the white house where president biden is set to speak soon. we'll bring you those remarks as soon as he starts. that does it for me today. we're already working on a big show for tomorrow night. i'll talk to someone who has good reason to be skeptical of trump's claim he might respect the independence of the justice department. preet bharara, who was fired by trump during his first administration. i'm sure he has thoughts. that's much more news coming up on msnbc. good afternoon from msnbc world headquarters in new york. welcome to "alex witt reports."

we're going to begin with breaking news from the middle east. rebel forces have toppled the regime of syrian president bashar al assad after a lightning fast offensive over the last few days. >> now, syrian residents have poured onto the streets in major cities pulling down statues and celebrating the end of 54 years of assad dynastic rule. some residents even ransacked the presidential palace in damascus, taking selfies and seizing the opportunity to get a firsthand look at the great halls and luxurious rooms. russian officials say assad has left syria but his whereabouts are currently unknown and rebel leaders are claiming victory.

>> translator: with god's help, the syria of damascus has been liberated and tyrant bashar al assad has fallen and all unjustly detainees have been released from the prisons. the operation room calls appeal to all syrian fighters and citizens to reserve all the properties of the free syria state. long live free syria, which is proud of all syrians across the whole spectrum. >> we have reporters and analysts in place ready to go over all the developments in this major international story and also waiting on president biden to make a statement at the white house on syria at any moment. first, let's go to nbc raf sanchez joining us from tel aviv. what you hearing from sources in syria and how surprised was everyone in the region how quickly assad left without putting up a fight? >> reporter: let me start with news breaking within the last few minutes. russian state media is now

confirming the ousted president of syria, bashar al assad, has arrived in moscow with his family. they are saying that the assad family sbing granted asylum inside russia on humanitarian grounds. in some ways that is not a surprise. vladimir putin has been assad's main backer throughout this war. it was the arrival of russian air power in 2015 that really turned the tide for assad. it was also the abandonment by russia, by iran, by hezbollah that left this brittled assad regime standing on its own and really collapsing, as you said, almost overnight in the face of this lightning fast russian offensive. we had heard from the russian government earlier today. they were the first to confirm that assad had left syria. but russian state media now reporting assad and his family have arrived in russia. in terms it of the situation

inside syria, 9:00 p.m. in damascus, the rebels have been in charge for a little more than 12 hours now. over the course of the day we have seen them consolidating power. they have imposed a curfew in damascus. they say that is to maintain law and order. a few hours earlier we saw the leader of the main rebel group, hayat tahrir al sham giving a speech at the main mosque in damascus. he is promising a government for all syrians. i can tell you there is some concern among minority groups that these islamist rebels who have origins in al qaeda may seek to take retribution on their political enemies, on religious minorities. there is also, kristina, a lot, a lot of hope inside of syria right now that this is the end not just of 13 bloody years of civil war but more than 50 years of dictatorship by the assad family. i want to introduce you to a man

called abdul al hamda, i've known him for ten years now and in 2016 he was trapped in eastern aleppo as assad's forces were closing in. i remember saying good-bye to him on the phone because i was convinced he was going to be killed. he escaped. i want to show you his reaction in the early hours of this morning as he learns that the assad regime had been toppled. take a listen. >> now you can sleep and think of tomorrow. justice is achieved. now i can understand my children will not be raised under oppression. now, only now i can say that we -- we are free, syria. we are -- we are free people.

>> reporter: so, you can see him there cradling his young son, overwhelmed with emotion at the prospect that his children are going to grow up without oppression in what he is calling a free syria. and these are massive geopolitical events that are playing out in front of us, but they mean so, so much to millions of ordinary syrians. >> i'm so glad you were able to track that individual down. there is this balance between people being really concerned where this group can govern, what this means for the syrian people and want the syrian people to feel release and having emotions. do you think everyone should step back and let them have their moment before we worry about what comes next? >> reporter: you know, there is so much coming out of syria all at once. it's an excellent point. as we said, there is hope, there is fear, there is deep, deep uncertainty. there are millions of syrians outside of the country.

