good morning. it's sunday, december 8th and you're watching velshi on msnbc. i'm in for ali today. we begin with breaking news out of the middle east. hours ago islamic rebel forces captured controlled of damascus. the syrian government of bashar al assad has fallen following 13 years of bloody civil years and 53 years of assad family rule. a statement by the defense ministry says assad has relinquished power and fled the country. this follows an extremely rapid offensive that carries massive implications in the region and around the world. joining me now live from tel aviv is nbc news international correspondent rav sanchez and the host of "eamon."

after 13 years, assad's fall happened within days. what is the latest we are hearing on the ground in syria? >> reporter: yeah, charles, this fall taking place just absolutely lightning speed. less than two weeks ago the syrian rebels launched their surprise attack. they burst out of this pocket of northwest syria. first they seized aleppo, the second largest city in the country. and then they began marching south, city after city, nothing could stop them. and in the early hours this morning they took control of the capital. in the last couple of hours, the leader of the main rebel group, hts, has arrived in damascus. symbolically, he went straight to the mosque, one of the oldest and largest mosques in the world and he gave thanks there for the rebel victory. he said that he wanted to unite the country. he said after many, many years

of suffering the syrian people have perrer is vooefed. it's an early indication that hts is planning to play a leading role in the government. they are urging syrian civil servants to continue returning to work tomorrow. they want the government to function as normal. they are setting up checkpoints inside da mascus. despite the chaos, there does not appear to be much in the way of chaos or violence on the streets. there had been a lot of concern among syrian minority communities as these islamist rebels swept through they might persecution christians, allowites. the world is watching to see how this new rebel government will manage this country that it has found itself in charge of. we should say, charles, while the largest group is hts, which

has come from northwest syria, there are other rebel faxes coming from the south near the jordanian border backed by the united states, among others. this is not a monolithic rebel army. how these different faxes interact with each other, how they share power, will be crucial, how they share power with the american-backed kurdish forces in kroers of much of southeastern syria. these are the major, major questions at this hour. and the other one, charles, is where is bashar al assad, the toppled dictator of syria? we know from the russian government he has resigned his post, he has fled. we do not know where he is. there are -- we could make an informed guest he might try to flee to an allied country, russia or iran.

one many for many syrians, will there be accountability for the actions assad took over the last 13 years or so of this war, but also that his family has taken over the last half century of its rule in syria. >> thank you, raf. eamon, i want to talk to you about that point raf made. before we do that, i would love for you to set the stage for us. there's a lot of instability when you're talking about transitionle and change throughout many of these regions. you're talking about iran, you're talking about israel, you're talking about in different parts of the world, ukraine, russia, and everything in between, the gaza strip and everything else that's happening. can you sort of for us in american break down the political ramifications of everything we're seeing and how these things are connected? >> listen, the question is how much time do i have, charles, because we could talk about this for hours. you're talking about one of the geopolitically important countries in the middle east.

and that country being syria has connections to almost every major issue that you can think of that is happening across the region, from the war in gaza to the broader israel palestinian issue to iran and its axis of resistance, as they call it, throughout the region, including lebanon and yemen. also to secularism, if you will. bashar assad was viewed as a secular dictator and he has lost control to a group of rebels self-identified as muslim rebels or islamic rebels. the question is how they govern. all these questions are at play. what we have seen over the course of the last 14 years, in various countries that have gone through transformations, they have gone in one of two paths. they've had a complete regression to the promise like in egypt, yemen, or we've seen

them descend into civil war like what we saw play out in libya. these are the questions ahead of the syrian people right now. what kind of path forward are they going to be able to chart? what kind of governance emerges out of the ruins of the assad dictatorship that governed that country for 53 years. these questions will be put forth to a group of people that will include some remnants of the old guard, if you will. not necessarily people who were involved or have blood of opposition syrian figures on their hands but civil servants or bureaucratic involved in previous governments. and you're also going to have to deal with the rebels. to understand where the rebels come from, it's important to kind of take a step back and realize many of these rebels that are syrian also emerged from the syrian army. these are people who defected and broke away from the syrian government when they did not want to crack down and kill protesters that largely peaceful

