right now on "andrea mitchell reports," the good news/bad news economy. jobs growth beating etch peck -- expectations. that means the fed likely won't stop putting open the brakes.

president biden signing emergency legislation to prevent a cripping national rail strike. >> i know this is a tough vote. it was tough for me. it was the right thing to do at the moment. to save jobs, to protect millions of working families from harm and disruption and to keep supply chains stable around the holidays. it's bad news for former president trump. the usually polite appeals court of three republican appointed judges slamming a florida judge for appointing a special master and interfering with the mar-a-lago document probe. how democrats also finally getting trump's tax returns. his dinner date with the rapper formerly known as kanye west looks a lot worse by the day after he is kicked off twitter for the second time in as many months for inciting violence after praising hitler and alienating more of trump's republican allies. this hour, democrats on the last day of early voting in georgia's senate runoff have

former president obama campaigning for senator raphael warnock with a signature takedown of republican hopeful herschel walker. >> since last time i was here, apparently he claimed that he used to let me beat him at basketball. but then he admitted that we never actually met. so i guess this was more of an imaginary whooping that i laid on him. good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. we begin this hour with the november jobs report, beating expectations by adding 236,000 new jobs for the month. the unemployment rate holding steady at 3.7%. it's not all good news. the pace of job growth mixed with rising hourly wages, weak labor participation and the lack of overall domestic productivity is giving the federal reserve

the green light to continue with rate hikes. there's a lot of optimism that the fed would slow the pace of interest rate hikes in a couple of weeks, mid december meeting. this jobs report really could change that. what do you think? >> it is good news is bad news. it's tough to say. the indicator, that was the most significant, even more so than the 63,000 jobs more created than economists were expecting, was the wage gains. still very much part of the american economic story. to a greater degree, by the way, than what was expected. average hourly earnings did rise over october's levels, which puts the year over year wage gains at 5.1%. both markedly higher than estimated. that is what's driving the down side for the stock market right

now. more people, more jobs making more money. that's good for the economy but it means the fed needs to keep raising rates to reduce the amount of cash in the system and tap the brakes further. they aren't working as well as predicted. for that reason, the threat of inflation looms very large. the fed may have to remain vigilant when it comes to continuing interest rate hikes. until things slow down, that will be the pace. you also mentioned before, the rail strike. the aversion of it with the signing of the legislation by president biden. some estimates the cost of a rail strike around $2 billion per day. that's a big deal. that's how much the american economy still relies on the railroad transportation business from everything from crude oil to toys and cars and clothing. that bill now law received wide bipartisan support. it makes it illegal for any american rail workers to walk off the job. in return, andrea, workers will get a 24% pay raise over the next five years and immediate

cash payouts. they couldn't agree on extra paid sick leave. >> thank you so much. whether it's good news or bad news, it's great to have you explaining it all. a string of legal, political and public setback may have republican party leaders thinking twice about donald trump for 2024. first, the total rejection by that appeals court ruling that the florida judge's order for a special master overseeing the mar-a-lago case has no basis in law. on capitol hill, house democrats and the ways and means company staff are sifting through six years of the former president's tax returns with a full month to decide what to do with what they learn after battling for years to get them. new york prosecutors in the tax fraud trial against the trump organization move to closing arguments. the blow back from trump's dinner date with a white nationalist and the rapper formerly known as kanye west grows by the day. made worse with ye's new

anti-semitic comments, including his love for nazis and praise of hitler. joining me now, garrett haake, peter baker and paul charlton. garrett, there's so much to unpack. give us your top lines, starting with the federal appeals court. >> reporter: look, donald trump has had probably the worst first 2 1/2 weeks you could have for a presidential candidate. he had his rollout event and then he had a special counsel appointed. trump is a unique candidate in the sense that being targeted by the federal courts is almost part of his brand. he could make victimhood and being attacked as he views it by the department of justice, by federal prosecutors, by state prosecutors, as is the case in georgia, part of the rationale for running. he is not effectively making the