these are people who fled to turkey, to jordan, to europe and beyond, fleeing in those years after assad turned his guns on his own people. and many of them tonight are weighing whether they should be heading back to the country they call home. whether it's safe to do so. whether it makes sense after trying to build new lives in germany, sweden, turkey, to now go back to a country that is devastated after more than a decade of war. and try to begin life once again there. just in terms of this rebel group, first of all, this is a coalition of different rebels. some of them coming from the northwest of syria, but others backed by the u.s. and jordan coming from the south. the main win hayat tahrir al sham is an islamist organization, they have their roots in al qaeda. they are technically considered a terrorist organization by the united states, but they have really, really been at pains over the course of this two-week

offensive to show syria and the world they are planning to govern as a unity government. when they took leppo, there is a significant christian population there. they stressed to the christians they respect the rights of minorities, they can go ahead and celebrate christmas. so far there have not been reports of large-scale reprisals against the alawite minorities. that is something people will be concerned about. i think it will be the canary in the coal mine as we try to judge this new government, how it treats those minority populations inside syria. >> thank you, raf. early days but clearly an amazing moment for people there. let's go to nbc's julie on capitol hill. what are we expecting from the biden administration today? >> reporter: well, i'm reaching out about those briefings

because it is just not clear how much lawmakers are being told. we heard from mike turner earlier this morning who said at that time he was not aware of where assad was or his whereabouts. of course, you married raf say he is now apparently in moscow. that's a concerning point for republicans and democrats alike. they see this moment as a potentially bad turn of events for russia, iran. they've been weakened. they are distracted by the conflicts and wars in the middle east. of course, russia's war in ukraine. at the same time, you are hearing pause and hearing concern from lawmakers, from officials in the white house as well, to make sure that there is no escalating of war in that -- or tension in that region, that there's no, most importantly, resurgence of isis. that is a point we have heard this morning from senators lindsey graham, from senator-elect issa slotkin and

jake sullivan, the national security adviser, who spoke about this situation last night at the national defense forum. take a listen to what he had to say. >> we really think there are three things we have to be focused on. one, the fighting in syria not lead to the resurgence of isis. we'll take steps ourselves directly and working with the syrian democratic forces, the kurds, to make sure that does not happen. two, our friends in the region, israel, jordan, iraq, others who border syria or who would potentially face spillover effects from syria are secure and we're in touch with them every day. >> reporter: and now another thing we're also kind of seeing parity on among republicans and democrats in the current administration and current administration in trump is there should not be a military presence. the u.s. should not dive in militarily is the exact word sullivan used yesterday into this conflict, into syria. it is echoing, of course, what we heard from president-elect

trump as he was in france, as he posted on truth social about this conflict. trying to make sure the u.s. really stays out of it, at the same time, though, as you said, as raf had laid out as well, this is a major geopolitical situation, and so everybody is watching very closely what is happening on the ground. another quick point, we are unlikely to hear, i'm told, from democratic leaders here on this side of pennsylvania avenue until and unless, of course, we are waiting to hear from president biden. they are sort of going to wait to see what he says and follow his lead in this tense moment. not to overstep and not to speak ahead of him. i anticipate the same in terms of speaker johnson, leader mcconnell and the incoming republican leader john thune, who are so far quiet on this situation as they are monitoring it closely. >> thank you. we'll check in with you in a bit. as we all wait for the president, i want to bring in former fbi special agent clint watts, an msnbc national security analyst. were you surprised by how quickly rebel forces were able to roll into these major cities,

including damascus? i mean, i don't want to draw too many parallels but it's reminding me a bit of the taliban coming into kabul and meeting virtually no resistance. did we know that was going to be the case? >> it's a surprise how fast this has gone. rewind a decade. the syrians at war was stretching on for quite some time. it was only because of russian air force, russian backing and support that syria and assad regime was able to hold on. in those ing years when you had isis and al qaeda both pushing forward into syria, creating the nusra front, that's what mohammed al jalali, who lead hts, moved from 2016 to 2017 a more supporting and more building community locally while isis was more focused internationally on terrorist attacks. fast forward to today, and really pretty much a stalemate.

three or four things have happened in the last six months to one year. one, israel really taking it to iran. iran being a multidecade supporter of the assad regime. two, russia being really focused on ukraine and needing all of its military capacity there. they don't really have it now to push towards syria. three, the destabilization of the conflict of israel and lebanon. israel and gaza. israel vis-a-vis iran. it's really created this opportunity which hts and golani have taken advantage of in a sweeping way that i don't think many would have seen even two months ago. >> the timing of, this i mean, the three main backers of the assad regime were hezbollah, russia and iran, and they've all got other things to do right now. i also want to ask you, we've heard -- you mentioned the leader of hts, golani. we've heard essentially what the international community wants to hear from him, that, you know, syria is a very pluralistic society, there are christians, shiite, muslims, even a small