in early 2011, 2012. they became the core of what became the rebel movement. now they'll come back to a position of power and authority. it will be being interesting to see how they govern, if they can maintain a pluralistic society where everyone has freedom or there's some vision that replaces the old one of ba shash al assad with a more authoritarian and religious one. syria is such an important question. it's on the doorstep of europe because it's connected to turkey. it has a border with israel. it connects to lebanon, iraq and jordan, countries that are allies of the united states. syria, if it's not a stable country, could spill over into those countries and create headaches and problems and even more strife for the country. let's keep in mind that iraq, when isis came into power, it emerged out of syria and into iraq. so, it was a reflection, if you will, of how a failed state in syria could be extremely

unsettling for europe, for the united states, and for the region. >> such important context. i want to thank you for that ayman. you're going to stay with us. right now we're going to let you go. nbc's raf sanchez, thank you so much. i'm going to bring in josh roggin as part of this conversation. he is a foreign policy and national security columnist for "the washington post." josh, this resurgent offensive was undertaken by islamic rebel forces but there are other groups that are operating in syria. there are u.s.-backed kurdish forces, turkish-backed forces and other opposition groups. what does this mean? is there a coalition that we are looking at? who is going to likely emerge as being in charge of syria and how does that process happen? >> right, charles. i think these are all good questions. i think it's important to remember the reality here, that this is not an islamist coup but a popular uprising.

the syrian rebels are an amalg mags who followed hts. i think we need to give the syrian people a chance and the space and even the support to figure out how to set up a pluralistic and democratic governance. hts will be one actor in that umbrella of groups that will chart syria's future, but it will be done by the syrians. it won't be a u.s. intervention, regime change war or other propaganda you may have heard. let's not forget the syrian people actually came together and threw off their tyrant because they had a desire for freedom and for dignity and for democracy and for pluralism. i interviewed the bishop of aleppo, the top christian catholic official in all of syria. and he told me that, you know,

don't snault insult the syrians. don't tell them they have to choose between an islamic government or dictator. he says, give them credit. he said syria is a mosaic of religions and people and young men and women, including those who liberated the country. syria is definitely on the path towards democracy. all those questions need to be answered. and i think in that context of realizing that the people of syria, despite all the odds, despite the world's apathy, threw off one of the worst in our modern age and breathing for the first time in a long time and deserve our celebration and our support. >> ayman, one of the things we talked about during the last hour was looking ahead beyond the jubilation of some of the syrian people that we've been watching today. what are you watching for as that sort of unfolds? because while we are clear there are a number of people within syria who feel like today is a day of liberation, perhaps, there is the question of what

tomorrow looks like. so, how are you reconciling that amid-what we're seeing around assad being removed? >> i'm looking at it in three different stages. the immediate short term, the midterm and long term. what i mean by the short term is immediate security and safety and the resumption of very basic services on the streets for the millions of syrians who need food, medicine, who need care, who need security. look, i covered the arab spring of 2011 from tunisia and onward. one of the mistakes in those countries as those dictatorships were toppled was widespread looting. we're seeing that could play out very differently right now in syria. we're still less than 24 hours in, so i don't want to get ahead of myself, but i will say the tone that has come out from both the leadership of the rebels as well as the outgoing government, if you will, including the prime minister, who made an

announcement, they're calling on the rebels and the protesters and syrians to preserve state institutions, to not ransack them, to not participate in any kind of destruction of public property. that message is extremely important. as i was saying, in the short term and in the immediate aftermath, security and safety is going to be paramount for syrians to have confidence in what comes next. in the midterm i think it's going to be important for the rebels to make very clear what their transition council is going to look like. what kind of governing structure do they plan on putting in place that will allow society to continue to function, to meet the needs of the people, to preserve security on the borders and inside syria. and ultimately, what is the long-term vision for the country? we've already heard from abu mohammed al golani that he wants syria to become a state of institutions. that's not long waj you hear very often be in the middle

east, certainly from rebels or dictators. president middle east is known for being a region ruled by strong men and those that want to replace them want to replace it with a religious ideology. what we're seeing and hearing from him, this is not to sugar coat anything to do with his past, he wants a state of institution. that is going to be paramount. because it's going to determine whether syria descends into kind of another round of civil war and competition for power or whether or not there can be a consensus for democratic elections, pluralism, power sharing from the different faxes and different interests and different backgrounds in order to preserve a peaceful and united country. so, i would look at it in those three stages. the immediate one is perhaps the most that will determine what comes down. if this country explodes into violence over the next couple of weengz, it becomes much harder, as we've seen in libya and yemen, to put back together that country and chart forward a path in which the country is

preserved in some kind of cohesive, democratic, pluralistic government emerges. >> ayman and josh roggin, thank you for helping us unpack today's breaking news. we'll continue to follow this news from syria throughout the day, including president-elect donald trump's reaction. first, right after the break, we'll have new details on it is investigation of the murder of united healthcare ceo brian thompson, including some new photos of the person of interest. you're watching velshi and we'll be right back. right back.

