connect to the world of wicked this holiday, in theaters now. new reaction. we are getting a picture of what a donald trump cabinet had look like. >> president-elect trump's return the white house has shaken nato allies. >> likely inherit a chaotic situation in the middle east. >> danger blazes. >> the federal reserve is expected to lower interest rates. >> in el paso. >> from philadelphia. >> israel. >> new hampshire. ♪♪ newsom ♪ newsom . good to be with you. i'm katy tur, president biden is expected to speak from the rose garden any minute now about the major breaking news out of the middle east where israeli prime

minister benjamin netanyahu has now enforced a permanent, permanent is the key word, ceasefire deal with hezbollah, which his cabinet will vote on for approval in a few hours. the u.s. backed deal is expected to end more than a year of fighting across the lebanese/israeli border. the ripple effect he says the agreement will have on the wider war in gaza. >> translator: from the second day of the war, hamas was counting on hezbollah fighting to the with it and once hezbollah is eliminated, hamas is left alone. our pressure on hamas will grow stronger and this will help us in the sacred mission of bringing back our hostages. i said many times good agreement is an agreement that is enforced. and we will enforce it. >> as this deal was being finalized. the missile barrages continued with hezbollah firing into israel and israel into the heart

of beirut along with hezbollah strongholds just south of the city. striking 20 hezbollah targets simultaneously, according to the idf. joining us now nbc news international correspondent hala gorani joins us from yum, former consul general elon. give us the contours of what we know about the deal. >> reporter: so, we spoke with the high level intelligence official in israel before netanyahu address his countrymen and women this evening for an idea of what the deal entails in terms of the phased approach to the withdrawal of israeli troops from the south of lebanon. we understand within 60 days israeli troops would withdraw from the south. hezbollah the military u militant group backed by iran

would move north of the litani river, logistically, that would involve some complications because it would have to move its equipment and its fighters as well. then the regular lebanese army, the lebanese army of the central government, would occupy that space. in the south of lebanon. essentially, would be sandwiched between the two forces. and you mentioned the implementation, and that is really where the challenges lie because israel through its prime minister and other officials, israel has said and repeated over the last several days that it reserves the right to strike back at hezbollah if it believes that hezbollah is violating the terms of the agreement, and hezbollah, of course, remains a fighting force. by all accounts, a much more capable and militarily strong fighting force than the regular lebanese army. what happens if there are infractions and violations and

how will this be policed. those are all open questions. this is not something that is going to be easy to implement. after the 60 days, the ceasefire, if everything is in place and all sides abide by its terms, the terms of this agreement, then would become in effect what it is meant to be from the beginning, which is a permanent ceasefire. israeli media are reporting that it will begin tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. local time, so that is 3:00 a.m. eastern time in the united states. both in israel and in lebanon. they are in the same time zone. so just a few hours from now, katy. >> what is likelihood that the cabinet is going to say yes to this? there are some hard-liners who have signaled that they would rather see the end of hezbollah entirely. >> right. as far as we know, there hasn't been an official announcement. as far as we know, the cabinet

just did ratify this. netanyahu more or less had this smaller security cabinet in his pocket despite the fact that, as you say, there is a lot of opposition. there is a lot of confusion. there is a lot of anger, even from mayors and legislators of his own party. it's important to remember that these ministers who came in and basically rubber stamped it never saw this agreement before they sat around the table. so there is just a lot of unknowns here, and netanyahu appears to be contradicting most of the american points. it will be interesting to see what president biden has to say. >> how has he contradicted it? >> he said that the u.s. will freeze u.s. weapons that israel has been denied. he said that the u.s. is guaranteeing israel's absolute freedom of military action in lebanon. he said -- he emphasized this is

not a permanent deal. netanyahu spent at least half of his speech promising israelis that this is a six-week ceasefire to allow the very depleted israeli army to regroup, to rearm and to re-enter war. none of the israeli displaced residents from the north are being allowed back. so it is really a confusing situation here tonight. >> can you help us make sense of this? >> it's very tenuous, katy. it is fragile. and like any agreement in lebanon, it's circumstantial, meaning it will never be durable. nobody is absolutely right in what netanyahu -- he basically said i have permission to operate free lay in lebanon every time i deem necessary because, according to my interpretation, his interpretation, hezbollah committed infractions, transgressions or explicit

violations. there are too many moving parts for this to be durable and stable. look at the lebanese army. who thinks that the lebanese army can enforce the security of passages where it will be deployed or, according to the -- some articles of the agreement, it will supervise weapons transfers and weapons sales in lebanon. come on. now, let me just add one more thing about netanyahu back tracking, as he, you know, on brand usually does. forget the fact that he was -- a few weeks ago said to eradicate hezbollah and disarm hezbollah. this withdrawal of hezbollah north of the litani river, which is not really a river, just a stream 45 kilometers, 30 miles north of the israeli border, they still maintain a formidable arsenal of long-range missiles.