jewish population. he said they want to build institutions, they want to have everyone part of this government. they will allow different religious, different opinions. but we've heard that from people before. do you really feel this is the motivation or are you concerned this could lead to a more extreme islamic regime? >> i think everyone is concerned. if you went back to, say, 2014, 2013 when the split between al qaeda and isis happened, golani was al qaeda's deputy in syria. that was his job. he formed what was known as the nusra front. a terrorist organization. he largely wore a mask. he didn't show his face even in public. some didn't even know what he actually looked like. wasn't until later whenever the isis invasion of northern iraq, the collapse of al qaeda, that he took on this different role. forming hts. and while he has moved to be more a civil leader, trying to bring in agriculture, develop an economy, really become a governor of his territory near idlib where he was at, we should

all be very worried that it will take an islamist turn. one thing of note, there are many factions in syria that will likely battle it out with golani over time. this is a very unstable and fluid situation. not that different than what we saw at the fall of afghanistan. but also more similar maybe to libya. if you remember after libya and gadhafi were toppled, many factions competing there and it was a long time before stability or any form of stability, if you could say ever unfolded. so, that's why you see president netanyahu speaking today, warning that while he was happy that the assad regime had fallen, he took a lot of credit for everything that happened, there's instability right across his border. that could be just as dangerous or more dangerous for israel and the region and the united states over time. >> clint, thank you so much. stick around. for now we're going to talk about another big story on the minds of many americans. that's the manhunt for the killer of united healthcare's ceo.

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for president biden to speak about the falling of syrian president bashar al assad's regime. once the president starts speaking, we'll bring you those comments live. we have other breaking news we want to get to this hour. that is that the nypd is releasing new images of the the

killing of united healthcare ceo brian thompson. the images appears to be from a taxi cab, but no word on when they were taken. now, today as the investigation stretches into a fifth day, a former nypd official says the fbi may have more information than the public knows. >> and we don't know that, to be honest with you. that he's not identified. i would -- in my time is very -- in the police department, we don't give out the name until we get it. once me makes an apprehension effort. once that fails, then you give it out. right now we don't know and it would be surprising. >> nbc's priscilla thompson is in new york with the latest developments. it's day five. what do we know? >> reporter: echoing what you just played, we heard new york mayor eric adams yesterday seeming to suggest the nypd may have additional details like potentially a name, but it is evidence and information being

held very closely right now as this remains a very active investigation. but what we do know is that they have put together a pretty extensive timeline of what exactly happened once this person arrived in new york city. the moments leading up to and after this murder and the way in which he fled. with that timeline is coming images like the ones released overnight, perhaps the clearest photos yet of this person of interest's eyes. a couple of photos released earlier this week where we saw him at the hostel flashing that smile. all of that new information coming in as authorities are asking the public for help figuring out exactly where this person is and also talking about the way in which he fled and looking more into that. my colleague, tom winter, spoke with a former lieutenant in the nypd about that yesterday at the port authority where it's believed this person skipped town. take a listen to what he had to say. >> it's inevitable that someone

within the public eye would have seen this individual into the location. in an urban environment that's so condensed and congested with people, it's absolutely possible, or i want to say automatic that they would have seen this individual. and the more interviews that you conduct, the more susceptible you are to gaining information. >> reporter: and we know that the nypd has detectives, we know the nypd has detectives in atlanta today scouring videos from the bus station there where it is believed that bus that brought the shooter into new york city originated from. they're going to be looking at the stops along that route for any additional information and clues there. they also had folks in central park searching the area where that backpack was found to see if there's any evidence there, including the gun used in this crime. firing on all cylinders by the nypd. they also say they have obtained some dna at some point in this investigation and that is being processed as today we are continuing to wait for a public

identification and also, of course, the big question, where is this person and when will they be arrested? >> priscilla, thank you so much. we're going to go back to msnbc national security analyst clint watts on a completely different subject now. but, clint, yesterday we heard new york mayor eric adams say that they do know the name of the suspect and they released these two new photos, but they said they don't want to release his identity because that could complicate the investigation. they don't want to tip their hand that they know it. what do you make of that, first of all, and what do you think the next step should be in this now nationwide manhunt? >> yeah, i'm a little surprised mayor adams said that. usually if law enforcement has a name they don't want to release it, they're doing that to keep an information advantage in terms of the pursuit of the investigation. what they want to do is use all their available assets, all their available information and letting the subject potentially know they're watching this broadcast or any other or seeing

