is when congress gets back basically the beginning -- end of november, beginning of december, has a lot to do in a short amount of time. not only are lawmakers trying desperately to pass a tax bill by a self-imposed deadline of christmas, but it's also got to figure out a way to fund the government beyond the december 8th deadline. how are they going to get it all done? i want to bring in cnbc editor, msnbc contributor and former chief economist for vice president biden. these are two guys we lean on a lot to just help make sense of

stuff. and i appreciate that, and i'm thankful that you guys are around for us. again, i'm making an effort today to make things political just to try to explain a few things. john, a number of people have implied that this very strong stock market that we're in, again setting records this past week, is strong in part because it's counting on congress to pass this tax bill in order to keep the good times rolling. give me your thoughts on that. >> first of all, i want to clarify one thing, ali, are you saying you're not thankful for congress? >> i'm very thankful for congress. what would i talk about all the time if there wasn't congress? >> all right. very good. look. it is very difficult to disentangle effects in the stock market. we certainly saw the stock market go up after president trump was elected. but my colleagues who cover the stock market in intimate detail at cnbc seem to think that the stock market now is not necessarily tied to tax cuts itself.

that whatever benefit would come from a tax cut is already baked into the stock market. it's mostly about the global economic recovery. so there may not be the downside that steve mnuchin has talked about if congress fails to pass tax reform. >> jared, let me ask you this. i never want to discount the stock market. as you know i've been a stock market reporter since the beginning of my career. i used to do a show from the floor of the new york stock exchange. i enjoy the stock market. i'm glad when people make money out of it. but i fully get because a person isn't invested in the stock market doesn't mean that there's no benefit to a rising stock market. so put into perspective for me as we continue and as this president continues to tout the stock market that about half of all americans own stock, most of them are not active holders of stock, it's through their 401(k)s, but in total about half of all americans own stock. how should everybody be thinking about a stock market that continues to go up? >> it's an important question for reasons i'll get into, but first of all while about half of

people own stock, you have to look at how much stock they own. most people own very little. so 80% of the value of the stock market is held by the richest 10% of families. and 40% of the value of the stock market is held by the top 1%. so when the stock market goes up a lot, the folks who benefit from that wealth effect tend to be among those who are most wealthy. now, here's the thing in where i think the stock market's uptick recently has been most relevant. one of the reasons, i kind of agree with john on this, one of the reasons that the stock market is doing well is not because of the tax cuts. that's priced in like john said. it's because corporate earnings have been really quite strong, persistently so. corporate profitability is near an all-time high. so i ask you why does the middle class have to pay for a bunch of tax cuts for the corporate sector? the corporate sector, especially the multinational sector is already kind of crushing it and yet we have this tax plan that takes from the middle and gives to the top.

that doesn't make any sense. >> so, john, help me make sense of that. because, again, there's no reason why we shouldn't want companies to make money. but there's an expectation amongst people who work for a living that this kind -- and relatively good growth and interest rates are low and corporate profitability is so high, we haven't seen the same pattern with wages for many years. we've seen small, slow growth. so if you're in the vast middle of wage earners, you're not sharing in this remarkably successful corporate environment that we've had. >> that's right. and it begs the question of if wage increases depend on corporate -- corporations doing well, why hasn't that happened? part of the argument from the administration and republican leaders in congress is if we slash corporate taxes, that money is going to benefit workers. the standard, and jared knows this better than i do, but rough standard in economic analysis is that about a quarter of

corporate tax cuts would go -- would benefit workers and the rest would benefit owners of businesses. the administration is arguing that that's reversed, that the vast bulk of this benefit would go to workers and not business owners. >> right. >> i would say that even with that assumption, i was talking to the tax foundation the other day, very aggressive dynamic scoring of the tax plan, even with this assumption we're still talking about a tax plan that gives a vastly disproportionate amount of money to people at the top and doesn't generate all that much economic growth, under 3% in the tax foundation's analysis. >> let's look at economic growth actually. that's my producer to put up a screen that has economic growth compared to other countries. not this one, this is effective tax rates chrks is actually good and i like it, but if i can ask them to put up the gdp one, that would be good. because back in september a number of economists predicted that the u.s. would achieve economic growth in the 2% to 3%

