meet this is what they will be talking about is how to handle the next four years, how to handle donald trump and how to handle their own domestic policies while looking towards a very new and unpredictable united states. >> it has been a constant balancing act to watch these world leaders try to figure out which side they should be on, how they're going to play it, and how they're going to play it. christina ruffini, thank you for literally taking us around the world today with this last segment. i appreciate you. thanks for having me. and that was way too early for this thursday morning. morning joe starts right now. >> thank you. >> birx credit for this, mr. president. you or trump. >> is that a joke? oh thank you. >> all right. >> president biden yesterday when asked whether he or donald trump should take the credit for the israel-hamas ceasefire deal. that reaction is despite new reporting this morning, that there was extraordinary cooperation between the outgoing and incoming administrations. >> and could the deal be in trouble even before it's implemented? >> nbc's richard engel is standing by in tel aviv with the very latest on that.

>> plus, as biden bid farewell to the nation, he delivered a stark warning to americans about the future. we'll play those remarks and we will weigh how his legacy will be defined after five decades in politics. also ahead, confirmation hearings for trump's cabinet picks continue today on capitol hill. we'll discuss who will be in the hot seat just hours from now and what happened yesterday. and firefighters in california are still working to control the wildfires as winds begin to finally die down. we'll go live to altadena with the very latest on that. good morning and welcome to morning joe. it is thursday, january 16th, along with joe, willie and me. we have the co-host of our fourth hour, jonathan lemire. he is a contributing writer at the atlantic covering the white house and national politics, columnist and associate editor for the washington post. david ignatius is with us, president emeritus of the council on foreign relations. richard

haass. he's author of the weekly newsletter home and away, available on substack and nbc news. senior executive editor for national security david rohde is with us again this morning. good to have you all. big news. >> and, willie, what what an eventful day of news. of course, we had hearings yesterday. some look like they're going to sell through pretty easily. others were contentious at times. we'll be getting to that. los angeles looks like there may be hope in the coming days that they're going to be able to contain some of these horrific fires. joe biden's address last night, echoing eisenhower's prescient threat of a military industrial complex, which has proven to be the case over the past 70 years, where you have congress pushing for weapons systems that the pentagon doesn't even want. but the big story, the possibility

of this cease fire deal. and, yes, there's going to be squabbling back and forth by both camps. but david sanger reporting today, peter baker reporting today that what happened in negotiations, nothing short of historic and incoming and outgoing administration having their aides coordinate in the closest of ways the end of a just a bloody brutal war. yeah. >> even in the busy news day you laid out above the fold on all of the newspapers this morning, is this news of a cease fire deal that you have here in the new york times, the wall street journal, and all the other papers? and yet, despite what we just saw a moment ago from president biden saying, are you serious? who should get credit for this deal? it turns out, and we'll talk to peter baker about his reporting on this in the times this morning. it turns out there was behind the scenes collaboration between the incoming administration and the outgoing one to get this deal, which looks a little tenuous

this morning. but there are high hopes that at least some of these hostages will go home, and that aid will start to flow into gaza. >> yeah, the hostage situation would be the end of agony, at least for some families. israel's claiming hamas has reneged, though, on a cease fire deal that would end 15 months of fighting in the gaza strip and free dozens of hostages in an effort to gain concessions, according to the israeli prime minister's office. the israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify israel that hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement. the prime minister's office did not elaborate. a senior hamas official says that hamas is committed to the ceasefire agreement. >> and david ignatius, let's talk about that for just half a second. and we're going to outline the contours of the deal. but just for people waking up this morning hearing this news, the truth is that benjamin netanyahu was taking it from the

most right wing, most orthodox elements of his coalition. so i must say, when i was reading that last night, i expected some sort of pushback from netanyahu, sort of to try to flex so his government didn't collapse because the hardliners on the far, far right, we're talking about trying to undermine his government. maybe that's his way of doing it this morning. what can you tell us? >> so, joe, after so many months of fighting, so much suffering for both israel and the palestinians, you can't help but rejoice in this news that there's finally going to be a cease fire 42 days, not a permanent cease fire yet. and the release of the hostages who have been held so cruelly, they'll begin to come out if all holds on sunday begin to reunite with their families, including some americans. officials say two americans are likely to be released in this first group.

what's held this up for so many months are the details of precisely who the hamas fighters are holding and where they're held. and i think more important, who israel will release among palestinian prisoners held in israeli israeli jails. officials say there will be hundreds of palestinians coming out as as the hostages are released. how many of those will be people carrying life sentences for having murdered israelis? that's the kind of thing that israelis may be studying at the at the last minute. they've gone over literally every name on this list as they've come down to the final negotiations. i think the thing that worries me, joe, most about this deal is that there still is not in israel a clear sense of what the day after the end of this war will look like. that's something the u.s. has been pressing for many months. and to me, the details still aren't clear, which means that gaza is going to be a lawless

place, a messy, ungoverned place for a long while to come. so let's talk about some of those details. if this deal does hold, it would have several phases. phase one would begin on sunday and last for 42 days. during that time, 33 hostages would be freed by hamas. two of those are expected to be americans. in return, israel would release 100 palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and 1000 other prisoners not involved in the october 7th attacks. it also would provide a large amount of humanitarian aid to gaza 600 trucks a day, and allow for hospitals and health care centers in the enclave to be rebuilt. future phases aimed to bring a permanent end to the war, with remaining hostages and soldiers exchanged, israeli forces withdrawing and reconstruction in gaza beginning. let's bring in nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel, live from jerusalem. richard, what more can you tell us about this, how it came together and how long it

may hold? >> well, things are already looking quite difficult. so today, this morning, there was supposed to be a meeting by the held by israelis, prime minister benjamin netanyahu with his security cabinet, and they were supposed to formally ratify the deal. that meeting has been postponed. some israeli media are saying it's going to be held tonight, although that's not entirely confirmed. the israeli prime minister's office hasn't given an explicit reason why the meeting has been postponed. just accusing hamas of trying to renege on the deal. but as as david ignatius was saying just a short while ago, it does seem to be focused on the issue of palestinian prisoners, which palestinian prisoners could be released, who has the ultimate veto power of releasing palestinian prisoners? hamas has a list of names. israel is

objecting to some of those names. so until this is signed, it's not going forward. but the good news is it doesn't seem to be off. no one has said that the deal isn't isn't happening. no one is saying that. they're saying that the deal has been called off. it just isn't being ratified yet. until they can work out these last minute details, and it is not supposed to go into effect until sunday. so there still is a little bit of time. there's also ongoing military operations. there were heavy strikes by israel into gaza overnight, and according to local medical officials, 71 palestinians have been killed in gaza just since this deal was announced yesterday. and according to those palestinian medical officials, the majority of them were women and children. so just a few hours after the deal, the deal was announced. during the period of darkness here or last night local time, it is now sort of mid-morning,

late morning here in israel. there's already quite a high death toll. the israelis haven't signed it. hamas says that they never tried to change the terms of the deal. they're asking for the americans to intervene and resolve this problem. they're accusing prime minister netanyahu of looking for an excuse so that he doesn't have to go forward to this deal with this deal, so that he can placate members of his right wing coalition. there are problems already. a few hours after the deal, but so far the problems seem to be on a i don't want to call them manageable scale, but but no one has has called it off. no one has walked away. no one has said the deal is dead and we still have until sunday. >> all right. nbc's richard engel, as always, thank you so much for your reporting. we greatly appreciate it. so a few things here. first of all,

nobody should be surprised that benjamin netanyahu is looking for an excuse to scuttle a deal that's defined his negotiations over the past year. but you look at the leverage now that is being employed against him. he yes, he may have leverage from the extremists on the far, far right who were saying they're going to try to undermine his government and end his government. but he has two american presidents, one who has been negotiating with him over the past year or so and actually had the outlines of this deal all the way back in may. and an incoming president, donald trump, who has said he expects this to be done by by the time he gets into office. why would that have any weight in israel? because benjamin netanyahu is not extraordinarily popular in

israel. donald trump, though, is just like joe biden after october 7th, had the highest approval ratings of any politician in israel. now donald trump is in that position and it's not even close. so there is pressure on netanyahu. and perhaps this is just his his final dance with the extremists on his hard, hard right, to try to get a deal that that won't have them bolting. but, you know, richard, you not only have donald trump and joe biden pushing for this, you have the saudis, the emiratis, the jordanians, other sunni arab nations around the region that want this deal done. and with the very, very good possibility that israel and the saudis are going to come to some sort of peacemaking deal in the next several months, which will

probably include the saudis helping to rebuild gaza, along with the emiratis and other countries. it seems that most of the pressure coming from all sides is to get this deal over the finish line, with even hamas begging the americans to intervene and get the deal done. well, joe, what's come together in the stars have aligned up to a point is several of the things you point out. i actually think the biggest factor is the weakening of hezbollah. it isolated hamas. >> it obviously led to the loss of the regime in syria. iran is much weaker, can no longer deter israel. and i think that more than anything else, set the stage along with the military weakening of hamas. so i think that is critical. the negotiators have to negotiate in a context. and it wasn't that suddenly tony blinken and jake sullivan and steve witkoff became brilliant negotiators

yesterday, and they weren't for the last few months. it's that the context changed. and hezbollah, hamas, felt enormous pressure. and also the israelis didn't want to get off on the wrong foot with the new trump administration, which wants this issue to some extent pushed off the agenda, almost like the reagan administration wanted the hostages when jimmy carter was leaving off the agenda. they didn't want to be saddled with this. and i think, as david pointed out, i think there's a pretty good chance we ultimately get through phase one. phase two gets really tricky, and phase three is a sentence, and we're not even in the right zip code yet to deal with the fundamental issues of governance in gaza and so forth. i think you're right that the trump administration also wants the normalization between saudi arabia and israel, and it's quite possible the saudis will settle for very little on the palestinian front in order to get it, because they want the security commitment and the nuclear help from the united states, which i think the

administration, the new administration would be, would be prepared to give them. but we shouldn't kid ourselves. we're still in the first inning of the israeli-palestinian relationship, both in gaza and even more so when it comes to the to the west bank. >> so, david, assuming this does go into effect on sunday, it does so with 24 hours left in the presidency of joe biden, a closing moment for his administration. but as peter baker and his team report in the front page of the new york times, this was a joint effort that steve witkoff, the mideast envoy for the trump administration, was a part of. these negotiations met with netanyahu a couple of days ago to pressure him to accept the cease fire deal with biden's team there, as well. brett mcgurk on the phone, according to this reporting. so i guess the question is, what does this deal look like? beginning on monday under the trump administration, does that help its odds or hurt its odds of being effective in going forward? >> it depends on donald trump. easy answer, in a way. but will he you know, he warned that all hell was going to break loose if this wasn't resolved. is he

committed to that? will he really threaten netanyahu? i doubt it, you know, publicly, but privately will he do that? and that risks his strong standing in israel. so that's the key, because it's pressuring netanyahu to actually follow through on this and turn on these far right members of his governing coalition. and that's, you know, trump is good at making threats. will he deliver them here effectively? >> well, hours after announcing the cease fire agreement, president biden delivered his farewell address to the nation, capping four years in the white house as president and more than five decades in politics. speaking from the oval office, biden touted his legacy but also issued a series of stark warnings to the country as he prepares to cede power to president elect trump. >> i want to warn the country of some things that give me great concern. this is a dangerous country, and that's a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra

wealthy people. the dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked. today, an oligarchy is taking shape in america of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead. i'm equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech industrial complex that could pose real dangers for our country as well. americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of power. the free press is crumbling, editors are disappearing. social media is giving up on fact checking. the truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit. we must hold the social platforms accountable to protect our