it in the newspaper that his name is known, he might change his tactics on how he's trying to evade law enforcement. at this poover time. definitely the fbi is engaged and working aggressively inl th between different states and different municipalities. i would not be surprised if we tlern a little more but they may be withholding that name because they're trying to prepare for an apprehension, as you heard at the start of the segment. >> they found this backpack in central park but they haven't found the weapon or a gun. what are other crucial pieces of evidence investigators need to find in order to figure out where this guy is? >> in addition to his identity, what they're going to need is the weapon and they want to tie physical evidence to the actual crime scene. this might be the water bottle, for example, or the backpack or the weapon. if they can do fwhi do any of t things, they can pursue a

prosecution, they can confirm the identity. secondly, they're looking for anything that really talks about not where just the shooter came from, but where he's going to. he was very -- the shooter was very detailed in his planning all the way up to and including the day of the event and evading law enforcement all the way up to today. they need to figure out, are there any clues that telegraph essentially where he's going. did do any additional planning? having a name, doing a search warrant of a premise he lived in or resided in at 1078 point, looking for electronic signature is central. all those are key pieces of evidence and i'm quite sure working through many jurisdictions to try to move forward as quickly as possible where they think this individual might be. >> police haven't said they have discovered a motive yet, but he left behind these shell casings engraved with these words that seemed to imply it had something to do with the insurance agency. now they found this backpack had monopoly money inside of it. what do you make of that?

>> a couple things quickly come to mind. one, it likely is around united health and the ceo was a very specific target picked. those words correlate essentially to the idea of claims not being fulfilled by insurance companies. i think the other thing is what we don't see. we don't see a large social media presence or any sort of a manifesto. we have not seen a larger network or -- of people pop up that are maybe tied to him, which might point to more terrorist involvement or criminal even. so, what it speaks to is someone who had a particular grieve abc against united health and the ceo, was really trying to play to that ideology. that's the evidence we have so far. >> clint, thank you so much. excellent points there. coming up, we'll have new reaction from capitol hill to the biggest stories of the day. did you know, how you feel can be affected by the bacteria in your gut? try new align yogurt coated probiotic fruit bites. with a delicious apple and blueberry-flavored fruit center and yogurt coating,

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we're standing by for breaking news. we're waiting for president biden to speak about the falling of syrian president bashar al assad's regime. meantime, russian state media is reporting assad and his family are now in moscow and have been given asylum. this, of course, comes after rebels rolled into the capital city of damascus prompting assad to flee. there was a lot of reaction on the sunday talk shows this morning. let's take a listen. >> my questions, of course, are going to be, what is russia's presence now in syria with assad gone? are they holding back and

waiting for donald trump to come back into power so that, you know, he can help them in ukraine and then put them back in a resource position where they can make syria a bigger mess? look, from just a humanitarian standpoint, i just want the people of syria not to live under a brutal dictator. that doesn't mean we have to put u.s. troops there. it just means we have to care and have policies that reflect that. >> let's go back to nbc's julie tsirkin on capitol hill. what are you hearing from members on committees like intel and foreign affairs, what are they saying? >> reporter: they aren't saying much at this point. of course, we haven't heard from president biden. he plans to speak in the next few minutes and address the situation. and, in part because the u.s. is trying to be very careful in staying out of what essentially has become a syrian civil war. we heard from republicans and democrats this morning. not just on those key committees but rank and file members who are expressing both concern with the situation, the fact they

don't know what this means yet, who these rebel groups are exactly, whether they have really, truly uncoupled from their al qaeda origins, their jihadist origins, or whether that is something that could spiral further and affect neighboring countries, israel, jordan and others. we are also hearing from mike turner, for example, who is the top republican on the house intelligence committee, also lindsey graham, who was a key ally of president-elect trump in the senate, saying this is a major loss, a big blow for iran and russia as they have been distracted with the wars in middle east and russia's aggression in ukraine over the last few years that has weakened the country. nevertheless, though, we have learned in the last half an hour that moscow has granted asylum to assad. the toppled president of syria and his family. so, they are now in moscow. all of this is something that lawmakers are going to pay very close attention to. we've asked what briefings, what communications they've had with administration as they try to