and they could still get arms via syria or from iran via syria. so how is this in any way changing the security equation in lebanon? it does not, which is why i hate to sound pessimistic because a ceasefire is a cause for celebration, but i can't see this holding up more than two, three months at the most. >> so, netanyahu did say today, he did make remarks about people returning back to their homes in the north. is this not a deal that would let people go home, or would it let people go home in 60 days? help me understand that. >> well, you know, people will have to make their own choices. and i don't think they are going to listen to mr. netanyahu and they are not going to go home. they will -- i mean, some will trickle back home, yes, because they have no choice and home is home, an they have farms and

crops and businesses that they need to maintain. but all of that being said and done, you know, i just can't see them -- we are talking about 65 to 70,000 people, they are not going to go until at least that 60-day period that we just mentioned, katy. >> do we have reaction from the lebanese side today? >> reporter: well, not reaction immediately to the announcement by the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, but this is a ceasefire deal that is happening now because both sides see a value in stopping the fighting at least temporarily. hezbollah is incredibly degraded. it lost its leader, hassan nasrallah, almost the entire chain of command. on the israeli side, this is becoming very costly exercise to maintain two very active fronts.

it is losing soldiers in gaza. it is losing soldiers in southern lebanon. in fact, the israeli prime minister was very clear about this. he said essentially we are pausing to refresh our troops. and even though it's certainly not exclusively stated in the ceasefire agreement or the deal, this notion somehow that the u.s. would unfreeze certain weapons shipments is something not just that the israeli prime minister mentioned in his address, but that i also heard from intelligence officials in this country that they expect that the united states would unfreeze certain shipments, including the shipment of one-ton bombs that have been extremely devastating in israel's prosecution of the war in gaza. so, on the lebanese side also it has to be said on the civilian side, this has been a very deadly war for the lebanese. they have lost thousands of people. and central beirut is being pounded relentlessly the last

several weeks. so there is a lot of relief, at least temporary release, there is a ceasefire in sight. >> what is the deal, if you don't mind going broader here, with the lebanese government and why it has so little control on hezbollah, on matters within the government? or matters within the state. why does hezbollah have so much more control than the lebanese do? >> reporter: because the lebanese -- the lebanese power structure is divided along sectarian lines. you have the speaker of the house who is a shiite, the president who is typically a christian, the prime minister is a sunni. there is a lot of corruption. there is a lot of dysfunction. militia group hezbollah which is financed by iran has been able to accumulate a lot more weapon and more of a fighting force than the regular army of a very weak central state. this is a country that has a

very difficult time governing itself. it suffered a massive financial collapse, corruption and mismanagement led to a port bombing that killed hundreds that was blamed on hezbollah. hezbollah has the kind of influence on judges, for instance, that it can get in the way of any kind of independent investigation into wrongdoing that it may be behind. it is just a dysfunctional country run by a very weak central government, and hezbollah can fill the vacuum there with support from iran. also, it has to be noted that hezbollah isn't just a militia. hezbollah has government representatives t it it representatives it is a social movement, a movement in the south that runs communities, rebuilds homes when they are destroyed. and this is part of the reason that western powers would want to be able to jump had and make sure that reconstruction of the south is given to other arab countries so hezbollah doesn't gain the loyalty back of some of

the residents in the south. it's a very complicated picture and a country that certainly is run in a dysfunctional way and suffered now for many, many decades from bad management. >> power vacuum certainly leads to to bad people taking over. let me ask you this in terms of benjamin netanyahu and his motivations here. we are six weeks until donald trump takes office. i might have the math fuzzy there. two months until donald trump is inaugurated. is this a stalling tactic for benjamin netanyahu to unfreeze those weapons, given the current posture of this administration in hopes that when donald trump comes over things will be much easier for him? >> well, that is deferral what he was trying to hint at to the israeli people. just wait with me. just give me this time. i know you can't go back home. i know things won't change immediately. but everything will change after

