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>> it is says that was politically motivated, so ray is now stuck with this decision of whether to resign from his post or wait to be fired, and nbc news has previously reported that he is preparing for the latter. on that topic of the fbi's independence while he said he wouldn't comment on the president-elect pics civically,

he did talk about the independence of the fbi and the importance of that, listen here. >> current fbi director chris ray was actually appointed by donald trump breed joe biden didn't fire him, he relied upon him to execute his responsibilities as the director of the fbi, and allowed him to serve out the fullness of his term over the course of the biden administration, we would like to make sure the fbi remains an independent institution, insulated from politics. >> and alex, patel's path to senate confirmation is not expected to be an easy one, even though we know there are many republican senators who agree with his goal of radically changing the fbi. there are also many republican senators who insist that the fbi should remain independent of any political pressure or influence, and so, we are going to see how this could be a test

of these republican senators' loyalty to the president-elect. already today, we are seeing many republicans come out and forcefully say they are going to say yes and vote yes to his confirmation. then you have other republicans who are not so quick to say that, and democratic senators are fervently saying they are against it, and they will even organize opposition to his confirmation, alex. >> okay, lots to keep track of, thank you so much, allie raffa. in just a few minutes, we are going to take a closer look at the impact kash patel can make on the department of justice, including the intelligence community. meantime, the major storm system that is sitting at the northern plains, midwest, great lakes. right now, about 7 million people are under weather alerts, including frigid lake effect snow warnings, with some adviser is expected to continue into tuesday, and even more experiencing some of the coldest temperatures since last winter. abc's george scully is no stranger to this as he is in

orchard park, new york where snow has blanketed the buffalo bills stadium ahead of tonight's game against the san francisco 49ers. george, is there any indication that the snow is easing up there, and i'm curious how determined the fans are to see this game, even in these extraordinary conditions. >> well, if you can tell right now, it is starting to pick up again, and that is the lake effect that is going to continue dropping some snow here in the region. dickstein, maybe 20 inches on the ground here. this parking lot that i was standing in right now, this tailgate lot, this was buried in snow this morning. it is a well oiled machine here as chris have been working nonstop to clear this out. you see some snow piles behind me. is expected to maybe let up just a little bit before game time, that is the good news, but you asked about the bills mafia, legendary. their status here for these types of conditions, well known. the fans in the stands right now helping clear out some of that snow that has accumulated here, they are determined to watch this game. we have to caught up with some

of those early risers here getting there tailgate spots ready with shovels in hand. he said we are used to this, this is our home turf, we are ready for this game. take a listen. >> we are here, that's what we do. no delays. we just -- it's sunday, it's football, so -- and it's the bills. we just get ready, got to dig out all the gear. we know it was coming eventually, so, just got to get ready. go, bills! >> you've got to give it to them, but yes, they're absolutely right, this was known to be coming. the first real snowfall here, the lake effect of the season, and again, you're starting to see a pick up again, obviously making more work here for the crews that have already been relentless, trying to clear all this out. the good news, there really hoping this starts to let up by game time, that doesn't mean those frigid temperatures are going anywhere, it is still going to be bitterly cold here in orchard park, alex.

>> let me know if you come across any 49ers fans that are equally as excited as those bills fans. but it's a challenge, there we go. thanks, george. let's go now to nbc's mark's francis in ridgefield, new jersey who is watching the holiday traffic there. how does it look? you see more snow falling up where georgia is, but how about the traffic, is it lightening up there, or are folks preparing for a bunch of stop and go? >> yeah, alex, it appears to be a prime it's time to go home time. things appear to be picking up in the last 30 minutes but as i looked to my left, i see a bunch of cars waiting for gas, inside, people lining up to get food. as i mentioned the last hour, aaa forecast 80 million people to be traveling this holiday season with 72 million of them traveling by car. and of course, this comes at a time where gas is actually on the decline. this same time last year, the average tank of gas was around $3.25, and right now, it is hovering around three dollars. experts are saying gas prices