children, our families and our very democracy from the abuse of power. meanwhile, artificial intelligence is the most consequential technology of our time, perhaps of all time. nothing offers more profound possibilities and risks for our economy and our security, our society. unless safeguards are in place, i could spawn new threats to our rights, our way of life, to our privacy, how we work and how we protect our nation. we must make sure ai is safe and trustworthy and good for all humankind. we need to amend the constitution to make clear that no president, no president is immune from crimes that he or she commits while in office. the president's power is not limited, it's not absolute, and it shouldn't be. after 50 years of public service, i give

you my word. i still believe in the idea for which this nation stands, a nation where the strength of our institutions and the character of our people matter and must endure. now it's your turn to stand guard. may you all be the keeper of the flame. may you keep the faith. i love america, you love it too. god bless you all and may god protect our troops. thank you for this great honor. >> jonathan lemire, it's always a hard to figure out what will last, what will fall by the wayside as the years go by. but certainly with the rise of ai, hard not to imagine that his warning again, his eisenhower like warning against the tech industrial complex as as the power of ai rises largely unregulated and as silicon

valley grows more powerful by the moment again largely unregulated, and the leaders there line up to make sure that donald trump will not have any need to go after them, to regulate them, to have the government doing what i think most americans would want the government to do, having some sort of oversight role. that warning seems prescient and seems like something we may be looking back on 20, 30 years from now with regret that more people didn't listen, just like more people didn't listen to dwight eisenhower. >> yeah, that's clearly the takeaway line here in this remarkable speech. and there are two distinct themes. last night, the president delivered from the oval office. the first was sort of a love letter to the country talking about the statue of liberty and those who built it, and what it means for the nation to his own. his own story was sprinkled in there a little bit.

you could see the pictures behind him there on the desk, including his late son, beau biden. he talked about how he still loves america and believes in its future, but and a defense somewhat of his record. and you could tell he made it pointedly clear that he believes his team deserves the lion's share of the credit for this ceasefire deal in in gaza. but, joe, you're right. it also much of the speech was was fairly dark in a real a real warning. he used the word oligarchs, oligarchs, the united states of america. you know, he didn't name names, but it's pretty clear that some of these tech leaders surrounding donald trump right now were in his sights. he did talk, indeed about the tech industrial complex, invoking dwight eisenhower's famous farewell speech that included, of course, the worries about ai. he he talked about the need to defend the united states still. and david ignatius, you know, he 50 years a 50 year public career in public service from the senate, the vice presidency, the president. a lot of personal heartache here at the end,

obviously, disappointment that his mission was to defeat donald trump, which he did a strong legislative record for a time, but then to relinquish the stage again and ahead of donald trump's return. what were some of your takeaways last night from his address, but in particular that war, that stark warning about the tech industrial complex, one that i believe is how this speech will be remembered? i think that was the signature line to me. the irony of his warning is that these tech leaders, until very recently, for the most part, have been seen as supporters of the democratic party. silicon valley had been a stronghold of liberal views, and that, in an extraordinary way, has flipped in the last year as prominent people. mark zuckerberg of meta, jeff bezos, the head of amazon, the person who owns the washington post where i work. others in the tech industry have have really embraced trump, come

to, to support his ideas. so i think it's that movement that's troubling president biden, this tech industrial complex is at once the key to our future prosperity, our ability to be the dominant player in the world, the incredible innovation of our tech sector is one of the wonders of america. and in another sense, a danger whose dimensions we just don't understand very well. yet we see this huge, complex, ever, ever more powerful, ever, ever more central to our economy. i would note that president biden had an opportunity during his presidency to rein in these technology industries, to regulate them more, and generally didn't generally held back from that. he was pressed by by some progressives to do more. he didn't. his most decisive pronouncement on ai, the key technology, has been to work with the government for greater safety and transparency,

not to suppress the technology or the leaders. so i think this, at the very end of the speech, what moved me was biden in that kind of soft, almost wispy voice saying, now it's your turn. and he has given his whole life to politics, to these public issues that matter so much. now it's your turn. and he's really saying, i'm worried about some things like these oligarchs. now you need to deal with them, right. >> and really, of course, two things can be true at once. we talk about the explosion of america's economy, the strength overall of our gdp, our leadership in the world. so much of that does come from silicon valley. so much of that does come from our advantage with ai, but it seems a false choice continues to be presented by tech leaders, which is stay off our backs, stay out of our way. we've got this. if you try to

regulate us at all, then you're playing right into china's hand. it is an all or nothing argument. that, of course, is just not compelling. but it is compelling to politicians and many people in the incoming administration. it's a it is one of the most powerful tools that humans have ever had their hands on. and the idea that we somehow are going to just turn this over to tech bros and silicon valley who are saying, trust us. much like wall street bankers were saying, trust us on credit default swaps doesn't seem too compelling, but that does seem like the world we're going to be living in over the next four years. >> and you're right. that's the argument they make. if you hamstring us, you're handing the future to china. you're handing the future to other countries, to our adversaries, and you don't want to do that. so put us at the wheel. and clearly many of them elon musk, jeff bezos, mark zuckerberg all going to be

at the inauguration with prominent seats behind the incoming president of the united states. as donald trump has sworn in, a clear signal of who they support and who donald trump is there to support and who he trusts with our economy. so, richard, when you you think about ai and there's a lot to talk about in that speech. so take this wherever you want of biden's speech last night on foreign policy particularly. but there's been this argument, too, that ai is too big to be legislated effectively. there's nothing that washington could do. there's no law it could pass to control this thing that that has spread into every device we use and every corner of our lives. so what is right now sort of the dominant thinking about regulating ai in this moment? >> the short answer it's going to resist regulation both domestically and internationally, because it's not just a domestic challenge. you know, people have this image almost like arms control. nuclear weapons emerged. and we regulated nuclear weapons through arms control agreements. but nuclear weapons are in the

hands of two players, the united states and the soviet union. incredibly hard to build. ai is decentralized, willie. plus it's dynamic. it's changing. since the show began this morning, it's already advanced. as a result, i actually think the chances for corralling ai, and since only the good parts are going to embrace and we're going to push back against the bad parts, great idea in principle, extraordinarily difficult in practice. can i say one thing about the speech? also, what was interesting to me, he used the word robber barons. that's a phrase i haven't heard in a while. the vanderbilts, the carnegies, the rockefellers. i almost saw this speech as an attempt to wrestle back the mantle of populism from the republicans. donald trump has run a populist campaign, and that's a lot. he's the outsider. and what joe biden last night did was quite interesting. almost try to reclaim populism for the democratic party. a lot of biden's career has been about populism. the midwesterner who's upset about the loss of manufacturing jobs and been

going after the oligarchs, which, again, is a really interesting phrase, and calling them robber barons. that, to me was basically defining for the democrats a line of attack for the future, the concentration of economic power and also the concentration of political power. and i think, you know, like everyone else, i think that will be what will ultimately be remembered from this speech. >> and david ignatius, just just briefly following up on what richard said, i've been going back and been reading some, some works on edmund morris is, of course, extraordinary works on teddy roosevelt and seeing so many parallels between the world that roosevelt inherited after the assassination of mckinley and what teddy roosevelt did in focusing going after the trusts. and i find it, you know, interesting that perhaps the

democrats best way forward is looking back at a republican president named roosevelt that was not afraid to break up trusts that were only in the best interest of the richest of the rich in america at the turn of the century. and, and, you know, the jpmorgan's the biggest banks, the vanderbilts, the carnegies, you name it. and it seems to me joe biden was pointing in that direction and looking to the legacy of someone like teddy roosevelt that was able to break up some trusts. >> so i think teddy roosevelt and the progressive era were about finding a way to bring the robber barons of the of those days, people who were arrogant, even at a level beyond anything we see now in, in, in silicon valley or in, in american finance, and to insist that they

obey the law, that their power be limited. the progressive era was really a new start for the united states after the gilded age, the enormous accumulation of wealth, but also of almost lawless behavior by by these great industrialists. donald trump will come to the white house surrounded by the billionaires, the people who benefited most from american wealth. he wants to be a populist. but as i wrote in the washington post a couple of months ago, his group, you could call them the progressivists. they they really want to move back. they want to make america great again. they're not about moving forward and finding ways to have have better regulation discipline. but it seems this will be about giving, giving the richest people in america more opportunity to shape the country. and if this is a new start for biden and the democrats speaking out against

them, that's going to be, as jonathan said, it's a it's a powerful kind of populism. >> all right. still ahead on morning joe, we're taking a look at yesterday's confirmation hearings on capitol hill, including what marco rubio and pam bondi had to say before lawmakers. plus, a preview of who will be in the hot seat later this morning. we're back later this morning. we're back in my mental health was better. but uncontrollable movements called td,tardive dyskinesia, started disrupting my day. td felt embarrassing. i felt like disconnecting. i asked my doctor about treating my td, and learned about ingrezza. ♪ ingrezza ♪ ingrezza is clinically proven to treat td, quickly reducing td by greater than five times at two weeks. number-one prescribed ingrezza has dosing that's always one pill, once daily. and you can keep taking most mental health meds. ingrezza can cause depression, suicidal thoughts, or actions in patients with huntington's disease. call your doctor if you become depressed, have sudden behavior or mood changes, or suicidal thoughts. don't take ingrezza if allergic. serious side effects may include

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marco rubio drew bipartisan support from the senate foreign relations committee yesterday at a hearing to be confirmed as president elect trump's secretary of state. rubio, who spent years as the top republican on the senate intelligence committee, expressed views aligned with senators who work on foreign policy, including the ranking democrat who found common ground with rubio on quick filling, confirming vacant state department posts. >> will you commit to working with chairman risch and me to prioritize the advancement and confirmation of career state department officials? >> well, the answer to that is yes. but i would also point to the fact that i think we're going to begin by prioritizing. we're going to look at what are the key issues in the world. there are obviously every post in the world is important or it shouldn't exist. and then the question is, which are the ones we bring to you first? and those are the ones that i think are most critical.