it. he never mentioned, for example, something included in the agreement, which is that the two parties are supposed to be negotiating during the 60 days. they are not just supposed to be sit back and rearming and the united states and france are committed to mediate this. what netanyahu is saying, let me handle it and then trump will come in. he didn't mention trump's name. but netanyahu knows that he is in a bit of a quandary right now with donald trump. many of trump's spokespeople regarding the middle east have implied that they do not want to be running wars, that they do not see themselves sending even a little bit of the airlift of weapons that the biden administration has sent israel for 14 months non-stop. whatever you hear about, you know, israeli griping, let's say about a lack of american weaponry, the truth behind that is that israel has only been able to prosecute this war

because of u.s. weaponry and u.s. diplomatic support. israel's entire defenses collapsed on october 7th, 2023. a matter netanyahu has refused to investigate. and now he is looking at a where on the one hand he wants to promise israelis my buddy donald trump is coming back and everything will be okay. i will have freedom of action. on the other hand, he does know very well that it is an extremely unclear future with trump coming back in and major isolationist forces in the new administration. >> i want you to on that, because i wonder if one of the wrinkles here could be saudi arabia. donald trump has a fondness for making a deal -- elon, to you with this. donald trump has a fondness for saudi arabia, went there first when he was in office last time around, his first foreign trip. he wants to make a normalizing deal with saudi arabia. he wants that to be a part of

his legacy. if israel is standing in the way of that because they won't get things settled in gaza and then put it on a path to whatever comes next, is -- >> two things -- >> is donald trump as reliable for bibi netanyahu as he thinks he is? >> absolutely not. but look, let me add two things. mr. netanyahu did not need to mention mr. trump's name. if you think that trump tie was just a tie, you know, off the rack that he picked before going on television, you are mistaken. that was purpose. that was on purpose. there is a reason he is wearing these ties since the november election. the second thing is, if you noticed in what he said, he says he is going to keep on prosecuting the war in gaza. he reiterated that fallacy that he is going to eradicate hamas, meaning the 20th of january 2025, yeah, there is the tie for

you, the 20th of january, 2025 is not a holy day. it's not a deadline as far as he is concerned. he is absolutely sure he can convince trump that any middle east ideas he has will be a better served without hamas. now, of course, he has no idea who is going to govern gaza, which brings us to your question. the saudis. let me be quick about that. part of hezbollah agreed to the agreement is because apparently is because the iranians pressed them. the iranians pressed them not only because the iranians are angry that hezbollah involuntarily dragged iran into a conflict that iran had no business in participating. remember the old equation. proxies fight for iran. iran should not be fighting for proxies. and the secretary general of hezbollah, you know, violated

that principle. now, the country with the most influence and impact on donald trump is going to be saudi arabia. and the said december are going to stay to mr. trump, look, we think that the best way to stabilize the region is to re-engage with iran on a nuclear deal. that is where the saudis are going to press him. not just on funneling money for the reconstruction of gaza, which could take 60 years, or reconstruction of lebanon, which the qataris are already committed to. but all three countries, saudi arabia, qatar and the united arab emirates are going to tell trump to go for a deal with iran, and they are going to placate him and they are going to cajole him and say, you know, you could do something that biden couldn't do. you could actually get a deal that's better than the one that barack obama got in 2015. this is what he is going to go

for. and netanyahu not only cannot stand in his way, but netanyahu has no levers against trump right now in washington. and so a long answer for a very sordid question. but, yeah, he is going to be disappointed. >> i think you are right about that. i think you are hitting the nail -- or hitting the nail on the head with other interests at play here that couldn't mean very different outcomes for the middle east and what happens certainly with iran and whether we get a jcpo take two. all right. thank you very much for starting us off. we are still waiting for president biden to have a news conference in the rose garden regarding this potential ceasefire deal. we will go to him once he comes out. still ahead, what it will take for this ceasefire to hold and what will mean for a ceasefire

in gaza. an israeli government spokesman will join us. plus, donald trump says he plans to enact new tariffs on our top trading partners. what he could be risking, and the president-elect ordered an investigation of one of his long-time advisors, you know this guy, it's boris epshteyn. why he might be out of donald trump's orbit. we are back in 90 seconds. t. we are back in 90 seconds. you didn't start a business just to keep the lights on. lucky for you, shopify built the just one-tapping, ridiculously fast-acting, sky-high sales stacking champion of checkouts. businesses that want to win, win with shopify.

