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>> it is good to be back with you for this second hour of chris jansing reports at this hour raging on the los angeles fire chief warning today, do not let your guard down. as california fires continue to threaten lives and property, with firefighters expected to again be up against near hurricane level winds. we'll

have a live report from pacific palisades and the unanswered questions. so many families across la right now are living in limbo as they try to piece together what life could look like after all of this devastation. what a few of them have told our team on the ground. also foreign farewell. any minute now, president joe biden will give his first of two major speeches before leaving the white house. his outgoing message on foreign policy for our country and the world. plus, what biden's secretary of state had to tell andrea mitchell about his biggest concerns right now as he's transitioning, transitioning out of the job. our nbc reporters are following all of the latest developments, and we begin with nbc's jay gray on the ground in pacific palisades, where the fire there is just 14% contained. jay, what's the latest you're hearing and seeing where you are? >> yeah, kristen, let's just talk base level. >> first of all, the winds

picking up, we feel the wind picking up. >> we know that it's coming. and we've seen over the last couple of hours it gets substantially stronger. >> nothing like it's going to be with 70 plus mile an hour gusts in the coming days. >> but it's definitely on the way. i want you to take a look at some of the devastation here. there are areas like this where it looks like a bomb has hit this building. others where everything's just completely gone. no indication, no clue of what may have been there before. the flames. it looks relatively calm otherwise. here, right now you don't see a lot of fire, but understand it's there. like you said, fire officials here are warning this is not over by any means. >> we're not in the clear. >> i want to make sure of that. we are not in the clear as of yet, and we must not let our guard down as we have right now. extreme fire behavior. and we need to make sure that the community is staying updated

with the most information, updated information as well. follow all evacuation warnings and orders without delay. and please, please stay safe. >> yeah. and look, the national guard brought in an additional 1000 troops overnight. you've got fire teams on the ground here just at the palisades. fire alone. you've got more than 5000 firefighters working this. the largest fire that is engaged right now. and there is big concern it's going to spread over the next couple of days. chris. >> jay gray thank you. and those warnings are important because we have learned from folks who know those who have died. they say that they believe some of them, that they survived these kinds of warnings before and so tried to stay, many of them with the fire hose and put out the fire themselves and didn't make it out. so again, they're saying if you have an evacuation order, listen to it. let's go to nbc's ellison barber, who is in

altadena, where the eaton fire is now at 33% containment. what's going on there, ellison? >> hey, chris, we were showing you in the last hour that active push to try and get hotspots that had reignited back under control just walking through some of the destruction. this is the building where all of that was happening. you can see how they have this basement, this section of it still standing. >> but then further down where we were, where it had collapsed and essentially pancaked on itself. that's where there's a lot of heat trapped underneath it. >> and what we've seen is this building in particular today, as well as a couple of days over the a couple of days ago, over the weekend. >> is that because that heat is still trapped and there's so much debris in this building, it keeps reigniting. so fire teams have to keep going back here to try and get the hot spots out. for the most part, you can still see a little bit of smoldering here. >> they've got this one back under control. but in addition to the firefighting efforts that are happening on the ground and

just this constant resurgence, see that smoke right here that keeps coming up. we also know there are search and rescue teams on the ground here in altadena looking for people who are missing, trying to recover the bodies of people who have died in this fire. they say that they are on day three of a grid search, and they are still trying to locate bodies equals neighbors inside of these zones. take a listen to what we heard from officials a little earlier today. >> for the altadena area. we are in the third day of grid searching. it is a very grim task and we unfortunately, every day we're doing this, we're running across the remains of individual community members. i believe that work is not only going to continue, but i believe will continue to find remains. so please be patient with us. people are saying, i just want to go look at my house and i

want to see what's left. we know that, but we have people literally looking for the remains of your neighbors. >> so there are layers and layers, chris, to this firefight from the hotspots and smoldering aspects that keep popping up in buildings like this one, to the active wildfires both here at the eaton fire and in the palisades, where jay was. and on top of that, there is also still this ongoing effort to recover the bodies of people who are missing and are believed to have died in these fires. >> chris ellison barber, thank you. any minute now, president biden will deliver the first of two major speeches in his final days in office. this one is focused on foreign policy. nbc's yamiche alcindor is reporting from washington. for us, we're watching the podium. what do we know about this speech and what we're expecting to hear from the president? >> well, chris, as you said, president biden is expected to deliver two major speeches this week. this one is going to be delivered at the state department. and he's expected to lean in heavily on what he sees as his achievements, foreign policy achievements of the biden