and oil are dropping, so we could see price of gas drop below three dollars for the first time since 2021. but gas was a big topic as i spoke to people going in and out of right here, lombardi, so here is what they had to say: >> i mean, like yeah, the gas prices, all this fluctuated, but that didn't stop people from going and traveling and having fun, so -- >> i don't really know, it seemed like it was a little less than even a couple of weeks ago, but i don't make this trip that often. >> i felt it a little bit, especially in new jersey, and it has been really nice, especially with all the travel we have been doing. so, it is a little bit more expensive in massachusetts right now, it seems, but we hit new jersey and there has definitely been a difference. >> and while gas was a big topic, it didn't seem to deter anyone from hopping on the roads. and if you're just getting out on the roads, i'm sorry, but you may have to hit some traffic. aaa says the worst time to

travel is from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m. today, so if you can hold off a bit, you may have better luck later on today. alex? >> i'm seeing even more people behind you in this live shot that we did last hour, going into the vince lombardi restaurant. thanks so much. we are going to turn back to donald trump's decision to pick kash patel as his pick to lead the fbi. we are back in 90 seconds. in 9. it's about how many people you can lift up. at ram, our calling is to build game-changing trucks. so when you find your calling... nothing can stop you from answering it. right now, during the ram black friday sales event, get $5,000 total cash allowance on the purchase of most 2025 ram 1500 trucks. hurry to your local ram dealer today. —no peeking. —okay. okay. ♪♪ open. ♪♪ ♪♪

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growing controversy over trump's pick for fbi director and the road ahead for his senate confirmation. let's go to julie tsirkin on capitol hill with more on that. how are republican lawmakers responding to the well-known trump loyalist, kash patel? is there any indication senators will break with confirming him or is this just a test to party loyalty? >> reporter: it is a little bit of both, alex. certainly we saw this happen and play out with matt gaetz, who was the president-elect's initial pick to lead as attorney general. now you have kash patel to lead the fbi, the main investigative arm of the doj, and at this point, it is really unlikely that senate republicans are going to telegraph exactly how they're going to play this out, and in large part, it is because they have seen this before with trump. right? they don't cross him publicly, they do a private pressure campaign, wraps savings in different terms. last hour, senator mike rounds put it in terms of i like chris

ray, i like the job the current fbi director is doing, we don't need a disruptor in here, but at the end of the day, trump won, he is going to be president, he carried republicans in the house and senate with him, that's how he feels, so he is going to nominate his nominees and be fair to them. i want you to take a listen to what two house members had to say. republican mike lawlor of new york in the house, and on the flipside, you will hear from jamie raskin, with the top democrat on the house judiciary panel, and also the weaponization subcommittee, so he has a lot of experience with this. watch. >> donald trump campaigned on reforming the fbi and the department of justice, so i don't know why any of this is, frankly, surprising to people. >> i haven't seen what the proof is that the fbi has been weaponized against a political party or the department of justice. of course, this department of justice has brought charges against democratic u.s. senator. some people just seem to think that it should go only in one

direction, and if it doesn't, then somehow it is politicized. >> reporter: so, obviously, you have two members of the house who have experience and what they're talking about here. mike lawlor is interesting because he is a moderate republican from new york who just won his re-election, and he said none of this should surprise people, and he is right in many ways. i attended the rallies in which trump had promised to disband government agencies, including the fbi, and certainly kash patel is the person to do it. also, trump pretty much telegraphed this move in the past couple days. he was at one point considering mike rogers, was once the house until chairman in the house, he is a republican who is part of the so-called establishment, he has been working hard to repair his relationship with trump, but he is somebody that sort of would not have broken the status quo, he is somebody that trump said he would not consider for the position. that is somebody that many senate republicans, including mike rounds, including the

moderate members like susan collins would probably have liked to see and place of kash patel, but then again you have trump as the president-elect, he is going to pick the people he wants to surround himself with. we'll see if this loyalty test hands out in the senate. julie tsirkin, thank you. 20 now, senior national security editor david road and former member of the fbi's hostage rescue team and consulting founder rob d'amico. good to see you both. rob, your reaction to this pick, i'm curious how it is being received inside the bureau, what you know about that? >> there is actually a lot of turmoil inside the bureau. i have been inside of you like facebook pages of agents, former people, and i would say it is split. a lot of them like it, because some of the people that were in the fbi or are currently in the fbi thought it has been getting more political, and then there are some that are in there, saying wait a second, this is not the norm, this is someone that trump is going to be able