on this potential ceasefire deal, spokesman in the office of the prime minister david minuteser, thank you for going with us. this is this a permanent or temporary deal? >> look, the length of the ceasefire depends on what happens inside lebanon. we will certainly from israel's point of view adhere to the agreement b but we will also insist on the agreement being enforced. we will respond forcefully to any violations. so ith the u.s.'s understanding we will maintain the full freedom of military action. of course, we want our people to go home to their homes in sovereign israeli territory. but if hezbollah violates the agreement and tries to rearm, we will attack. if it tries to rebuild its terrorist infrastructure near the border, we will attack. and the prime minister's made crystal clear, if it launches rockets, if it digs tunnels, if

it brings in truckloads of rockets, we will attack. we all want peace in in region. no one more than israel. but we will respond forcefully to any violation of the agreement. >> does that go for the other side as well? if israel comes back and rearms itself and resets for a possible future escalation, possible future escalation in lebanon, is that a violation of the agreement? >> of course not. it's israel is a sovereign country, not a terrorist organization. we are talking about hezbollah, a terrorist organization, in my country, but also last time i checked in your country, too, there are terrorist organizations, they are our enemy. make no mistake, they are your enemy as well. of course israel will defend ourselves. that's our right like any other country in the world to defend ourselves. but if this terrorist organs to preem another attack against us, we will defend ourselves.

israel reserves that right. >> is this contingent upon the u.s. unfreezing weapons shipments, specifically those one-to ton bombs that israel had been using so effectively? >> well, look, the prime minister made clear just before a couple of hours ago that the reasons why this is happening now are three reasons. it's because we want to focus now on the iranian threat, the prime minister didn't want to expand on that, but we know that iran is preparing to create a nuclear weapon. we can't let that happen. we will always make that our number one priority because iran say they wish to wipe this country off the face of the earth. when they say it, we believe it. and the second reason of course is to, yes, give our forces a breather and to replenish our stocks. and there have been big delays. the prime minister made that clear. yes, the u.s. is our closest ally in the world. there are no two closer

countries anywhere in the world that there have been big delays in munitions and weapons deliveries. these we hope will be resolved very soon. the third reason for this ceasefire now is to separate as the prime minister said, the fronts and isolate hamas. from day two of this war, hamas was counting on hezbollah to fight by its side. that was a massive miscalculation. with hezbollah now out of the picture, hamas is left on its own and israel can increase our pressure on hamas, get our hostages home, which is our sacred mission. number one priority. >> has the cabinet ratified this deal? if it does, does it mean that israel is more likely to make a ceasefire deal with hamas? i know hamas has been stalling on this. but make a deal with hamas even though hamas is not entirely eradicated in the same way it's trying to make a deal whez? >> so the latest information before i came on was that i saw

it flash up on television screen that the deal has been ratified by the cabinet. but let me be clear on hamilton and the prime minister was very clear about this. we have completed the task of obliterating hamas. there is no deal to be made with hamas. hamas want to be left standing. we cannot let that happen because they will simply regroup and try to attack us. we are going to bring all of our hostages home and we are going to ensure that gaza no longer poses a threat to this country. of course, as i said before, we are going to return our residents back home safely to their homes in the north. but hamas is a terrorist organization. we have had tremendous success in shattering their battalions. their leader eliminated. sinwar eliminated. we took out most of their leadership. we killed 20,000, around 20,000 of their terrorists.

but hamas will not be left standing. there is no scenario where hamas are left in control of gaza. and the prime minister has made that crystal clear. >> david, thank you very much. israeli government spokesperson in the office of the prime minister. appreciate your time, sir. >> good be with you. and coming up, a top aide of the president-elect is now under internal investigation. what boris epshteyn is accused of doing and why it might get him kicked out of trump world. first, with donald trump's threat for tariffs, what it might mean for you, the consumer. or you, the consumer ♪ like a relentless weed, moderate to severe ulcerative colitis symptoms can keep coming back. start to break away from uc with tremfya...

