and thanks to you at home for joining us. as you are probably aware there is a balloon in the sky.

it is a big balloon, about the size of two school buses according to the pentagon. it traveled from china, to the solution islands of alaska late last week, through the northwest canada, until finally being spotted somewhere over montana on wednesday. chinese officials said that the balloon was a civilian air ship used mainly for weather research and that it had just been instantly innocently been blown off course. the pentagon says that they are confident that it is a surveillance balloon. you know? for spying. flying at about 60,000 feet above ground and moving eastward across the continental u.s.. the pentagon has yet to confirm the balloons latest citing but the national weather service in kansas city and kansas city, missouri, said earlier that they have several reports of a large balloon on the horizon, and that the balloon is not one of their weather balloons. in neighboring kansas senator roger marshall said the balloon was above his state. the pentagon has yet to confirm that. the u.s. has been tracking the balloon since athletes tuesday,

when president biden was first briefed about it. while biden was initially inclined to shoot it down, the pentagon rep recommended against doing so, saying that to doing so would cause significant debris that could cause civilian injuries or death on the ground. today, as a result, secretary of state antony blinken postponed his weekend trip to china. that trip was going to be the first trip in roughly five years by an american secretary of state. >> the presence of this surveillance balloon over the united states in our skies is a clear violation of our sovereignty, a clear violation of international law, and, clearly, unacceptable. job one is getting it out of our airspace. >> that is a reminder that this thing is still in american airspace, where officials say it could remain for several days. nbc news has learned tonight that the u.s. is taking precautionary measures to weaken the balloon surveillance

capabilities, including these encounter intelligence measures to obscure its views and physically moving things out of its path. and we do not know exactly what it is doing out there but. we can guess. the pentagon would not get into specifics and said that it is manoeuvrable. and typically spy balloons flyover sensitive areas to collect information. tonight, the pentagon is confirming that the second balloon is currently transiting latin america and that it is also a chinese surveillance balloon. as for the one currently hovering over the continental u.s., we do not know what it was looking for in montana but it just so happens that montana is home to one of america's three nuclear missile silo fields, which is interesting. republican congresswoman marjorie taylor greene has thoughts on what to do about the balloon, advocating for it to be shot down and saying, in rural america, there aren't people everywhere there's a land my next guest might disagree with that. joining me now is democratic senator jon tester of montana,

also chairman of the defense appropriation subcommittee. thank you for joining me tonight, senator. i'll get right to it. when did you first learn of this balloon and how did you learn of it? >> it was -- i learned yesterday. that's when i learned about it. and quite honestly, it was very disturbed by what i had heard. we had a surveillance balloon flying over montana, a place where people appreciate freedom and privacy, a place where you have 150 icbms jon tester. and a balloon that was put in space by china. this is a very bad situation, quite frankly. china has been trying to replace us as the world's economic leader and military leader for sometime now. and they have done some very provocative things around taiwan in the indo-pacific. they do things on the internet

all the time that are not helpful. and so we need to get to the bottom of all of this. we need to get to find out why decisions are made that were made. and i'm not saying they were wrong decisions. but we need to find out why the decisions of the modern age were made the way they were. a lot of that information cannot be given outside. some of it can be and we will do as much of it as we can up to the public. but in the end we need to find out what is happened, why it happened, and make sure this never happens again. we need to absolutely make sure that this country is safe. and the surveillance balloon, i think, at least from my perspective, compromises that somewhat. >> senator, i know that a lot of your colleagues on capitol hill have been fairly

aggressive in terms of their suggestion of what should be done here. they have been saying, shoot it down. you have not publicly advocated for that. do you agree with the biden administration's rationale here >> that's why we are having the hearing, to find out what the rationale that was used to determine whether to shoot it down or let it fly what was done to try to make it so that it was ineffective and gathering information. and that is all very important information. look, i am not there sitting in the seat there. there are military generals that are. the truth of the matter is, i put a lot of faith in them to do the right thing. but we also have to make sure -- they have to be held accountable -- for the decisions they do make. that is what the hearing is hopefully -- hopefully, we get that done as soon as possible. >> i know that the chinese have been aggressively pursuing -- it sounds like -- american airspace, but also american land. and you have been very engaged in the issue of chinese buying up farmland in your own state and can you talk a bit more about that as far as agriculture? >> and look, it only makes