range next year. that's lower than a lot of other countries, jared. and i don't know how fixable that is. i think we'd all like to get to 3% economic growth, but when you see where china is and where india is and places like that, economies that can grow faster than sort of how do you describe america, sort of a middle-aged suddenly overweight man. we're not that nimble. >> who are you talking about here? >> me. how do we get there? i don't disagree -- i do disagree with the president who last summer was saying 4% and 5% and 6% growth. i think that's nonsense. but maybe we could try to get to 3. that would be roughly a jump from where we are. >> first of all, before we get a bunch of letters to the editor here, let me point out in the last two quarters annualized growth of gdp has been about 3%. >> right. >> but that's not the trend. the trend is around 2, maybe a bit north of 2 now. i think thus far over this

expansion the average gdp growth is around 2.2%. >> right. >> now, you teed it up exactly correctly in my view. this is not some lever that anybody knows how to pull. the combination of labor force growth and productivity growth is what sets the economy's speed limit. and there are a bunch of things that go into that including the aging demographics. >> right. >> so the problem is because economists don't really know what makes productivity speed up or slow down, you have what i call the empty hole problem in economics. i think harwood will recognize this. this is the idea when nobody really knows what to do, you get to say your favorite thing to fill up the hole. so it's tax cuts for the rich, it's get rid of the estate tax or if you're on the other side, it's build a bunch of infrastructure. i happen to think that investing in people and human capital and public capital is a great idea, but even i don't believe that's going to move us from 2% to 3%. maybe, you know, 0.2, 0.1, something in that neighborhood.

and that would be good to do. but disbelieve anyone who tells you they can double the growth rate or anything crazy like that. >> yeah. so, john, let me ask you that about the growth rate. because we want to get there, but i think every president no matter what party you're from would like to have low unemployment, good stock market and high growth. this isn't partisan. in other words, if it were easy to do, lots of people would have done it. it is certainly easier to achieve these bumps in growth when certain things happen over time. when one goes to war for instance, or we're building the interstate highway system or whatever, when i speak to a lot of people they say when you look back to 1950 our long term economic growth is much higher than this long term 2%-ish that we see right now. but we weren't doing remarkable things back then. we were fixing the world, we were building highways, we were electrifying the world. >> we had much higher tax rates by the way. >> and much higher tax rates. so, john, what's the answer? again, without trying to be political or partisan here, what is the way in which we goose our

economy? i'm going to put that graphic up again to show you that the united states, russia, the eu and brazil all have similar growth rates. it's not like anybody's got some magic bullet here. >> exactly right. and, look, it's the factors that jared talked about. it's labor supply and productivity. the other thing that happened during the post war boom that was so robust is we had a surge of women into the workforce. that enabled the economy to increase output. so it is not at all clear how we can speed it up. you know, there's a debate between, you know, does money go to capital or does money go to physical capital or human capital? and jared and others have argued that we need to invest in both infrastructure and also human capital, republicans have a different view. but as i said even when you have a tax foundation scores the senate bill, yes, there is a short-term surge of growth. they project a 3% growth rate in

2018. but that's the only year of 3% growth, those longer term trends kick in after that. so even under the tax plan the strongest advocates say it will produce growth in the 2% range jared was talking about. >> and john said this earlier, i want to underscore it, he's quoting the tax foundation. they are the most kind of optimistic about this dynamic scoring of the tax plan. their model, i consider it to be pretty juiced relative to some more standard issue models. so we don't have the cbo or the jct, the more standard scores yet, but we do have the tax policy center and the wharton school dynamic scoring. they come in way below the numbers john's been citing. and i think they're probably more accurate. >> just to be clear when we talk about dynamic scoring, this is important because when you tell somebody, hey, when you look at this thing the outcome is not what the president likes to say it's going to be and the president is, oh, but we're going to have amazing growth. everybody is going -- companies

are going to feel flushed and everybody's going to feel flushed and people are going to spend, that's what dynamic scoring is. it's taking into account the actual effects, not just medical effects. john, i want to get back to you you had a conversation with lamar alexander, had hope something would be done about health care until the president squashed that. you had a chat with him about the president. let's listen. >> the president says things and does things that i don't approve of. >> is he dangerous? >> i'm not going to sit here and say he's a dangerous man. he's a man that the american people entrusted as president and i'm going to try to help him succeed. >> john, that is version 19 of the kind of answer that republicans often have to give when faced with the reality that the president doesn't help them advance the goals they've got in congress, the goals of governing for the american people. >> think about how extraordinary it is, ali, you have a senior republican senator, somebody who twice ran for president himself, was a very credible candidate,

being asked if a president of his own party is dangerous. and he does not say no. that tells you about the world we're living in right now. >> guys, a pleasure to have spent this time with you. thank you so much for it. nice to have a little chance for the conversation to breathe, john harwood and jared bernstein, have an amazing thanksgiving. thanks, guys. standby, everyone, just a few weeks ago 26 people were killed in sutherland springs, texas, by a man who should not have been allowed to purchase a gun. now attorney general jeff sessions has ordered a new review of the background check system. we'll tell you what he's looking for and what experts say has to change. stay with us, you're watching "velshi & ruhle" live on msnbc.