>> go to bondi. i thought it was interesting. david ignatius, the marco rubio hearing for secretary of state, as well as the john ratcliffe hearing for the cia. unlike the hegseth hearing and even the bondi hearing, which we're going to get to in a moment. but but the confirmation hearings for secretary of state and for cia had had had a bipartisan air to both of those, didn't they? >> i thought so. marco rubio is a well known person in the senate. he's worked pretty closely with with senator mark warner on the senate intelligence committee, a committee that that prizes and requires bipartisanship because the subject that covers is so sensitive. ratcliffe has been working to speak with cia director bill burns to get to know the place, to reassure employees that he's not going to conduct a witch hunt against the deep state. he's really been making an effort to reach out to

the workforce there, so it's not surprising that those two, two nominations are going to go forward pretty easily. we still have a head. kash patel, rfk jr. i think some some pretty dramatic hearings. but no question that that that today, as we'll talk in a minute about about pam bondi. but but rubio is so well known that the positions he laid out are not significantly different from those of the foreign policy positions of president biden. so not surprising that that was smooth sailing. yeah. rubio's hearing was extremely chummy, talking to many of his on both sides of the aisle, many of his senate colleagues there. and it should be said, in contrast with some of these other nominees showing command of the issues there as well. donald trump's pick for attorney general. meanwhile, pam bondi sought to assure democrats yesterday she would not use the justice department to target the president elect's enemies. she made the comment after several democrats on the senate judiciary committee questioned

bondi about her loyalty to trump. >> yes. >> would you have hired someone into the florida attorney general's office who you knew had an enemies list? >> senator, to cut to the chase, you're clearly talking about kash patel. i don't believe he has an enemies list. he made a quote on tv which i have not heard. there will never be an enemies list within the department of justice. >> you have said that department of justice prosecutors will be prosecuted in the trump administration. what department of justice prosecutors will be prosecuted and why? >> i said that on tv. i said prosecutors will be prosecuted to finish the quote, if bad investigators will be investigated. you know, we all take an oath, senator, to uphold the law. none of us are above the law. >> bondi also refused to say whether she believed the 2020 election was stolen after she

initially was involved in the legal efforts to overturn trump's loss. >> are you prepared to say today, under oath, without reservation, that donald trump lost the presidential contest to joe biden in 2020, ranking member durbin president biden is the president of the united states. >> he was duly sworn in, and he is the president of the united states. there was a peaceful transition of power. president trump left office and was overwhelmingly elected in 2024. >> do you have any doubts that joe biden had the majority of votes, electoral votes necessary to be elected president in 2020? >> you know, senator, all i can tell you as a prosecutor is from my firsthand experience, and i accept the results very telling. >> that's an answer we've heard from many of donald trump's supporters over the last several years as a way out of an answer, which is, well, joe biden is the president not being able to say

clearly what should be able to say clearly, david, which is that donald trump did lose that election. and just let's say again, there was not a peaceful transfer of power january 6th. yeah. to refresh some memories here. so, david, you've been watching all these hearings very closely. let's start with pam bondi. how did she do yesterday. and do you think she's going to have the votes here in the end? >> i think she has the votes here in the end. but you're seeing the beginning of the sort of mission impossible. i think pam bondi faces and hegseth, you saw this also. they have to say what donald trump wants to hear. they can't say that joe biden won the election, you know, and at the same time, she's trying to say she's not going to abuse her powers. and so trump is expecting investigations and prosecutions, and she's going to have a hard time building cases that actually show that. and then she was this enemies list issue was was stunning. kash patel is the nominee to be the fbi's director. he wrote a nearly 300 page book full of allegations that there are all these deep state bureaucrats

committing crimes. and then there is an appendix that we've talked about with the names of 60 people that's entitled deep members of the deep state, you know, executive branch. so that is a de facto enemies list. and these are all the issues she's going to face. and then from my interviews about the first trump administration, jeff sessions tried to walk this line. you know, he's going to uphold the rule of law, but donald trump's demanding he fire robert mueller. he refused to do that. he's forced out bill barr. donald trump demands that he help him overturn the 2020 election. bill barr refuses to do that. he upholds the rule of law and he's forced out. so this is going to be a very difficult path ahead for pam bondi. >> it should be said, too. i mean, relative to matt gaetz, people have said, well, she's much better than matt gaetz, which i don't think we agree shouldn't be the standard to be the attorney general of the united states. but she was his first impeachment lawyer for donald trump, right? she represented him in the senate on that. and as we mentioned, she was there in 2020 talking about some of the conspiracy theories

about joe, joe biden actually having lost the election when that wasn't true. she is a loyalist to the core, which is hard even in the space of a half day hearing or whatever it was to run away from. despite what you may be saying to get the votes. >> she's she is respected as a sort of serious attorney general who, you know, ran held that office in florida for two terms. and there's much less concern about her and the doj workforce than there is about kash patel, who has far less experience, who's far more political. she will be kash patel's boss. so again, this is this tension about producing what donald trump wants to see and hear versus facts and reality. >> and that is interesting. what david says, first of all, people in florida, including dave aronberg, who worked with her, said that she is will work with democrats and in fact, aggressively, aggressively went out of her way and often stood

up to republicans who got angry at her for working with republicans. i think aronberg may be on today to talk about running against her. and then, oh, he's testifying. okay. i'm sorry. he's testifying on capitol hill today. we may have him tomorrow, but but to underline what david said, jonathan lemire, it's fascinating that this hearing seemed to be about as much about kash patel as the new york times wrote yesterday that kash patel was was was brought up several times, and she distanced herself from kash patel several times, first on the enemies list, second on saying there will be no prosecutions for public purposes and third on kash patel's promise to go after and arrest members of the media. and she she i think she even said there i you know, you're talking about kash patel. no members of the press will not be arrested

for doing their job. so it's interesting the hearing was about pam bondi, but it was striking. the new york times reported how much kash patel came up yesterday, which suggests that he certainly will have a bumpy ride when he goes before the senate committees. >> yeah, we're all thinking along the same lines. i jotted the notes. >> whose hearing is this? is this pam bondi or kash patel? i do think to the points that were already made, she will get through this. you know, this was this was not three dimensional chess. donald trump did want matt gaetz to be his attorney general. so this wasn't a strategy to have him withdraw and then replace him with with another loyalist, but a more palatable one. that's not how this went down. but that is in effect what happened. and pam bondi does have qualifications. you know, she did do well yesterday was pretty deft in answering some of these questions. there's really no no suspense here. barring some sort of 11th hour bombshell that she will get confirmed. but kash patel's future remains far from certain. and look, we do need to say again, just to reiterate

that bondi said that she's not aware of any enemies list written by kash patel. it's literally in his book, he wrote it down. it's not just something he said on television. it is a chapter in his book, and he has made real no efforts to distance himself from that. and when it is his turn to testify before the senate, we can be assured that that will be a major topic of conversation. and lastly, guys, just as large momentum here, there is a sense we talked about it yesterday. pete hegseth chances look better than we would have anticipated a few weeks ago. i think pam bondi is going to be fine, but there are questions that remain, willy, about robert f kennedy jr when it's his turn. certainly, we've heard some republicans very squeamish about his stances on vaccination. what i'm told is that tulsi gabbard is now the one that a lot of democrats say, hey, this is this one seems really shaky. she may be the one that we can bring down and get enough republican support to defeat that nomination. yeah, that's the name i keep hearing, too, with some republicans even saying, we'll give you pete hegseth, we'll give you some of

these other ones. but tulsi gabbard is a bridge too far. richard, let's go back to marco rubio, very likely to become the next secretary of state. barring something unforeseen here. what world is he inheriting? and just based on his experience and who he is, what kind of secretary of state do you expect him to be? >> well, i think the good news for him, willie, is he'll sail through, maybe even by voice vote. the bad news is he's going to sail through. it's going to be really tough. he inherits a dysfunctional state department. you you've doubled the number of assistant secretaries and others. it just doesn't work. almost most of the authority and power has shifted to the white house in the national security council. under any administration, you've got more special envoys than i can count. you not only now have an ambassador to the united kingdom, you have a special envoy to the united kingdom, and then you've got some other special envoys who are circulating around who i think you know, are looking at marco rubio's job. plus, rubio doesn't have the same relationship, say, with the president. take jim baker and george bush senior.

it's not something that's forged over a lifetime. i just think it's going to be extraordinarily tough for, you know, for him, it's not a criticism of him. i actually think, you know, he's a good choice. i just think it's going to be a really tough road to hoe at a time that the inbox is unbelievably full. you got ukraine and we're already seeing the president. president elect trump is pushing off some of the ambitions on ukraine, taking a more he's not going to solve it in a day. the middle east yes will have a deal probably. but it's going to get phase one. maybe phase two. not not more questions of what to do about iran and the big question of china. marco rubio came out very tough on china. and the question is how are we going to translate that toughness into policy? what are we actually going to do? so he's going to have a rough time of it. but again, he will sail through well and he he will take a tough position most likely on china. >> that's what he's done historically. and in many ways he may run into some opposition

inside the white house with elon musk, but he's taken a tough stand on china, on on cuba, certainly on venezuela. what is interesting, and i'd love for you to underline this, if you if you would, david ignatius, just what richard haass was saying about the position of secretary of state and how frustrating that it has become over the years. and we don't have to look to the biden or the trump administration. we can even go back to the obama administration, where john kerry was secretary of state. and often barack obama had moved his foreign policy apparatus basically into his chief of staff, denis mcdonough and ben rhodes. and often it was kerry flying around the world trying to get direction, trying to get guidance, trying to get inside to, to have influence. and kerry, like many other secretaries of the state,

recently just found themselves on the outside looking in. >> so as the world has gotten more complicated power over foreign policy, power over the interagency as people in government always like to call it, meaning the cia, commerce, all the other departments has shifted to the white house. the national security adviser has played an increasingly decisive role. going back to, i'll be frank, to the days of mika's dad, zbigniew brzezinski, who was a very powerful, centralizing national security adviser who clashed often with his secretary of state, cyrus vance. that friction continues. it was a feature of the biden administration. tony blinken and jake sullivan were always nice to each other in public, but there was an underlying tension about how foreign policy would be directed. and in the world we live in, the national security advisor, with this intimate daily contact with the

president, is going to be the first among equals, even though we look to the secretary of state as the decisive person, it'll be very interesting to see how president trump's national security adviser, former representative mike waltz, experienced combat veteran special forces. expert, is deals with marco rubio, who has the legislative experience but not the same kind of military and strategic experience that waltz does. who will end up on top in that one? >> interesting mix and also very interesting. he goes back to a name, a guy named zbig. yes, who i've read was the first cabinet level nsc adviser and something that he of course, let cyrus vance friction can be good all over. >> challenge is not something you push away. >> by the way, ed luce has a book coming out. >> sure does. and i'm i'm taking a sneak peek at it. >> extraordinary. >> it is extraordinary. the washington post david ignatius, thank you so much for coming on

this morning. we really appreciate your analysis. along with nbc news senior executive editor for national security david rohde and richard haass, richard seems to be holding up all right after the giants season. >> hope springs eternal and i'd be getting a draft. >> not really, joe, but thank you, richard. >> all right, guys, thank you very much. and coming up, we'll get a live report from southern california where firefighters are still battling two major are still battling two major wildfires. morning joe how did i ever miss this? before you were preventing migraine with qulipta? you'll never truly forget migraine, but qulipta reduces attacks, making zero-migraine days possible. it's approved to prevent migraine to help give you that forget-you-get migraine feeling. don't take if allergic to qulipta. get help right away for serious allergic reactions like trouble breathing, face, lip, or tongue swelling, itching or rash, which may occur when taking qulipta or days after. common side effects include nausea, constipation, and sleepiness. learn how abbvie could help you save. qulipta, the forget-you-get

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elevated design for thoughtful living thuma. >> winds are expected to ease a bit in southern california this morning. provided a much needed reprieve for the firefighters battling those wildfires across los angeles county. the particularly dangerous situation warning that's an official warning for the region did expire yesterday, and now forecasters are predicting a drop in temperature, which should help firefighters make more progress toward extinguishing the flames. still, though, a risk for new fires as strong santa ana winds are expected to return early next week. so they want to make a whole bunch of progress this weekend. currently, the palisades fire is at 21% containment. the eaton fire is 45% contained. joining us live from altadena, california, nbc's steve patterson. steve, what more can you tell us this morning? >> well, starting with that, finally, some good news overnight, that flame fanning weather that we've been in for the better part of a week is

over. the red flag winds is over. the particularly dangerous situation, as you mentioned, is over. we were expecting maybe 30 to 50 mile an hour wind gusts in areas, even at lower elevations, which would have obviously fanned the flames even further. mostly we dodged a bullet there. there were a few spot fires, a few burning embers in particular places. firefighters very on top of that, dousing them almost as soon as they sprouted up. what does that mean? it means it's good news for the containment of the large fires that we've been monitoring. the eaton fire, as you mentioned, now 45% contained. that's the fire that i'm standing in. that's 10% more than it was just yesterday. that is great news, of course, for firefighters doing everything they can to manage the hotspots so people can move back or at least see where their home was devastated. obviously rebuilding and moving back is going to take quite some time. and residents now frustrated about just being able to see where the plot of their home was again. fire

officials warning there are still hotspots, there is still smoldering in the building that we've seen behind us. there's still power lines that are down the health department. the epa is going to want to get into zones like this to clear out hazardous materials before the thought of moving people back in, or even allowing people to see where their home was, is, is entertained at all. so quite a lot of work to be done on that front. meanwhile, the investigation continues. there is the possibility that this was done from human hands on the palisade fire utility company is being looked at at the eaton fire. of course, residents just want to know what happened. but the primary operation still remains the firefight. although there is significant containment, there are still dangerous hotspots, pockets of embers that could be picked up. it is not safe for people to come back into these zones at this point. >> we hope those courageous wildfires do get that break in the weather over the weekend, and they can make some real progress. nbc's steve patterson in altadena, california, which has been in so many ways just wiped out. steve, thanks for your reporting again this

morning. still ahead, white house national security communications adviser john kirby will join us to discuss the israel-hamas ceasefire deal and whether it may be at a bit of trouble before it even begins. plus, democratic senators richard blumenthal and alex padilla will be our guest following their questioning of pam bondi during yesterday's confirmation hearing for the attorney general nominee. morning joe is coming right back living with you just to put me through it all of the time. >> running around, staying out all night, taking it off the table. one bite. living with you table. one bite. living with you just to put me through it tap into etsy for home and style finds like custom shelving for less than 50 dollars to make more space. or linen robes under 75 to get you cozy. for affordable pieces to help you welcome big changes, etsy has it. it all started with a small business idea. it's a pillow with a speaker in it! that's right craig.