sense that if we have folks that are enemies of ours, and as i said, china wants to replace us in the world as a military and economic leader, that we ought not be providing them with avenues to do that. -- as a have a bill we are pushing through, hopefully, we will get to the presidents desk very, very soon. it prevents folks like china from buying farmland. there are plenty of folks that are farming the ground right now that believe this has already happened. and if it has, that's another problem. because anytime you have a foreign adversary that is buying farmland, that not only compromises our food supply. it compromises our national security. and we are going to be pushing

hard in a bipartisan way to get that bill across the finish line. and i think that this surveillance balloon only adds fuel to that urgency. >> i think you have very nicely articulated your concerns about this, the potential threat here you see in terms of national security. but there has been a degree of alarm on the part of the right as far as it concerns this balloon. and china in general -- but i think a lot of people see it as unnecessarily nativist, unnecessarily isolationist. do you have any thoughts about the people who have been saying, oh, this balloon could be from wuhan? it might be filled with covid or any number of paranoid conspiracy theories that, as of right now, seem largely unfounded. do you have thoughts on that

kind of rhetoric at this moment? >> well, the worst thing we could do is put -- our national security. that is a nonstarter. the second thing is, we need to get to the truth. and we need to find out with the truth is. that there are all sorts of theories and ideas and thoughts out there by different people who do not know what they are talking about. the bottom line is, we want to have people come to this hearing that do know what they are talking about and can justify what is going on and what has happened and how many times this has happened before. and we have had a surveillance balloon potentially fly over this country -- and look, conspiracy theories can go all over. there is one thing that i believe to be a factor. china is our -- threat in this world. we need to treat it as such. and, so when they send a surveillance balloon over this country it is not to pick up information on the weather. it is to surveil us. it is to pick up secrets, to find out what we are doing. this is our airspace and not theirs. that is completely and improper to do. we just need to get the military in to tell us why the actions that were done were done and find out what is going to happen in the future, if this happens again.

>> we do have reporting from politico that the united states of america also uses balloons for surveillance, potentially in the airspace of other countries. does that change your thinking about how aggressively we need to pursue this? if this is something that is done by america as well >> i am not aware of that myself. i have not been briefed on that happening. but i will tell you it does not diminish it. who knows what happened. we saw that in montana. the we have a surveillance balloon that is floating across this country. we need to treat it as a real threat and we need to do what we can do to stop it from ever happening again. >> senator jon tester of montana, thank you, sir, for your time. we really appreciate it. and thanks for all you are doing. have a good night. >> -- >> in 1945, the crew of the uss new york spotted what they thought was a japanese balloon weapon following their ship.

the captain ordered that they shoot it down. it was only after firing at that they realize they were actually shooting at the planet venus. now those balloons in 1945 and -- this balloon surveillance today -- are two very different things. but i wanted to bring up that history. because even trained military professionals have trouble discerning this stuff, which is what made former president trump's sons tweet this morning so very concerning. at 11:21 a. m., donald trump jr. tweeted, if joe biden and his administration are too weak to do the obvious and shoot down an enemy surveillance balloon, perhaps we just let the good people of montana do their thing. an hour after that tweet, the balloon was cited over northwest missouri, which is very far from montana. so, don junior was effectively telling his followers in montana to shoot their guns in the air at a target that was not actually there, to just shoot at whatever they thought was the balloon. an objects 60,000 feet in the air that they could not have hit even if it was above them.

tonight, georgia congresswoman marjorie taylor greene echoed the same civilian call to arms, saying, quote, it would be great if an average joe shouted down because china joe won't. don jr. and marjorie taylor greene may be the more -- more extreme than most human beings. but they were not alone. republican congress people and senators and the former president himself have all been jumping up and down all day urging someone to shoot it down. shooting down this balloon may be how this ultimately ends. but it is risky. the pentagon's stated reason for not shooting down the balloon is the danger it could pose to civilians on the ground, either because this giant thing lands on some poor unsuspecting civilian, or because whatever is used to shoot it down out of the sky, it's a civilian. they think this republican instinct to shoot first and ask questions later, particularly as it relates to china -- that goes beyond the actual logistics and geopolitical situation our country happens

to be in right now. and it's difficult to remember. because president trump has said -- has had so many scandals and said so many things since. but when trump was a candidate for president, anti-china sentiment was basically a core part of his platform. >> let's say china -- china -- china china, china, china, china. china -- china, china, china. china. china -- china! >> trump was truly obsessed with china. but he was not obsessed with real issues between the u.s. and china. he was obsessed with using china as a punching bag, as something he can point to at his rallies and get the crowd to cheer. china has always been one of trump's go-tos, but it became, really, his favorite thing at the start of the pandemic. >> it is a disease, without question. it has more names than any disease in history.