administration. we expect him to talk about the fact that he believes america is stronger if it leans into alliances. he's going to talk about the work that he believes he's been able to do when it comes to nato and other indo-pacific alliances, where you're going to have countries come together and really back what he sees as the best ideals for american safety. we also heard from jake sullivan today at the white house, at the white house podium during the white house briefing, he talked about this speech. take a listen. >> so in his address this afternoon, you'll hear the president lay this out. >> and basically it boils down to a series of simple questions. >> are our alliances stronger? >> yes. are our adversaries weaker and under greater pressure, even as they align more closely? >> yes. >> did we improve our strategic position in the long term competition with china? and did we do so while stabilizing the relationship so that we're not tipping over into conflict? >> yes. >> j sullivan also said that america is stronger

economically, both because of what they've been able to achieve abroad in this administration. he also talked about the fact that america was kept out of war. now, jake also talked about the fact that president biden is going to speak specifically about afghanistan and the withdrawal, that we know that the biden administration got a lot of criticism because of the way that it withdrew with those 13 service members being killed in that withdrawal. so we can expect president biden to defend his position. and we also expect him to talk about the war in ukraine and the financial support that america has been giving ukraine to stave off that, of course, invasion from russia. so we expect a president biden to really here, not take a victory lap because he understands and the administration understands that they're handing this over to the trump administration, who has very, very different views of the world and america's space and role in it. but this is going to be president biden trying to say we did achieve a lot, and there's a lot yet to be achieved. chris. >> yamiche alcindor, thank you. well, top biden and trump administration officials are working together on a ceasefire and hostage deal between israel

and hamas, a truce that secretary of state antony blinken tells nbc news has never been closer. nbc's raf sanchez is following these negotiations for us now. of course we've been here before. you and i have talked about this before, raf, only to see one side or the other pull out. but does there appear to be some momentum right now? what's the latest? >> there does appear to be momentum, chris. >> and over the last couple of hours, we have seen just a flurry of diplomatic activity before heading over to the state department to deliver that speech. president biden spoke earlier today to the emir of qatar. qatar, of course, the main mediators throughout these long, protracted, painful, indirect negotiations between israel and hamas. the president was also due to speak to the president of egypt today. yesterday, he spoke to prime minister netanyahu and on the ground in doha, qatar, where these negotiations have been going on, the emir met earlier with brett mcgurk, who is president biden's top adviser on

the middle east, but also with steve witkoff, who is president elect trump's incoming middle east envoy. and officials say it was very important for both the current administration and the incoming administration to be represented in that meeting. it is a signifier that the united states is committed to this ceasefire deal. these negotiations, even amid the change of administration. now, secretary of state antony blinken sat down with our own andrea mitchell earlier today. and i want you to take a listen to a little bit of what he had to say. >> andrea, we are closer than we've ever been. the ball is in hamas court, but it's very close. and we are very hopeful that we get it over the finish line. finally, after all this time, we've had lucy in the ball moments before where the ball gets pulled away at the last minute. you can never exclude that. but as i said, we are closer than we've ever been.

>> now, assuming the negotiators are able to get this deal over the finish line, the actual structure of it would be familiar. it's what president biden has been talking about since he gave that speech at the white house back at the end of may. it would be a three phase deal. the hope would be to ultimately see the release of all of the hostages in exchange for an end to the war in gaza, increased humanitarian aid to palestinian civilians, and the withdrawal of israeli forces. it's only the first stage of the deal, though, that at this point it has a lot of detail to the structure. we expect that around 33 israeli hostages would be released in the first stage of that deal. those are hostages from the so-called humanitarian category. it is women, the elderly and injured and sick people. in return, israel would release potentially hundreds of palestinian prisoners and you would see a ceasefire for around seven weeks or so. and the hope is that during that first phase,