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designs, subtle curves, curated upgrades, elevated design for thoughtful living. therma. >> it will take time to feel the full impact of all we've done together. the seeds are planted and they'll grow and they'll bloom for decades to come. i'm so proud of how much we've accomplished together for the american people, and i wish the incoming administration success because i want america to succeed. that's why i have held my duty to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition of power, to ensure we lead by the power of our example. i have no doubt that america is in a position to continue to succeed. >> welcome back to morning joe. it is thursday, january 16th. jonathan lemire is still with us. and joining the conversation, we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle, chief

white house correspondent for the new york times. peter baker, good to have you both with us this hour. so israel is claiming hamas has reneged on a cease fire deal that would end 15 months of fighting in the gaza strip and free dozens of hostages in an effort to gain concessions, according to the israeli prime minister's office. the israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify israel that hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement. the prime minister's office did not elaborate. a senior hamas official says that hamas has committed to the cease fire agreement. if it does hold, the deal would have multiple phases. phase one would begin on sunday and last for 42 days. during that time, 33 hostages would be freed by hamas. two of those are expected to be americans. meanwhile, the long awaited cease fire deal came out

came about in part through a historic collaboration between president biden and president elect trump, who temporarily shelved their mutual animosity to get a deal done. peter baker, you report in the new york times, quote, the dramatic development just five days before the transfer of power in the united states, cut against the grain in washington, where presidents of opposing parties rarely work in tandem during a transition, even in the face of a major crisis. the partnership, awkward and prickly as it was, stood out in an era of deep polarization. few transitions have seen such a moment of intersecting interests in the throes of the great depression, the defeated president herbert hoover tried to engage president elect franklin d roosevelt to team up to address a bank crisis, only to be rebuffed by

an incoming leader who did not want to be tied to his predecessor. >> let's bring in right now peter baker. peter, thanks so much for being with us. it is it is historic. no two ways about it. you do also wonder whether whether reports that i heard from inside the white house that joe biden and donald trump, when they got together several weeks ago, had had long. casual discussions but also far more relaxed than people around them expected. you just wonder whether that was the beginning of these talks on doing something that just doesn't as you, as you've written, just doesn't happen between incoming and outgoing administrations, especially if they're heated political rivals, especially if they're in different parties. >> yeah, i mean, obviously, i think that these two men in particular have a deep animus

toward each other. it's not even like, say, a barack obama and a mitt romney or a george w bush and a barack obama. but they had interests, each of them, in having this deal come together. >> and it was biden's interest, of course, to try to get this done before he left office. he wanted very much to have the vindication after, you know, 15 months of struggling to manage the middle east, to bring peace back to middle east and to bring these hostages home. and, of course, it's in trump's interest, as he sees it, to get this off the table. >> he doesn't want this to be a challenge. >> waiting for him on monday when he takes that oath of office. he's got so many other things he wants to get done, 100 executive orders. he's got, you know, people to go after all sorts of priorities. and this one, he wanted to get off the table. so from his point of view is worth having his man, steve witkoff, his friend and special envoy, coming to the middle east to work with brett mcgurk, the white house middle east coordinator. and i think that leverage made a difference. certainly, brett mcgurk now was able to tell the israelis and

the hamas leadership, look what's coming next. you're not getting any better deal. let's get it done. >> i'm not getting any better deal. and is, as the times and others have reported, donald trump actually has leverage over benjamin netanyahu because like joe biden, right after the october 7th attacks, when biden was the most popular politician in israel, that has now been passed on to donald trump, who has leverage, significant leverage over netanyahu because he's far more popular there than benjamin netanyahu, the current prime minister. i, i do want to underline just how historic this is and give a couple of examples. you talked about fdr and herbert hoover and how they wouldn't coordinate together. of course, historically, infamously, in 1968, richard nixon and his team accused of actually scuttling a peace deal to make nixon's pathway to the presidency over herbert hoover easier. and then, of course, in

1980, the iranian hostage crisis always allegations that the reagan team recommended that the iranians hold up any deals with the carter administration to, to make things easier for them and to have the hostages released after carter was out of office. none of that ever proved. but still, deep suspicions within the carter team. >> yeah, absolutely. >> and that was haunting, i think this biden team on the way out, they saw history repeating itself. they feared in the idea of a president leaving office trying to get hostages out before his last day. they could imagine a similar situation as happened in january of 1981, when the iranians agreed to a deal, but then held the planes on the tarmac until just after noon on january 20th so that carter was out of office by the time the hostages were released. just to sort of one last insult, as you say, a lot of suspicions about what people around reagan might have been doing. and prior to that, this time around, you had the incoming and outgoing

presidents. as much as they don't like each other, these are not friends. they're not even people who respect each other. they had mutual interests in making this work. >> you know, mike, the president biden has, what, 96 hours left in his presidency at this point, as we sit here this morning, offered that farewell address from the oval office last night, starting with this news of the cease fire deal. but i'm curious what you thought, as a man who has known joe biden for many, many, many years, including through this presidency, what you saw on his face, what you heard in his voice last night. >> you know what i heard in his voice last night was a concern, a legitimate concern for what he outlined a potential oligarchy trying to dominate politics and certainly dominating our economy. >> i mean, there are 25 billionaires in america ten years ago, and now there are like 250 or 300. extraordinary numbers. and i thought that the most maybe important line and the defining line for joe biden

last night was toward the end of his speech, when he looked into the camera and having talked about all the dangers of excessive wealth, dominating politics and things like that, and the dominance of ai and unknown technical aspect of our lives, that's going to increase its importance in our lives. when he said, now it's your turn to stand guard to the american public. and i think he really, really feels that that that's his signature. goodbye stand guard. you know, i stood guard. and the metaphor, of course, of the statue of liberty withstanding centuries of storms in new york harbor, never falling, never failing. and now it's our turn as citizens to stand guard against these dangers that he outlined. i also think that the speech well given well, he delivered it quite well. when you read it, it's more lasting than the television address last night. it's a

lasting speech. >> yeah. jonathan lemire it was heavy. and for through large sections of it with warnings about the future, warnings about where the country is beginning on monday, in fact, but going forward into the years as well. so what did president biden want to accomplish with that speech last night, and how is he feeling? how is his team feeling? obviously, they would have loved to be sitting there going into a second term, but how is he feeling now as he hands the reins over to a man for whom he has, well, no affection, certainly, but perhaps very little respect even for donald trump? yeah, it's still a mix of emotions for the president and his team. there is still some frustration and anger about how his presidential run ended this past year. joe biden, the first lady, gave an interview to the washington post yesterday in which she made it clear they have not forgiven former house speaker nancy pelosi and pelosi's efforts to cut short his campaign and have the reigns his end before or

after that debate in atlanta. they do think that last night they were meant to do two different things. as we talked about in the first hour, a lot of it was really stark warnings for the future of the country, warning about the tech industrial complex, warning about oligarchs, saying, yes, it is indeed now my journey here, 50 years in public service is coming to an end. it is your turn to stand guard. you love this country like i do. but president biden also wanted to stress, i'm told his aides have said, his love for the institutions and the importance of them. look, he made clear last night that he thinks that his team deserves the lion's share of the credit for the ceasefire deal, saying this is basically the deal we struck in may and now it's just coming to an effect. his delivery. but he also, because he prizes transition of power prizes the presidency. he did say peter baker that you know there was cooperation. he did say peter baker that he wanted the new president to succeed. now, that doesn't mean he wants him to be able to enact all of his agenda. he violently disagrees with most of donald trump's agenda, but he

wants the country to succeed. and it was striking. as president biden exits the stage now, at times kind of halting voice. last night, his love for the country shone through time after time. >> yeah, and it was something of a panegyric to an era. of course, that's probably gone right, he said earlier in the day on his statement about gaza that this is what americans do, right. we work with other americans we may disagree with on areas where we can get something done. he met, of course, the trump administration on the gaza deal. he said on that one, at least, we are speaking with one voice. that's hard to imagine, but it's what he believes in. as you said, his love of institutions, his 50 year history in politics, coming to bear in this last days of his time in public office. but it feels like a, you know, a nod to the past. and he said it the other day about jimmy carter. he says, well, people say carter is from a bygone era. that's not true. i think he's speaking about himself, too, right? i'm not from a bygone era. he's trying to say the values that i learned as a young senator in

the 1970s, he's telling us still apply today in the 2020s test is whether that's really true in an era of bombastic, polarized politics where, you know, you see what we see with the new administration. >> so as president biden said goodbye, we got another window yesterday into the future of the trump administration on capitol hill, president elect trump's picks for attorney general and secretary of state were among those facing questions at senate confirmation hearings. nbc news chief capitol hill correspondent ryan nobles has a look at some of the key moments. >> a split screen moment on capitol hill with half a dozen high stakes confirmation hearings for president elect trump's cabinet picks, including his choice to lead the justice department. >> former florida attorney general pam bondi, who vowed to keep politics out of the prosecutorial process. >> there will never be an enemies list within the department of justice. >> bondi replaced trump's original choice for the job, former congressman matt gaetz, who withdrew when it was clear he could not win enough republican votes. bondi is

expected to be confirmed by the republican senate. >> i'm glad he picked you. he knows you, he trusts you, and you're highly qualified. but senate democrats grilling her over potential trump pardons for some january 6th participants. >> do you believe that those who have been convicted of the january 6th riot, violent assaults on our police officers should be pardoned? that's a simple question. >> so, senator, i have not seen any of those files. but let me be very clear. in speaking to you, i condemn any violence on a law enforcement officer in this country. >> and this heated moment over trump's comments about liz cheney. >> i'm asking you sitting here today, whether you are aware of a factual predicate to investigate liz cheney. >> senator, no one has asked me to investigate liz cheney. >> that is, the president has called for it publicly. you are aware of that, aren't you? >> no one has asked me to investigate. the president has also worried president liz cheney. the president has called for this. be worried about miss bondi. please answer my