i can name kung flu -- wuhan. wuhan was catching on. coronavirus, right? kung flu? >> the republican party loves a punching bag, especially when that punching bag is not america. and the party that has built its platform on nativism and isolationism also loves to fearmonger about foreign threats. so, when an opportunity arose, literally, 60,000 feet in the air, the gop had a field day. >> the next balloon might be filled with another virus. pop -- all over, we are all on ventilators again. now, how do we know that the next balloon is not loaded up with bioweapons, just a little seepage over nebraska. there goes the heartland. >> what is your greatest concern, as we track something that is the size of three buses, now, that china says was taken

by wind, wind that we cannot substantiate? >> my concern is that the federal government obviously does not know what is in that balloon. is that bioweapons in that balloon? you've got ballooned take off from wuhan? we don't know anything about that balloon. >> that was a republican chair of the house oversight committee. and he is right about one thing. he does not know anything about that balloon. he cannot say that. maybe it's a buy weapon. maybe it's from hahn. shoot it down. maybe blame biden. this balloon is tailor made for the modern gop. we will talk in just a minute with a top democrat on the house intelligence committee he is a member of the gang of eight his staff was actually briefed on this today. and we will get the lowdown on what is actually going on from him directly coming up next.

every day, millions of things need to get to where they're going. and at chevron, we're working to help reduce the carbon intensity of the fuels that keep things moving. today, we're producing renewable diesel that can be used in existing diesel tanks. and we're committed to increasing our renewable fuels production. because as we work toward a lower carbon future, it's only human to keep moving forward.

type 2 diabetes? discover the ozempic® tri-zone. because as we work toward a lower carbon future, in my ozempic® tri-zone, i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. 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. don't take ozempic® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. gallbladder problems may occur. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. join the millions already taking ozempic®.

ask your health care provider about the ozempic® tri-zone. when people come, they say they've tried lots of diets, nothing's worked or they've lost the same 10, 20, 50 pounds over and over again. they need a real solution. i've always fought with 5-10 pounds all the time.

eating all these different things and nothing's ever working. i've done the diets, all the diets. before golo, i was barely eating but the weight wasn't going anywhere. the secret to losing weight and keeping it off is managing insulin and glucose. golo takes a systematic approach to eating that focuses on optimizing insulin levels. we tackle the cause of weight gain, not just the symptom. when you have good metabolic health, weight loss is easy. i always thought it would be so difficult to lose weight, but with golo, it wasn't. the weight just fell off. i have people come up to me all the time and ask me, "does it really work?" and all i have to say is, "here i am. it works." my advice for everyone is to go with golo. it will release your fat and it will release you. oh --

are you serious? president trump just called in, guys! president trump, you are not going to believe this crowd. everyone in arizona cares about election integrity. tell them, hello. >> well, hello everybody -- >> -- >> those with rounds of republicans in arizona this weekend, cheering for two candidates who both lost their most recent elections it has been nearly three months since republican election denier kari lake lost her race for governor of arizona. just like donald trump, kari lake refused to concede that election and made a failed attempt to overturn its results in court. and just like donald trump, kari lake refuses to go away. this week, kari lake was in

washington to meet with the republican party senate campaign arm to discuss a possible run for senate in 2024. later this month, she is headed to iowa in what some have speculated could be a nascent start to a presidential run. in other words, despite failing to win her first and only election, kari lake is keeping her options very much open, maybe even opening some options that most people would not. as ashley parker at the washington post notes today, kari lake is part of a broader trend within the republican party to embrace candidates to lose elections. but it's not just american politicians benefiting from that trend. tonight, the former right-wing brazilian president jair bolsonaro, accused of attending a coup plotting meeting after losing his own election, bolsonaro was headlining event for the pro trump group turning point usa. and a party whose leaders refused to accept the legitimate results of elections, losing has become a badge of honor, a way to channel the grievance and frustration of