the details of the second phase would be hammered out and that there would be ideally a kind of seamless flow from phase one to phase two. and during that stage, we would see a full end to the war in gaza and relief for those palestinian civilians inside the strip. chris. >> raf sanchez, thank you so much. and we'll see if we hear anything about that specifically. kind of the news of the day from president biden when he comes to that podium at the state department with his big speech also coming up, the destruction of iconic small businesses lining the pacific coast highway. we'll speak to the owner of one of them what she's doing to help her employees, and her thoughts on employees, and her thoughts on re my life is full of questions... how do i clean an aioli stain? use tide. do i need to pretreat guacamole? not with tide. why do we even buy napkins? thankfully, tide's the answer to almost all of them. —do crabs have eyebrows? —except that one. for all of life's laundry questions... it's got to be tide. with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis my skin was no longer mine.

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>> lumify. >> it's kind of amazing. wow. >> lumify eye drops dramatically reduce redness in one minute. >> and look at the difference. my eyes look brighter and whiter for up to eight hours. >> lumify really works. >> see for yourself. >> the iconic pacific coast highway, the scenic road that winds along the curves of malibu, california, is now almost unrecognizable, decimated by the palisades fire. this is brand new video from our local team driving along the pch just in the last hour. this road, of course, has been quintessential california, a route sandwiched between the pacific ocean and those cliffs of malibu lined with beloved institutions that, if you're a local or even just a tourist passing through, feel like part of the fabric of the area. the real inn was one of those special spots. you were always welcomed by their signature neon sign. they always have clever seafood puns to make you smile, and a guaranteed

great oceanside meal. now, though, it's gone, only that iconic sign still stands in the rubble. i want to bring in the owner of the legendary real inn, teddy leonard. teddy, i, i don't even know what to say. so many people who live in southern california love your restaurant so much. they celebrated birthdays there. they got engaged there. they ate a lot of seafood there. how are you? >> well, we're holding up, and i just want to say that all the people, all of our customers that have reached out through instagram with their stories, you know, the last meal they had with their father before he died, a little boy's make a wish to come to our restaurant into malibu, and people getting engaged. a man with a picture of himself as a baby at the restaurant, and then a picture of himself holding his baby at the restaurant. these stories have really buoyed us up during

this time. i mean, i can't stop crying because we were such a strong part of the community and it was not just our loss, it was their loss as well. we started a gofundme for our crew because most of them have worked for us 20, 30 years and never worked anywhere else. so getting a job for them is going to be difficult. so we are trying to cushion at least 3 to 4 months salary for them. my husband and i really were evacuated from our home, so right now we really haven't completely, i think, processed what's happening to us, the shock of it. >> you know, when you read those stories and i think when you're in the restaurant business, there isn't much time for contemplation. you're working all the time, especially when you're the boss. but were there particular things that surprised you, things you absolutely didn't know had happened under

the roof? and does it inform how you feel about whether or not you'll try to come back? >> well, you know, it does. i mean, we had thought we're on state parks, land, we own the building and the business, but we do not own the land. so it's truly up to the state parks, whether or not we can rebuild and be a part of the community again. but their stories are now making us think we have to try. we have so many people that have offered. we will come down and help you build it. we will come down. we'll. why haven't you started a gofundme for your rebuilding and excuse me, the smoke here is bad. the rebuilding of it. and yeah, that makes us want to go forward and to put the effort into rebuilding the stories that have really touched us is how many wedding receptions, memorials, things that were going on there that we didn't even know about. i mean, it's just it's extraordinary. and i can't thank

all of our customers enough for their outpouring of love and support, because truly, that has kept us going these last five days while we're evacuated from our home. so that that's kind of what's holding us together. >> do you feel like you know how to even begin? are you getting help from local authorities, from fellow restaurateurs or business owners? have you started even that process of figuring out, okay, what do i need to do if i'm going to really be serious about maybe opening the restaurant again? >> yes, we have we've spoken. we've we've reached out to the state parks. we're waiting to hear from them. we've spoken to a, you know, a family friend who does commercial kitchens. he has said he will support us and help us. and, you know, we we're starting to but again, chris, to