question. >> also expected to be confirmed florida senator marco rubio up for the post of secretary of state, saying he disagreed with the biden administration's decision to remove cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. do you believe cuba is a state sponsor of terrorism? >> without a question, we know that cuba has been friendly towards hamas and hezbollah openly. >> and rubio, forecasting the future trump administration's approach to ending the war in ukraine. >> it is important for everyone to be realistic. there will have to be concessions made by the russian federation, but also by the ukrainians and the united states that lends itself there. it's also important. >> that's nbc's ryan nobles with that report. let me just say that that last statement that marco rubio made. yeah, that's a statement that people inside the biden administration have been saying for two years, including former chairman of the joint chiefs, mark milley, who even two years ago said they're going to have to be concessions made on both sides, and neither side is going to like the concessions

that they're going to have to make. but that, yeah, that's usually how it works. >> joining us now, democratic senator richard blumenthal of connecticut. he is a member of the homeland security, armed services and judiciary committees. it's very good to have you on the show this morning, senator. >> always great to have you on the show. you've written a letter regarding kash patel. it's interesting. last hour, jonathan and i were talking about pam bondi's hearing and said at times it seemed like the hearing was more about kash patel than pam bondi because several times pam bondi saying, i will not have an enemies list. there will be no enemies list. she was asked about the media. she said no member of the media will be arrested for being a member of the media and doing her job, but the questions kept going back to kash patel, someone who, if he were the fbi director, would obviously work under her. i'm curious your thoughts about that, your thoughts about kash patel and

your concerns and why you wrote this letter, the reason for the letter. >> and thank you for having me to talk about it, is very simply to make my colleagues more aware of some of the really extremist views that he's expressed. his adherence to qanon, his embrace of conspiracy theories, his statement that government undercover agents instigated and incited the january 6th insurrection and maybe most important, his determination to go after enemies, that is, political opponents, judges, media lawyers who he regards as advocates of opponents opposing political views. >> by the way, by the way, senator, it's important for our viewers to recognize that many on that so-called enemies list are actually republicans, republicans that donald trump appointed.

>> that's absolutely right. bill barr, john bolton, many others. even if i disagree with them, i don't regard them as having any kind of criminal culpability. and i think it goes back to whether or not pam bondi is willing and able to say no to donald trump. the question is not whether, but when. she will have to say no when he asks her to do something illegal or immoral. and kash patel is an agent of donald trump in trying to go after enemies. he's very explicitly listed them. they include republicans. but most important, he can ruin lives and essentially endanger the country. in an organization that has immense power, the fbi. so, senator, we should also just note that pam bondi yesterday said she wasn't aware of any kash patel enemies list. again, he wrote it down. it's actually in his book there in the black

and white. so let's let's spin this forward a little bit then, from what you heard from attorney general candidate bondi, do you have confidence on two things? do you have confidence that first, she will be able to rein in kash patel? and secondly, the question you just posed, would she will she say no to donald trump? i have no confidence whatsoever that she will be able to restrict kash patel. the position of director is supposed to be independent. she has limited kinds of resources to rein him in, and he can start investigation without even informing her office about beginning them. and second, on her independence. i think that's the key question that you've raised, and i have no confidence that she will refuse to put donald trump ahead of the american people. she has to be the people's lawyer. she has to tell truth to power. and as i told her when i was attorney

general of connecticut, my first loyalty was to the people of connecticut. hers has to be to the people of america. donald trump has said, i have an absolute right. his words absolute right to do whatever i want with the department of justice. that's not the way the system should work. she has to be independent, and i have no confidence that she will be. senator. good morning. you've been very busy this week. also, you said on senate armed services questioning pete hegseth, the nominee to be secretary of defense. you raised questions about his qualifications, about his financial mismanagement at the veterans organizations. he ran a couple of them coming out of that hearing, listening to the questions of your fellow democrats, but also the support he enjoyed from republicans in the room. do you believe that he will be confirmed? well, i think the trump campaign, the transition team has mounted a pressure effort, really a campaign relentlessly and tirelessly, and it's having an

effect. i do believe he will be confirmed. i said he's maybe qualified to be a spokesperson at the pentagon, but he is unqualified to be the secretary of defense. and he did run into the ground. those two nonprofit veterans organizations, his only management experience and a fraction of the number of employees and budget that he'll be responsible for administering if he is confirmed. but republicans are falling in line because they have been so threatened and intimidated, frankly, by the trump transition team and the right wing ecosystem that has mounted this effort to get him confirmed. >> senator, with regard to pam bondi, the designee, the pointer for attorney general of the united states by donald trump, how much of it on your side of the aisle among democratic senators? is there a sense of relief in inquiring for pam bondi, what she would do as

attorney general, relief that, well, it's not matt gaetz? and is this helpful to her? >> i think there is some sense of relief because gates was so far beyond the pale. just as kash patel is, and arguably tulsi gabbard. but i think also there is a very strong sense that we've seen this movie before, and we know how it ends. bill barr, jeff sessions both said in their hearings they would be independent. bill barr is the institutionalist who believes in the department of justice. but there's a history here, and donald trump really believes he has an absolute right to tell them what to do, to go after enemies, to use the department of justice as a tool of personal vendetta and retribution. and that is truly scary, because the justice system depends on its credibility for its

effectiveness. but also people depend on it for their lives. to be fair. and what we could see is lives ruined and institutions broken as a result of an attorney general who is unwilling or unable to say no, no. when donald trump asks her to do something illegal or immoral, democratic senator richard blumenthal of connecticut, thank you very much for coming on the show this morning. >> we really appreciate it. chief white house correspondent for the new york times, peter baker, thank you very much for coming on this morning for your reporting. and still ahead on morning joe white house national security communications adviser admiral john kirby joins the conversation next to discuss that long sought ceasefire deal between israel and hamas and where things stand right now. plus, what to expect from wall street today after stocks soared on the heels of yesterday's

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communications advisor and assistant to the president, retired rear admiral john kirby. so what is the very latest on these negotiations on the cease fire deal between israel and hamas, and reports that it might be breaking down? >> it's not breaking down, mika. there are some implementing details that still need to be flattened out here. prime minister netanyahu spoke about that a little bit earlier today. we're confident that that we're going to be able to work our way through these final implementation, implementing details, confident that it will, that it will get that'll get ironed out. and we'll get started on sunday. >> so admiral peter baker has written about the historic nature of this alliance between an incoming president and an outgoing president, two presidents who, you know, probably aren't going to be spending a lot of time golfing or at thanksgiving dinners together. i mean, but it it it is extraordinary. and historians certainly will want to look back

and see how this developed. can you give us any insights on this historic deal? >> this really has to do with innocent lives, joe. it's american hostages that need to be back with their families, hostages from all their different countries, and of course, palestinians in gaza who literally have been living through hell. and president biden and president elect trump shared that same passion, shared that same goal, that what matters here isn't politics. what matters is getting these hostages home and getting this war ended. they shared that goal and they directed their teams to work in concert with one another. and that's exactly what we've been doing. the american people have to expect that from us, and we're glad that we were able to help deliver on it. >> admiral. good morning. we're happy to see you again today. you know, there are, of course, skeptics. just because of the nature of the relationship between israel and hamas, a terrorist organization, skeptics on the israeli side, many americans who say a deal with a terrorist death cult effectively

is no deal at all. so what gives you confidence that hamas will hold up its end of the bargain here, because they are in a much degraded position than they were back in may, when the president first laid this framework on the table. >> this is not the same hamas. they have been decimated, leaders taken off the off the battlefield tunnels, destroyed, infrastructure gone, sinwar dead. they are also more isolated in the region. iran's not coming to their help. they're also much more degraded because of the israeli actions and because the united states helped defend israel against two cruise and missile strikes, and hezbollah is not going to be the cavalry for hamas anymore, because the united states brokered a cease fire between israel and hezbollah. so as hamas looks out upon the region, they see they're all by themselves. they see they're much weaker. and that's really what brought them to the table. >> admiral, first of all, a point of personal privilege here as you end your tour of duty at the white house, would just like to tell you that the truth and

facts are going to miss you. and we thank you for your service at this time. the question i have for you is, what's the biggest point of peril in phase two of this agreement? >> the biggest point of peril in phase two is actually getting to phase two. mike. as you know, phase one is six weeks. we get a cease fire, we get humanitarian assistance in, and we get those hostages back home. but as that all happens, the two sides have got to negotiate for the start of phase two. and in phase two, you get an end to the war, you get additional hostages released. but it's going to be the work that's done in these first six weeks. and that's why president biden was so adamant with jake sullivan and brett mcgurk and the entire national security team here that we had to bring mr. witkoff in. we had to bring the trump team in so that they had full knowledge of what the implementation details were, because they're going to be responsible for getting us to phase two. >> admiral, good morning, jonathan lemire. we all echo mike's words to you just now.

you mentioned iran and how it has been weakened. talk to us about what this new administration coming in just in a few days time, what are the opportunities and also challenges facing the trump team in the middle east there, and particularly when it regards to the future of iran? >> well, they are coming in with an iran that's much weaker. in fact, all of our adversaries are weaker because of the foreign policy that joe biden has, has implemented and executed over the last four years. we have kept the pressure up on iran. iran is weaker. i think one of the things that we are talking to the trump team about, one of the things i think they've got to continue to watch is as iran becomes weaker, do they try to lash out in some way? and one of the ways in which and we all have to watch this is their continual continual potential interest here in developing nuclear weapons. now, we're not seeing that they've made that final step, but they certainly have kept the centrifuges running, and they certainly haven't walked back any proclivity to maybe move in that direction. as president biden said, we're going to do everything we can to prevent

that from happening. the new team is going to have to watch that very, very closely. they are closer in breakout time now, jonathan, than they were when we took office, because the iran deal had pushed that breakout time months and months over a year. now it's really a matter of weeks. and so that's something that they're going to have to watch closely as we look, admiral, at the big picture, one of the central criticisms of donald trump during the campaign, and now we've heard after his reelection, was that the world was a safer place under him. >> and it became more dangerous under president biden. if you look at what's happened with israel and gaza, if you look at what's going on in ukraine, russia's invasion, and on and on down the road, how would you respond to that in these final days of your administration about where the world is as president biden leaves office? >> i would say three things. one, our allies and partnerships are stronger than ever. we're where alliances didn't exist. to solve a problem, joe biden created alliances and partnerships. the 50 nations that are supporting ukraine, 20 nations that are helping us defend shipping in the red sea

and the alliances that did exist. he made stronger japan, south korea, the philippines, nato, now two nations, two nations bigger than it was when we took office. number two, our adversaries are weaker. we've already talked about iran. russia is absolutely weaker than it was when we took office. they've had now 700,000 casualties in this three year war with ukraine. the ruble's crashing. they're on a wartime economy. they're reaching out to places like north korea and iran to help them fight this war. russia is on its back foot. and china we are outpacing china. there were predictions that the chinese economy was going to surpass us by 2030. well, now the predictions are they're never going to surpass us if they stay on the on the course that they're on. and because we've shored up our alliances in the indo-pacific, china knows that america means business when it comes to peace and security in that part of the world. so again, i think in every aspect, we have made america stronger. the last thing, of course, is all the other all the other elements of national power. joe biden has improved, including our economy, best economy in the

world. every other nation wants to have an economy like ours. >> white house national security communications adviser and assistant to the president, retired rear admiral john kirby. thank you, and thank you for your service. we have so much respect and admiration for you. thank you very much. >> thank you, ma'am, for everything. >> we'll see you soon. >> thank you. >> all right. coming up, bestselling author brad meltzer joins us with a look at his new book about a secret plot to kill jfk right before his inauguration. brad will tell us about this uncovered piece of history. morning, joe. we'll be right back. every time we go. >> away, think about the things i say. think about it twice as long. >> what if you could tackle your dog's itching, soft stools and low energy? millions of pet parents are raving about doctor marty. nature's blend.