voters -- believe that democrats and foreign governments are rigging elections. joining us now is ashley parker, senior national political correspondent for the washington post. ashley, thank you for being with me tonight. i found this such a timely and deeply relevance assessment of what is going on in american politics. the label, loser is something that feels like a crop of candidates refused to wear. a scarlet letter that is unimaginable, i guess, in some corners. can you talk a little bit about the way in which the definition of losing an election has changed in the last 20 years? >> it is both the definition and how the populations politicians that you just highlighted -- the sort of maga conservative republicans in many cases are choosing to behave after losing. so, typically, if you lost

democrat or republican, you could certainly try to run again, as those like kari lake may do. but you sort of quietly slump off. you retreated into obscurity and -- a republican strategist put it to me -- we became a question on jeopardy. but what we are seeing now with these republicans is, first of all, when they lose, a lot of them do not admit that they lost. that is one of the key things. they claim -- that there are still fighting. they deny the results of the election. and then, they become these sort of warriors, cultural warriors and avatars for the grievance of their base. and so, instead of again, typically, a losing candidate would not headline a major convention so shortly after a loss. they are lionized and held up, again by the section of the republican base as sort of channeling them and channeling their grievances, whether it's against the establishment or the media or whoever else they

believe has done them -- >> actually parker, when you talk about what the base wants, and the way in which the losing help these candidates channel grievance, it reminds me of the deplorables comment that hillary clinton made and the way that previously seen you know -- have been turned into tools of empowerment, right? we are the deplorables. if you think we are losers, we are actually winners. it's a way of sort of upending the narrative and basically channeling rage that has been so central to the republican base at this point. i think this tells us as much about the candidates as it does the party itself. do you think? >> that's right. first of all, there is an element of reclamation going on when. president biden claimed the term maga ultraconservatives, a lot of those maga ultraconservatives proudly said, yes we are. but again, the sort of rage that they are channeling -- it's a sensitive victim that

donald trump really honed and perfected. he has managed to -- hard to do. being a victim from being a loser. so, his argument is sort of, we are victims, we are treated unfairly but we are still winners. you have to -- lost, of course. but he even did that when he actually won. he won in 2016 and still, after this, he was a victim, right? he claimed his margin over hillary was much larger than the media said. he claimed this fairly larger inauguration -- much larger than they actually were. so -- the victimization that these candidates are tapping into among this conservative base. >> it's also that tapping into victimization and grievance, even if you lost your election,

it's profitable. you point out that kari lake -- i think, it's, since she lost, has packed in about two point $5 million into her coffers going and headlining republican conferences and gatherings in arizona and elsewhere. and i feel like that sort of central to all of this. these folks are not exiting stage right because -- you know, not simply because they don't want to be called losers, not simply because they want to be champions of those people who feel marginalized and feel like victims, but also because it lines their pockets pretty nicely. can you talk a little bit more about the ways in which the funding mechanisms, even for losers -- those wheels continue to turn well after the last ballot is counted. >> it's incredibly profitable. as i mentioned that figure for kari lake, but also, if you look at a lot of fundraising emails that come out on behalf of former president trump

whenever, he again is sort of giving that big stamp of being a modern victim, which he is so comfortable railing against the fake news media, marxist in communist -- i mean, witch hunts and hoaxes, a rigged election. those emails he sent out are often pretty affective appeals for money. and so what you are, seeing again, is something that is being fueled fairly potently on both sides. and right from the bottom you have the voters. in the base, they're very eager to see these leaders kind of take up a cause on their the half and then you see the leaders themselves quite eager to profit from taking up that cause. >> ashley parker of the washington post, thank you as always, for joining us. actually, great reporting tonight. >> thanks for having me. >> we have lots more to come tonight including an update on one of the biggest outrages of the trump era. migrant families who were ripped apart, children separated from their parents -- we have new reporting on the biden administration's efforts to write that wrong.

and, that balloon is still in the air, hovering over u.s. airspace. we will speak to the new top democrat on the house intelligence committee about what he knows. that's coming up next. ♪limu emu & doug♪ hey, man. nice pace! clearly, you're a safe driver. you could save hundreds for safe driving with liberty mutual. they customize your car insurance... ...so you only pay for what you need! [squawks] whoo! we gotta go again. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty liberty liberty♪ ♪liberty♪ so, you're 45. that's the perfect age to see some old friends, explore new worlds, and to start screening for colon cancer. yep. with colon cancer rising in adults under 50, the american cancer society recommends starting to screen earlier, at age 45. i'm cologuard, a noninvasive way to screen at home,