argument. he is yet to leave mar-a-lago. he has not been out there consolidating support. he has seen his allies, in this case kanye west, really lose any platform they had. kanye west kicked off twitter again in an age where that's very difficult to do after the wildly anti-semitic comments yesterday. house republicans who had been allied with west, backing away from him. trump has almost entirely on the back foot since announcing his campaign for president. i talked to some allies who expect that to change in the not too distant future. but americans will look ahead to the holidays. not paying attention to politics. it's hard to see what he does in the short term to turn around what has been a very slow start as a third-time presidential candidate. >> seems like moving backwards. paul, talk to me about the 11th circuit. this is unusually harsh language, as i understand it.

it's usually a polite appeals court. these three judges came out swinging against the florida judge who ordered that special master. >> that's correct, andrea. if you think about this as, for example, a review that someone might receive at the end of the year by your boss or by your supervisor, if your boss or supervisor were to tell you the answer is no or that you are unimpeded in your decision making process by the facts or you have no concern for the very fundamental bedrock institutions of our country, for example, in the law that all people are equal before the law, if you would receive such a review as that, you might be worried about your job in the coming year. here, as you know, judge cannon is a judge who has lifetime tenure. she is secure. it is an indelible mark on her and on her reputation, the way in which the 11th circuit

addressed this decision which they said had no jurisdiction, no basis in the law. while president trump and his legal team certainly suffered a setback, the worst outcome, the worst day was for judge cannon herself. >> just to quickly follow, he always appeals to the supreme court. does it seem there would be any advantage in doing that except for delay? but that could be enough to make him do it. >> that's right, andrea. that is the three lines of defense every criminal defense attorney knows. delay, delay and delay. they have been somewhat successful in delaying the outcome of this eventual -- what seems to be inevitable prosecution by the department of justice. they are four months behind where they would want to be after this initial search warrant. the trump team has received that slim benefit. they have had access to a number of the non-classified documents.

neither of which they should have had, so says the 11th circuit. judge cannon should never have heard the arguments the trump team made before her. we can expect that trump and his legal team will go before the supreme court. i would add that if they have the same success they have had before, which is to say little to none, it's unlikely they will be successful before the supreme court again. >> wow. peter, you and susan wrote the book, literally, "the divider" on trump. how is he likely reacting to this? >> he is not happy, obviously. that seems reasonable. how many stories have we seen that say trump infuriated, trump rages against this or that? look, i think garrett's point is not wrong. garrett's point is right that he actually thrives on being a victim. he thrives on the notion that they are coming out to get him.

his anti-government words have echoed what we used to see only on the fridges of american politics. the justice department and the law enforcement system are not what we have heard from a former president in our lifetime. he uses that to stoke up his base, to make the point that they are coming after me because otherwise they would come after you. they being the elites. they, as always, a favorite of his rhetorical devices, they being whoever they might be, whether it be on the basis of government or race or immigrant status or what have you. to some extent, as garrett says, this is bad news and good news at the same time. he can make something of it even if any other person would look at this and say, this is not good news. >> peter, i want to say that the president has now weighed in with a tweet about ye, the rapper previously known as kanye

west. it's pretty devastating. he saying how abhorrent it is. it's the strongest thing he has had to say about this. >> yeah, it is. he is saying what former president trump won't say. former president trump simply explains the dinner by saying i had an old friend over. he brought somebody i didn't know, this nick fuentes guy, didn't know about him. he knew kanye west and what he has been under fire for and what he said yesterday, he likes hitler, nazis shouldn't be demonized, the holocaust didn't happen. you haven't heard disavowal from former president trump about that. he put out a video that he sent to a fund-raiser for families of the january 6 defendants, people who stormed the capitol, he was telling them they were the ones who are victims, not the perpetrators of a crime against democracy. he is making it very clear that while he has always flirted with