make it clear, we're not home. our home is in danger at the moment up in topanga. so trying still to manage what's happening to the rest of our lives as well. it's a little overwhelming at the moment. >> what's the one thing you hear most from your employees? what did they need? obviously, you're trying to raise money so that they can at least have a few months salary. as you say, 20, 30 years people who have worked for you. but how are they doing? >> they have reached out and fortunately they all most of them live in santa monica and their homes are safe. so they have their their families safe, but they have reached out to us and asked what they can do to help andy and i. and that's the kind of employees we have. that's the kind of family owned business, small business we were. the culture that my husband created when he created that restaurant. everyone that

goes there and eats there feels like they own it. it feels like it's theirs. our crew, it was their home. so they have reached out and said, how can we help you? can we come to your house? can we do for you and i that every time they call, i find myself just very emotional because we're so blessed to have the love and the compassion of our crew, of our clients, our customers. we don't know where we're headed next. we'd like to rebuild, but i guess we just have to wait and see first. if we have a home, you know, it's sort of we're still in crisis mode here. >> well, teddy leonard, we can only wish you the best, your employees the best, and we look forward to that iconic sign being lit once again, whether it's even a year or 2 or 3 down the road. so many people have shown so much love for it. thank you for sharing your story with us. we appreciate it. good luck to you. thank you so much,

chris, and we're going to take you to the state department. now, anthony blinken is talking introducing the president of the united states for one of two major speeches that joe biden will make this week. he said, we don't. when he originally was talking to biden about this role. and, of course, joe biden went in, in part of this presidency against donald trump's america first approach. he said joe biden told him, we don't know when this is going to make a difference, when this is going to pay off, but someday it will be critical. and obviously, the ongoing negotiations for peace in the middle east between israel and in gaza are going to be testing that resolve. let's listen as anthony blinken introduces president biden for this major speech. >> you have never wavered in the conviction that when america leads, when america engages, there is little we cannot

accomplish and that this country remains a force for good, a force for progress around the world. your unshakable belief in the promise of america has inspired me for more than 20 years. it's inspired so many people in this department and around the world. simply put, it's been the privilege of my lifetime to work for you, to work with you, to work with this extraordinary team that you've assembled. and it's the honor of a lifetime to be able to introduce one more time, the 46th president of the united states, joe biden. thank you, thank you, thank you.

>> thank you. thank you, thank you. please. thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. >> it's good to be back at the state department. tony, if i may start by saying this, we're one of the finest men i've ever known in any undertaking. one important reason we have. not only brilliant. you have incredible character. you have character. you have more integrity than almost anybody i know. thank you for always sticking with me, i appreciate it. >> folks. >> i'm grateful for his counsel and his friendship as well. but i also want to thank the members of my cabinet and the members of the congress are here today. and

to all, all our diplomats and development experts, service members and intelligence professionals, many of the achievements we're going to discuss today were the result of your hard work. and that's not hyperbole. it's true. thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for your extraordinary service. i come here to the state department to report on the american, to the american people, on the progress we've made in the last four years, and our foreign policy and our presidency. i've said many times we're at an inflection point. the post-cold war period is over. a new era has begun in these four years. we face crises that we've been tested. we've come through those tests stronger, in my view, than we entered those tests. this is a fierce competition underway. the future of the global economy, technology, human values and so much else right now, in my view, thanks to our administration,

the united states is winning the worldwide competition compared to four years ago. america is stronger, our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are weaker. we have not gone to war to make these things happen. during my presidency, i have increased america's power at every dimension. we increased our diplomatic power. creating more allies in the united states has ever had in the history of our nation. we've increased our military power, making the most significant investments in the defense industrial base in decades. we've increased the technology power, taking the lead in artificial intelligence and other technologies of the future, and we've increased the economic power, building the most dynamic economy in the world from the bottom up, in the middle out, not the top down. in short, kamala and i took office. our nation had become stronger at home, are stronger in the world, and now america is more

capable, and, i would argue, better prepared than we've been in a long, long time. while our competitors and adversaries are facing stiff headwinds, we have the wind at our back. because of all of you. this is what we're heading into. and over the next administration. that's what we're handing it to today. i want to lay out what we've done, the opportunities we've created for america and those opportunities going forward. today, i can report to the american people, our sources of national power are far stronger than we were when we took office. our economy is booming, although there's more work to do. our technology, from artificial intelligence to biotech, quantum to advance semiconductors, they're the envy of the world. and we have made the most significant investments in america and the american workers since the new deal to rebuild our roads and bridges, our ports and airports, clean