on your schedule. and i find 92% of colon cancers. i'm for people 45+ at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider if cologuard is right for you. ♪ ♪ ♪ cargurus. shop.buy.sell.online. suffering from sinus congestion, especially at night? try vicks sinex ♪ for instant relief that lasts up to 12 hours. vicks sinex targets congestion at the source, relieving nasal congestion and sinus pressure by reducing swelling in the sinuses. try vicks sinex. introducing the limited

edition disney collection from blendjet. nine exciting designs your whole family will adore blendjet 2 is portable, which means you can blend up nutritious smoothies, protein shakes, or frozen treats, just about anywhere! recharge quickly via usb-c. it even cleans itself. order yours now from blendjet.com and bring a little disney into your life. >> i am sitting here in my

driveway in -- montana. and right now there is a ground stop on our airport.

and this thing is up in the sky. and i have no idea what it is. and for those of you who think this might just be the moon, it is not the moon. >> nope, it is not the moon. that giant white severe seen floating over billings, montana yesterday is a chinese surveillance balloon, confirmed so by the u.s. government the balloon, u.s. officials said, is manoeuvrable. and they say the intent is clear, that the balloon is for surveillance and they noted his following a path that includes a number of sensitive military and nuclear sites. pilots flying at high altitudes over kansas, missouri and montana have all spotted it. and this has now become a very visual diplomatic crisis for the u.s. and china. but this kind of thing has apparently happened before. and the press briefing yesterday, pentagon officials said that this type of activity, meaning surveillance balloons -- it has been observed over the past several years here in the u.s., including, quote, prior to the biden administration.

and while a spy balloon over american airspace is a violation by china of international law, america is reportedly working on spy balloons of its own. last summer, politico reported that in an effort to rise above competition from china and russia, the pentagon was building high altitude -- capable of lying up to 90,000 feet, and that these would be added to the pentagon's extensive surveillance network. china has also complained, as of last year, about american surveillance activity over its own territory, saying in a report from the foreign ministry, that five u.s. naval this holes proves near trying to ensure every day, while u.s. reconnaissance planes have tried some 800 times are china's territory and repeatedly violated its airspace. joining me now is democratic congressman from connecticut jim himes, he is the top democrat on the house intelligence committee and has been briefed on the situation surrounding this chinese surveillance balloon. congressman jim himes thanks for being here. i'm just going to get right to it.

in terms of this balloon, are we in danger at present right now, as far as you can tell? does this balloon -- should this balloon -- be taken down immediately? >> alex, we are in no danger from this balloon. and if we were or if there was a risk that we, where it would have been taken down immediately. this is not a new technology. we have seen this before. to my knowledge this is the first time we have seen it over of the middle of the continental united states. what we know what these things. are they are not a danger. if they were, they would be shot down. i would make the point that it is obviously very embarrassing for the chinese. and it's actually pretty aggressive of the chinese. we spy on each other that will come as a surprise to nobody. we try to steal their secrets they try to steal ours. floating a balloon over the continental united states is pretty aggressive. i will just make this point, as somebody who lives in the world of intelligence. i've got an awful lot of friends and colleagues and others who just want to blame shoot this thing down and teach them a lesson or two. i could tell you, there could

be enormous enormous value in our actually securing this thing and finding out precisely what it that is there. so, how this thing plays out in the next couple of days is still an open question. but to those who are urging big, hollywood like explosions, take it from me. there are some things we would love to know that might be in that balloon. >> congressman, it's the size of two buses, right? this is not a small object. and it is flying 60,000 feet in the air which is, yes, hi. but the naked eye -- telescopes -- any kind of sight enhancing tool can show you what it is. do you think that the chinese intended for the american audience to see this thing? >> that's a really good question. i have been sort of thinking about that. because this really is an embarrassment. we go out of our way to make sure that the chinese and the russians and the iranians on the north koreans don't know how we collect intelligence.

and as you point out -- and here is somebody something with anything any one -- more intriguing than what i just said, we go to immense lengths to protect the technology and the other methods and sources that we have to collect intelligence. so, the fact that they just sent us a slow-moving target, that it won't be that hard to secure, if we want to do it, is really intriguing to me. and i want to sort of stop here to say, let's not let the conspiracy theories run wild. there's no reason to believe that there is by a weapons aboard or viruses or anything else. my best guess is that this is a mistake. because, like i said, we may end up owning this technology in a matter of a couple of days. >> it sounds like, from the reporting at least -- and especially in politico -- that the u.s. is expanding its investment in high altitude surveillance balloons to compete with russia and china. so, it sounds like we are sort of doing the same thing here.