the fringes since his early days in politics, he is going all in these days and embracing the more extremist elements in his party and in society. >> garrett, peter, paul, thanks to all of you. joining us now, arkansas governor hutchinson. you were outspoken in former president trump after that dinner with ye and nick fuentes. these repulsive new comments from ye making things worse. is trump becoming too toxic for the party to handle nationally because of these associations? >> well, this really goes over the top whenever you see the most recent praise of hitler or nazis by kanye west taken off of twitter, which you have to work hard to get off of twitter. this is terribly unacceptable. i would think that even while mr. trump accepted the meeting to begin with, which was wrong,

a mistake, now it's really incumbent upon him to repudiate it, to disavow this, because this is not the republican party. it should not be any leader. the holocaust happened. we have to stand up for equal rights and not white supremacy. this is going the wrong direction for donald trump. he needs to reverse that if he is serious about running in the future. i made it clear that i fought white supremacists, i put them in jail when they crossed the line into violence. it's not acceptable for our society. we need to not be breaking bread with them. we need to be distancing ourselves from them. >> i just want to -- i think you would agree with the president of the united states who wrote, i just want to make a few things clear, the holocaust happened, hitler was a demonic figure and instead of giving it a platform,

our political leaders shoul anti-semitism where it hides. silence is complicity. >> i agree with what the president wrote. i think at some point we don't want to be responding to everything that happens in the donald trump world. whenever it comes to significant issues of white supremacy, of making sure that we are not suppressing the truth about the holocaust, we do need to speak out. we need to make it clear that this is not the republican party. this is not america. these things are real. it does impact people, whether back with the white supremacist group that i had to deal with, it is leaders that impact them. we want leaders to speak the truth. i'm glad president trump said that -- excuse me, president

biden issued that statement. one of the few times i probably agreed with him completely on something of this nature. >> do you think it's incumbent on all important republican leaders to speak out? there is, of course, his former press secretary, the newly elected governor in your state. >> well, you know, i didn't speak out until i was asked the question. i was in a venue that i could. i think this got to a point where it is important for people in key positions to distance themselves from that. but i don't expect every member of congress, every republican member of congress to go on twitter and make a statement. that fuels all of the back and forth with donald trump. we need to make our position clear. i think people know where i am, and that's what's important. whenever you look at the future of our party, that, to me, is an

important factor as to whether you have a leader that speaks the truth, runs from the truth or distorts the truth, particularly on these incredibly important issues that we face from a race standpoint in america. >> you have other republicans like outgoing governor hogan ramping up fund-raising ahead of a potential run. how close are you to making a decision? does this chaos surrounding donald trump push you -- make you more inclined toward jumping in? >> well, i'm fully committed to make sure that there are alternative candidates for 2024 on the republican side. absolutely, we cannot yield this to someone that creates the chaos that donald trump has created. from my standpoint, i'm glad we have holidays coming up, christmas, a time for family. maybe take a break. this is a serious time.

and what we have seen recently reaffirms to me the importance of alternatives. i'm very glad we have other leaders on the republican side, great governors or elected officials that are looking at it as well. i think we need to have multiple voices, powerful voices. my voice is a part of that. yes, absolutely, over this season i will continue to plan and look at what my role will be next year. i expect, because everything has accelerated, you will start seeing announcements in january and february of next year. >> is governor desantis your fellow governor in florida becoming a presumptive favorite, other than former president trump? >> clearly, he is very popular among the base. he spoke out very loudly. he knows how to utilize the media well. but i expect that there will be others that's not going to

simply say, this is a contest between mr. desantis, who we don't know what's going to happen, and donald trump. there's going to be multiple voices in here. it's not a one-on-one contest. until people get out there, we don't know what the future looks like. you have to make your own individual decision. you say, do i have a message and a record that makes sense for the country? do i have the support that's needed to win in places like iowa and new hampshire? those are decisions we have to make and evaluate as we look at the future. my record of lower taxes, comment sense conservatism in arkansas, i think that's where the republican party is. we just don't need to have all the drama that we have had in the past. >> it sounds like a candidate. wishing you and your family a very happy holiday season.

