we have had signs in new york city from a credible person and the visual did look like him but it was not him. >> maybe one day, they can unlock the secrets of the damaged hard drive. do you hold hopes that technology will allow you to recover it? >> i am hoping in a couple of years. >> for now, the mystery of ray gricar's disappearance and doers. so does the wait for answers. do you still hold out hope that you will get a definitive answer? >> always. we will always have that question. this sunday, fbi job. president-elect donald trump says he plans to replace fbi

director, christopher ray, with a top loyalist who vowed to shut down the bureau's headquarters. >> i shut down the fbi hoover building, on day one and reopening the next day as a museum of the deep state. >> can he be confirmed by the senate? plus, trade war. president-elect trump threatens steep tariffs on america's biggest trading partners. >> i hope he rethinks it. i think it's a counterproductive thing to do. >> not just harming canadians, he would be raising prices for american citizens as well. >> how high could prices rise? or is it just a negotiating tactic? i'll talk to republican senator, bill haggerty of tennessee, and democratic senator, chris murphy, of connecticut. plus, turning point? syria's second largest city falls into rebel control days after hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire. i'll speak with national

security adviser, jake sullivan. and, separate. >> it was growing, growing, growing with the number of kids. >> harm to children was part of the point. they believe it would terrify families into not coming. >> erol morris and jacob are here to talk about their new film, examining the trump administration's family separation policies. joining me for insight and analysis are nbc's senior national politics reporter, jonathan allen. kimberly atkins stohr. republican strategist, matt gorman, and sahil kapir. welcome to sunday, it's meet the press. from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is meet the press with kristen welker. >> good sunday morning. president-elect trump proving once again he plans to shake up washington in his second term.

announcing plans to nominate patel. a hard line critic of the bureau who has called for shutting down the agency's washington headquarters. firing its leaders, and bringing the nation's law enforcement agencies quote, to heal. >> do you believe we can get rolling on prosecutions? >> we can put in all american patriots top to bottom. >> the move to pick patel means trump's hand picked fbi director would need to be fired or resign since his ten-year term doesn't end until 2027. harsh tariffs against america's top three trading partners, mexico, china, and canada. president-elect trump looks for leverage to deal with issues of drugs and the border.

>> it's one of the most beautiful words in the whole world, it's going to make us wealthy again. >> the most beautiful word in the entire dictionary of words is the word, tariff. i love tariff. i can make anybody do anything through the use of tariffs. >> canadian prime minister wasted no time traveling to mar- a-lago for a dinner on friday with the president-elect, to discuss. trudeau warned tariffs would hurt consumers in both countries. >> donald trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out. he would be not just harming canadians who work so well with the united states. he would be raising prices for american citizens as well. and hurting american industry and businesses. >> now already, u.s. ceos are

warning if president-elect trump does impose tariffs, they would be passed on to consumers as higher prices. best buy ceo saying the vast majority of that tariff will probably be passed on to the consumer. home depot ceo warning, there will be an impact, and walmart's finance chief saying, tariffs are going to be inflationary. president biden also weighing in. >> i hope he rethinks it. i think it's a counterproductive thing to do. we're surrounded by the pacific ocean, atlanta ocean, and two al lice, mexico and canada. the last thing we need to do is screw up those relationships. >> on tuesday, president biden announced a ceasefire deal in lebanon between israel and hezbollah. the iranian backed militia, the u.s. designates as a terror group. mr. biden saying he will renew his push for a ceasefire and hostage deal in gaza. >> just as the lebanese people deserve security and prosperity, so do the people of

gaza. they, too, deserve an end fighting and displacement. now hamas has a choice to make. their only way out is to release the hostages, including american citizens, which they hold. >> on saturday, hamas released a video showing american, edan alexander, who was taken captive on october 7. >> this video is like he's screaming to everyone, look at me, i'm alive. i'm surviving for 421 days. please bring me home. i want to come back to my family. >> and joining me now is national security adviser, jake sullivan. jake, welcome back to "meet the press." >> thanks for having me. >> thank you so much for being here. i want to start with hamas releasing that video of american hostage edan