>> as i said in the very beginning, it will surprise nobody to know that both china and the united states and russia and north korea and great britain and france and pretty much every other country on the planet works hard to figure out ways to collect intelligence on their potential enemies. and so, without going too far down the path i can't go down exactly what we are researching and looking into -- of course, of course. we are exploring whatever technologies that might give us an. it that's a responsibility as people concerned with national security. and by the way, if you've ever seen a photo of, for example, the military base in afghanistan, there is some chance you may have seen a military balloon covering that military base. it's no big secret there. -- closer in assets like a balloon might be able to show, which is why, sometimes, when you see pictures of our bases abroad, you might see a balloon tethered and observing what is happening below. >> were you surprised that the secretary of state, tony

blinken, postponed his trip to china? i think, presumably over this incident. and how do you read the postponement of that? >> i was not surprised and i was actually pleased. i think that's actually exactly the right response. there has to be a response because we don't want to see chinese assets hovering over the united states on a regular basis. so, i think a regular response is necessary. as i said a couple of times, we hope we get our hands on this, on this particular piece of equipment. i think that ought to be technologically feasible. i'd rather get my hands on it -- then picking up burnt pieces of metal from 100's kyle hundred square miles of a crash site. but i think it would be pretty embarrassing for the secretary of state to show up in china while one of the chinese

balloons is hovering over missouri. >> one last question for you. we have pretty groundbreaking unsophisticated technology. people look at drones, undetectable in airspace. why a balloon? i mean, they move slowly. they are the size of buses. people can see them. they are creating a bilateral crisis. what about this technology makes it so enviable that we are trying to compete with russia and china on it? >> well, again, i don't want to go too far down a path that would expose the way we think about these things. by the first part of your question is exactly right. why a balloon? they are slow-moving. they are easy to see. why a balloon? no question here on who's at fault and what they are up to. in terms of why you why might want to place collection asset closer rather than something thousands of miles above the ground -- again, without the training and everything -- we are interested in radio waves, right? some radio waves are strong. summer week. in some cases, it might be better to be closer to a source of radio emissions. that's just one -- and i don't even know --

largest balloon. i'm not telling you anything i know about the balloon. there's a whole bunch of reasons why you might want to have a collection asset a little closer than something that is orbiting in outer space or that can fly at very high altitude, manned aircraft. so, i sort of get it. but boy, what an embarrassment. we go to great lengths to protect the sources and methods we use to collect intelligence. and boy, what a failure on the part of the chinese there. >> congressman jim himes, i will never think about balloons the same way again. thank you for joining us tonight. thanks for your time. >> thank you. >> there are still more to come tonight, including the ongoing effort to reunite migrant families who were torn apart by the trump administration. plus, just when you thought you had heard everything, george santos had to lie about, we got -- today. stay tuned. for instant relief that lasts up to 12 hours.

vicks sinex targets congestion at the source, relieving nasal congestion and sinus pressure by reducing swelling in the sinuses. try vicks sinex. second date, wish me luck buddy. mouth to mission control. we have a denture problem. over. roger that. with polident cleanser and polident adhesive refresh and secure for any close encounter. if your mouth could talk it would ask for polident and poligrip. i was always the competitive one in our family... 'til my sister signed up for united healthcare medicare advantage. ♪wow, uh-huh♪ now she's got a whole team to help her get the most out of her plan. ♪wow, uh-huh♪ with coverage that's better than ever for dental... ...vision... ...prescription drugs and more. advantage: me! can't wait 'til i turn 65! aarp medicare advantage plans, only from unitedhealthcare. take advantage now at uhc.com/medicare [sfx: stomach gurgling] it's nothing... sounds like something. ♪ when you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion, ♪

♪ upset stomach, diarrhea. ♪ pepto bismol coats and soothes for fast relief... when you need it most. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ cargurus. shop. buy. sell. online. >> in june 2018, trump's palmer

does announced that it had separated more than 2000 families under a new zero tolerance policy to determine migration at the southern border. american citizens quickly began protesting and politicians began condemning the practice as a moral. the administration separated so many families, the government facilities and that the house separated children looked like this. kids packed with an overcrowded metal fences with foiled blankets sleeping on the floor, sometimes with soiled clothing.