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welcome back to "velshi" on msnbc. i'm charles coleman jr. in for ali today. we have more information about the backpack. inside the backpack was a jacket

and monopoly money. we also have new images of the person of interest. the images you are seeing right now show the man wanted for questioning. these are photos taken in the back of and outside of a taxi cab. they were released by the new york city police department just last night. nbc's priscilla thompson joins us from midtown manhattan, steps away from where the killing occurred. glad to have you back again. i know this is bizarre, but let's start with the monopoly money. what is the significance and what to we know about? >> reporter: yeah. so, we know that police took that back pack with all of the items in it to a lab where they are scrubbing for dna and fingerprints. we know they have not publicly said what a motive could be here, but the monopoly money is something they're looking at and trying to figure out why this might have happened. we know that this suspected shooter had written words on those bullets that said depose, delay, deny, and so seeing this

monopoly money raises questions about whether or not this is another message they're trying to send or if they just happened to have monopoly money in their bag. we also heard from mayor eric adams yesterday saying while police have not identified anyone publicly, those may be details being held very close as this investigation continues and they do believe they're getting closer here. take a listen to some of what he had to say. >> we don't want to release that now. if you do, you're basically giving a tip to the person we are seeking and we do not want to give him an upper hand at all. let him continue to believe he can hide behind the mask. we'll going to reveal his face, we'll reveal who he is and bring him to justice. >> reporter: and we know that the nypd was back in central park searching that area for any additional evidence, the gun used in this incident has still not been found and detectives in atlanta where the bus that came -- that brought the shooter

to new york originated from, looking at video there to see if they can collect any evidence to bring them closer to identifying who this person is publicly and figuring out where exactly this person is right now. charles? >> that was nbc's priscilla thompson live in manhattan. thank you for being with us. coming up, as syrian rebels continue to advance their assault on the capital in syria, damascus, which resulted in the dramatic takedown of the assad regime, president-elect trump was in france meeting with world leaders. what trump says america's role should be in this fast escalating conflict coming up next. t coming up next

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making his first international trip since winning last month. he's traveling back to mar-a-lago today. in the mirtsdz of all of this, the assad regime in syria fell. in his latest post on truth social, trump wrote that russia and its president vladimir putin were no longer interested in protecting former syrian president bashar al assad. he also added, quote, they lost all interest in syria because of ukraine. it's the latest example of how trump has already taken up the mantel of the presidency. joining me now is steve bannon, producer for the rachel maddow show, and author. thank you for being here. the geopolitical situation just became a little more fragile and complex. talk to us about the moment that we are in right now, especially how world leaders at large are beginning to prepare for another

donald moment for u.s. diplomacy. we need a steady hand, and unfortunately we have donald trump coming into the white house which creates uncertainty around the geopolitical certainty of the era. it was interesting yesterday to see donald trump reflect on conditions in syria on his social media platform ahead of the regime fall in syria. ahead of assad stepping down. he said that -- he described syria as a mess but it wasn't our fight. it suggests, from his perspective, the united states does not intend to have a significant role in the post-assad regime -- post-assad environment in syria, which creates a vacuum the united states would struggle to fill. we don't necessarily know what donald trump's plans are for syria or the region as these developments unfold. >> steve, so there is some interesting dynamics you touched upon, but one thing i found

curious was in this meeting in france, one of the things that emerged was donald trump's transition team was still pushing the idea that he believes he can end the conflict between russia and ukraine before inauguration. now, of course, this was all before the news around syria broke. to what extent do you believe that the ews with syria and regime change there might impact the plans donald trump has in terms of trying to quell the conflict between ukraine and russia? >> that's a great question. i'm not sure it's an equally great answer. part of the problem that undergirds this is donald trump said he has this magical plan that within 24 hours he can resolve the entire conflict between russia and ukraine. that's always been ridiculous and he's never clarified or brought details about what this plan might entail. he has said and committed to the public that during the transition process he believes he can resolve this war and end it. now, the clock is ticking. we still don't have any sense of how he intends to implement that -- implement such a vision. so, with that in mind, the added