alexander, who has been held by hamas for more than 400 days, jake. is the united states any closer to bringing the hostages home or striking a ceasefire deal between israel and hamas? >> well, kristen, that video was a cruel reminder of hamas' brutality and of the fact they are holding so many hostages from so many countries, including american citizens, including americans like edan. we are doing everything we can to get those hostages home safely to their families. we were in touch with edan's family yesterday. i'll be speaking with all of the american hostage families this week. president biden pledged coming off of the announcement of the lebanon ceasefire, that we would be working around the clock to produce a ceasefire and hostage deal in gaza. we're working to do that. i can't make you any predictions about the shape of that deal or when it will come, but i can tell you that we are working actively to try and make it happen. we're engaged deeply with the

key players in the region and there is activity, even today, there will be further conversations and consultations and our hope is that we can generate a ceasefire and hostage deal. we're not there yet. >> jake, let's talk about what you just mentioned. the ceasefire agreement between israel and hezbollah. both sides have already been accusing each other of violating the terms of the agreement. the last time the lebanese army was tasked with enforcing a ceasefire in 2006, it failed, jake, why are you confident that it can succeed this time? >> well, first, this is a huge step forward in the middle east. a ceasefire across the border between israel and lebanon. the end to more than a year of very significant violence on both sides of that border. the opportunity for people to ultimately be able to return to their homes in israel and lebanon. this is a good thing and we need to protect it and ensure it is fully implemented. what makes this time different

is the united states, france, and other allies are going to work together with the lebanese armed forces through a mechanism to ensure the ceasefire is implemented effectively. that's not going to involve u.s. forces deployed on the ground in southern lebanon, but it will mean we will put our full backing behind this and also as the agreement itself states, kristen, both parties, including israel, have the right consistent with international law, to take action in self-defense if they are facing imminent threats. we have seen some of that. our goal is to get through these first few days, critical days of a ceasefire, when it's most fragile, and ultimately build on it so it becomes the permanent ceasefire it's intended to be. >> let me ask you about something the incoming national security adviser, mike waltz had to say. he credited president-elect trump with this ceasefire, jake saying quote, everyone is coming to the table because of president trump. jake, how do you respond to

that? >> well, first, i would just say that we've had good consultations with the incoming team. we have been transparent with them. we are committed to ensuring a smooth transition. i'm glad to see the incoming team is welcoming the ceasefire. i would say you know you've done a good thing when other people take credit for it. we're proud of the work we have done. it came about because of the relentless diplomacy directed to joe biden. >> let's talk about what is happening in syria. rebels have seized control of most of the second largest city. what is your sense of what's happening on the ground and do you think that basar could fall? >> keep in mind, for many years, the syrian government has been engaged in the civil your backed by iran, russia, and hezbollah. all three of those players have been distracted and weakened by conflicts elsewhere.

it's no sur prides that you see actors in syria, including the rebels. that's what they have done over the last several days. now this rebel offensive is led by a group that the united states designated as a terrorist entity. we have concerns about that group. and we are consulting closely with players across the region to try and determine the best way forward because what we would like to see is the full implementation of u.n. security council resolutions that could bring a measure of peace and stability to syria and protection to civilians, including religious minorities. as far as the fate, people have been predicting that for a long time. i'm not going to make any predictions here. we'll stay deeply engaged in the days ahead. >> let me ask you about the breaking news overnight. president-elect trump announcing he wants to nominate kash p atel. what do you make of this pick?