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president-elect donald trump made his first big policy pronouncement last night two months before he takes office stating he him post tariffs on all products coming to the united states from our top three trading partners. can you read that fine print? this short period of time? he will do it on day one, including a 25% tariff on products from mexico and canada and an additional 10% on chinese goods on top of existing tariffs. if those tariffs are passed down to the consumer, which economists argue is very likely, it will mean price increases on things like oil, gas, household goods and grocery staples. joining us senior business correspondent christine romans, "bloomberg news" anchor and

correspondent david gura, and national affairs correspondent for the nation john nicholls. christine, first to you. explain what donald trump wants to do and why he is going to china, to mexico and canada. >> because we have very big trade deficits with those three countries and he is on the first steps of reordering the global trade stwags. i think it's interesting. he is using these tariffs saying these are for migration and drugs as a punishment for migration and drugs, not for reshoring -- usually when he talks about tariffs, he wants stuff made in america. these are tariffs he said are basically punitive because there are drugs and people crossing the borders and it would likely raise costs for american consumers in the near term. >> migration and drugs from canada? >> canada and mexico. that's what he says. if they have to stop the people and drugs coming across both borders. >> what would it mean, david, to have these tariffs on products coming from these three countries? i mean, is it specific even

though we are getting a lot from china, china doesn't always send everything directly to us, they send their rauds to a third country and that third or second country and that country sends them to us. there are he mostly mexico and canada? >> we are most from mexico. and this interconnect issed -- what he is proposing is a broad brush blank tariff that would be really difficult for these companies and consumers as well. prices will go up. it will be inflationary. it's doing the opposite of what he said he wanted to doin' the campaign trail which is lower costs for america. >> is this part of the unpredictable theory, i will make big announcements to scare you but not follow through? >> one wonders who the constituency is. we saw reactions from the prime minister canada, called him up, had a conversation with the president in mexico putting out a statement, sending a letter to

donald trump. clearly trying to telegraph this is important for him, it's going be. but you're right. we lived through this chaos before and there were questions about can he do it. tariffs in the past administration were tailored to steel or aluminium. >> so what's it going to mean for prices? >> prices will go up. if you look, i keep using tomatoes as an example. if you talk about tomatoes coming from mexico where a lot of tomatoes come from, there is a bill of 25% that happens right there at the customs point and that has to it be paid for by whoever is importing who will charge for higher treasury notes. the car industry right away you will see an impact. the car industry is so interconnected between these three countries. the u.s., canada and mexico. i mean, there are pieces of cars, parts of cars that are crossing borders multiple times before a final car is sold. >> duty free. >> imagine if you had to pay 25% every time. by the way, trump himself made a new u.s./china -- or u.s./mexico

trade agreement, right, when he blew up nafta. now he is essentially blowing up the deal that he made himself. >> yeah, so this is why i get into the politics of this, john nicholls. i will bring you in. i wonder, because we have seen this before, if this is him making a scary threat in order to extract some concession or announcement out of mexico or canada or china that he can use to wave around as a victory as he takes office. you already heard the president of co saying donald trump doesn't really understand what we are doing when it comes to migration. i just -- i would not be surprised if tomorrow, a couple weeks, whatever, you wake up and hear that xx said x or justin trudeau said y or the president of mexico, whose name is escaping me for the moment -- >> finebaum. >> i got it. >> she is new. >> she is brand new. say something that donald trump will try to bring to the

american public to prove that he is such an effective negotiator. >> well, if he it did, then he succeeded, right? i mean, the threat of tariffs is not something new in american politics or american governance. it's done often in the past. but the thing that's going on here with trump is i think incredibly disingenuous. he is talking about across the board tariffs. that's different than targeted tariffs. targeted tariffs have been a part of economic policy and they actually make a lot of sense in many cases. but across the board tariffs are threats and don't have as much to do with economics as trying to intimidate the countries you are seeking to deal with. the challenge with this is that both justin trudeau and claudia sheinbaum and the leadership in china are dealing with their own economic challenges, and they will be inclined to talk to trump. i don't think there is any question of that. but they are going to be thrown into a defensive mode.