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let our expertise round out yours. interview of his presidency. they'll discuss his achievements, his legacy and what's ahead for the country. the last word tonight at ten on msnbc. >> all right. 41 past the hour. time now for a look at some of the other stories making headlines this morning. staffers at the washington post want a meeting with the paper's owner, billionaire jeff bezos. hundreds of employees sent a letter requesting the sit down, citing concerns about transparency, leadership decisions and a recent exodus of top reporters. several members of the post's opinion staff resigned from the editorial board in october after a decision to end presidential

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speech, punctuated by his iconic call to civic action, came close to never happening at all because of a little known assassination attempt that went awry just one month before his inauguration. joining us now, new york times bestselling author brad meltzer. he's coauthor of the new book, the jfk conspiracy the secret plot to kill kennedy and why it failed. brad, good morning. it's great to have you on. i guess the first and most obvious question is all these years later, why didn't we know about this? mike barnicle did know about it, of course, because he's mike barnicle. but why doesn't the general public know more about this attempted assassination of jfk? >> because on the day after it happened there, it was big news in florida, which is where it happened in palm beach. but two planes collided over new york city, and everyone died on board except for one young boy. america became obsessed with this sole survivor. and as a result, it took this jfk assassination story and knocked

it from the front page into the center of the newspaper. and it became a footnote until josh mentioned, i said, you know what? this is a really interesting idea for a book. >> so we're talking about december of 1960. jfk has been elected but has not yet been inaugurated. walk us through the details. a little bit of what happened. >> yeah. so this is three years before lee harvey oswald takes the famous shot. >> and we're in a beautiful sunny day in palm beach. and it's, as you said, right after he's elected, before the inauguration, and jfk is on his way to church. and what he doesn't know is there's a disgruntled former postal worker named richard pavlick who wants to kill him. and he's packed his car with seven sticks of dynamite. and as jfk comes out of his house, he doesn't realize pavlick is hiding there. pavlick picked palm beach because he thinks jfk security is weaker there, which he's right about. so as jfk leaves, all this assassin has to do is hit the little trigger mechanism and boom will go the dynamite. and

what saves jfk's life that day? i won't ruin the ending for you, but it has to do with jackie. and it is the start of one of the craziest jfk stories you've never heard in your life. >> you know, brad, i believe that pavlick worked in the south postal annex in boston, and so there's some familiarity in new england still of people of a certain age, remnants of this story. but it is amazing, amazing that this story has been just it has disappeared. it never really surfaced and had legs as a story. and i think pavlick just died in in the mid 70s or early 70s up in new hampshire, but remained anonymous for all that time. how does it happen even though you know the news business and there's no social media back then? but still, it was it was a critical component of the of jfk's assuming the presidency that has been missed by history

until now. >> yeah. you know, and i just love a good story. and what i loved about the story is it doesn't just tell the story of jfk or pavlick, but it also involves jackie, and we don't pull our punches there. we show you jfk's affairs. you see that when jackie goes into labor and she's hemorrhaging, that jfk is nowhere to be found, he's on his way to on a plane to florida. and what was fascinating to me is as i was researching the book, i kept saying, well, where does camelot come from? we always call it camelot, but where does that start? and i ase grants one interview to life magazine, and sheporter over anm tells him this exclusive story that basically when jfk was alive and his back was hurting him in the white house, what she used to do was put on his favorite record, a song about a place called camelot. and we forget that so she was a member of the press.

she was obviously hounded by the press, but make no mistake, she was a master of the press. jackie is the one who inserted that word camelot into our lexicon. she's the one who put it there, writing jfk's legacy before anyone else could. so, as my wife said, her favorite parts of this book are watching their marriage and watching what jackie does. >> she's so savvy, you know, and i believe the reporter that she spoke to from life magazine was theodore h. white. >> it was theodore h. white who got that famous thing. he was there until after midnight. she worked on that speech. and what i what i think is so important to remember is the kennedys. you know, jfk and jackie are our first celebrity presidents. and i don't mean, you know, obviously, every president is famous in their own way. and lincoln waves off the back of trains the same way truman does. but talking about hollywood famous, right, that hollywood celebrity that people have chased so badly with the fame and the houses and the money. and for me, we all know it's a hollow pursuit. and you can say some people think that that's what reagan is. some people think it's what the obamas are.

some people think it's of course, what trump is. but to me, all of them have been cosplaying jfk and jackie. and what isn't a hollow pursuit, though? fame may be hollow, but you know what isn't is hope. and what jfk did in that inaugural address was give the world hope again. and right now, as we're on that precipice of getting another inaugural address, and the one you're showing right now is one of the greatest ever written. we all know leadership is not about being in charge. it's about taking care of those in your charge. that's what jfk did better than anyone is unleashing that hope. >> so brad, it's also striking to me that there are few moments in american history that are more highly scrutinized than the assassination attempt that was successful of jfk, and yet we know so little about this one. so my question to you is, after this moment does happen in 1960, maybe the public wasn't that aware of it, but certainly president elect at that point, kennedy was the secret service, was the team was was there any adjustments made? were there any things that they take into effect? was there any legacy of that attempt on him?

>> you know, three years before dallas, you know, the head of the secret service at the time said that in his history of doing this, this is the closest anyone has come to killing a u.s. president, which, of course, makes them make adjustments. and we at the end of the book, we of course, start with this assassination. that didn't happen. we end, of course, showing you jackie's point of view of what happened in the real assassination. and what strikes me is, of course, how unprepared they are even three years later when they know what's coming. but to me, what what is so interesting? if you want to know who killed jfk in the assassination, it's if you look in the 60s when jfk dies, we blame it on the russians. we blame it on our enemies. at the height of the cold war, the cubans did it. the russians, the soviets did it. if you look in the 70s as watergate peaks and we mistrust the government who killed jfk, it was our own government did it. lbj did it, the cia did it. if you look in the 80s as the godfather movies peak, guess who killed jfk? it was the mob. so if you want to know who killed jfk, it's decade

by decade. whoever america is most afraid of at that moment in time. >> and this story is so fascinating, so many details that most people don't know, including the help of a mail carrier in foiling the plot by reading some of this guy's postcards. fascinating. the new book, the jfk conspiracy the secret plot to kill kennedy and why it failed, is on sale now. new york times bestselling author brad meltzer. brad, congrats on the book and thanks for being here. >> appreciate it. >> still ahead, we'll take you some of the key takeaways from yesterday's senate confirmation hearings of several trump cabinet nominees for major posts, including secretary of state and attorney general. plus, we'll address last night. and look at the legacy he leaves behind as he prepares to hand power to donald trump. morning joe is coming trump. morning joe is coming right back. dry... tired... itchy, burning... my dry eye symptoms got worse over time.

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emeritus of the council on foreign relations. richard haass. he's author of the weekly

newsletter home and away, available on substack and nbc news. senior executive editor for national security. david rohde is with us again this morning. good to have you all. >> big news. and, willie, what what an eventful day of news. of course we had hearings yesterday. some look like they're going to sell through pretty easily. others were contentious at times. we'll be getting to that. los angeles looks like there may be hope in the coming days that they're going to be able to contain some of these horrific fires. joe biden's address last night, sort of echoing eisenhower's prescient threat of a military industrial complex, which has proven to be the case over the past 70 years, where you have the congress pushing for weapons systems that the pentagon doesn't even want, but the big story. the possibility of this

cease fire deal. and, yes, there's going to be squabbling back and forth by both camps. but david sanger reporting today, peter baker reporting today that what happened in negotiations, nothing short of historic and incoming and outgoing administration having their aides coordinate in the closest of ways the end of just a bloody, brutal war. >> yeah. even in the busy news day you laid out above the fold on all of the newspapers this morning, is this news of a cease fire deal that you have here in the new york times, the wall street journal, and all the other papers? and yet, despite what we just saw a moment ago from president biden saying, are you serious? who should get credit for this deal? turns out there was behind the scenes collaboration between the incoming administration and the outgoing one to get this deal, which looks a little tenuous this morning. but there are high hopes that at least some of these hostages will go home, and

that aid will start to flow into gaza. >> yeah, the hostage situation would be the end of agony, at least for some families. israel's claiming hamas has reneged, though, on a ceasefire deal that would end 15 months of fighting in the gaza strip and three dozens of hostages in an effort to gain concessions, according to the israeli prime minister's office. the israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify israel that hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement. the prime minister's office did not elaborate. a senior hamas official says that hamas is committed to the ceasefire agreement. >> and david ignatius, let's talk about that for just half a second. and we're going to outline the contours of the deal. but just for people waking up this morning hearing this news, the truth is that benjamin netanyahu was taking it from the most right wing, most orthodox elements of his coalition. so i

must say, when i was reading that last night, i expected some sort of pushback from netanyahu, sort of to try to flex so his government didn't collapse because the hardliners on the far, far right, we're talking about trying to undermine his government. maybe that's his way of doing it this morning. what can you tell us? >> so, joe, after so many months of fighting, so much suffering for both israel and the palestinians, you can't help but rejoice in this news that there's finally going to be a ceasefire 42 days, not a permanent ceasefire yet. and the release of the hostages who've been held so cruelly, they'll begin to come out if all holds on sunday, begin to reunite with their families, including some americans. officials say two americans are likely to be released in this first group. what's held this up for so many months are the details of

precisely who the hamas fighters are holding and where they're held. and i think more important, who israel will release among palestinian prisoners held in israeli israeli jails. officials say there will be hundreds of palestinians coming out as as the hostages are released. how many of those will be people carrying life sentences for having murdered israelis? that's the kind of thing that israelis may be studying at the last minute. they've gone over literally every name on this list as they've come down to the final negotiations. i think the thing that worries me, joe, most about this deal is that there still is not in israel a clear sense of what the day after the end of this war will look like. that's something the u.s. has been pressing for many months. and to me, the details still aren't clear, which means that gaza is going to be a lawless place, a messy, ungoverned place for a long while to come. so

let's talk about some of those details. if this deal does hold, it would have several phases. phase one would begin on sunday and last for 42 days. during that time, 33 hostages would be freed by hamas. two of those are expected to be americans. in return, israel would release 100 palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and 1000 other prisoners not involved in the october 7th attacks. it also would provide a large amount of humanitarian aid to gaza 600 trucks a day, and allow for hospitals and health care centers in the enclave to be rebuilt. future phases aimed to bring a permanent end to the war, with remaining hostages and soldiers exchanged, israeli forces withdrawing and reconstruction in gaza beginning. let's bring in nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel, live from jerusalem. richard, what more can you tell us about this, how it came together and how long it may hold?