figure out exactly what is happening here. i want you to take a listen to what mike turner had to say specifically as it comes to what happens with russia and, of course, their very high interest on what is happening on the ground in syria. watch this. >> hopefully this could be an opportunity where there could be a diplomatic support there, that hopefully could help in this transition in syria. russia still has two bases, a naval and air force base there, that are going to be, you know, both at risk for russia but also a risk to the population of syria because they could -- they have been used before to attack the syrian population. we'll have to see what russia does there. but this is going to be an area that's going to be highly volatile and in transition. >> reporter: now again, you've seen in raf's reporting, syrians just celebrating this toppling of this regime that has led to so many people, so many civilians being killed and living in oppression over the last several years. at the same time, there is, of

course, consternation about what comes next, what does this mean? is assad really going to go away quietly? is he not going to fight back? is he not going to be emboldened right now? we're seeing russia is still helping him, still propping him up. of course, that country is extremely weakened and distracted, but this is also something that lawmakers are going to want answers to. i'm certain that over the next several hours, over the next several days, we'll continue to hear more information and have more statements, especially from those in leadership who are, so far, staying largely quiet. >> i mean, you also mentioned they, like all of us, are trying to find out more about this group that has taken hold. it's important to remember, these are not the same rebels from 2011, 2012 that the obama government was kind of supporting. this is not the sdf, the syrian democratic forces. that was a largely kurdish group. this is a different group, a spinoff, rebrowned of a former al qaeda group. they have different objectives and different background. as you mentioned, we are seeing

jubilation and celebration on the streets because it has been decade, a father and son, you know, generations of this bloody, brutal regime in syria and the syrians have a right to celebrate that, the future is a bit uncertain. and what i've heard from folks i've been talking to, i don't know what you're hearing the same, is a bit of trepidation. yes, this leader, al jalali is saying what he wants the international community to hear, he is promising to build institutions but do the people year talking to believe that or are they concerned this could go like afghanistan and kabul? >> reporter: they are absolutely concerned over that. that is something elissa slotkin who has a background in intelligence, who spent many years before she became a member of the house and now a sender. that is the point she is making. on the other side of the aisle, that's something we heard from senator lindsey graham. your point about what happened under the obama administration and now under the biden administration, that is something republican allies of trump are also taking advantage

of, right? graham finished his statement basically saying now trump has to come in and play clean-up, suggesting that somehow, although the obama and biden administrations may have led to this happening, again, there are some positive, some silver linings to take of this. but because so much is unknown of who this group is now, what their plan is going forward, there is, of course, not blanket trust coming from lawmakers and officials that i am talking to. there's still a lot unknown. this was, frankly, a surprise and unexpected toppling of damascus, of the assad regime so quickly. i don't think lawmakers up here were paying close attention to it in terms of everything else they had going on here. this isn't something they were talking to us about in the halls over the last couple of days as there's so much going on within american politics and a transition that is happening now. but to that point, there is, i think, bipartisan consensus, at least from those officials in the national security space i've been talking to up here who

agree with president-elect trump, for example, that maybe the u.s. military should not just dive in on the ground. there are also -- we are hearing from republican congressman zach nun who suggested it is on the biden administration to pull out the rest of the american troops still on the ground, that still have a presence in syria, really trying to take this hands-off approach and let the syrian civil war play out on its own. difficult to do when, of course, this is all so deeply connected. we've seen so much happening in the middle east, pecially since october 7th and so many developments. in israel's terms, of course, they're taking credit for the toppling of assad, saying this is because of their actions with hezbollah, with hamas -- >> they're not the only ones. the turkish government -- >> reporter: we'll hear from president biden here any moment late out, this is a moment of trepidation and concern, not yet celebration as they don't really know what this means.

>> i think lawmakers, and we're waiting for president biden on the left-hand side of the screen, lawmakers are also concerned about what this means for israel. one of the reasons this happened, as you mentioned, there's so much going on. lawmakers took their eye off the ball, assad did, too. because the main backers were hezbollah, russia and iran and they've all had other things to do at the moment and they've been bogged down in other conflicts. the question is what does this mean long term -- what does this mean long term for israel? as some officials i spoke to said, look, in the short term, if you've seen this comments from prime minister benjamin netanyahu, this seems like a positive sign. as you mentioned, julie, the israelis are taking credit this is due to their actions. but the turkish government almost immediately after this fall, turkish state media was taking credit as well saying they put pressure on assad. the reality is, in the short term, the removal of assad could be good for israel, it could be good for turkey, for other governments. instability in this region is

historically not a good thing. power abhors a vacuum. we've seen that in multiple places. this is not a spot where you want another conflict to bubble up. let's not forget, it is reason there are americans still there, there is a small american installation on the border with jordan because isis still exists. they are still trying to fight terrorists. assad for all his evils or foes was someone who kept some of those militant groups at bay. now, some of us forget al qaeda and isis actually don't like each other and they are in conflict with each other. in fact, the leader of this new group says he has fight isis on the battlefield. there's no way we can confirm that. but it just goes to show, this is an incredibly complicated country with a very diverse pluralistic community. it's going to be difficult to find a way for one individual to lead those people. we're going to go now to nbc's natasha. what are you hearing about all of this and where we think it goes? >