to call, and the fbi's independence is going to go away, so, i think that relates to the bigger tomorrow within the bureau, and i think it came from actually under bob mueller, where headquarters started taking a bigger percent of how the fbi did things. for that, it was all in the field. and when you do that, when you bring it back to d.c., i think things get more political, instead of the field office is running all the investigations, and i think you're seeing something that has been happening over years now culminating. >> about rob, for those who are concerned that the fbi is becoming more political, and the last hour, i spoke with christopher o'leary who said the general consensus is if anything, it has tilted to the right is that the direction that people are suggesting? >> i think the bureau has always been more conservative in that. people didn't talk politics when i came in, though. i don't recall anyone ever talking about politics in the

office until the last days of the bureau, and one of the people who politicized it the most, it wasn't trump, it wasn't comay, it was under him, started bringing politics in. and i think you saw that in some of the texts that came out on some of the investigations. people didn't talk about it before, but now it is being talked about more, but i do think the bureau in general is more conservative and more republican, but there is that other side that gets in there and says, wait a second, we have to remain independent, no matter what our political party. and i think that's where it should go. >> keep politics out of it, yeah. david, i want to read a quote from an article that you cover and includes a quote from a former law-enforcement official who worked with patel. the official says, "it's ridiculous. he is arguably the least qualified person ever nominated for a senior position in federal law enforcement. i don't know anything significant that he achieved at the doj. he was not well regarded as a prosecutor."

what else are you hearing from law enforcement officials? >> i would echo what rob was saying, most people in the fbi don't talk politics, and actually don't want to be involved in these kinds of cases. i also wrote a lot about the mar-a-lago investigation and there was huge hesitance among fbi agents about how to handle that case. it went on for a long time. former president trump at that point wouldn't return dozens of classified documents, and there was division about whether to search mar-a-lago. it wasn't actually done and ordered by the fbi, but the main thing is a fear that kash patel sort of follows conspiracy theories, is going to come in -- i mean, he has talked about closing the fbi headquarters in d.c., prosecuting people, and it is a concern that this type of politics, what it does most of all is distracted the fbi from its main goals, which is cracking down on drug trafficking, violent crime across the u.s., and sort of guarding against foreign espionage in the united states, so, people are tired of the

politics on both sides inside the fbi is what i've heardy to since you wrote about it with mar-a-lago, was there a sense of acknowledgment that these classified documents had gone with trump to mar-a-lago? and if that is the case, where was the consternation, because did anyone think they should just stay with him? >> there was a fear that searching mar-a-lago would play into his narrative that the fbi it was some deep state cobalt out to get trump. there wasn't a debate about the facts, and it is a frustration inside the fbi without hyper partisan hour politics have become, and its nomination is sort of the latest example of that. >> so, patella has spread deep state conspiracy theories including that bureaucrats tried to overthrow trump from

office. so, talk about some of the dangerous falsehoods that patel has promoted, and also his calls for retaliation against those that trump sees as his enemies. >> there is criticism, as rob mentioned, of director comay, some of the things he did in office. the trump russia investigation and how it began. there was a nearly four years special counsel investigation by john durham into the comay era, what happened then, the trump russia investigation, and there were no criminal charges brought against any senior officials. there was one lawyer who lied on a document that took a plea bargain and two other people were brought to trial, pretty low level people, and they were acquitted. so, the scope of conspiracy that trump and patel have alleged was not found by john durham, is special counsel appointed by the trump administration, who had, again, nearly four years to investigate all of this, and he did not find the kind of conspiracies trump and patel allege. >> patel said in a statement,