and i think this is a really rough place at which to start a relationship with especially your neighbors. >> yeah. >> the other thing would add on the politics of it, the very, very conscious if trump does see this through, if he has to go -- if he actually, you know, doesn't get the deals, doesn't get what he is looking for, he is in a situation where it's not just raising prices. it's a devastating impact on american farmers because when you do these across the board tariffs, then there is also going to be a retaliatory tariff on the part of the other countries. where that hits hardest is going to be exactly in the counties where donald trump won his biggest votes. >> john, we have to pause here. there was a bailout for farmers wheel donald trump was in office. president biden is taking the podium to talk about israel and lebanon. let's listen. >> good news to report from the middle east. just spoke with the prime minister of israel and lebanon. i'm pleased to announce their governments have accepted the

united states proposal to end the devastating conflict between israel and hezbollah. i want it to thank president macron of france for his partnership in reaching this moment. for nearly 14 months, a deadly conflict ranged across the border that separates israel and lebanon. the conflict that began the day after the october 7th attack by hamas on israel. hours later at 2:00 a.m. in the morning hezbollah and other terrorist organizations backed by iran attacked israel in support of hamas. let's be clear. israel did not launch this war. the lebanese people did not seek that war either. nor did the united states. over the past year, including the days immediately following october 7th, i directed u.s. military to flow assets and capabilities into the region, including aircraft carriers,

fighter squad runs, and sophisticated air defense battery to defend israel and deter our common enemy at a critical moment. since the war with hezbollah began, over 7 # thousand israelis have been forced to live in refugee -- live as refugees in their own country. helplessly watching their homes, their businesses, their communities as they are bombarded and destroyed. and over 300,000 lebanese people have also been forced to live as refugees that their own country. in a war imposed on them by hezbollah. all told, this has been the deadliest conflict between israel and hezbollah in decades. how many of hezbollah senior leaders are dead, including long-time leader nasrallah? and the story of the infrastructure in southern lebanon as well, including miles

of sophisticated tunnels which were prepared for an october 7th-style terrorist attack in northern israel. but lasting security for the people of israel and lebanon cannot be achieved only on the battlefield. and that's why i directed my team to work with the governments of israel and lebanon to forge a ceasefire to bring a conflict between israel and hezbollah to a close. under the deal reached today effective at 4:00 a.m. tomorrow local time, the fighting across the lebanese/israeli border will end. will end. this is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities. what is left of hezbollah and other terrorist organizations will not be allowed, i emphasize, not allowed to threaten the security of israel again. over the next 60 days the lebanese army and state security forces will deploy and take

control of their own territory once again. hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in southern lebanon will not be allowed to be rebuilt. and over the next 60 days israel will gradually withdraw the remaining forces and civilians, civilians on both sides will soon be able to safely return to their communities. and begin to rebuild their homes, their schools, their farms, their businesses and their very lives. we are determined this conflict will not be just another cycle of violence. and so the united states with the full support of france and our other allies has pledged to work with israel and lebanon to ensure that these -- that this arrangement is fully implemented. the agreement totally implemented. there will be no u.s. troops deployed in southern lebanon. this is consistent with my commitment to the american people to not put u.s. troops in combat in this conflict.

instead, we along with france and others will provide the necessary assistance to make sure this deal is implemented fully and effectively. let me be clear. if hezbollah or anyone else breaks the deal and poses a direct threat to israel, israel retains the trite to self-defense consistent with international law. just like any country facing a terrorist group. at the same time, this deal supports lebanon's sovereignty. so it heralds a new start for lebanon. a country i have seen most of over the years, a country with a rich history an culture. fully implemented, can put lebanon on a path towards a future worthy of its significant past. and just as the lebanese people deserve a future of security and prosperity, so do the people of gaza. they, too, deserve an end to the fighting and displays.

. the people of gaza have been through hell. their world is absolutely shattered. far too many civilians in gaza have suffered far too much, and hamas refused for months and months to negotiate a good-faith ceasefire and a hostage deal. so now hamas has a choice to make. their only way out is to release the hostages, including american citizens, which they hold. and the process bring an end to the fighting which would make possible a surge of humanitarian relief. over the coming days the united states will make another push with turkey, egypt, qatar, israel and others to achieve a ceasefire in gaza. the hostages released and the end of the war without hamas in power, that becomes possible. as for the broader middle east

region today's announcement brings us closer to realizing affirmative agenda of pushing forward during my entire presidency, a vision for the future of the middle east where it's at peace and prosper and integrated across borders. a future where palestinians have a state of their own. one that fulfills people's legitimate aspirations. one that cannot threaten israel or harbor terrorists groups with backing from iran. a future where israelis and palestinians enjoy equal measures of the security, prosperity, and, yes, dignity. to that end, the united states remains prepared to conclude a set of historic deals with saudi arabia, to include a security pact and economic assurances together with the credible pathway for establishing the palestinian state and the full, the full normalization of relations between saudi arabia and israel.