>>. >> the audio stopped. >> can you hear me? >> i think we're having some audio issues. stay with us. as you can see on the left side of your screen, we're waiting for president biden to making remarks on syria at the white house. overnight we saw the tumbling of assad regime. keep in mind, that is a decades long dynasty. it started with his father in the '70s. he ruled and his son, bashar al assad has been in power for more than 20 years now. of course, the war started after the arab spring. syria was one of those places where you saw these popular revolts, people taking to the street. initially they weren't asking for regime change. they were just asking for more democratic opportunities for a little bit more freedom, a little more involvement in their government. it was only after assad started brutally cracking down on civilian population it turned into a revolt. you saw the rebel movements start and the war started. there are full cities, historic

places, unesco world heritage sites that have been shelled into oblivion. like so many conflicts in the middle east t never stays with just that country. very soon after the conflict started, we saw proxy powers starting to get involved. we saw iran and hezbollah backing assad. we see the president right now. we'll go to the white house. good afternoon. a lot happening in the middle east. after 13 years of civil war in syria, more than half a century of brutal authoritarian rule by bashar al assad and his father before him, rebel forces have forced assad to resign his office and flee the country. we're not sure where he is, but there's word that he's in moscow. at long last the asam regime has fallen. this regime brutalized, tortured hundreds of thousands of

innocent syrians. the fall of regime is a fundamental act of justice. it's a moment of historic opportunity for the long suffering people of syria to build a better future for their proud country. it's also a moment of risk and uncertainty. as we all turn to the question of what comes next, the united states will work with our partners and the stakeholders in syria to help them seize an opportunity to manage the risk. for years the main backers of assad have been iran, hezbollah and russia. but over the last week their support collapsed, all three of them, because all three of them are far weaker today than they were than when i took office. let's remember why. after hamas attacked israel on october 7, 2023, when much of the world responded with horror, iran and its proxies chose to launch a multifront war against israel. that was an historic mistake on

iran's part. today iran's main territorial proxy, hezbollah, is also on its back. only 12 days ago i spoke in the rose garden about the cease-fire deal in lebanon. a deal only possible because hezbollah has been badly degraded. meanwhile, hamas has been badly degraded as well. iran's own military capabilities have been weakened. iran tried two times to attack israel. and the united states built a coalition of countries to defend israel and help defeat those attacks. all this made possible for iran and hezbollah to continue this prop up -- impossible, i should say, for them to prop up the assad regime. additionally, russia's support for assad also failed. that's because ukraine, backed by american allies put up resistance against invading russian forces, inflicting

massive damage on russian forces and left those unable to protect its main ally in the middle east. excuse my cold. the upshot for all this is, for the first time ever, either russia nor iran nor hezbollah could defend this abhorrent regime in syria. this is a direct result of the blows to ukraine, israel have delivered upon their own self-defense with unflagging support of the united states. over the past four years, my administration pursued a clear and principle policy towards syria. first, we made clear from the start sanctions on iran and assad would remain unless he engaged seriously in a political process to end the civil war. as outlined by the u.n. security council resolution passed in 2015. but assad refused. so, we carried out a comprehensive sanction program against him and all those responsible for atrocities against the syrian people.