if appointed, he will work to restore integrity, accountability, and equal justice to our justice system. patel, however, as called for replacing anti-democratic officials in law enforcement and intelligence with patriots and for a purge of perceived trump enemies from the fbi, so what are your concerns about how he could reshape the agency? >> there is always concerns that you let a political person comment to reshape the agency, but there are also safeguards out there. there is the dialogue, how you can investigate internal to the united states, how you do investigations. there are attorney general guidelines that say how you can open an investigation, what you have to keep it going, those can be broken unless you have an attorney general rewrite those. so, there is wanting to talk and say what you're going to

do, but then to get in the bureaucracy of something like the fbi -- remember when director bob mueller came in after 9/11, he said the fbi's first primary responsibility is to prevent terrorist acts like 9/11. we even had agents then, because the culture was always a crime is committed, investigate it, you bring it to court. we're saying he is going to be gone, that is just a fad. the bureau is long, like i remember when i first got there, the special agent in charge and the senior agent said get him about a year and a half, he will be gone and we will go on to the next one that will be more understanding. so, it is one of those things that you can't change a bureaucracy very quickly. it is a slow-moving ship and it has a lot of laws because of what happened under hoover to prevent one person from dictating lot. >> yeah. what are you hearing from lawmakers, david? do you expect them to face an uphill battle during his nomination hearing? >> i really -- i am not sure what is going to happen. you know, i thought what senator rounds said this morning, as juliet noted, was

significant. pointing at christopher wray, i think he does have some support on capitol hill, but president trump won this election and it is up to the senate. it is another test of the senate, will they advise and consent, will they do a thorough review of every nominee, and this is another challenge. i think it is as significant as the matt gaetz nomination, so we will see what happens with the senate, but i will predict at this point. >> that is smart because it is hard to predict what they're going to do, particularly on this one. the fbi issued a statement, saying in part, "every day, the men and women of the i continue to work to protect americans from a growing array of threats." so, if patel becomes director and follows through on his bowels to follow through, how might we see career fbi officials respond? >> well, it's one of those things that like the career fbi agent is in the field. and they are doing the work

that the statement comes out and says. they are the ones out there investigating. i have never been a headquarters fan myself. i have been out front, i ran operations in afghanistan in 2018 and 19, and i had almost four years in afghanistan, i had headquarters people telling me, and only one out of maybe 30 had ever been to afghanistan, how to warn my ops in afghanistan, and i just told him to get lost. so, i hope it goes back to the field directs how investigations are going at headquarters supports, that's the way it should have been, that's the way it was when it was working well, and i don't know if one person can change all that, because it is tough to fire people. which it should be. but if someone is not doing things that they need to be doing, there has to be a way to get rid of them, so i am not -- it can go both ways, and it is going to be tough to see, but i think sometimes, changes for

the good, too. >> okay, pretty bold of you to tell fbi hq to get lost, but nice. rob and david, thank you guys so much. a powerful tribute is about to happen in washington, we are going to take you there later. . olay visibly firms, lifts, and smooths wrinkles, by penetrating the skin, to boost regeneration at the surface cellular level. try olay. emergen-c crystals pop and fizz when you throw them back. and who doesn't love a good throwback? ♪♪ now with vitamin d for the dark days of winter.

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bottom of the hour with breaking news from the white house. today, in honor of world a.i.d.s. day, president biden and first lady jill biden are hosting a

public display of the entire a.i.d.s. memorial quilt for the very first time at the white house. it will happen on the south lawn. nearly 50,000 panels bear the names there of more than 110,000 lives lost to a.i.d.s. my colleague mike at the white house with more on all this. welcome to you, my friend. walk us through the historical significance of this quilt. >> reporter: alex, this quilt has literally traveled the world, it has been a tool that has helped spread awareness, to help better inform the public about the epidemic of hiv/a.i.d.s., and to memorialize those who have lost their lives because of it, and it is going to be a very tangible and visual representation of what president biden and first lady dr. jill biden are going to be talking about at this event, which is a presidents commitment over the last four years in office to do everything i can to try to end this epidemic by the end of the decade. you're going to hear president biden talk about the steps his administration has taken here