>> great to be with you. >> thanks for taking time. we talk now about a presidential roast. obama making a target of walker. his scathing comments coming next. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. scover the po the ozempic® tri-zone. in my ozempic® tri-zone, i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. announcer: ozempic® provides powerful a1c reduction. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease. and you may lose weight. adults lost up to 14 pounds. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles.

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former president barack obama sliced and diced herschel walker to rally democrats for last day of early voting in the georgia senate runoff. he was an easy target. >> since the last time i was here, mr. walker has been talking about issues that are of great importance to the people of georgia. like whether it's better to be a

vampire or a werewolf. this is a debate that i must confess i once had myself. when i was 7. as far as i'm concerned, he can be anything he wants to be, except for a united states senator. >> kelly o'donnell joins us now. the former president was really going after walker last night. very difficult to get walker's response, because they are keeping reporters 20 feet away on the campaign when he does campaign so he can't be asked any questions, including about his claim he met obama and let him win a basketball game. >> reporter: the former president talked about that as well. he has been a powerful surrogate on the campaign trail for him, for raphael warnock.

one of the stories that former president obama told is that walker has been talking about letting the former president beat him at basketball. as you remember well and many of our viewers do, president obama is very good at basketball. played it a lot as one of his outlets for recreation, even when he was here at the white house, going over to courts not far from here in washington. turns out, they have never met. so the president -- former president was saying, it's okay if you want to trash talk, but we have never met. he roasted him with that line and used it in a political sense. kind of lighter fare, but using it effectively to say that voters have to decide if they want someone who is going to be truthful in the way he presents himself to voters in georgia, and that there are serious issues to be presented, and that it is not appropriate for someone to offer themselves

forward as a united states senate candidate and not be straight about things like that. so that's part of the wayt barack obama has handled it. another line he used is commending herschel walker, great football player, great running back, saying that when the election is over, he can run back to texas, attacking him on the issue of where does herschel walker actually live, is it in georgia or does he have a residence primarily in texas? an effective surrogate. president biden today will be going to boston and by way of visiting in boston, he will be doing phone bank work to help the georgia democratic party in their work to try to get raphael warnock re-elected. he will not be physically going to georgia, but he will be working on behalf of that campaign and that effort in what is the end of the midterm season for democrats. >> kelly, let's talk about 2024.

president biden has stirred a hornet's nest by wanting south carolina, the primary that turned his campaign around, to go first in the nominating process. that would elevate non-white voters in a state that helped him. new hampshire is furious. what does he do about alienating new hampshire? >> reporter: and iowa, too. those states have such a strong identity of being the first in line. for iowa, it's caucuses. for new hampshire, the first in the nation primary. they are deeply invested in that. there's a whole culture in those two states for how they are a part of american voting. the president wants to see south carolina elevated, because he believes that -- especially in the democratic party -- african american voters are a big, important constituency. they have been at the latter part of the early voting period. where presidents have a big say is when they are the head of the

party for a re-election and it's expected that the democratic national committee would take very seriously and likely follow through with what the president recommends, moving south carolina up. this would really turn the nominating process really upside down and would very much affect how it plays out. of course, candidates strategize how they go about meeting vote voters. it's very personal. it's person by person, house party by house party voter interaction. it would be a big change. the president has a lot of influence and he plans to use it. >> it's also partly because of how badly iowa did last time in tabulating the votes. >> reporter: exactly. >> kelly o'donnell, thanks. getting to work. more on the economic news from the labor department as congress helps avert a rail strike. china easing parts of its zero covid policy. what the move signals about