second, we maintained our military presence in syria. our counter-isis to counter the support of local partners as well on the ground, their partners. never seize an inch of territory, taking out leaders of isis, ensuring isis can never establish a safe haven there again. third, we supported israel's freedom of action against iranian networks in syria and against actors aligned with iran to transport lethal aid to lebanon. when necessary, ordered the use of military force against iranian networks to protect u.s. forces. our approach has shifted the balance of power in the middle east. this combination of support for our partners, sanctions and diplomacy and targeted military force necessary, we now see new opportunities opening up for the people of syria and for the entire region. looking ahead, the united states will do the following -- first, we'll support syria's neighbors,

including jordan, lebanon, iraq and israel. should any theft arrive from syria during this period of transition. i'll speak with leaders of the region in coming days, have long discussions with all of our people this morning. and i'll send senior officials from my administration to the region as well. second, we will help stability -- ensure stability in eastern syria. protect any personnel -- our personnel against any threats and remain our mission against isis -- maintain including security of detention facilities where isis fighters are being held as prisoners. we're clear high eyed about the fact that isis will try to take advantage of any vacuum to great a safe haven we will not let that happen. in fact, just today u.s. forces conducted a dozen precision strikes, air strikes, within

syria, targeting isis camps and isis operatives. third, we will engage with all syrian groups, including within the process led by the united nations to establish a transition away from the assad regime, toward independent -- an independent, an independent, i want to say it again, sovereign syria. with a new constitution, new government that serves all syrians, and this process will be determined by the syrian people themselves. the united states will do whatever we can to support them, including through humanitarian relief to help restore syria after more than a decade of war. and generations of brutality by the assad family. finally, we will remain vigilant. make no mistake, some of the rebel groups that took down assad have their own grim record of humanitarian and human rights abuses. we've taken note of statements by the leaders of these rebel groups in recent days. and they're saying the right

things now, but as they take on greater responsibility, we will assess not just their words but their actions. and we are mindful, we are mindful that there are americans in syria, including those who reside there, as well as austin tice, who was taken captive more than 12 years ago. we remain committed to returning him to his family. as i've said, this is a moment of considerable risk and uncertainty, but i also believe this is the best opportunity in generations for syrians to forge their own future, free of opposition. it's also an opportunity through -- though far from certain for a more secure and prosperous middle east. where our friends are safe, enemies contained and it would be a waste of this historic opportunity if one were toppled and only to see a new one rise up in its place.

so, it's now incumbent upon all opposition groups to seek a role in governing syria, to demonstrate their commitment to the rights of all syrians, the rule of law, and the protection of religious and ethnic minorities. these past few days have been historic. the days ahead will determine the future of this country. we intend to approach them with strength, wisdom and resolve. thank you very much. god bless america. and god protect our troops. thank you. >> what should happen to assad now, mr. president? >> what does the u.s. know about where austin tice might be and if he's safe? >> we believe he's alive. we think we can get him back but we have no direct evidence of that yet. and assad to be held accountable. >> are you going to go get him? >> get him. >> austin tice.

>> yeah. we will want to get him out. >> yes, sir. >> we have to identify where he is. thank you. >> thank you, sir. >> president biden speaking at the white house. if you couldn't quite make it out, the question shouted at the end, where about a detained u.s. journalist austin tice missing in syria for over ten years, the president said, we believe he's alive and we're going to try to get him out. us where in those remarks, president biden opened by saying at long last the assad regime has fallen. he attributed that to three main things -- pressure of u.s. sanctions, the pressure of u.s. military campaign against isis, and the conflict in israel, which degraded hezbollah and iran, major backers of the assad regime's ability in that conflict. the president also said for the first time ever neither russia, hezbollah or iran could, quote, prop up this abhorrent regime. we want to go back to julie tsirkin on capitol hill. what did you take away from that? i thought it was very interesting the president

mentioned the u.s. conducted military strikes against isis today in syria. >> reporter: i thought that was fascinating, too, especially as you were hearing and seeing, quite frankly, statements from republicans, from democrats, to try and get the u.s. to stay out of everything that is happening right now in syria. that was notable from president biden. also in what he said when he laid out the multiple steps that the u.s. government is going to take over the next days and weeks to make sure that syria can be prosperous and safe again, to make sure the entire region can be prosperous and safe again. he said as part of what he laid out there, that they will work to establish an independent, sovereign syria, a new government, a new constitution. that the u.s. will provide humanitarian relief to those efforts in syria, but he also did not mention that they will be pulling out american troops. he instead said they will make sure that u.s. personnel are safe on the ground. but that he will pivot resources to try and go outside those detention centers, those camps

that are holding isis prisoners and have been. of course, as we talked before president biden took the podium, a major focus and a major priority for u.s. officials is to make sure that there is no resurgence of isis. that is, of course, a priority also for the neighboring countries, for iraq, for jordan, for israel. those countries and the leaders there, president biden says, he will be in touch with in the coming days, but the biggest here is -- the biggest thing biden said here, of course, it's the best opportunity for generations for a secure middle east and secure syria. >> thank you very much. we to want bring in our panel. don callaway the host of the caucus room podcast, and we also have republican strategist susan del percio and form republican congressman david jolly. both msnbc political analysts. david, i want to start with you because my understanding is you have been to these syrian refugee camps in the past. i was at the border very early