complication of developments in syria add additional pressure to the president-elect. there is no sense at this point as to how he intends to resolve that pressure. >> how do we process, steve, this idea that, you know, generally speaking, america has one president at a time. and now even though president biden is still in the oval office, there's a lot of unrest and several geopolitical locations across the map, and you have donald trump, who's inserting himself as essentially the foreign policy person in chief for the country, even though he's not yet in office. what do you make of that and how do we square that? >> yeah, that's an added complication to an already volatile situation. in fact, making matters slightly worse, donald trump is freelancing. it's not uncommon in modern american history for president-elects to engage in diplomatic outreach to foreign leaders, basically laying the groundwork for upcoming diplomacy in the future. at this point we're dealing with

a different kind of environment because donald trump is freelancing without ing with the state department or intelligence agencies or u.s. foreign officials. so, with that in mind, we don't yet necessarily have a sense of what he's even communicating to foreign leaders or what kind of promises he's making, what kind of commitments he's making. in addition to the fact we only have one president at a time, we have the incoming president, the president-elect freelancing in ways that create additional uncertainty at a time we can really ill-afford that. >> steve, thank you so much for adding to this conversation. right after the break, i'm going to bring you more on the situation in syria. rebel forces have captured the capital city of damascus and the whereabouts of president assad are still unknown. you're watching "velshi" on msnbc. ♪♪ when you're a small business owner, your to-do list can be...a lot. ♪♪

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welcome back to "velshi" on msnbc where we are closely monitoring extraordinary developments out of syria where president bashar al assad has reportedly left the country after rebels seized control of the capital, damascus. following 14 years of brutal civil war, syria is in the hands of rebel forces. russia, a close ally of assad, says assad left the country after negotiating a peaceful transfer of power. it was not immediately known where he is. rebel forces in damascus were

met with cheers. some shouting "freedom." reuters reports assad's departure marks the end of five decades of iron-fisted rule by the assad family. the rapid turn of events comes just a week after rebels reignited their campaign against assad. the fall of assad's regime. there are more celebrations that we are seeing from the syrian people and now we are going to turn to the former director of syria and lebanon at the national security council. she's the host of youtube's "oh, my word" and adjunct professor at columbia university. thank you for being with us. the sudden advances, the speed at which we saw rebel forces take syria, took everyone in the international community by surprise. what do you attribute this immediate resurgence to? >> you're right. this was completely stunning.

this wasn't on anybody's 2024 bingo card. every foreign expert has been completely stunned. there are two reasons this happened. in terms of why it happened so quickly or how it happened so quickly, these rebels saw an opportunity, a unique opportunity given how weak bashar al assad's club of baddies has been. hezbollah has been decapitated and almost decimated. iran is on the defense and worried about its behavior now that trump is in office. and you have russia, which has been weak, spent its resources and distracted with ukraine and doesn't have the resources it used to have to prop assad up, which it had during the civil war. they saw that geopolitical dynamic and took advantage. it's because of the surprise offensive as well, the nature of the surprise element of it, that allowed them to move ahead. but there's a second piece of this that's very important. that is bashar al assad himself is very weak. and after the cease-fire that was brokered in 2020 with the

rebels during the civil war, assad did absolutely nothing to quell his people, to respond to their interests and their calls for the reasons why they were protesting, the reasons why they fell into a civil war to begin with. he continued his human rights abuses. the economic situation continued to be dire. as a result of that, people remained disgruntled and unhappy, including most creditly his own military. a dictator cannot stay in power if they don't have nir military behind them. so, the fact the military fled their posts and thousands started to defect, that's critically why the rebels were able to take control so quickly and so successfully. >> one of the things i'm interested in talking about is not just what's next for syria, but, in particular, this transition period. now you remove al assad from power, but no one really knows just yet who's going to be in charge of syria and what that bridge or transition is going to look like.