at home, which includes expanding access for many americans for hiv prevention medication known as prep, but also to reduce the stigma of hiv/a.i.d.s. as well. he is also going to talk about efforts to help around the world through the program which the administration says during his time in office, the additional funding for the program has helped provide more than 2.1 million people additional life- saving treatment for hiv/a.i.d.s. so, this is an important day for the president, he will be joined by families of the victims of hiv/a.i.d.s., as well as some of those living with the disease, to try to demonstrate that, yes, even in his closing days in office, this has been a top priority for the ministration. it is important to note, the program i mentioned, which has made so many resources possible for the u.s. to help the world deal with this challenge, that funding expires in march 2025, so this will be an early test for the trump administration of

whether their support to extend what has been a bipartisan program. >> yeah, 100%. let me just tell our viewers, i know you're going to leave when this event is scheduled to take place at 2:30, they're running a little bit late, you're going to have to go to the south lawn, so we won't see you again. let me ask you this question about the president's next move, which is heading to angola? can you talk about the mission for this trip? i think she takes off later tonight or this afternoon? >> president biden, i flew back with him on air force one from nantucket where he was marking the thanksgiving holiday. but now tonight, he is going to be making a very important trip, something that was long awaited. it was two years ago that president biden hosted leaders from across africa for the african leaders summit, and he pledged that he would visit sub- saharan africa in the following year. it has taken almost two years to fulfill that promise, some of that is because of the logistics of the campaign trail when he was a candidate, and this was actually a trip that was scheduled to occur in october, but he had to postpone

it because he had to help monitor and deal with hurricane helene. but this is an important mission, though, president biden will be the first president to visit sub-saharan africa since 2015, the first u.s. president ever to visit angola, and he is going to be touting a project very close to his heart, just to help close what the administration calls the infrastructure gap in africa. there is a major rail product that the u.s. has helped lead with ls to bring goods from the atlantic ocean at the port of libido in angola, is eventually out to the indian ocean through tanzania. this is going to be something that helps with our competitive edge by bringing critical materials that are mined in africa, but also helping bring food from across africa, get it faster from the forms to those who desperately need it throughout the continent. >> well explained on that mission. mike, we will let you go and make your way to the other side of the white house there, so you will be there for the remarks that will be delivered from president biden and everyone. we will also take you there live, as soon as president biden's remarks get underway. meantime, new reporting

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new reaction to trump's latest administration pics, a new column by axios cofounders mike allen and jim, describes it as trump's shock and awe. they write trumpet advisers are running out of words to describe what is coming in january. he feels empowered and emboldened, vindicated and validated, and eager to stretch

the boundaries of power. and he is egged on by elon musk, and picking trusted brothers for the toughest tasks. joining me now, we have crooked media vice president of political strategy and carlos cabello, and florida republican congressman now an msnbc political analyst. i know that one well, carlos. anyway, you are from florida, so the epicenter of the political earthquake, it is there. what are you hearing about why trump is making these specific choices? >> you said it, donald trump feels emboldened, he feels very confident, he feels like he has a mandate, he campaigned transparently, to be fair. he said he was going to do all these things and he is going to do that. you heard a lot of people during the campaign say take donald trump seriously, well here we are, and i think the big question now, or maybe the only question is are senate republicans going to confirm all of these nominees? we already saw them stand up to

trump when it came to matt gaetz. five senators came out early and said no way, no how. we will see what happens now with kash patel, tulsi gabbard, pete hegseth, those are the most controversial nominees, and senate republicans will either have the courage to stand up to the president and say some of these are not qualified, or they're going to fall in line. we saw on meet the press earlier today, senator haggerty of tennessee, who essentially said he was going to support all of donald trump's nominees, no matter who he put forward. now we know there are four or five, maybe six senators who aren't in that position, what position they make in the coming weeks is going to determine the outcomes of all of this. >> you know commissioning well, will republican senators play along, do you think they will win confirmation votes? >> you know, i would like to think that they would do their