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good news for white house on the economic front today as we have been reporting, although it does mean the fed's unprecedented tightening has not slowed the economy to get inflation down to the target range. the latest employment report was better than expected with 263,000 jobs added in november and hourly wages up, which is inflationary. a major rail strike has been averted with the deal the president negotiated and signed into law this morning. >> we assured workers are going to get a historic 24% wage increase over the next five years. look, i know this bill doesn't have paid sick leave. these rail workers and frankly every worker in america deserves. that fight isn't over. today we learned the economy added 263,000 jobs in november. we have now created 10.5 million jobs since i took office, more

than any administration in history at this point in a presidency. >> joining me now is the commerce secretary under president obama, the former governor of washington state. thanks for joining us. >> pleasure to be with you. >> how significant was this deal to avoid a rail worker strike? obviously, the paid days off is really important. the unions are angry. but not having a $2 billion a day strike costing the economy that much money is really important. >> this is very important, because it would have disrupted supplies. the economy is still reeling from supply chain issues. to have deliveries of components, consumer goods, having that disrupted would have impacted more jobs and really wreaked havoc on the economy and slowed down the recovery.

the jobs report is good. of course, we need to get inflation down. but certainly, this is good news to avoid a catastrophe and a jolt to the u.s. economy and getting our recovery underway. >> still, it leaves the job of the federal reserve not finished. they have one tool to raise rates again when they meet in december. >> chairman powell indicated the rate of increase might be lessening or softening. that's good news as well. it looks like the fed is watching carefully inflation, making sure we -- at the same time we do not go into a deep recession. so it's a balance. it's a very delicate balancing act. it appears the signals are good. >> let me ask you about china. you have so much experience there. we have had massive protests

against president xi jinping, unprecedented criticism. does it seem to you that they worked, because china is now overnight beginning to ease the lockdown restrictions, the covid restrictions in some cities? >> these are unprecedented protests nationwide. the largest amount of protests and prolonged protests we have seen since tiananmen square, which led to a brutal and violent and bloody cessation of the students. there are real grievances by the chinese people of these lockdowns there which cities of millions and millions of people or neighborhoods of 5 or 10 million people are completely locked down. residents can't go out, can't go shopping, can't go to work, can't visit a doctor or go to the hospital. that has really frustrated the chinese people. of course, it affected their economy. unemployment among teenagers and young people is in double digits

because of the lockdown policies. beijing, sensing this outrage, and because of the protests, has announced they're going to soften and loosen up some of the restrictions. it remains to be seen how the local government officials will carry out the so-called new era or new restrictions or softening, because the local officials are very fearful of displeasing beijing. beijing does not want any increase in the number of cases. they have had tens of thousands of covid cases reported. not enough seniors are vaccinated. the vaccines aren't all that effective. they are using their own vaccines and not the western vaccines, which have proven to be very effective. these protests are a culmination of frustration among the chinese people. and what the chinese government is most afraid of is that this could be almost an opening for

other grievances to come out and to be aired. once the protests start, they cannot be stopped. therefore, they are clamping down. they are confiscating phones, tracking people down whose phones indicate they were in the area of the protests. then they are -- massive police presence in the areas where the protests have occurred to persuade people from doing this again. they are calling in people and taking phones and striking the fear of god among the protesters. >> such a complicated situation in china. it's a critical part of our economy and of the global economy. ambassador, great to see you. thanks so much. >> my pleasure. a battle royal. president biden is set to greet the prince of wales while tensions with harry and meghan and the royal family hit a new

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president biden is walking into a firestorm today when he meets with william the prince of wales visiting boston for what was to be a pleasant ceremonial trip by the prince and princess but has turned into a public relations disaster for buckingham palace and the young royals. keir simmons is all over the story. >> reporter: the u.s. trip overshadowed by controversy here and back home. including an explosive new trailer for the netflix series, "harry and meghan." >> why did you want to make this? >> no one sees what's happening behind closed doors. i had to do everything i could to protect my family. >> doesn't it make more sense to hear our story from us? >> reporter: newspaper headlines not only questioning the timing of the release but some calling the documentary a declaration of war on the royal family.