>> well, things are already looking quite difficult. so today, this morning, there was supposed to be a meeting by the held by israelis, prime minister benjamin netanyahu with his security cabinet, and they were supposed to formally ratify the deal. that meeting has been postponed, as some israeli media are saying it's going to be held tonight, although that's not entirely confirmed. the israeli prime minister's office hasn't given an explicit reason why the meeting has been postponed. just accusing hamas of trying to renege on the deal. but as as david ignatius was saying just a short while ago, it does seem to be focused on the issue of palestinian prisoners, which palestinian prisoners could be released, who has the ultimate veto power of releasing palestinian prisoners? hamas has a list of names. israel is objecting to some of those names. so until this is signed, it's not going forward. but the

good news is it doesn't seem to be off. no one has said that the deal isn't isn't happening. no one is saying that the deal has been called off. it just isn't being ratified yet. until they can work out these last minute details, and it is not supposed to go into effect until sunday. so there's still is a little bit of time. there's also ongoing military operations that were heavy strikes by israel into gaza overnight. and according to local medical officials, 71 palestinians have been killed in gaza just since this deal was announced yesterday. and according to those palestinian medical officials, the majority of them were women and children. so just a few hours after the deal, the deal was announced. during the period of darkness here or last night local time. it is now sort of mid-morning, late morning here in israel. there's already quite a high

death toll. the israelis haven't signed it. hamas says that they never tried to change the terms of the deal. they're asking for the americans to intervene and resolve this problem. they're accusing prime minister netanyahu of looking for an excuse so that he doesn't have to go forward to this deal with this deal, so that he can placate members of his right wing coalition. there are problems already. a few hours after the deal, but so far the problems seem to be on a i don't want to call them manageable scale, but but no one has has called it off. no one has walked away. no one has said the deal is dead and we still have until sunday. >> all right. nbc's richard engel, as always, thank you so much for your reporting. we greatly appreciate it. so a few things here. first of all, nobody should be surprised that benjamin netanyahu is looking

for an excuse to scuttle a deal that's defined his negotiations over the past year. but you look at the leverage now that is being employed against him. yes, he may have leverage from the extremists on the far, far right who were saying they're going to try to undermine his government and end his government, but he has two american presidents, one who has been negotiating with him over the past year or so and actually had the outlines of this deal all the way back in may. and an incoming president, donald trump, who has said he expects this to be done by by the time he gets into office. why would that have any weight in israel? because benjamin netanyahu is not extraordinarily popular in israel. donald trump, though, is just like joe biden

after october 7th, had the highest approval ratings of any politician in israel. now donald trump is in that position and it's not even close. so there is pressure on netanyahu. and perhaps this is just his his final dance with the extremists on his hard, hard right, to try to get a deal that that won't have them bolting. but, you know, richard, you not only have donald trump and joe biden pushing for this, you have the saudis, the emiratis, the jordanians, other sunni arab nations around the region that want this deal done. and with a very, very good possibility that israel and the saudis are going to come to some sort of peacemaking deal in the next several months, which will probably include the saudis helping to rebuild gaza, along with the emiratis and other

countries. it seems that most of the pressure coming from all sides is to get this deal over the finish line, with even hamas begging the americans to intervene and get the deal done. >> well, joe, what's come together in the stars have aligned up to a point is several of the things you point out. i actually think the biggest factor is the weakening of hezbollah. it isolated hamas. it obviously led to the loss of the regime in syria. iran is much weaker, can no longer deter israel. and i think that more than anything else, set the stage along with the military weakening of hamas. so i think that is critical. the negotiators have to negotiate in a context. and it wasn't that suddenly tony blinken and jake sullivan and steve witkoff became brilliant negotiators yesterday, and they weren't for the last few months. it's that the context changed. and

hezbollah, hamas, felt enormous pressure. and also the israelis didn't want to get off on the wrong foot with the new trump administration, which wants this issue to some extent pushed off the agenda, almost like the reagan administration wanted the hostages when jimmy carter was leaving off the agenda. they didn't want to be saddled with this. and i think, as david pointed out, i think there's a pretty good chance we ultimately get through phase one. phase two gets really tricky, and phase three is a sentence, and we're not even in the right zip code yet to deal with the fundamental issues of governance in gaza and so forth. i think you're right that the trump administration also wants the normalization between saudi arabia and israel, and it's quite possible the saudis will settle for very little on the palestinian front in order to get it, because they want the security commitment and the nuclear help from the united states, which i think the administration, the new administration would be, would be prepared to give them. but we shouldn't kid ourselves. we're

still in the first inning of the israeli palestinian relationship, both in gaza and even more so when it comes to the to the west bank. >> so, david, assuming this does go into effect on sunday, it does so with 24 hours left in the presidency of joe biden, a closing moment for his administration. but as peter baker and his team report in the front page of the new york times, this was a joint effort that steve witkoff, the mideast envoy for the trump administration, was a part of. these negotiations met with netanyahu a couple of days ago to pressure him to accept the cease fire deal with biden's team there, as well. brett mcgurk on the phone, according to this reporting. so i guess the question is, what does this deal look like? beginning on monday under the trump administration, does that help its odds or hurt its odds of being effective in going forward? >> it depends on donald trump. easy answer, in a way. but will he you know, he warned that all hell was going to break loose if this wasn't resolved. is he committed to that? will he really threaten netanyahu? i doubt it, you know, publicly, but privately will he do that?

and that risks his strong standing in israel. so that's the key because it's pressuring netanyahu to actually follow through on this and turn on these far right members of his governing coalition. and that's, you know, trump is good at making threats. will he deliver them here effectively? >> still ahead on morning joe, we're taking a look at yesterday's confirmation hearings on capitol hill, including what senator marco rubio had to say before lawmakers. plus, a preview of who will be in the hot seat later this morning. we're back in 90s. and dry today. >> thanks for calling. consumer cellular ranked number one in network coverage and customer satisfaction. >> hi. my friend linda has you guys and gets way better coverage than i do. >> sounds like linda has you beat. >> not at bowling. >> you're breaking up a little. >> are you really ranked number one in coverage? yep. >> and plans start at just $20. >> oh, we could afford lessons for linda. >> you're embarrassing yourself. >> at least my phone works.

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(fisher investments) at fisher investments, we're clearly different. president biden delivered his farewell address to the nation, capping four years in the white house as president and more than five decades in politics. speaking from the oval office, biden touted his legacy but also issued a series of stark warnings to the country as he prepares to cede power to president elect trump. >> i want to warn the country of some things that give me great concern. this is a dangerous country, and that's a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra wealthy people. the dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked. today, an oligarchy is taking shape in

america of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy. our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead. i'm equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech industrial complex that could pose real dangers for our country as well. americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of power. the free press is crumbling, editors are disappearing. social media is giving up on fact checking. the truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit. we must hold the social platforms accountable to protect our children, our families and our very democracy from the abuse of power. meanwhile, artificial intelligence is the most

consequential technology of our time, perhaps of all time. nothing offers more profound possibilities and risks for our economy and our security, our society. unless safeguards are in place. i could spawn new threats to our rights, our way of life, to our privacy, how we work and how we protect our nation. we must make sure ai is safe and trustworthy and good for all humankind. we need to amend the constitution to make clear that no president, no president is immune from crimes that he or she commits while in office. the president's power is not limited. it's not absolute, and it shouldn't be. after 50 years of public service, i give you my word. i still believe in the idea for which this nation stands. a nation where the strength of our institutions and

the character of our people matter and must endure. now it's your turn to stand guard. may you all be the keeper of the flame. may you keep the faith. i love america. you love it too. god bless you all. and may god protect our troops. thank you for this great honor, jonathan lemire, it's always a hard to figure out what will last, what will fall by the wayside as the years go by. >> but certainly with the rise of ai. hard not to imagine that his warning again, his eisenhower like warning against the tech industrial complex as as the power of ai rises largely unregulated and as silicon valley grows more powerful by the moment again largely unregulated, and the leaders there line up to make sure that

donald trump will not have any need to go after them, to regulate them, to have the government doing what i think most americans would want the government to do, having some sort of oversight role. that warning seems prescient and seems like something we may be looking back on 20, 30 years from now with regret that more people didn't listen, just like more people didn't listen to dwight eisenhower. >> yeah, that's clearly the takeaway line here in this remarkable speech. >> there are two distinct themes. last night, the president delivered from the oval office. the first was sort of a love letter to the country talking about the statue of liberty and those who built it, and what it means for the nation to his own. his own story was sprinkled in there a little bit. you could see the pictures behind him there on the desk, including his late son, beau biden. he talked about how he still loves america and believes in its future, but and a defense somewhat of his record. and you

could tell he made pointedly clear that he believes his team deserves the lion's share of the credit for this cease fire deal in in gaza. but, joe, you're right. it also much of the speech was was fairly dark in a real a real warning. he used the word oligarchs, oligarchs, the united states of america. you know, he didn't name names, but it's pretty clear that some of these tech leaders surrounding donald trump right now were in his sights. he did talk indeed about the tech industrial complex, invoking dwight eisenhower's famous farewell speech that included, of course, the worries about ai. he he talked about the need to defend the united states still. and david ignatius, you know, he 50 years a 50 year public career in public service from the senate, the vice presidency, the president. a lot of personal heartache here at the end, obviously, disappointment that his mission was to defeat donald trump, which he did a strong legislative record for a time, but then to relinquish the stage again and ahead of donald trump's return. what were some

of your takeaways last night from his address, but in particular that war, that stark warning about the tech industrial complex, one that i believe is how this speech will be remembered? i think that was the signature line to me. the irony of his warning is that these tech leaders, until very recently, for the most part, have been seen as supporters of the democratic party. silicon valley had been a stronghold of liberal views, and that, in an extraordinary way, has flipped in the last year as prominent people. mark zuckerberg of meta, jeff bezos, the head of amazon, the person who owns the washington post where i work, others in the tech industry have have really embraced trump, come to, to support his ideas. so i think it's that movement that's troubling president biden. this tech industrial complex is at

once the key to our future prosperity, our ability to be the dominant player in the world, the incredible innovation of our tech sector is one of the wonders of america. and in another sense, a danger whose dimensions we just don't understand very well. yet we see this huge, complex, ever, ever more powerful, ever, ever more central to our economy. i would note that president biden had an opportunity during his presidency to rein in these technology industries, to regulate them more, and generally didn't generally held back from that. he was pressed by by some progressives to do more. he didn't. his most decisive pronouncement on ai, the key technology, has been to work with the government for greater safety and transparency, not to suppress the technology or the leaders. so i think this, at the very end of the speech, what moved me was biden in that kind of soft, almost wispy voice

saying, now it's your turn. and he has given his whole life to politics, to these public issues that matter so much. now it's your turn. and he's really saying, i'm worried about some things like these oligarchs. now you need to deal with them. >> coming up, the senior u.s. senator from california is our guest. we'll talk to democrat alex padilla about the wildfires raging in los angeles and his sharp line of questioning yesterday to pam bondi during her confirmation hearing for attorney general. morning joe is back in a moment. the fields divided one by one, and the divided one by one, and the train conductor check in time is 3:00 it's 2:55. i know. is this what he's doing now? as your host, i have some rules. first, no showers longer than 5 minutes. this isn't a spa. no games. no fun.

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doctor if zimmer is right for you. >> tonight, president biden sits down with lawrence o'donnell in the final exclusive oval office interview of his presidency. they'll discuss his achievements, his legacy and what's ahead for the country. the last word tonight at ten on msnbc. >> donald trump plans to reshape the u.s. government as we know it. >> democrats have wasted no time in laying the groundwork to fight the incoming trump administration. >> the conversation right now is like, oh, we have to win back working class voters. >> but who are people talking about? >> it's no surprise that this is a time of reflection and reassessment for democrats. >> donald trump wants a presidential cabinet full of loyalists that are going to push through his extreme agenda. >> don't miss the weekends, saturday and sunday mornings at eight on msnbc. >> will you commit to working with chairman risch and me to prioritize the advancement and confirmation of career state department officials?