jobs, but something that has remained just really top of mind for me are the two impeachment trials that donald trump went through, and republicans had two opportunities to commit during those impeachment trials, and having done that, he wouldn't have been able to run for president again, so is much as i would like to think they will do their jobs, they haven't had the opportunity in the past and haven't done it, so i don't have my vote up high. >> you think a lot of it matters on what actually gets presented? i don't think americans will be able to watch but if there are really salacious details or concerning issues, will that force republicans to consider? >> so, it might, but i think what might be an easier path, look at matt gaetz. i think if journalists and democrats really dive into these people's personalized and start showcasing the stuff that they do not want out in the open, these people will remove themselves, so i think democrats will play a really important role in these confirmation hearings and really digging in

and asking the tough questions and putting these people kind of on their heels to answer for it. it will also make republicans look bad in these confirmation hearings, and they are just a rubber stamp on whatever donald trump once. >> this question to you, carlos, because there is another tidbit to share from axios. elon musk, the most powerful and persistent voice in trump's here has been relentless in pushing radical reform, often [ inaudible ] with the instincts to blow it up, to rebuild. how much control does elon musk have? >> elon musk has a lot of influence. i don't know about control, because donald trump is in charge and he doesn't like to share control and power with everyone, but he does give people the opportunity to weigh in, and i certainly saw this during the first term, with people who he likes, trust, in myers, and elon musk being the richest man in the world is

certainly someone who donald trump in myers. musk is going to have a lot of influence. and up, i think a lot of times, it makes sense to bring business thinking and principles into politics, but at the same time, the political world is not the business world, and not everything that works in the business world works in the political world, so i think people like elon musk, vivek ramaswamy, they're going to be very influential, but they are also going to run across some of the checks and balances that exist in government that don't exist in business, and i think at least some of the time, they're going to end up being frustrated because they are not going to be able to move as rapidly as they would like to. that's the last word to you, shaniqua, i'm curious on your thoughts on this blowup to rebuild process. >> yeah, i think they're going to run into a lot of resistance that is just built into our system, but i ultimately think that elon musk does have a

tremendous amount of influence right now, we saw that he spent thanksgiving at mar-a-lago with donald trump and his family, but at some point, these two are going to clash with these are two men who like to be in the limelight. right now, they feel like they're making each other cooler to the rest of us, but at some point, donald trump is going to get sick of elon musk getting too much attention, and something i am also really interested to see if this clash between business leaders who are coming into this administration. i know a lot of them at the faithful, we're going to start seeing clashes around things like mass deportations and these tariffs, which are going to be at odds. mad that leaders want one thing, business leaders want another thing when it comes to their bottom line. i think they're going to have a falling out. >> shaniqua and carlos, good to see you both, thank you so much. breaking news about a dramatic comeback in the middle east that seemed to come out of nowhere. of nowhere. de, the #1 pharmacist recommended vitamin and supplement brand.

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...we're done! [crowd laughs] worried about leaking when you wanna be laughing? it's time to upgrade. only always discreet has a unique drytech layer to keep you drier than depend. so you can laugh harder, and stay drier. we've got you, always. always discreet. there is breaking news in the middle east, intensifying violence in the syrian rebel offensive today after russian and syrian jets struck a rebel held city in the northern part of the country. the president vowing to crush the insurgents, waging a shock offensive against his regime, and they have taken control of the key city of aleppo. joining me right now from beirut, lebanon, is nbc's matt bradley. let's get to the very latest on the developments in syria, what you know about them? >> it sounds as though we are seeing air strikes by russians

and the regime in both aleppo, the city you just mentioned, that has all but entirely fall into those insurrectionists, those rebels who are mostly islamists, some of whom are backed by turkey. they also have the russians and the regime have been firing air strikes at the city nearby the city of aleppo. so now we are seeing an expanding offensive. as you mentioned before the break, this was a surprise. this really did catch the middle east, and clearly the regime, off guard. but there was a little bit of an element of exploitation here. exploiting the weakness, not just of the regime, but also of the regime's main backers, iran and russia. here is jake sullivan with the national security council, he spoke on this today. >> for many years, the syrian government has been engaged in a civil war backed by three main players, iran, russia, and hezbollah. all three of those players have been distracted and weakened by