also making headlines, chair a y executive is speaking out about her treatment at a buckingham palace event this week. >> this lady comes up to me. the first thing is take my hair and move it. i'm like, i don't know who she is. she's felt already that she has the right to put her hand on me physically to move my hair so she can see my name badge. >> joining me from boston is keir simmons and also daisy mcandrew. welcome both. keir, how important is prince william's meeting today and the way this has taken off, this controversy with harry and meghan and, of course, the incident at buckingham palace, the racial incident that was described to you in your interview? >> reporter: i think it's

crucial, just from a position of optics, andrea, prince william is inside the jfk library behind me with caroline kennedy. he is into the diplomatic part of the trip. later, he is going to meet with president biden. for him, it gives him the opportunity to make some positive headlines from his point of view. then, of course, his charity event later, he will see those as positive headlines to move away from the concontroversy. the meetings with the most powerful leader in the world are crucial. i think also for the president, the opportunity -- it's rare for a president to meet with somebody who he knows he can have a conversation with that will never leak, will never end up in the media. with a member of the royal family, that's the case. i imagine they know each other and i imagine it will be an enjoyable meeting and a chance for prince william to breathe out a little bit. i have to say, what we are told is that prince william is

enjoying this trip, he is getting on with focusing on the charity and all that stuff. we know also about him that he does pay attention to what's written. he pays close attention. he will know how this has gone in terms of the headlines. i suspect that when they get back -- daisy will have something to say about this as well. i suspect they will have to think about how this has exploded and the issues back home and within the family that have meant that these controversies have happened and in many ways overshadowed the message they were trying to put out there during this trip. >> thanks so much. i know you to go inside one of my favorite places, the kennedy library, to cover the rest of the events there. thanks for that. extraordinary reporting. daisy, pick it up there. this trip really has been overshadowed. what do you think of the timing of the release of that trailer from the documentary by harry and meghan? >> you are right, there have been two disastrous bits of

timing. one, the accidental timing of that accusation of racist. that was clearly a coincidence, but a terrible one, that it totally overrode all the publicity that william and kate would have expected to get from their big visit to the united states. it is a very big visit. this is the first foreign tour as the prince and princess of wales. it's their first tour since the queen died. it's no coincidence it's to the united states. the united states is a very, very important market, if you like, for the brand of the royal family. that brand was already very tarnished by the oprah winfrey interview and by what harry and meghan have been saying over the last couple of years. now it's tarnished again. in the brand of the royal family, the most marketable asset they have at the moment are william and kate.

it's a big miss as far as that is concerned. that's a disaster. of course, as you mentioned, the netflix trailer. we have all been to the movies and seen a film that's been disappointing because the trailer used all the really good bits. i somehow doubt it's going to be the case with this documentary. of course, netflix will want some bang for their buck. we know that they are going to expect and demand real revelations from this documentary that lands just next week. >> the timing could not be worse. daisy, thank you so much. good to see you again. an inspirational holiday moment this week at new york's grand central station. the ukrainian children's choir delivering an enchanting performance of their holiday song "carol of the bells" written by a ukrainian composer more than 100 years ago. they are age 11 to 25. they go to carnegie hall sunday bringing attention to russia's