>> look, i'm not going to speak about the president-elect's nominees. the only thing i can point out, kristen, is the biden administration adhered to the long standing norm that fbi director serve out their full terms. the fbi director is a unique player in the american government system. they are appointed for ten-year terms, not terms just for the duration of a given president. the current fbi director was appointed by donald trump. joe biden fire him? he relied upon him as director of the fbi and allowed him to serve out the fullness of his term over the course of the biden administration. so that's how we approach things and we would like to ensure that the fbi remains an independent institution insulated from politics. >> all right. national security adviser, jake sullivan, thank you so much for joining us this morning. we really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> and joining me now is

republican senator, bill haggerty of tennessee. senator haggerty, welcome to "meet the press." >> good morning. good to be with you. >> it is very good to have you. let's start right there. i want to get your reaction, president-elect trump essentially making this move that would lead to the firing of his own hand picked fbi director, whose term doesn't come to an end until 2027, replacing him with kash patel, who served multiple roles in the first trump administration. do you think he has enough votes to pass? >> i encouraged president trump to bring kash patel to the table for this reason. i am more than happy to talk about him. he represents the type of change we need to see in the fbi. you think about the failures of background checks. how could we have somebody like collin who tweeted out classified information. i went to the fbi myself.

they ignored me. basically, he was confirmed on a party line vote with kamala harris breaking the tie. shouldn't have a security clearance in the third most powerful position. you have rob . his ties to the iranian influence regime that worked with him and for him. still at the d.o.d., should never clear an fbi background check. this entire agency needs to be cleaned out. if you look at what happened, back in 2016, when senior leaders of the fbi collaborated. when he came into office, they put together this russia gate investigation that hindered the trump administration for the first several years. the fake hunter biden story that the fbi leadership worked together with big tech to sensor the hunter biden laptop that allowed president biden to basically, fool the american public.

there are serious problems at the fbi. the american public knows it. they expect to see sweeping change and kash p atel is the person to do it. >> a lot of folks have raised questions about whether patel is qualified. patel is his deputy fbi director. his attorney general rejected the idea. saying this, patel had virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest level of the world's preeminent law enforcement agency. senator, how seriously do you take the warnings? >> listen, i think you should have the biden administration look at itself. what is the qualification of tony blinken? he organized 51 intelligence experts to put together a fake letter saying that hunter biden laptop was russian disinformation. that must have qualified him to be secretary of state. president trump is entitled to

name his appointees. that's what he's doing and i'm going to support this appointment. kash worked in national security, and someone willing to uncover the wrongs of the fbi. he uncovered what happened with russia gate. he can see through the fix here. >> you are disregarding what bill bar, the former attorney general under donald trump is saying. his warnings that he doesn't have the experience. >> i'm saying there are people that are serving in the current administration that are inexperienced. i think kash does have relevant experience, particularly when it comes to the mandate to turn these agencies around that have become completely corrupted. he's the best at uncovering what happened at the fbi and i'm looking forward to him taking it apart. >> let's talk about one of the other big headlines the week, tariffs. president-elect saying he will impose 25% tariffs against mexico and canada. more tariffs against china, the

united states three biggest trading partners. major companies from best buy to home depot and walmart. all warning that tariffs could lead to higher prices. senator, i wonder, are you comfortable with these tariffs even if it does, in fact, lead to higher prices? >> well, kristen, one of the most important things we have as a nation is our economy. that's the most important, incredible source of competitive advantage that the united states has. access to our economy is a privilege. if you think about it, we made access to this economy a strategic tool since world war ii. you think about what happened in pan and countries in europe. the united states put in place favorable terms of trade. to trade with us, rather than trading with communist countries. we used these tools effectively. the united states has the most open market of any major economy in the world. we need to take a hard look at countries that don't have our

best interest at heart. use those tariffs as a tool to achieve our ends. >> are you concerned this could lead to a trade war, senator? >> what it needs to lead to is a correction of the behavior that is taking place right now. that is letting fentanyl flood into our border. that is allowing people to flood into country. it needs to stop. president trump is going to use every lever to do it and i think it's appropriate to use tariffs as one of those tools. >> you just heard me talking with jake sullivan about the situation that is unfolding in alepo and the focus, the question could bashar fall in this moment? how do you see this unfolding in syria? >> what we've seen is a major turning point. again, israel took these moves against the warnings of the