children learning how to change the diapers of infants they had just met. now access to toothbrushes or soap, and in some cases showers. none of them had any clue whether they would ever see their parents again. and for many of those kids, it would take years. the aclu so the administration getting a judge to order trump to stop the process and to reunite the families within 30 days. but the administration forced parents to lead -- leave the country with or without their children. many of them were deported childless, making reunification herculean in terms of task. by the time trump's 30-day reunification deadline expired, hundreds of children remained separated. but that number increased as litigation continued because, as it turned out, the trump administration actually began supporting families as early as 2017. and they do not exactly do a

good job of record keeping. in the end, courts and the biden administration uncovered about 4000 no separations between 2017 and 2021. though the aclu says they are might be more. for the past two years, president biden and a task force he has had both happened trying to re-connect the families who remain separated. and this week, we got an update, the biden administration and task force has reignited 600 of those families, but 998 children still remain separated to this day. five years after trump was forced to end his separation policy, nearly 1000 children are still without their mothers and fathers. is there any hope at this point of getting all of them back to their families? joining us now is lee gelernt, deputies act of aclu's immigration rights project, he has been fighting to reunite separated families since 2018. lee, thank you so much for being here. i know i've talked to about this for years now.

and i suppose it is good news. i'm definitely is good news that hundreds of children have been reunited, but 1000 of them still without their parents. talk a little bit about what this unification process is like? and how and why is it so difficult? >> yeah, thanks for having me on. we have talked about this and we talked about years ago, and who would've thought we would still be in the situation? we are talking about little kids that were separated hundreds and hundreds of kids below the age of five who now have spent maybe four fifths of their lives without their parents. so one of the reasons we haven't been able to even find all of the families, we are still looking for 100,000 lays just to make contact with them. we had hoped that biden administration wouldn't move quicker to try to reunite families, but that sort of water under the bridge. now the process is moving, but it has been a slow process unfortunately. so, even though we know where most of the families are now, we need to get them reunited

because every day they are without their parents, it is unbelievable. as you said, it has been a herculean effort to find the parents. we've had people on the ground, you know our co-counsel -- or our steering committee has been working on that. it has just been unbelievable. and i think the challenge now for now, for us, and now i appreciate you doing the segment, is to make public realize that this is not all over. as you said, people took to the streets in the beginning, it's the worst thing that i have seen in the last 30 years. but i think everyone was over, it's over. it's not over for two reasons, one is exactly what you said -- 900 plus families are still not together. but the other part of his, even when they are brought back together, there are such deep-seated trauma that we have so much work to make to that these families to make them whole. i'm working with these families, and when they are reunited, a three-year-old or four-year-old, to stand by the window looking

to see if men are going to come and take them away again. i mean, i think it's pence we all know -- we saw our children know there's no monsters in your room, but will leave the light on. but these protests actually have experience people coming in and taking them away in the middle of the night. so it's not just that we need to get these families back together, but we willing to do everything we can so they are not to be separated, they are not gonna be sent back to the prosecution, they are getting mental help health, they're getting some compensation for what they are going through. >> i'm just -- i'm just so shocked that we are talking about the youngest children here! i'm sure there is a range of ages, but is it really some of these three-year-old and four -year-olds that still haven't been reunited with their families? and is anybody -- i mean what conditions are they and? now are they with pasta care? i mean where are they living if they are not with their parents? >> he has, what we know is -- the biden admissions and puts the number at 3900 that were separated. that's because those were the legally the ones part of the class. we believe, what we know that

there were over 5500 separated and we are fighting to get them all release, because some of them were not parts into the lawsuit, into the class action by the judge, because a very, very minor crimes that the park may have committed decades ago. so we know that those there are possibly 900 that were under the age of five years old when they were separated. some are less than a year old. so now we're talking years and years that they have not been with their parents. they're with foster care, they're with relatives that they never knew, it could be with a friend of a family, and a lot of them don't even remember their parents anymore. so we have the situation of the children saying, look, this person i'm living with seems okay, and i don't really remember my parents. i mean it's just -- it's just that these children are now growing up without their parents. and, the focus has been on the trojan, understandably, but the parents are just suffering so much because they are feeling so much guilt. the children are being returned to the parents and saying, mommy, daddy, why didn't you