water systems, affordable high speed internet, and so much more to build american manufacturing, to make advanced semiconductors, which we invented here at home. we made the largest investment in climate and clean energy eve, anywhere on earth. in the history of the world, spurring nearly $500 billion in private sector investment. we've also significantly strengthened the defense industrial base, investing almost $1.3 trillion procurement and research and development in real dollars. that's more than america did in any four year period during the cold war. it's going to ensure that we're fully equipped to ght and win wars, which is also the best way to deter wars in the first place. today, i can report to the american people our alliances are stronger than they've been in decades. nato is

more capable than it's ever been, and many more of our allies are paying their fair share. before i took office, nine nato allies were spending 2% of their gdp on defense. now, 23 are spending 2%. and look at the indo-pacific. we've made partnerships stronger and created new partnerships to challenge china's aggressive behavior and to rebalance power in the region. we did it what few thought was possible to build the first ever trilateral partnership between the united states, japan and south korea, then another among the united states, japan and the philippines. drawing closer our pacific allies to defend our shared security and prosperity, we brokered a defense pact known as aukus among the united states, australia and the united

kingdom, connecting the atlantic and pacific allies. as only america is able to do. and we've taken the quad to the next level. united states, japan, austria, australia and india. when we had that first meeting, i was dumbfounded when they all called and said, can we do this at your house? you think i'm kidding? my wife said, no problem. it was during the un meeting and we thought we were going to do it in new york, but they wanted to do it in delaware. i said, why? he said, we can now. then people will know we're really friends. our democracy with vibrant economies, working closely, security, s chains, technology and so much more in the red sea, we brought together more than 20 countries to protect civilians, to protect civilian ships from attack by the houthis, defending freedom

of navigation, one of the world's busiest waterways. and we have strengthened partnerships all across the americas defending democracy, targeting corruption, addressing migration, increasing prosperity and protecting the amazon rainforest, which captures billions of tons billions of tons of carbon from the atmosphere every year. overall, we've reinvigorated people's faith in the united states as a true, true partner. today, i can report to the american people our adversaries are weaker than they were when we came into this job four years ago. just consider russia. when putin invaded ukraine, he thought he'd conquer kyiv in a matter of days. but the truth is, since that war began, i'm the only one that stood in the center of kyiv. not him who never has. think about it. there's a long

train ride. but i'm the only commander in chief to visit a war zone not controlled by u.s. forces. we help ukrainians stop putin. and now, nearly three years later, putin has failed to achieve any of his strategic objectives. he has failed thus far to subjugate ukraine, fail to break the break the unity of nato, and failed to make large territorial gains. there's more to do. we can't walk away. we rallied 50 nations to stand with ukraine, not just in europe for the first, for the first time in asia as well. those countries in asia know what happens in ukraine, matters to them as well. we delivered air interceptors, massive numbers of munitions, enacted relentless, unprecedented sanctions to keep

ukraine in the fight. and now russia is struggling to replace what they are losing on the battlefield. and in terms of military equipment and fighters. and the ruble is under enormous pressure, as i saw it, when putin launched his invasion, i had two jobs, one to rally the world to defend ukraine, and the other is to avoid war between two nuclear powers. we did both those things. today, ukraine is still free, independent country with the potential, the potential for a bright future. and we laid the foundation for the next administration so they can protect the bright future of the ukrainian people. and now look at iran. did you ever think we'd be where we are with iran at this moment, after those despicable attacks by hamas on october the 7th, iran directly

attacked israel twice with hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones, and twice they failed because the united states organized a coalition of countries to stop them and ordered us aircraft to come to the defense of israel. now iran's air defenses are in shambles. their main proxy, hezbollah, is badly wounded. and as we tested iran's willingness to revive the nuclear deal, we kept the pressure with sanctions. now iran's economy is in desperate straits. all told, iran is weaker than it has been in decades. and if you want more evidence that we have seriously weakened iran and russia, just take a look at syria. president assad was both countries closest ally in the middle east. neithe. neither could keep him in power, quite frankly. neither really