biden administration. but what we've seen is hezbollah is being decimated. and in the aftermath of that, you have seen hezbollah's inability to continue to sure up asad that led to this change that is now as i understand it. we may see asad on the map very, very soon. i think the situation is completely changed. it changed because of the leadership of israel and willingness to stand up to hezbollah. >> let me ask it this way. president-elect trump's pick had two secret meetings with bashar. in light of these latest developments, do those meetings concern you at all and do you plan to vote to confirm her? >> i'm not familiar with the meetings that she's had. i certainly don't have to agree with every point of every one of president trump's nominees. i'm here to support the type of dramatic change that is underway. i think president trump put in

place, bringing together democrats. bringing together people with different voices. he is reaching out and broadening the party and broadening our reach. achieve a specific purpose and i look forward to supporting that. >> you're saying you're not familiar with those meetings because they were secret meetings. do you have questions about those meetings that you want answered before you vote yes? >> my only understanding about the meetings is they took place sometime in the past. >> do they concern you, senator? do they concern you at all? >> i can be concerned about it. i can understand it. i may even disagree with it. i plan to support president trump's candidates because the american public needs to see a dramatic change. she's the type of candidate that will do that. >> senator haggerty, thank you for being here. we appreciate it. >> it's good to be here this morning. >> great to have you this morning. when we come back, democratic senator, chris murphy, of connecticut joins me next. ecti.

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. ♪ ♪ ♪ something has changed within me ♪ ♪ it's time to try defying gravity ♪ ♪ ♪

welcome back and joining me now is democratic senator, chris murphy of connecticut. senator murphy, welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you for being here in- person. i want to start off by talking to you, getting your reaction about president-elect trump's decision to tap kash patel. you heard my conversation with senator haggerty. do you know how you plan to vote on patel's confirmation? >> i will vote no and i will organize the american public to understand what is happening here. donald trump told the american public during the campaign that he was going to turn the department of justice into a political operation. an arm of the white house to destroy his political opponents. he said that the greatest start to america is the enemy within. and who he said was the enemy within was us, was journalists,

his political opponents. kash patel's only qualification is because he agrees with donald trump that the department of justice should serve to punish, lock up, and intimidate donald trump's political opponents. so the cost to the american public is pretty simple. the department of justice and the fbi are supposed to be there to go after drug traffickers, gun smugglers. go after corrupt wall street finance. the department of justice will serve donald trump's political interests. that's what kash patel thinks the fbi should do. that's why democrats and republicans should examine how damaging this nomination can be to american democracy. >> let me ask you more broadly about these nominees. senator-elect adam schiff said marco rubio was well qualified to serve as secretary of state and he was strongly inclined toward a yes vote on his

confirmation. can you see yourself supporting your fellow senator, marco rubio, and any other picks of donald trumps? >> i'll evaluate each nominee on their own merits. you know, i thought it was extraordinary that senator haggerty told you, he's not going to ask a single question about any of these nominees. he is going to give donald trump -- what worries me about this cabinet is it is essentially putting the billionaire class in charge of american government. the net worth of donald trump's nominees is greater than 169 countries. the folks that are being nominated to run the department of commerce, treasury, education, they don't understand what regular people are going through. all they see government is good for is enriching themselves and their billionaire friends. so that is what the story of this cabinet is. is donald trump and the billionaire class taking over

government to enrich themselves and screw everybody else in this country. >> all right, let me take a little bit of a turn. i want to ask you about what happened on thanksgiving. you and the rest of the connecticut delegation quite frankly received bomb threats at your homes. now fortunately, they were investigated. there were no actual bombs. some of the picks president- elect trump made. what was your reaction to learning that and what have you learned about who might be behind these threats? >> well, as you know, there were threats, very similar threats the day before to trump's cabinet nominees. it appeared on thanksgiving morning. it was democrats that were targeted. my sense is that this is some outside actor just trying to create confusion and distraction inside the american political system. and listen, i want a department

of justice. i want an fbi director who will go after anybody that tries to threaten the american political system that goes after republicans or democrats. one of the things that i'm concerned about is kas h p atel will care about protecting republicans and not care about protecting every single member of the american population. every single one of us that gets met with one of these threats. >> let me turn to tariffs now. i want to get your reaction to president-elect trump threatening to impose tariffs against canada, mexico, china. we should note that president biden has actually kept some of the trump tariffs in place and built on them. has imposed new tariffs as well. do you think tariffs are good policy? >> what we know is donald trump has no idea how to use tariffs in order to create american jobs. he did impose tariffs during his four years in office and we lost manufacturing jobs. joe biden knew how to use