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welcome back to "velshi & ruhle." here are the top stories we're watching right now. michigan congressman john conyers accused of sexual harassment by two women is under fire by allegations of a third woman. these ones are different, a former staffer claims conyers was verbally abusive and would berate her. conyers maintains his innocence. baltimore police say detective who was shot and killed in the line of duty last week was a federal witness against fellow officers, but the police commissioner says there's no evidence to suggest that detective kevin davis was targeted for that reason. davis was set to testify the day after his murder. a federal judge in texas struck down parts of a state law that would restrict the most common type of second trimester abortions. the move, at least for now, overturns a state law that

republican governor greg abbott signed in june banning the procedure known as dilation and evacuation. texas is planning to appeal. in florida, the medical examiner has ruled the deaths of 12 patients at a hollywood nursing home a homicide. they died in the days after hurricane irma wiped out power to much of south florida and knocked out the nursing home's air-conditioning system. the medical examiner says the causes of death were attributed to heat exposure. in suburban philadelphia, authorities have found two more bodies after a fire at a nursing home in west chester last week. the bodies of two other missing patients were discovered on tuesday. attorney general jeff sessions has just ordered the fbi and the atf to conduct a review of the national background check system. this is a direct response to this month's shooting massacre at a church in sutherland springs, texas. 26 people were killed at the first baptist church. the defense department is conducting a review of its own practices after the air force discovered it did not report the court-martial conviction of gunman devin kelley.

that failure allowed kelley to buy the rifle that he used in the massacre. joining me now is nbc legal analyst danny cevalos. danny, good to see you. this is a strikings situation in where he legally bought firearms but he was not in a position to legally buy those firearms. he had been court-martialed and the things for which he'd been court-martialed should been conveyed to this national system that would have blocked him from buying a gun. >> first you have human breakdowns. i'm sure we'll find out where the breakdown occurred, but the entire system itself is designed for failure. you have a federal system that is trying to coordinate with states, all the different states and all their different laws when it comes to reporting because, remember, the federal government cannot force the states to make reporting -- or to report to them or provide them with records. >> right. >> that's the ruling of the prince case from many years ago. but they can condition federal funds on those reporting, so

what you have is a fundamentally patchwork system. >> right. >> of reporting where states enact laws to report, maybe they don't, and at the end of the day all you can hope to get is some of the records that sglupt so you would assume in 2017 in this electronic age there are backstops and checks to see these things don't happen. but the gun lobby and the nra have successfully worked against even the automation of some of the records about gun purchases. so, again, we're not working in the modern age in a way that prevents things falling through the cracks like this. >> when you ask a question like that, i think of asking that to any person who practices, any attorney who practices criminal defense or anyone who works in the criminal justice system, ask them if their courthouse is up-to-date. most states just to give you an idea are just now getting e-filing for their cases. this is technology the federal government had over ten years ago. when you think of technology, you think of the apple store. you don't think of american courthouses, i'm sorry to say.

and i spend a lot of time in them. we all have stories of walking into the clerk's office and seeing a bankers box of just papers here and there and everywhere. >> right. but the gun lobby is okay with that. they're okay with the idea their bankers box is full of papers because it does stymie these types of things. his natural constituency does not want to see stronger gun laws. he's not asking for stronger gun laws here. he's asking for a review to see are there other people who shouldn't be buying guns who are able to walk into a gun shop and buy a gun? >> and that's a separate legal issue. do we want to expand the area or the numbers of people who are disqualified from gun ownership? it has to be limited because we know we have a constitutional right to some degree to own firearms. but we can disqualify people. and we put in qualifying sell for a very long time. the next question is are we really disqualifying people if they have any open warrant?

because any open warrant, that's a hot issue with both the atf and doj. any open warrant within the state could just be for failing to appear for traffic court. and you have to be, as much as many people may say, hey, that's fine with me, those people shouldn't get a gun either, remember, we're balancing one of the most fundamental constitutional rights. and when you start legislating against that and prohibiting gun ownership, you may run afoul of that second amendment. >> so just to be clear for people who don't remember why this man should not -- devin kelley, should not have been able to buy a gun, he was court-martialed for spousal -- domestic abuse on his spouse and infant child. >> that's correct. it's the domestic abuse element. because even misdemeanors for domestic abuse will disqualify a person. now, also interestingly enough had he been dishonorably discharged that is one of the other grounds for disability under federal law. but he was not. he was something less than that. >> right. >> he was -- i forget the exact word. >> an unusual term i was not familiar with. >> yeah, me neither.