in your best estimates, as you were director at the national security council, how does that play out? >> yeah, it's very tenuous. it's very risky. it's almost impossible to say how it plays out. the rebel group, and i want to talk about the rebel group for a second. this is -- it's called hayat tahrir al sham. they control the top northwest or until recently the top northwest of syria. they are also designated by the united states and critically the united nations as a terrorist group. that means it's sanctioned by every member of the united nations. so, they don't have a lot of friends. they used to be tied to al qaeda. since then they disavowed global terrorism and cut ties with al qaeda. that doesn't mean they're not a conservative, if not extreme islamist militia. they brokered this deal, as you mentioned, with the existing prime minister of syria to work together to allegedly pursue a peaceful transition of power, to hold elections in nine months

and so on. but those are extremely aspirational goals. this is not a group that governs -- that is exactly the beacon of democracy. if you look at how they governed the northwest of syria, they extorted the people, crushed minority and dissent. why they say they welcome minorities in syria and welcome refugees back, so on, i don't have a lot of hope. it's very risky. my concern is it can only further the instability in syria, the shaky stability you did have that you could see a lot of different militias take advantage of this situation that you have and will see further strife for civilians. that's my main concern. frankly, my expectation, unfortunately. >> thank you so much for adding to this conversation. still ahead, donald trump told nbc's kristen welker in an exclusive interview that aired a few minutes ago that he thinks everyone from the january 6th committee should go to jail. i'll talk about that and other news from trump's first network

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welcome back. in an exclusive interview with donald trump that aired on "meet the press" earlier this morning, kristen welker asked the president-elect about nbc's news reporting that president biden is considering pre-emptive pardons for some of the people who have clashed with the former president. these people include senator-elect adam schiff, dr. anthony fauci and former congresswoman liz cheney. as part of his response, trump accused the january 6th committee of unfairly targeting him and even destroying their records, something the committee denies. >> and cheney was behind it, and so was benny thompson and everybody on that committee. >> we're going to --

>> for what tle did, honestly, they should go to jail. >> so you think liz cheney should go to jail? >> for what they did -- >> everyone on the committee? >> i think everyone -- anybody that voted in favor -- >> are you going to direct your fbi director -- >> no. >> -- and attorney general to send them to jail? >> not at all. i think they'll have to look at that, but i'm going to focus on drill, baby, drill. >> joining me now is mary trump, the niece of president-elect donald trump and author of multiple books, including "too much and never enough: how my family created the world's most dangerous man" and the brand-new book ", who could ever love you: a family memoir" and tim o'brien, executive editor of an nbc political -- msnbc political analyst and author of "trump nation: the art of being the donald." let's get your reaction to that specific piece of the "meet the press" interview kristen

welker about the january 6th committee. >> i don't think we should be surprised by it. trump campaigned on a revenge tour. what's interesting to me is that he didn't actually say what he would put them in jail for, other than investigating him. like, what law is he going to say they broke? because they were simply carrying out their duty as public servants and legislators looking into the cause and circumstances of the january 6, 2021 siege at the capitol that was part of donald trump's effort to overturn the results of a legitimate election. they were doing a public service by performing that investigation. they contributeded to the historical record. and a number of them torched their careers over it, including liz cheney. so, for him to sort of say he's going to target them and then he's going to put them in jail, he should define what that's going to be. of course, our law enforcement

institutions and congress should stand against this because it would be a raw abuse of presidential power. again, not a surprise. but because trump has talked about this endlessly during the campaign and, frankly, ever since january 6th. and i think what -- the think to look forward to here is how our citizens, legislatures, legislators and law enforcement institutions are going to stand up against this if trump tries to abuse the powers of his office. >> i don't even know about standing up against it because we have seen donald trump invoke this consistent theme of loyalty, particularly with respect to the doj and that is also a huge theme in the heritage foundation's project 2025, this sort of loyal weaponized doj. to that point, mary, i want to bring you into the conversation. donald trump says that he will not direct his administration or the doj to investigate the january 6th committee, but at the same time, he also is

looking to push kash patel as his pick to lead the fbi and do what he thinks is right. how do you square those two things, particularly for someone who ran on a theme of revenge and retribution? >> well, it's very cynical of him. he knows that, in a way, he's actually telling the truth there. he probably won't have to direct whomever heads the doj because that person will be completely in line with him. as you say, the currency here is loyalty to donald trump. we've been dealing with this since he fired james comey after james comey pointed out to him that individuals don't do that. they are loyal to the constitution and the united states of america, not one individual. project 2025 and donald trump are going to end that. and also, by the way, of course there will be open lines of communication between donald trump and whomever he puts at the head of the doj.