conflicts elsewhere. so, it is no surprise that you see actors in syria, including the rebels, try to take advantage of that. as far as the fate, people have been predicting that for a long time, i am not going to make any predictions here, all i'm going to stay as we will stay deeply engaged in the days ahead. >> that was national security advisor jake sullivan, and you know, the big question here now, alex, is whether or not the regime, whose soldiers basically melted away in the face of this surprise offensive, whether or not they're going to be able to regroup and mount a counteroffensive to either take back that territory, or at least prevent those rebels from advancing ever further, because now it looks like they are continuing to their advanced almost entirely unimpeded, except for those russian air strikes. it looks as though the regime has for too long relied on foreign support. alex? >> okay, matt bradley, thank you so much for that, we appreciate it. all right, everybody, as

promised, we are going to take you now to the white house lawn, and you see the president and first lady joined by others as they commemorate world a.i.d.s. day. it is a historic day to do so, that is the entire a.i.d.s. dealt that is now presented their for those in attendance to get a good look at it. let's take a good listen now to the first lady. >> more people know that they are not alone. so, good afternoon and welcome to the white house. >> [ applause ] >> the hidden in crowds, scattered throughout workplaces, in grocery stores and parks, there is a fellowship of people who have lost sons and daughters. to the uninitiated, we look normal, average, whole, but like a secret handshake, i can spot them. by the sadness that rests in the corner of their smile. by the curve of their shoulders, as if they can still feel the

small arms of a child wrapped around their necks. and though we are strangers, we know unsellable truths about one another, that we will spend the rest of our lives longing for a face that is gone forever. and -- and when they left our world, they took a light inside us with them. still, we have discovered moments of grace, too. somehow, against all odds, we rise from the floor. we find a fortitude that we didn't know we had, and we reach out for help. we realize that we are not alone. and as i look at this beautiful quilt with its bright colors, the names in big block letters, renderings of lives and love, i see it as a mom. and i think of the mother's who stitched their pain into a patchwork panel, so the world

would remember their child. not as a victim of a vicious disease, but as a son who played in a high school jazz band, as a child who grew up to probably serve our nation in uniform, as the daughter whose favorite holiday was christmas. the act of quilting creates a work of art that wraps us up in its beauty. this one was woven together with the grief powerful enough to move the world toward unity, acceptance, compassion, and grace. and joe and i are proud to have the a.i.d.s. memorial quilt on the south lawn of the white house for the first time ever! >> [ applause ] >> and it is especially meaningful to gather with you on world a.i.d.s. day. may we all feel the power of this world by date of unity,

and may we always cover each other in kindness, compassion, and beauty. joe and i are honored to have jeannie here with us, and to join her in remembering her son, ryan white. >> [ applause ] >> jeannie, i know you didn't choose the life of an activist, but when ryan got sick 40 years ago, you stepped up in the fight against discrimination and helped the world see this disease more clearly. i know that a part of you is still missing. mother to mother. thank you for your strength. so, jeannie, would you like to say a few words? >> [ applause ]

>> good afternoon, everybody, my name is jeannie and i'm the mother of ryan white. ryan was a smart and funny teenager who became hiv-infected at the age of 13. he contacted hiv at the age of 13 and -- from a blood transfusion. a.i.d.s. took them from us 5 1/2 years later, but not before he fought his way back to school and taught america we needed to fight a.i.d.s. and not the people who have it. >> [ applause ]

>> in 1990, however, shortly after ryan died, senator kennedy asked me if i would come to washington to explain to senators how varietal it was to pass the a.i.d.s. bill, which had recently been named after my son, call the ryan white care act. he said i was something much more powerful than a lobbyist, i was a mother. i'm sure that dr. biden can relate, needless to say, i went -- i went to d.c. the first senator i met was getting off the elevator at the capitol, was senator joe biden. with tears in his eyes, he told me that he had lost his child and that the only way he had found to deal with it was through grief and purpose.

in the 34 years since, that is exactly what i have tried to do in partnership with the extraordinary community here today, that has become my family. in many ways, personal grief has fueled the a.i.d.s. movement since the beginning. both republicans and democrats and congresses have strongly supported bryan still and as a result, countless lives have been saved. i'm especially grateful for president biden's tireless leadership and all that he has done for the fight against a.i.d.s..