tried very hard. now, i cannot claim credit for every factor that led to iran and russia growing weaker in the past four years. they did plenty of damage all by themselves, but israel did plenty of damage to iran and its proxies. but there's no question our actions contributed significantly. and now major authoritarian states are aligning more closely with one another iran, russia, china, north korea. but that's more out of weakness than out of strength. so as the new administration begins, the united states is in a fundamentally stronger position with respect to these countries than we were four years ago. today, i can report to the american people we're in a better strategic position in the long term competition with china. we were when i took office. you all recall many

experts believe we're predicting it was inevitable that china's economy would surpass ours, according to many predictions that would happen by the year 2030 or shortly thereafter. but we in this room said, no. if we make the investments in ourselves, we protect our workers and technologies. that will not happen. now. according to the latest predictions on china's current course, they will never surpass us. period. i met one on one with president xi in consequential summits. he and i have always been direct and straightforward with each other. i made it clear we expect china and everyone to abide by the international rules, and so we stood up against unfair trade practices, taking action when china dumps subsidized goods, incredibly subsidized on our markets to undercut our workers, we impose targeted tariffs in

critical sectors like cars, steel and semiconductors, rather than across the board tariffs. we imposed historic export controls on investments, restrictions to ensure that china cannot cannot use the most advanced technology in census data. sensitive, sensitive data against us. and critically, we enlisted our allies and partners to join us, building more convergence among our allies on a shared approach to china than ever existed, and showing that it's more effective to deal with china alongside of partners rather than going it alone. but even while we compete vigorously, we've managed our relationship with china responsibly, so it's never tipped over into conflict. we've created lines of communication between president xi and myself, and between the leaders of our

militaries. to avoid misunderstanding, we found ways to work with each other to address climate change, to reduce the flow of fentanyl in the united states, which, by the way, overdoses, overdose deaths are coming down across our nation. and in my administration, we've seized more fentanyl at our border in two years than the previous five years combined. today, i can also report to the american people we're the first president in decades who's not leaving a war in afghanistan to his successor. but we've got bin laden during the obama biden administration. the primary objective of war had been accomplished. and i believe that going forward, the primary threat of al qaeda would no longer be emanating from afghanistan, but from elsewhere. and so we do not need to station a sizable number of american forces in afghanistan. so when i

took office, i had a choice. ultimately, i saw no reason to keep thousands of servicemen in afghanistan. i think i have my schedule with me, and i keep on my i don't hear, i don't have, but i keep on the back of my card. the actual number of dead and wounded that occurred in our longest war. to remind myself, keep spending hundreds of millions of dollars a day. we no longer doing that. in my view, it was time to end the war and bring our troops home. and we did. i commend the courage of all those who served in afghanistan. we grieve all 2461 americans who made the ultimate sacrifice in the longest war in american history, and i grieve those brave service members whose lives were lost during the withdrawal. we also thank those inside and outside of government who have done so much to help thousands of afghan families resettled in the united states.

remember, critics said, if we ended the war, it would damage our alliances and create threats to our homeland from foreign direct to terrorism out of a safe haven in afghanistan. neither has occurred, neither has occurred, and our alliances have stayed strong. we've used our over-the-horizon capabilities to strike in afghanistan and elsewhere when we had to, for instance, eliminating zawahiri, the leader of al qaeda who helped orchestrate the september 11th attacks. and we did it without putting more american boots on the ground. and by ending the war, we've been able to focus our energy and resources on more urgent challenges. there is nothing that i can tell you from my conversations with both xi and putin, nothing our adversaries and competitors like russia and china would have liked more than seeing us to continue to be tied down in afghanistan for another decade. for all those reasons, ending

the war was the right thing to do, and i believe history will reflect that. and for the moment i entered office, i also worked to free as many americans as possible, being held hostage or wrongfully detained overseas. we brought home more than 75 americans by last count, and in some cases it took months, even years of effort, like the prisoner swap with russia over the past summer, a feat of diplomacy involving all, many of you and involving multiple countries who joined complex negotiations at our request. another example of the power of our alliances. we did not have these relationships with those women, and women would likely still be in prison. and finally, i can report to the american people that we restored our leadership in a range of other generational priorities. when i took office, we were no longer part of the international