desire they both have. i believe this agenda remains possible. my remaining time in office, i will work tirelessly to advance vision for an integrated, secure and prosperous region, all of which, all of which strengthens america's national security. getting all off this done had require making hard choices. israel has been told -- has been bold on the backfield.and its py heavy price. now israel must be bold in turning tactical gains against iran and its proxies into a coherent strategy that secures israel's long-term safety. and advances a broader peace and prosperity in the region. today's announcement is a critical step in advancing that vision. so i applaud the decision made by lebanon and israel to end the violence. it reminds us that peace is

possible. say that again. peace is possible. as long as that is the case, i will not for a single moment stop working to achieve it. god bless you all, and sorry to keep you waiting so long. may god protect our troops. thank you. >> president biden announcing the ceasefire saying it was a ratified in the political war cabinet, sorry, political security cabinet in israel. >> how is this different from the previous one? >> [ inaudible ]. >> mr., president what have you told -- >> we will wait for the verbatim, if you will, because i couldn't under him. he said it was ratified by the political security cabinet in israel 10-0. he mentioned the u.s. and france and others will guarantee with the lebanese army to fill the

void between the lebanese river, and the israel border. still with us nora and ambassador pincus. so what did you hear there? >> well, i heard two things. i heard a hope-filled speech talking about the possibility of peace, dignity and peace for israelis, palestinians, lebanese. very clearly delineating who is to blame. iran and its militias. on the other hand, this speech has a huge gaping mystery at the heart of it. president biden said there will be no u.s. troops on the ground in lebanon, and yet that the united states and france will guarantee that this new agreement will be fully respected. that leaves very few options. i am not sure that france is eager to send its troops into lebanon. the u.n. agency that has been

tasked with protecting its border has failed at that job for the last 14 years now. and the lebanese army is a severely, severely degraded militia at this point. so it is unclear when president biden says that this offers us a new horizon for peace, who is going to be on the ground making sure that these first -- happens? >> that's a good point. elon, what about you? >> okay. this is a speech that hoof been made 66 days into his administration. not 66 days before he ends his presidency. and the worst case it should have been made 56 days after the war started on october 7th, 2023. i mean, look at the broad -- i subscribe toe everything she said about the contents on lebanon. look at the broader picture. he is talking about a palestinian state. seriously, in 56 days. he is talking about a push to

free the hostages after a year of concluding that mr. netanyahu is not playing ball on this. is reluctant, intran gent and refusing to do so. the most important thing, all of a sudden, again, 56 days before the end of his presidency, he is talking about a defense back with iran that also involves normalization with israel. come on. i mean, this is not a speech he made 56 days before the -- you leave the white house. >> all right. thank you very much. we'll continue to watch this. let's go back to table and talk about what we were talking before the president came out, tariffs and donald trump. christine and david and john are still with us. donald trump argues that this is going to bring manufacturing home. his political argument is against globalization and it is an effective political argument. people want things made here in theory at least.

they want to feel like this country is self-sufficient and the jobs here are good, middle class, stable jobs. >> and he sold that to them on the campaign trail. he also said he would be able to lower prices because people don't want to pay higher prices. his long-term goal of trying to reorder the international trade situation and make the united states a producer is going to mean higher prices in the short term. >> manufacturing back at home? is it going to spur something, david? >> it may spur something. none of that centers on what you are talking about now. it was rhetoric on the campaign trail. that doesn't seem to be driving his proposal to have blanket tariffs now. we would like to see more things manufactured here, especially after covid when it was so difficult to get many things t would be a huge undertaking. >> you cover the one area where there are still solid middle class manufacturing jobs, and that's those working with the unions.

is donald trump a friend of the union? is he going to be making more unionized jobs for manufacturing here at home? >> project 2025 isn't very friendly to the unions. there is an awful lot of signals sent during the campaign that he was no ally of unions. his labor secretary pick is someone who has been simple thet toik unions, and so you are getting mixed signals here and you are hearing t from organized labor. unions are saying we understand the value of targeted tariffs, there are places they can be effective. but they are very dubious about some of the things you were talking about a moment ago, whether trump is serious about this particular initiative or whether he is using it simply for political poing. there is a lot to play out here. there is one final thing i add in this regard. what trump is not talking about, and what frankly i don't think he knows much about, are the jobs of the future, jobs of the 21st century. while traditional manufacturing

jobs are always going to be vital, if you are going to talk about tariffs, if purr going to talk about structures like this, you have to be thinking about how you build an economy that builds electric batteries, does these other things. and i don't think that trump has begun to integrate that in. when i talk to onion folks i hear concern. that's where they see the growth in jobs and they are worried that the tariff fight could undermine that. >> not to mention what the jobs market will like with a.i. in the future. next, first off, everyone, thank you for sticking around. john and christine and david, good to see you again. coming up next, trump aide boris epshteyn is accused of shaking down potential appointees of the president-elect. what he is now facing. now faci. subject 1: at st. jude, there's one thing that makes us all family-- finding cures, saving children. family is how st. jude started, and family is how we keep going.