hopefully it is not kash patel. but however it is will be, for all intents and purposes, just as bad and just as dangerous to individual american citizens who, as tim point out, have only been doing their job as public servants. >> tim, you pointed out that donald trump had not mentioned exactly what he would be looking for these people to go to jail for. but in the event that there's nothing connected to january 6th or the committee work these people have done that could potentially have them indicted and prosecuted, are we potentially still looking at a space where donald trump or others might urge for a deeper probing, the actual witch hunt that has been thrown around for as long as we've seen donald trump on the scene, against some of these individuals such that it may not be connected to january 6th committee work, but it could be something else because they're just digging and digging and digging? >> well, as you know, charles,

you don't need to indict someone or put them in jail to make their life miserable. and as mary pointed out, trump doesn't need to actually direct people to go ahead and do this. i think pam bondi understands why she got the a.g. job at doj. bill barr readily appointed, you know, know, extracurricular probes of donald trump. i think they'll do the same thing here. and the mere relentless digging, the subpoena of personal records, email, telephone records, conversations, can put people, you know, under a very painful and extensive microscope that will make their lives terrible. and will cost them money to defend, will put their reputation into play, and will ultimately achieve what i think one of trump's broader goals is, is to try to take out the legs

of every single investigation that look the into his multiple abuses of power during his presidency and after. he's done that consistently from the moment he, you know, he came under various probes. and i think, you know, it doesn't need to be an indictment to cause pain for these people. the investigation alone can really be miserable. >> mary trump and tim o'brien are going to stay with me. we'll be right back with more on this conversation after a short break. say christmas. christmas! when you want gifts to express a lifetime of love - we've spent a lifetime crafting them. harry & david, 90 years and still sharing.

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you promised to end birth right citizenship on day one. is that still your plan? >> yeah, absolutely. >> the 14th amendment, though, says, quote, all persons born in the united states are citizens. can you get around the 14th amendment with an executive action? >> we might have to get it changed. we might to have to change it. >> through an executive action. >> we're the only country that has it. if someone sets a foot, one foot, you don't neat food, on our land, congratulations, you are no a citizen of the united states of america. yes, we are going to end that because it's ridiculous. >> through executive action? >> if we can through executive action. i was going to do it through executive action and then we had to fix covid, first, to be honest with you. we have to end it. >> that was kristen welker's exclusive interview on "meet the press" today.

30 countries do recognize birth right citizenships. we're back with mary trump and tim o'brien. what do you make of donald trump's outright hostility towards immigrants when a lot of immigrants helped vote him into office? >> well, not only that, look, let's be very clear here. it's despicable. also, he doesn't know what he's talking about. i think that's the first time he's ever heard any part of the constitution in his life. he's a deeply ignorant, cruel man who seems to forget that his father was a first-generation american. so, if it hadn't been for birthright citizenship, my grandfather probably wouldn't have been allowed to stay here. obviously, the immigrants donald hates are people of color. what he also doesn't understand is the reason why we have the 14th amendment was because we enslaved an entire race of people. and it was to ensure that after

the civil war was over and they were freed, they were, in short, protected by citizenship being conferred upon them. so, it is a power grab. i don't think there is any mechanism by which he can make it happen. but this is another instance in which we are in the unfortunate position of having to rely on republicans to do the right thing and protect american citizens. >> tim, i've got about 60 seconds here. this is a conversation that at its core is constitutional in nature. kristen did ask whether he would seek to do it by executive order. which of these two routes do you think that donald trump will try to pursue if he makes good on his promise to end birthright citizenship in america? >> i think absolutely through executive order. i think he'll try to avoid a congressional battle over amending the constitution. it will take forever. he won't be able to get into all the theatrics, the cruel and

immoral theatrics, include using the u.s. military to knock on people's homes and then begin the see another mouse enormous port 11 million people, a large number of whom are central to the u.s. service, hotel, farming, you name it. reality will intrude on this very quickly. the only way he can get to it as fast as he wants to, i think, is through an executive order. >> that was mary trump and tim o'brien. thank you both for being with me today. that is going to do it for today's issue of "velshi." i'm charles coleman jr. i want to thank velshi's team and i want to thank you as we go through at breaking news coming out of syria, which we'll be watching throughout the day on msnbc. catch "velshi" from 10:00 to noon. from 10:00 to noon

after decades in power and a 13-year civil war that cost the lives of half a million people, rebel forces marched into the damascus overnight force ing al assad to flee. there's questions about what it means for the stability of the region. president biden will meet with his national security team. if there are new developments, we will bring them to you. donald trump sat down for his first network interview since winning re-election. there's a lot to unpack. i will talk about it with amy klobuchar who is coming up first in studio. president biden is taking trump seriously.