the point is it didn't disqualify him. it almost did but didn't ultimately. even misdemeanors, not fell oni, misdemeanors will disqualify anyone. >> danny, thank you for being with us today. happy thanksgiving. >> thank you. coming up next, an emotional nbc news exclusive we're hearing from the pastor of that church in sutherland springs, texas. this is quite a story. you'll remember pastor frank pomeroy lost his 14-year-old daughter annabelle in the shooting along with so many of his parishioners. >> it is hard to cope right now. but -- sorry. but still christmas music on, she would want the holidays to proceed. it was her favorite time of the year. ♪ this holiday, the real gift isn't what's inside the box.

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all right, folks, welcome back to "velshi & ruhle." in texas, this is going to be a tough thanksgiving for the friends and family of the 26 people who were shot and killed in this month's attack at the first baptist church in sutherland springs. in an nbc news exclusive, national correspondent miguel almaguer spoke with the pastor of that church who lost his own 14-year-old daughter annabelle. here's part of that emotional

interview. >> it hurts i've lost annabelle. i also know he has a plan that i need to continue to carry out. and that's what i do. it is hard. we went and talked to the gravestone people the other day. and that was a very difficult time, her forever place, if you will, that she'll be, her body will be, but i know where she is spiritually. i believe that god would not have allowed this tragedy to occur unless he had great plans. one would say if god was real why would he allow such evil. we have a free will, but even though they call it evil, i call it the sacrifice made for what god's going to bring back, what god's going to bring forth. it is hard to cope right now,

but -- sorry. she would want the holidays to proceed. it was her favorite time of the year. she and i would be stealing devilled eggs tomorrow from mom if she turns her back. i'll still be stealing the devilled eggs tomorrow. so is it going to be difficult? yes. but, you know what, i'm celebrating this great country that god's blessed us with on thanksgiving. and i'm also celebrating the birth of the savior at christmas. two celebrations that i know where my daughter lies right now.

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you're watching "velshi & ruhle." the search for three missing sailors in the waters off japan has entered a second day. zermg and rescue efforts being conducted by the u.s. navy and japanese forces. officials say the families of three missing people have been informed. the sailors were aboard a navy aircraft when it crashed into the sea on wednesday just south of japan's okinawa island. eight people were found alive and are said to be in good condition. the plane was conducting a routine cargo flight to the "uss ronald reagan." japanese officials speculated engine trouble may have caused the crash. as we keep those sailors in our thoughts, it's also important to remember that nearly 1.4 million u.s. service members on active duty this holiday because every service member counts, i want to read you these numbers. in the army, 475,400 men and women are serving. next to the navy 324,524 are

serving. 317,883 are in the air force. 40,357 are in the coast guard. this morning the president gave his thanks to troops overseas via teleconference. >> we're going on live right now and surrounding me is a lot of press. better me that you, believe me, fellas. believe me. we give thanks this holiday, i know i speak on behalf of all americans when i say that we totally support you. in fact, we love you. we really do. believe me, i know so much about military families. they respect and appreciate what you're doing for this country. and they respect and appreciate what you're doing for them as a family. >> nbc's hans nichols is in kandahar, afghanistan, with u.s. troops there. hans, 15, 16 years since u.s. troops have been in afghanistan. how are they spending their thanksgiving? obviously troops haven't been

there for 15 years, but this is something that's been going on for a very long time there. >> reporter: right, ali. some troops have been here for multiple deployments. spoke to someone yesterday who's on his ninth ninth deployment. when you talk to those soldiers, you really get a study of just where this war has gone. how it's changed from 2002, 2006, 2010, when things were really hot here in kandahar. for the most part, most of the troops on this base, and there are about 3,000 u.s. personnel here, they're almost double that when you include contractors, and most of the troops stay on base. they started this morning with a turkey bowl. now, yesterday, we did see some guys go out on a mission. they were looking for vehicle born improvised explosive devices. that's the biggest threat down here in kandahar. that's partly why we tend to travel by hl copter, because the roads below are simply too risky. this morning, we witnessed a reenlistment ceremony. that was two soldier, least one