subject 2: in this family, every child deserves a chance to live their best life. families never receive a bill from st. jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food because that's what you do for family. subject 3: one in five kids in the us still won't survive cancer, and globally, that number is even higher. subject 4: in this family, we won't stop until no child dies from cancer. subject 2: this holiday season, join our st. jude family. we need you. please donate now.

there could be trouble already on team trump. both "the new york times" and "the washington post" report boris epshteyn was investigated by trump's legal team for allegedly shaking down those looking to secure a job in the administration. joining us now former trump white house deputy press secretary sarah matthews, and former assistant district attorney with the manhattan district attorney's office and msnbc legal analyst catherine christian. so the reporting suggests that boris epshteyn was looking for a lot of cash from those who were trying to get cabinet positions, including howard bessent, who is now the treasury secretary, asking for tens of thousands of dollars include ing an investme in a three on three basketball league. sarah, can you tell me who boris is, in the trump world, and why he would even think that he could try to get that sort of money from folks? >> yeah, boris epshteyn is a long-time aide of donald

trump's. he's been in the trump circle for many, many years, dating back to 2016. so this is someone who is seen as the ultimate loyalist. he's been with donald trump from the beginning, through all the controversies, stood by his side, when many people kind of shifted away from trump and thought that his political career was over. and so this was someone who likely would have had a position in the white house and had a lot of influence, but i think that the trump team did the right thing when they caught wind of this, starting this investigation and creating this report. and kind of exposing him. i think that if they're smart, they will oust him from the circle, and black list him and make sure that he cannot use this influence or any ties that he has to trump to try to make any further money beyond what is allegedly being described in this report. >> 30 to $40,000 a month in a consulting fee. sarah, does donald trump

appreciate it when people are making money off of him? >> absolutely not. this is going to definitely infuriate him, something like this that someone was making money and pedaling influence and trying to wield it for their own gain and benefit. look, this is the guy, boris epshteyn is the guy who suggested matt gaetz's name to donald trump for attorney general. so, it just shows that his judge of character, in my opinion, first off, but then that he clearly did have some sort of influence with trump. and so now that this report has come to light, i imagine that donald trump is furious and he's probably paranoid as well about who else among his circle could potentially be doing the same thing. >> okay, so boris says he's honored to work with president trump and with his team. he's telling "the new york times," he calls the claims fake and defamatory. steven cheung, a spokesperson for the transition told "the washington post" that the

campaign's consulting agreements, according to standard practice, a broad review of the campaign's consulting agreements has been conducted and completed including into boris among others, they're now moving ahead together as a team to help president trump make america great again. we'll see what's going to happen with boris. is there a legal issue here? >> no, and just remember he also has an indictment in arizona for the full alse electors scheme. there is no crime. it is what lobbyists do, they accept fees so you can get access. that would be his defense. so, it is icky, unethical but not criminal. it is interesting because the trump team that investigated him, so -- >> what would that investigation look like? >> well, they went and talked to law firms do this often, you know, companies hire them to do internal investigations because they don't want, you know, the police, the fbi to get involved. you talk to people, and apparently, you know, the people he allegedly shook down said, yes, this happened. and they must have had someone

tell them boris is doing this behind your back, sir, and then that's when the investigation happened. >> just so we all are clear, eric trump was on fox news, he said that his father has been incredibly clear, you do not do that under any circumstances, and believe me, there will be repercussions if somebody was, i've never seen that side of him meaning boris, i've known him for a long time and i certainly hope the reporting is false. i can tell you if it's true, the person will no longer be around. all right, catherine christian, sarah matthews, thank you for joining us. that's going to do it for me today. "deadline: white house" starts right now. "deadline: white house" starts right now. hi, everyone. it is 4:00 in new york, happy tuesday. in stocking his cabinet, donald trump is proving that birds of a feather flock