climate agreement. we announced on day one that we would rejoin the paris accord, rejoin. and we've led by example. we've conserved hundreds of millions of acres, hundreds of millions of acres of land and water, more than any president in american history. making investments in clean energy and convincing other nations to join us. thanks to our efforts, the world has reached the goal of investing $100 billion every year in public and private funds to reduce greenhouse emissions, to drive down the cost of clean energy to help developing nations adapt to climate change, our administration has launched a transformative initiative to build high impact infrastructure in developing nations. it's called pgi. you all know that better than anyone. this is our alternative to a china offers with its massive projects across

africa and beyond. but their approach features no workers rights, no environmental protections, unmanageable debt, shoddy construction, all in exchange for military access to ports and other exploitative purposes. by contrast, we've leveraged $600 billion to unleash the private sector to build an infrastructure in order to grow economies and combat climate change. as an example, i was recently in angola to see a major project being built with the help of american public funding, which brought in even more private investment. we're building the first ever transcontinental railroad across africa will significantly improve the economies of the region, will help farmers transport crops and new global markets, will transport critical minerals that would that need that are needed for electric

vehicles and semiconductors. china used to control the supply chains and these materials, but not for long. now. make no mistake, there are serious challenges in the united states must continue to deal with in ukraine, in the middle east, in the indo-pacific, must keep the pressure on the houthis, who are attacking ships in the red sea, launching missiles at israel and firing at american forces must deter north korea as they rattle their saber and draw closer to russia. and new challenge will certainly emerge in the months and years ahead. but even but even so, it's clear my administration is leaving the next administration with a very strong hand to play, and we're leaving them and america with more friends and stronger alliances whose adversaries are weaker and under pressure, and america that once again is

leading, uniting countries, setting the agenda, bringing others together behind our plans and visions. and america, which is no longer at war, which has made historic investments in american workers, american energy and american factories, generating the strongest economy in the world, which is now in a much better position to win the future against any competitor. these wins are not partizan. they are american. they benefit all americans and reflect america's endless capacity for leadership and reinvention. look, folks, the united states should take full advantage of our diplomatic and geopolitical opportunities we've created to keep bringing countries together to deal with challenges posed by china, to make sure putin's war, putin's war ends in a just and

lasting peace for ukraine, and to capitalize on a new moment for more stable, integrated middle east. to do that, the next administration must make sure the fall of assad does not lead to the resurgence of isis in syria. across the region. we must carry forward the commitment that america will never, never allow iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. and the war between israel and hamas. were in the brink of a proposal that i laid out in detail months ago, finally coming to fruition. i have learned many years of public service to never, never, never, ever give up. so i spoke to prime minister of israel yesterday. i spoke to the emir of qatar today. i look forward to speaking with president sisi

soon. we're pressing hard to close this. the deal we have a structure would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to israel and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the palestinians who have suffered terribly in this war that hamas started. they've been through hell. so many innocent people have been killed. so many communities have been destroyed. the palestinian people deserve peace and the right to determine their own futures. israel deserves peace and real security, and the hostages and their families deserve to be reunited. and so we're working urgently to close this deal. and as we deal with media challenges, in my view, we have to look to the future. i urge the next administration to carry forward two issues that have

been central to my presidency, and which shaped the future of my view on artificial intelligence. we are in the lead, and we must stay in the lead. we must not. offshore artificial intelligence, as he once did with computer chips and other critical technologies, ai has the power to reshape reshape economies, governments, national security, entire societies. and there must be the united states and our closest allies that lead the way to ensure people's rights are respected and their safety is protected and their data is secured. and likewise, clean energy transition will race ahead in the years to come. i know some incoming administration, some in the incoming administration are skeptical about the need for

clean energy. they don't even believe climate change is real. i think they come from a different century. they're wrong. they are dead wrong. it's the single greatest existential threat to humanity, and the clean energy transition is already happening. china is trying to dominate the clean energy manufacturing critical materials supply chains. they want to capture the market of the future and create new dependencies. the united states must win that contest, and we will shape the global economy and the planet for decades to come. let me close with this. like many of you, i've dedicated a significant portion of my career to our nation's foreign policy. as chair of the foreign relations committee, as a senator, vice president for eight years, and now president of the united states. i put