tariffs in coordination with subsidies and incentives for domestic manufacturing, such that while he was president, we grew manufacturing and jobs. the headline here is that donald trump's entire economic policy will be about a massive tax break for those billionaires in charge of his cabinet. the tariffs are a distraction from what the real agenda is going to be, to be able to use government in order to increase the wealth of his cabinet and the friends of that cabinet. those tariffs, if they are not used properly, will raise costs on ordinary americans while the billionaires get off scott free. >> that takes me to my next question. economists say tariffs, regardless of how they are imposed, do ultimately hike up prices for consumers. so if they are so bad, why didn't president biden roll back the trump era tariffs? >> because president biden did this the right way. he imposed restrictions, for instance, on electric vehicles coming into the united states

and the technology connected to electric vehicles. while also giving subsidies to american electric vehicle companies. that's the policy that ends up in hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs being created in the united states. donald trump engages in thoughtless tariff policy that ends up in prices going up, but jobs not being created in the united states. so you have to use tariffs in the right way. if you use them the right way, it can create jobs. donald trump will talk about tariffs because he doesn't want you to know about the primary center piece of his economic agenda, which is a tax cut. >> last week, senator, you put out a memo about the 2024 election. you had some strong language talking about what you believe went wrong. you said the party needs to embrace a more populous message. what do you think democrats need to do differently in order to win? in order to be in a fighting position in 2018, and also the

midterms. >> yeah, well listen. we have to talk about power. who has it and who doesn't have it. i think some of the most important things that joe biden did were taking on the big corporations. going after their monopoly power. helping consumers with some of the fees and gimmicks used to hurt us. i wish they talked more about what they did to break up corporate power. so i think democrats need to be much more aggressive in making this case, that power has been concentrated and needs to be returned to regular americans and we need to invite a lot of different americans into that conversation, regardless of whether they line up with democrats on every single issue. >> nancy pelosi says that president biden stayed in this race too long. do you agree with that

assessment? >> in hindsight, knowing that he ultimately made the decision to stand down, yes, of course, it would have been better for president biden to make that decision earlier. there's no question about it. >> okay. senator murphy, thank you so much for being here. great to see you. >> thank you. >> really appreciate it. and when we come back, president-elect trump wants to force out the current fbi director and replace hem with a top loyalist. can he be confirmed? the panel is next. stay with us.

drop everything and get some magic of your own during the xfinity black friday sale. xfinity internet customers, our best deals of the year are back! switch to xfinity mobile and get your choice of a free 5g phone, plus your next unlimited line free for a year. get amazing savings and connect to wifi speeds up to a gig

on the go with xfinity mobile. fly don't walk to get our best deals of the year. connect to the world of wicked this holiday, in theaters now. ♪ you gotta give the people ♪ ♪ you gotta give the people ♪ ♪ you gotta give the people ♪ ♪ what they want ♪ wait till you see this. welcome back. the panel is here. nbc news political reporter, jonathan allen. senior national political reporter, kapir. senior opinion reporter, and matt gorman, senior communications adviser for tim scott for america. thanks to all of you for being here. hope you had a great thanksgiving holiday. john, let me start with you. let's talk about this decision to tap kash patel to lead the

fbi. i heard from the former national security adviser who said the senate should vote to oppose him 100-0. bill made it very clear, that's not going to happen. what do you think his chances are of getting confirmed? >> not for the first time john bolton is wrong. we already heard chris murphy say he will vote against kash patel. there are issues. if you're a senator, you'll weigh this question of whether he's going in there to the fbi with the express intent of going after president trump's enemies. donald trump doesn't care whether his political enemies are democrats or republicans. so if you are a united states senator and you have anything to hide for sure, you're going to be worried about kash patel. maybe if you don't have anything to hide, you'll be worried about it. could he get through? absolutely. i'm not at the opinion that one nominee gets knocked down and that doesn't mean others won't.