soldiers who was injured in an attack. he tried to reenlist from the hospital bed. he said he's thankful for his friends. now, later tonight, they had two meals here. they had a lunch. then he had a dinner. commanding general, served the troops. we caught up with him and i asked general nico nicolson whe u.s. can start to expect to win this war. >> with the u.s. forces arriving, with the new authority we've been given, with the pressure on external enablers. we've set all the conditions to win. >> nbc news has reported that the president wanted to relieve you of command. do you have confidence that you have the president's confidence? >> yes. >> what makes you say that? >> because of the authorities i've been given and the policy that we received on august 21st, it's everything i asked for. >> ali, the new strategies in

place. perhaps one of the most tangible aspects of it is this idea of targeting drug labs with air strikes. they're really trying to cut off the sources of funding for the taliban. now, in terms of the troops that do go outside the wire here, yes you have the brave hearts, they're in the armied vehicles. they're trying to clear the roads of clear bombs. you also have a battalion and they're called guardian angels. and those guardian angels go out and protect the train, advise and assist mission so when they go out and interact with the afghan counterpart, the trainer, the advisers, aren't at risk. one of the other big threats here are so-called green on blue attacks. which is afghan forces turning their guns on the very trainers that are meant to help them. some of the challenges you have here, most of the people you talk to, most of the soldiers, say they have great confidence and high confidence in an improving afghan police force and an afghan army as well. but there still is that concern that the taliban could

potentially be infiltrating that trying to get at u.s. forces. >> i'm glad you're there, hans, because for all of its history, afghanistan has been a complex place. and in the 17 years america has been there, it has not grown any simpler. hans nichols for us in kandahar, afghanistan, thank you for that. earlier, we told you about the baltimore police detective who was shot and killed in the line of duty that week. i inadvertently called him by a different name. his name is shawn suitor. our thoughts are with detective suitor's family, his friends and the baltimore police department. people who may deserve a statue of their own. today, it's sara, an american writer who successfully lobbied to make thanksgiving an american holiday. hail was born in 1788 in new hampshire and became a teacher. she married and had five children and after her husband's early death, she began to publish her writings. she was one of the first female american novelists and one of the first americans to write about slavery.

her most famous work is the nursery rhyme "mary had a little lamb." hale was also an activist. her most enduring accomplishment is the holiday we're celebrating today. she wrote to five presidents over decades before convincing abraham lincoln to establish thanksgiving as a national holiday in 1863. (avo) when you have type 2 diabetes, you manage your a1c, but you also have a higher risk of heart attack or stroke.

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shout-out to my grandma and grandpa debrew. love and miss you and happy thanksgiving. >> from kandahar afghanistan. >> to all of our end from fried family in southern california, happy thanksgiving. >> and god bless america. >> earlier today, the president and first lady served thanksgiving lunch at a coast guard station in riviera beach, florida, near their home, where they'll have dinner with their family. we got a hold of the first family's dinner menu. it includes the traditional fare. but they will also dine on red snapper and florida's famous stone crab. i hope they enjoy their thanksgiving. thank you for watching this hour of velshi and rule. i'm not done just yet. i'm going to be back in an hour. i'll be back with my buddy stephanie ruhle again on monday. check us out on social media, connect with our show at

#velshiruehl. we always love hearing from you. right now, my friend kacie hunt picks up our special thanksgiving day coverage. so we're keeping the fort going, you and me, for the next couple hours. >> we are holding down the fort. very happy thanksgiving to you. happy thanksgiving to all of you. i'm kacie hunt. it's 1:00 here in washington. here's what we're watching this hour. alabama's senate scandal. republican roy moore is now fund-raising off the almost endorsement from president trump. we're live on the ground with just three weeks to go. until that state heads to the polls. also this hour, donald trump's first thanksgiving as commander in chief. he visited members of the u.s. coast guard but couldn't resist a joke at the expense of a favorite target. >> -- the media here to do the questions or should we just -- you know what, it's thanksgiving, so let's let the media stay, okay. >> and protecting a holiday tradition. we're in manhattan where security was tightened for this

year's mercy thanksgiving day parade. but let's begin in alabama with the scandal surrounding their republican senate candidate. roy moore's campaign is seizing on this week's almost endorsement from president trump to try and raise some money. moore saying the president, quote, stood up and defended me against the lies and sleazy accusations launched against me by the forces of evil in washington. but with just 19 days to go, moore's communications director has left the campaign. and it's been a while, to say the least, since we've seen roy moore in public. nbc's vaugh hillyard is in birmingham, alabama, for us. vaughn, happy thanksgiving to you. what is the latest on the ground there in alabama? >> good morning, yes, roy moore hasn't been seen in eight days publicly and the campaign says he's not going to have an event until at least this upcoming monday. he's out in etowah county where he's spending the thanksgiving weekend. doug jones, meanwhile, was at a thanksgiving -- at a shelter