together one of the most competent foreign policy teams, i would argue, in american history, sitting in this room and before my eyes, throughout my career, the world has gone, undergone tremendous change. but certain things have always held true at our best. america leads not only by the example of our power, but the power of our example. the past four years, we've used that power not to go it alone, but instead to bring countries together to increase shared security and prosperity, to stand up to aggression, and to solve problems through diplomacy wherever possible, and to relentlessly defend democracy, civil rights and human rights, because that's who we are, that's who we are. you heard me say it many times

before. we're the only country on earth founded on an idea. every other country is founded on geography, religion, ethnicity, or some other unifying factor. but america was built on an idea. on an idea. literally, not figuratively. that idea was all women and men are created equal. the idea that has inspired the world for 250 years and counting. we're always reaching to do better, always looking to the future. not our best, always seeking progress for our people and for people everywhere. it's been the honor of my life to serve as your president today. i'm optimistic about our future. as optimistic as i've ever been, i just have to remember who in the hell we are. you've heard me say it many times. we're the united states of america, for god's sake. there is nothing, nothing, nothing beyond our capacity. if

we do it together and commit to it. nothing. so thank you all for all you've done. i hope many of you are going to be staying in the next administration to keep this moving. may god bless you all and may god protect our troops. thank you, thank you, thank you. >> thank you. thank you. >> a standing ovation at the state department for president biden, who's 50 years in public service, have just one more week to go, but ending on a fired up note about his foreign policy achievements, saying that america is stronger and our rivals are weaker than when he came into office. let's bring in david ignatius, foreign affairs columnist at the washington post and an msnbc contributor. there is some news that i want to ask

you about that the president did comment on, and that are these negotiations that tony blinken says are closer than they've ever been to getting some sort of deal in gaza? he said, we are pressing hard to close the deal, to end the war in gaza and gain release of the hostages. now, anthony blinken also said there's a little bit of what we've seen before, which is lucy and the football. but what are you hearing? are we closer than ever before? and could joe biden, who has spent so much of his career focused on foreign policy, end on that note? >> i'm sure, chris, that that's his great hope. >> i bet he wanted deeply, profoundly to be able to announce a breakthrough in the hostage negotiations today. in this speech at the state department, as we heard. it's not there yet. you can get close closer. >> almost there. >> but the final pieces

obviously haven't come together. the reports that we're hearing are that president biden, in his conversation yesterday with prime minister netanyahu, had israeli agreement on key points. but hamas, i think, remains the missing element in this final conclusive agreement on a hostage release. but i'm sure that was a disappointment to biden, even as he was listing all the things he thinks he's accomplished in his foreign policy. >> it was was it a fair assessment? i mean, on afghanistan, for example, he suggested that, you know, the important thing was not leaving the war to another president, not, of course, mentioning the botched withdrawal. but overall, when he talks about building alliances, making nato stronger, having more alliances than ever before, is that a fair assessment of his own performance? >> so i think his own report card obviously paints things in the most favorable, favorable light.

>> but the basic argument that he made are our allies are stronger than they were four years ago. our adversaries are weaker, is probably accurate. alliances, partnerships both in europe with nato and in asia really have entered a new, stronger phase. sweden and finland have joined nato. that's an extraordinary development in in asia. the aukus partnership with australia, us and the uk is a significant development. other partnerships have expanded. so i think he can he can properly take credit for that. i think the most difficult issue for, for president biden is the war in ukraine. he was pretty straightforward about it. he said putin has not achieved his goals in ukraine. and in a vivid moment in the speech, i thought he said, i'm the only one who stood in the center of kyiv. putin never, never got there. he wanted to, but he never did. i went there as president of the

united states. so in that sense, he was saying that that putin had failed in his in his war objectives. unfortunately, this war is unresolved. and biden will leave office with this problem on on president elect trump's plate. >> yeah, he is the only president, as he said, to have gone into a war zone that was not controlled by u.s. troops. but that war rages on and the death toll continues to climb. david, ignatius, it's always great to have you on the program. thank you. we've run out of time. that's going to do it for us this hour. our it for us this hour. our coverage will continue if you take or have taken humira for moderate to severe crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis and still have symptoms... you don't have to settle. ask your gastroenterologist if switching to rinvoq is right for you. it's one of the latest treatments from the makers of humira. rinvoq works differently than humira and may help. rinvoq is a once-daily pill that can deliver rapid symptom relief, lasting steroid-free remission, and helps visibly reduce damage of the intestinal lining.

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