>> sahil, republican senators did stand up in the face of matt gaetz and basically say this is a bridge too far. too many ethical questions. do you think that senator who's have concerns about confirming him will stand up to trump a second time? how do you see it play out? >> it's unclear whether he has the votes. republicans have 53 senators. they can afford to lose three. that's the number of defections they can afford in term -ls of this nomination. republicans will have questions. the first is, as jake sullivan pointed out to you, why are you firing chris ray? trump appointed him. he has three years on his term. the second dynamic is kash patel is on the record for the retribution agenda. he talked about using the government power inside and outside of government. there was real tension when trump ran on this and republicans didn't believe it, he just wants to lower the price of eggs. now they get to cast their

votes accordingly. trump accepted it. he just moved on. he's not trying to get back at them. is there a lesson there, that they can say no sometimes. >> we had our one pick we could say no to and that's where we draw the line. >> gaetz is the heat shield. you have several nominees, whether it's tulsi or rfk, and now kash, who are splitting the scrutiny and the left wing kind of dark menu, you fight a nominee or two. betsy devoss. look, i think maybe all of them can out run the lion. but the idea that senate republicans are going to tank a third of the cabinets is not going to happen. it's not realistic. >> matt gaetz didn't become attorney general because republicans wanted to tank him. i think there will be issues

with republicans whether you talk about pete hegseth, tulsi gabbard, or rfk, jr., he is more likely to go through. >> the difference here is kash p atel is a general. anybody who he sees as a political enemy. he is somebody who has been inside trump world for a lot longer and a lot closer than matt gaetz. and i see no reason to believe that the republicans who failed to stand up against trump at any point in the last ten years will suddenly change their tune to try and block his top guy. as much as democrats will point out, that him heading the fbi, particularly one, which in the eyes of the heritage foundation's project 2025, would be under the white house. they would ticket from under d.o.j. control and make it donald trump's personal investigation army. i think that not only will he win confirmation, but it's one of the most dangerous appointments that donald trump

can make. >> let's talk about one of the other big headlines this week, matt, of course, tariffs. the fact that president-elect trump has used this threat against canada, mexico, and china. the u.s. three biggest trading partners. do you think it's a bluff or do you think he's going to follow through? >> trump feels comfortable on the economy and immigration. these are policies he won on, and rightly so. he should feel empowered. he feels at home at a negotiating table. so he wants to get people in a room. get them face to face and work on a deal that was telling me how they both varied in their approach. trudeau went to mar-a-lago, she had a letter that is not going to help her get a deal. it was not helpful to democrats. >> how do you see the tariff battle playing out, and biden kept the trump era tariffs in place. >> yeah, i mean, i think mostly dodge trump is trying to announce his presence with

authority here and make foreign leaders look at him and make the domestic audience look at him. if you can get concessions butt putting tariffs in place, all the better. matt is right about the strategy here, and he's going to get some concessions before he has to put tariffs in place. if he puts tariffs in place, prices are going to go up and fighting this idea that he is fighting inflation. >> you have some new reporting on what are some of the pieces of president biden's legacy? >> i would rank this from most safe to least safe. the least safe are the executive actions. all these things trump can undo immediately. so, whether it's things like immigration, lgbtq+ rights, student loan programs, abortion travel protections, those will be very unsafe. trump can undo them. the second category of things in real danger are the democrat

only programs that they pass through congress with 50 votes, without any republican support, the inflation reduction act, clean energy funding. we have a new piece this morning about republicans. they are coming after those to pay for an extension of the trump tax cuts. the subsidies are in danger. the pieces of biden's legacy that are quite safe are the bipartisan laws he passed. infrastructure, postal reform, those are subject to the 60 vote threshold. democrats can protect them. and the safest part, the most consequential, judges. 220 federal appeals court and district court judges. they are here to stay. >> reverse that to see where donald trump can make an impact. particularly at the u.s. supreme court with any. trump can only force that even further to the right giving it an even greater super majority during his presidency as well

as throughout the federal judiciary. we've seen with consequence from all of the challenges to biden's programming. what the trump appointed judges, what power they can wield. we will see more of that during his administration. >> obviously, that is still very much in focus and it it will be over the next four years. great conversation. we packed a lot in. thank you for being here. when we come back, as president biden makes a final push for a ceasefire agreement in gaza. we look back more than 30 years to historic mideast peace agreement. meet the press minute is next.