stop them from taking me? didn't you love me enough? because they are literally watching their parents and as they are being pulled away, begging, don't let them take, we don't let them take me! and of course the parents are helpless. sometimes the first thing they literally say when they come back is: why did you stop them from taking me? don't you love me enough? and it's obvious just breaking these parents hearts. so they need help as well! >> ali, i know that as a mother of a three and a five-year-old, it is got wrenching to hear all of this, and you would think that we would've learned our lessons about the cost of dehumanizing people, but this is occurring against a backdrop where governor desantis is asking for 12 more million dollars to continue shopping migrants to points north with no resources on the ground when they are met. governor abbott of texas wants to continue this process of taking migrants to places they never intended ongoing. i mean, what is a state of affairs tell you about lessons learned since the trump

administration? >> yeah, i think you are hitting it exactly right, it is a dehumanizing effect. i think what's happening is, the discussion is largely turning in on albert numbers, the abstract policy arguments, and the human dimension is getting lost. i think america rebelled against the whole world, they'd of what trump did, because they saw the visceral effect of the children, and i think what their own children. but now the same thing might not be the same thing where we're taking children taken away from their parents, but it is just agree just things going on. and i think people are not getting upset because these migrants have been so dehumanized, well i think we didn't learn the lesson here. you are exactly right. and i also fear that the separation stuff is out of sight, out of mind, until we start focusing on it. that's our challenge, to remind you that it's not over, we saw 1000 families get back together, and after that there are so

much work to make them hold. but you're right, it's about but littering people, and dehumanizing people. when i think about people in their own child, five years old and taking away, and they shudder at that. but then when it becomes more abstract, what should we do for them? the said that. people sort of lose focus, and we need to keep focus on the fact that these families have been so wrongly abused. but president said it with a moral stain on the united states, but now i fear that a lot of people are forgetting what happened to these children. and we have little children who haven't seen their parents in four years now. >> lee gelernt, of the aclu immigrants'rights project, thank you for reminding us of the moral stain that is very much still here in america. thanks for your time. >> thanks for having me. >> we'll be right back. lasts up to 12 hours. vicks sinex targets congestion at the source,

relieving nasal congestion and sinus pressure by reducing swelling in the sinuses. try vicks sinex. family is just very important. she's my sister and, we depend on each other a lot. she's the rock of the family. she's the person who holds everything together. ♪♪ it's a battle, you know i'm going to be there. keytruda and chemotherapy meant treating my cancer with two different types of medicine. in a clinical trial, keytruda and chemotherapy was proven to help people live longer than chemotherapy alone. keytruda is used to treat more patients with advanced lung cancer than any other immunotherapy. keytruda may be used with certain chemotherapies as your first treatment if you have advanced nonsquamous, non-small cell lung cancer and you do not have an abnormal “egfr” or “alk” gene. keytruda can cause your immune system to attack healthy parts of your body during or after treatment. this may be severe and lead to death. see your doctor right away if you have cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, diarrhea, severe stomach pain, severe nausea or vomiting,

headache, light sensitivity, eye problems, irregular heartbeat, extreme tiredness, constipation, dizziness or fainting, changes in appetite, thirst, or urine, confusion, memory problems, muscle pain or weakness, fever, rash, itching, or flushing. there may be other side effects. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions, including immune system problems, if you've had or plan to have an organ or stem cell transplant, received chest radiation, or have a nervous system problem. it feels good to be here for them. living longer is possible. it's tru. keytruda from merck. ask your doctor about keytruda.

one prilosec otc each morning blocks heartburn all day and all night. prilosec otc reduces excess acid for 24 hours, blocking heartburn before it starts. one pill a day. 24 hours. zero heartburn.

♪ every search you make ♪ ♪ every click you take ♪ ♪ i'll be watching you ♪ - [narrator] the internet doesn't have to be so creepy, the duckduckgo app, lets you search and browse pria blocking most trackers all forf your search history is never tracked, so it can't be shared. and when you leave search, duckduckgo helps keep companies from watching you as you brows. >> that is it for us this week! join tens of millions of people making the easy switch by downloading the app today. duckduckgo, privacy simplified. (upbeat music)

now it is time for the last word with ali velshi, in for lawrence. good evening ali! >> i have listened to every word of your show tonight, and i have to tell you, semi dump some really weird rabbit holes on the phone, about balloons, and when they were first invented. i mean have you spoken as much about balloons in your entire life? >> no >> yeah. >> i'm a big balloon in those, yes i will frequently send people bouquets a balloons, because a leveller, but i do not think i would be talking this much about balloons on primetime television. >> well your fatten for the top i came across! so i appreciate that. i know more about balloons