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man, i love parties. subway keeps refreshing and refreshing president biden opened the door a crack to contact with vladimir putin, but says he has no immediate plans to speak with putin unless the russian president wants to talk about ending his invasion of ukraine. >> i'm prepared to speak with mr. putin if, in fact, there is an interest in him deciding he is looking for a way to end the war. he hasn't done that yet. >> this is news about paul whelan, an american businessman who has been unlawfully imprisoned years. he has been out of touch with his family in recent weeks and concerned embassy officials couldn't contact him. but now his brother and the state department both say today he was allowed around 5:00 this morning eastern time to call his

parents and speak to embassy officials as well. we're learning from embassy officials that whelan told them he was feeling well despite being transferred to the prison hospital for awhile. joining me now is david whelan, paul's brother. you must be so are relieved. did your brother clear up the mic mystery about his whereabouts when he talked to your parents? >> only that he was at the are prison hospital. it was a great moment for my mom opinion she was thrilled to hear from paul and knew that he was healthy and had been moved to the hospital for reasons he didn't know. he was on his way back. >> there was a real concern because he had not called on thanksgiving. he usually calls on thursdays and the embassy was prevented from talking to him. so the russians were stopping him from talking. is there any way from these conversations. he knows they are listening to say more about the conditions he's living under?

>> he's a able to say some things, but he's very careful. and we're careful sharing that information with the media because we don't want them to retaliate against him. it's a mystery. i'm not sure he will be able to clear it up. he has been moved, as he was when pooit met. he was moved away from the camp for a month just to do it when they want to keep him isolated so he can't communicate about thing he's saying. there may have been activity that he wasn't supposed to be witnessing. >> what is your sense about any progress at all on negotiations to get paul and brittney griner out? because u.s. officials have been trying for months they say there was a good offer opt the table. we know from other sources it involved victor boot, the arms dealer that putin wants back. and putin was saying that the russians wanted at least two for

two. we don't know what house was on the table? >> and we don't know either. we saw in the media the same speculation. what we're finding is that president putin has appointed someone to be the negotiator for that side. and that person is the person who is now obstructing the ability to come to a conclusion. and in typical kremlin fashion, the reciprocity of the cruelty is there as well. so paul whelan will not bement coing home for christmas. but also grandfather frost is not taking a father home. she will be missing her father. so it's really unfortunate. i don't know who this person is or what sort of pat on the head you want from president putin, but he's doing it in a way that's now cruel to families from both could be countries. he's doing it to his comrades, his countrymen as well as americans. >> there had been some hope among the diplomats with whom i spoke that after the midterms

that maybe putin would relent. he was trying to avoid giving joe biden a big victory, a diplomatic victory before the midterm elections. so maybe still now that the midterms are out of the way, maybe after the holt.netdays. >> perhaps, yes. i'm not getting my hopes up. the people involved in the decision whoever they are, they have ulterior motives. hab to save their own hides and the repeated disasters related to ukraine and whatever else is going on in russia. so that maybe drawing up something else. we may still have months for us to see a result. >> and are you satisied with what the government is doing, what the state department, what the white house is doing? >> yes, as far as i can tell. from conversations my sister has had with people in the biden administration, first, they made the concession, which is the most important step. the second they sound like they

are trying to find ways to meet the requirements of whoever this negotiator is in the kremlin. and it really is that person. that person is focused very single mindedly on certain concessions that the u.s. government is unable to make. so the cruelty of paul's intention, the it's going to continue. and as i say, it's not just american citizen who is will suffer from this person. >> david whelan, our thoughts are with you and your parents that this will somehow get resolved and wish yog all the best as you continue to hope for some sort of progress. thank you for being with us. >> i appreciate it. before we go, a reminder. i don't think any of you need the reminder. team usa playing tomorrow morning in the world cup knockout stage. a win against the netherlands without send the u.s. to the

quarterfinals for the first time in 20 years. this morning head coach said that the odds are looking pretty good that star player christian returns to the field after suffering a pelvic injury while scoring tuesday's winning goal. his teammate told craig today that either way the team is ready. >> if i know christian, he's been feeling good. me personally, he will be on the field. i think as a team we'll get that spark tomorrow. we're running on a lot of adrenaline. the boys are ready. we're excited to play one of bst teams in the world. >> best of luck to tim and the team. we're all rooting for you. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." on monday we'll share my interview from the reagan presidential library with the first woman to become director of national intelligence overseeing all intelligence agencies.

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