home inspectors, general contractors, roofers. all kinds of pros recommend leaffilter. why? it's engineered for performance. because with leaffilter's patented filter technology, there's no gaps, no openings, no place for debris to get in at all. leaffilter is a permanent solution we install on your existing gutters. you'll never have to climb a ladder to clean out your gutters again. our installation process is simple and easy. just give us a call and set up an appointment today. we'll come out and give you a free gutter inspection. if your gutters are sagging, we'll repair them. if they're broken, we'll replace them. and if they're in good shape, our local trusted pros will install leaf filter in as little as a few hours. and the best part? leaffilter comes with a lifetime transferable no-clogs guarantee. you'll never have to worry about costly damage from clogged gutters again. it's peace of mind and then some. call us today to get started. schedule your free gutter inspection now and save up to 35% with leaffilter's black friday deals.

(♪♪) welcome back. efforts to broker peace are wei the spotlight once again. they have long been a focus for the white house. back in 1993, just one day before signing the historic oslo accords between israel and the palestine liberation organization, isreali prime minister, joined meet the press to share his vision for peace in the region. >> allow me to say that once the jewish people have decided to help, the jewish state here in the land of israel. we decided who will be our neighbors at the same time. hundred of millions of arabs and muslims and our only two ways to live as a jewish state in peace or in continuation of

wars, violence, most of my life, i serve add a military man. minister of defense, the prime minister. i would like to bring about the change. i would like to give it a chance. i believe that e involved in israel. this agreement. >> when we come back, thousands of children were separated from their parents as part of the first trump administration's immigration policy. erol morris and jacob join me next to talk about their new film. all eyes on you. skin esteem is a beautiful thing. ♪♪ when a tough cough finds you on the go, a syrup would be... silly! woo! hey! try new robitussin soft chews. packed with the power of robitussin... in every bite.

easy to take cough relief, anywhere. chew on relief, chew on a ♪ robitussin ♪

craig here pays too much for verizon wireless. so he sublet half his real estate office... [ bird squawks loudly ] to a pet shop. meg's moving company uses t-mobile.

so she scaled down her fleet to save money. and don's paying so much for at&t, he's been waiting to update his equipment! there's a smarter way to save. comcast business mobile. you could save up to an incredible 70% on your wireless bill. so you don't have to compromise. powering smarter savings. powering possibilities. welcome back. president-elect donald trump has promised to launch a mass deportation program on his first day in office. a new film, separated from oscar winning film maker, errol morris, based on the book, separated by nbc political and

national correspondent, jacob soberof, the family separation and immigration policies, and the on going years long fight to reunite children. >> the unaccompanied children program, which i worked in, was essentially hijacked for a purpose for which it was never intended nor authorized in law. it was a program designed to be a child protection program for children that entered the united states without parents. and it was instead used as a tool to take children from their parents. >> jacob and erol morris join me now. welcome to meet the press. >> thanks for having me. >> thank you both for being here. you're an oscar award winning film maker. why did you want to take on this project? >> it's a very important issue and perhaps the essence of our

current politics, it involves immigration, the treatment of immigrants, both outside our country and within. i couldn't think of a more important issue to make a movie about. >> jacob, you have done so much reporting about this issue. what made you want to take that reporting and turn it into a book and now this documentary? >> i think, kristen, when we all covered this together at the time in the summer of 2018, what republican appointed judge called one of the most shameful chapters in the history of our country. met the u.n. definition of torture and the american academy of pediatrics called government sanctioned child abuse. i don't think any of us, or at least many of us understood how the u.s. government could do something so deliberately cruel in the words of adam. so i still had questions. i wrote the book, the legend, errol morris, one of the great