on in this conflict, 2011, 2012. it seems almost impossible that this war has been going on this whole time. what is your take on what you just heard from the president and your reaction to the events overnight? >> yeah, there are no easy answers. and i think the interesting thing about joe biden's comments, or what was left out, because there is so much left unknown. if hts, indeed, has kroelt. they are considered a terrorist organization. they are not an ally of the united states. and you have iran, in particular, still interested in propping up the assad regime, but you have turkey who has been funding and the biggest backer of hts and these rebels. so, when i say there's no easy answer for the united states, that is something that joe biden appreciates. donald trump, the incoming president, does foreign affairs in a much more transactional way. we know he will look to russia to see what is putin's interest in this. we know he strongly opposes iran. if history is any guide, donald

trump was willing to work with turkey to abandon our own allies, the u.s.'s war on terror, the kurds in northern syria, was willing to abandon them to allow turkey to have its will in northern syria. so, just there are no easy answers for biden, there are no easy answers for trump. but trump always looks for an easy answer. and i think the greatest caution here should be that both biden and trump should take their time on this one. as clint watts told you earlier, this is serious. the worst thing they could do under incoming donald trump is to make this look easy and vik a deal. there's not a deal to make. we don't have any left. >> don, what do you make of the split screen here between the incoming trump administration and biden, who is still president, you know, trying to make statements about this, how difficult is it to form a policy, to react to an event like this when you're on the way out and the new guy isn't quite in the chair yet?

>> it's extremely difficult. this the nature of not only presidential but congressional transitions. this is why the american people are best served by electing people who represent stability and who represent some understanding of institutional norms. and also those people who are willing to leave politics at our shore. susan, david and i were raised in a time where that became cliche but we see cliches are cliches because they are true. as we move from biden institutionalist administration, normalist, originalalist administration to a trump administration, which not only are norms not respected, but foreign affairs and political affairs don't end at our shore. we have some real uncertainty here. and uncertainty is not good when over the course of the last ten years, we have really rejected a lot of potential allies in the middle east. we have to remember that the trump administration has not shown that its first priority has always been the american people. we've dealt with are ush sha in a friendly way, kim jong-un in a friendly way and the trump

administration dealt with the taliban, invited the taliban to camp david. so, the trump administration represents significant uncertainty, which can never be a good thing for the united states and global security at this time of transition. >> all right, susan, i'm going to kick it over to you. incoming president trump is headed home from this trip to paris where he met with french president emmanuel macron, and surprisingly, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. he got the full ceremonial treatment. i don't really remember an incoming president making this kind of trip in the transition period. what do you make of that? and why do you think he wanted to go? >> well, we've also never had an incoming president be a former president, at least not in almost 100 years, so it is a unique time. i think trump wanted to go because he wanted to show he's back on the world stage. i think it's going to get very interesting as far as the comment and the law of, we only have one president at a time. it's one thing to go to something that's mostly

ceremonial when it came to the reopening of notre dame. however, when you look at trump commenting on what should be done in syria to this morning when he talks about gaza and israel, it's going to get very tricky for the incoming administration versus the current administration, especially when david talked about turkey. i imagine turkey and donald trump has a very good relationship. he's probably reaching out. that is scary because probably donald trump lucks out the most by having someone like joe biden, who knows foreign policy so very well, to set the stage in the next 40 days or so. he can in syria let people at least start to interact and figure out what they're going to do, how this should play out, what the map should look like. so, it will be -- it will be up to donald trump to jest hold back as long as -- you know, it's really not his place to say anything.

let's see what he does. >> never stopped him bere. all right. thank you to all three of you. we'll be back in a minute with a new timeline and photos from the killings of a ceo. what we've learned in the past 24 hours after the break. woah, limu! we're in a parade. everyone customize and save hundreds on car insurance with liberty mutual. customize and sa— (balloon doug pops & deflates) and then i wake up. and you have this dream every night? yeah, every night! hmm... i see. (limu squawks) only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ hi. i use febreze fade defy plug. and i use this. febreze has a microchip to control scent release so it smells first-day fresh for 50 days. 50 days!? and its refill reminder light means i'll never miss a day of freshness. ♪

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