film makers of all time read the book and said he shared some of those questions. here e rewith four years later to the day. we didn't know president trump would run for president-elect again. now we're on the verge of another family separation policy, which is just family separation by another name. >> pick up on that very point, because then president trump and his first term did end the family separation policy that the started. but officials not ruling it out potentially in this second term, despite the fact a judge ruled against it. how do you see this playing out over the next four years. >> my movie ends with a warning. there's nothing to prevent this from happening again. despite the horrors that we are aware of from its first go around. yes, the people who instituted these policies are now firmly in place in the new

administration and yes, in one form or another, it could happen again. >> yeah sob, one of the statistics that you report on that i think would surprise a lot of people, there are still more than 1,000 children who haven't been reunited be their families? can you update us? what is the latest on the efforts to get those kids reunited? >> kristen, actually the number today is somewhere between 1300 and 14 00 children without confirmed reunifications. that's according to the department of homeland security. that is because the policy was, and i think this is a generous description, so half hazardly implemented. i will never forget when you asked president-elect trump and president biden during that last president -rpbl debate in 2020 about about 445 children. that number has grown since then. the extent that this policy tore families apart from one

another deliberately. i think that not only are we looking back at this policy and the ramifications of it. it will be a lifelong trauma for all of them, but what it means going forward. it's a road map for what the incoming trump administration has promised. >> errol, based on your work on this film, what did you perceive the impact to be on these kids? >> i hoped it was not just an impact on these kids, but on the country as a whole. that beating up on immigrants. policies of cruelty, are a moral thing, not a political thing. what we did to these children, to me, is morally unacceptable, and fortunately, it was unacceptable to a lot of people. we heard a lot about the deep state of the horrors of the

deep state. but many of the heros of this story were people who are nonpolitical appointees, who worked in the government and who fought very hard to protect children. and that is really part of the story. >> jacob, you have spent so much time studying this topic. i wonder if working on this film, what surprised you? what did you learn that was new that you weren't expecting to uncover? >> kristen, i hope when everybody watches it and i'm excited everybody will have the opportunity to watch it this coming weekend on msnbc. i thought back to that time in a way i hadn't remembered. errol just mentioned it. this was one of the rare policy reversals, the only significant major one, because of career officials like jonathan white, who you played a clip of. from the office of refugee resettlement. and because these folks stood up inside the government and

pushed back on something that wasn't a bipartisan condemnation. it was really a universal condemnation. the pope spoke out, if you'll remember. forced the government to make corrective action on what many people thought it was morally unacceptable. it's a good reminder. this is a policy that was possible only because of bipartisan deterrent space. this is not just a story about donald trump. this is a story about the u.s. system. and people who stood up and were able to make a change. it's a great reminder. >> it's such a great point, jacob and errol, if you would follow up on that. the immigration system has been broken for so long. did you get to the root of why? it's just so intractable for this country to resolve this issue. >> people would rather argue about it politically, rather than try to solve the problem.

which is the sad story of many significant issues facing the country. the way to solve immigration is not to beat up on children. perhaps that should be obvious, but we should remember that we are a country of immigrants. i wouldn't be here if my family hadn't immigrated from eastern europe in the 20s. we are all in many ways immigrants. and how we treat those people trying to enter our country really reflects on us. i'm not saying there shouldn't be borders, or there shouldn't be immigration laws. but there should also be morality and kindness involved. >> all right. jacob and errol, thank you so much for this conversation. we really do appreciate it. you can watch separated next saturday night at 9:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc. before we go, the newest

member of the meet the press family, frankie alice was born at 12:23 a.m. on wednesday. she didn't want to miss her first thanksgiving as her mom told us. we want to say a huge heartfelt congratulations to both of her parents coordinating producer, sally and her husband, michael. frankie alice was named after two amazing women, their grandmothers. welcome to the world, frankie alice, you are the best breaking news ever. that is all for today. thank you so much for watching. we'll be back next week because if it's sunday, it's meet the press. it's "meet the press." i've encouraged president trump to bring kash patel to the table. the am