>> well, the answer to that is yes. but i would also point to the fact that i think we're going to begin by prioritizing. we're going to look at what are the key issues in the world. there are obviously every post in the world is important or it shouldn't exist. and then the question is, which are the ones we bring to you first? and those are the ones that i think are most critical. >> richard, let's go back to marco rubio, very likely to become the next secretary of state, barring something unforeseen here. what world is he inheriting? and just based on his experience and who he is, what kind of secretary of state do you expect him to be? >> well, i think the good news for him, willie, is he'll sail through, maybe even by voice vote. the bad news is he's going to sail through. it's going to be really tough. he inherits a dysfunctional state department. you. you've doubled the number of assistant secretaries and others. it just doesn't work. almost most of the authority and power has shifted to the white house and the national security council. under any administration, you've got more special envoys than i can count. you not only now have an ambassador to the united kingdom, you have a special

envoy to the united kingdom. and then you've got some other special envoys who are circulating around who i think you know, are looking at marco rubio's job. plus, rubio doesn't have the same relationship, say, with the president. take jim baker and george bush, sr. it's not something that's forged over a lifetime. i just think it's going to be extraordinarily tough for, you know, for him, it's not a criticism of him. i actually think, you know, he's a good choice. i just think it's going to be a really tough road to hoe at a time that the inbox is unbelievably full. you've got ukraine and we're already seeing the president. president elect trump is pushing off some of the ambitions on ukraine taking a more. he's not going to solve it in a day. the middle east yes, will have a deal probably. but it's going to get phase one. maybe phase two. not not more questions of what to do about iran and the big question of china. marco rubio came out very tough on china. and the question is how are we going to translate that toughness into policy? what are we actually going to do? so

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announcements. we have, of course, the vice chair of the 3050 summit, huma abedin, and the editor of forbes women, maggie mcgrath. so, huma, we'll start with you. one woman who we will be hearing from is an incredibly talented actress who's dedicated her life to uplifting women and girls. and she will actually be playing you in an upcoming tv series. who is she? >> well, that incredibly talented actress and activist is freida pinto. >> and beautiful and beautiful. >> agreed. >> i think the world remember her when she burst on stage with slumdog millionaire. >> since then, she has appeared in films like rise of the planet of the apes, desert dancer, hillbilly elegy, mr. malcolms list, my mother's wedding. to each of those roles, she brings a combination of vulnerability, strength, and authenticity. she promised last year she would come, and she had filming to do. and she's keeping that promise coming this year as a founder of

a production company called freebird films, she is using that platform to lift up the stories of other women. and as you mentioned, i am thrilled to be working on this next and honored to be working on this netflix series with her. and as an activist. she uses her voice and her platform to talk about the importance of girls education worldwide, lifting up the story of the 60 million girls around the world who are not educated, and explaining to them through these letters that she writes through her work with girl rising, this organization, this movement that's dedicated to girls education. she also is the co-founder of a platform called rookie wellness and anya, which is focused on postpartum care for women, something that in america we don't talk about very often with women and a need for that nourishing phase of their life. freida pinto is a woman who knows her value. and uses all these different platforms to lift up the value of girls around the world, and we will ask her about that on

stage in abu dhabi. >> i love it, maggie. we're going to be hearing from women athletes who know everything about breaking barriers, a sneak peek for us, and also overcoming significant odds. >> yusra mardini is an olympic swimmer, but also a syrian refugee who fled war in her country in 2015. but not only that, she saved the lives of fellow refugees by swimming them to safety. she was just 17 years old when that happened. and, you know, before escaping from the war, she had been training with the syrian olympic committee in order to compete in the olympic games in 2016. that dream became a reality. she made history by joining the first ever olympic refugee team. she competed again in 2020. she was the flag bearer that year. in 2017, yusra made history out of the pool by becoming the youngest ever goodwill ambassador for the united nations high commissioner for refugees. she is an

outspoken advocate for refugee rights around the world, but she has kept her home country very close to heart the whole time, and i think that's one of the reasons we are so, so fortunate to have her joining us in this particular year. we will be speaking to her on stage. three months after the assad regime was toppled. and she has said that she has so much hope for the syrian people. she's praying for a chance to rebuild the country. and i think there's no better person to talk to about resilience and hope. two things we can never have too much of. >> absolutely. huma. also taking to our stage is a woman who's no stranger to covering conflict, humanitarian crises and women's issues around the world. tell us who she is. >> we have award winning photojournalist lynsey addario, who has covered conflict and humanitarian crises for the last 25 years on behalf of the new york times and national geographic. she has been everywhere from afghanistan to iraq to libya, lebanon, darfur,

south sudan, somalia, the democratic republic of congo, yemen, syria and has been covering the ongoing war in ukraine. she has been named one of the five most influential photographers of the past 25 years, because the argument is that she is changing the way we see the world's conflicts, and you're seeing it in these images on your screen. she takes you through the front lines of the conflict, but showing how the impact is on families, on communities, societies. in her third year in ukraine, she covered these stunning images of children who were dealing with life threatening illnesses and the impact that the russian invasion of ukraine was having on these families. being able to get health care in syria right after the fall of assad, she was there on the ground covering the images of these mothers who went to go look for their sons who

had been missing. there are 100,000 men who are missing in in syria and takes these human lives and shows how important it is and the impact it is to have on these women, risking her life, balancing work and family. and she's going to talk about that on stage. thrilled to have lynsey. >> amazing. maggie. obviously gender equality is a huge topic at our summit, and it's hard to have that discussion without actually talking to our male allies, of which there are many. so who will be joining us on this front? >> i'm so pleased to say that alexis ohanian, the co-founder of reddit and also seven, seven six ventures, an early stage venture capital firm with nearly $1 billion in assets under management, will be joining us. but he does not just fund underrepresented entrepreneurs. he has been instrumental in making strategic investments in women's sports. he was a founding owner in angel city fc, and has really added to the

momentum of this moment for women in sports. and he says, yes, i'm a girl, dad. yes, i'm married to the goat, serena williams. but he looks at his work through a capitalistic lens. he says that women's sports have been an undervalued asset, and there's real money to be made by investing in it. there's real money to be made by investing in underrepresented founders. and i would just say that in a moment when one of his peers in silicon valley is talking about adding more masculine energy to industries already dominated by men, alexis offers an important and refreshing counterpoint. >> so we also have some. well, we're going to be announcing more speakers in the weeks to come. there are a few we can't tell you about yet. huma abedin, maggie mcgrath. thank you both. great job. we're going to have more exciting 3050 speaker announcements in the weeks to come. as i said, we would love for you all to join us at the 3050 summit. you can get all the

details at know your value. dot com and forbes.com. the countdown begins. and up next on morning joe, two of the cast members of the emmy award winning show severance and the series creator join us straight ahead with a preview of season two. keep it right here on morning joe. >> and here we go. >> your consumer cellular tower. >> i didn't know they built towers. >> they don't. >> consumer cellular uses the same towers as big wireless, but then passes the savings on to you. >> so i get the same nationwide coverage if i switch. >> yep. save your money for something else. speaking of, i ordered some thai food. thank you. oh, shoot. >> i'll go get it. >> pretty high up here, isn't it? for unlimited talk and text with reliable coverage and your second month free call, consumer cellular, this is proof linearizer. >> and it puts an end to litter box snake. other products claim

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five times faster than job postings. get your own paychex recruiting copilot now at paychex.com/tv. >> the second inauguration of donald trump morning joe kicks off coverage. then at 10 a.m, rachel maddow and team will bring you key moments of the day, followed by analysis from our prime time anchors as the new term begins monday, beginning at six on msnbc. >> it's important to remember that for all the statistics and square mileage and square

footage and number of people displaced, they're all individual people with their homes, with their lives. >> driving around, there's almost nothing left standing. >> occasionally you'll see a house that's okay or a street that's okay. but that's occasional. >> i continue to see, and i want to shout out one more time, the first responders who are responding in this mutual aid effort from all over southern california. it really has brought out the best and most inspiring part about human beings. >> i know you're still weighing whether to return to lumen. >> the mark i've come to know is happy. >> hello? is anyone there? >> is the board on its mark? >> what you all did was one of the most painful moments in the history of this company. >> what the hell? >> but the four of you have become known as the face of

severance reform. >> okay, so we're not in trouble. >> i don't think so, milchick said. we're famous. all of us equally are. one of us is like the star. >> not if you feel that is a peek at season two of the emmy winning hit show severance on apple tv+, it follows a group of white collar employees at lumen industries who've undergone an irreversible medical procedure that separates their memories from their work lives with those from their personal lives. in season two, the group of macrodata refiners continue to try to unravel the many mysteries that come with being a severed employee at lumen. after they were briefly unsevered at the end of season one. spoiler alert if you haven't watched season one yet. joining us now, two of the show's costars, brit lauer and tramell tillman, and the emmy nominated creator, executive producer and writer of severance, dan erickson. guys, it's so great to have you here. good morning. >> good morning. >> so, dan, we don't want to give away too much here. but

first of all, you made people wait, which was brilliant. fans are so excited. they've been waiting what, three years or something like that. yeah, that was the strategy. we could have done this much quicker, but we're like, no three years. that's the. that's the magic. yes. the magic era. the appetite is wet. so for people who have not seen the series yet, and i'm told there are some still remaining, how do you explain what this show is about? well, honestly, you just explained it better than i've ever been able to. i usually take about 15 minutes to talk through it, but you know, at the end of the day, i think we've all had jobs that we wish we could disassociate from and sort of not haveexperiu don't. but other people. >> yeah. >> and, you know, i think that we all have the feeling of being different people at work sometimes than we are in our personal lives. and that's kind of what it's about. it's such a brilliant concept. i don't know where it came from in your mind, but we can talk about that. so, brit, when you heard this story,

when you got the script and you heard that dan was working on this, what did you make of the concept? what did you think? >> well, dan's extraordinary pilot was so fun to read. i'm sure you remember that too. and there was just a kind of singularity to it, a unique quality to the way these characters interacted. and i personally fell in love with helly r on the page immediately. and yeah, there's just a sense of something really fresh that dan created. >> so trammell, joe, our co-host, name on the door, huge fan of your show. and he joins us with a question for you, joe. >> it really is disturbing how much i love this show. i would i would so you all don't even know. but apple would drop this at 4 a.m. every friday morning. i would get up and i would watch from four to like 445 or 5 or

whatever, because it's the only show i told. >> i told ben you're not well, ben. >> it's the only show that that i. that it's so compelling. but but trammell, i think one of the things that that so crazy about this show is if you love it and if you love the characters, you're desperate for them to get out. you're desperate for them to break out of these bonds. talk about talk about the power. i'm sure it surprised you all. i was kind of surprised when i saw my friends got the show i like, but i'm not sure if you're going to get it, but just try it. i it really took off. i mean, were you surprised by how successful this pretty complicated show was? >> absolutely. >> you know, whenever you work on a piece, you never know how it's going to turn out. >> and i knew that there was something special about this when i read the pilot, and i wanted to be a part of it. and i was grateful to audition with

ben and dan and really sink my teeth in creating who milchick is in this world. and just to sit back and watch the reactions, the excitement, and knowing that you woke up at 4:00 in the morning to tune in is a joy. >> well, you know, brett, it's compelling from the very beginning. we start with you lying on top of a table in an office boardroom. you're like, what the hell is this? but what's so incredible about the show is it really is. it's a puzzle, and it's a puzzle that we're still piecing together. and i can't wait to see how those pieces fit together in this season. talk about how not only it's a puzzle, but also your character, the innie, and the audi. there's this beautiful duality to it that actually, i think is universal for all people. >> well, i think you actually spoke one of my lines of dialog, which is what the hell is going on here? and, you know, helly is on that really hungry mission in

season one, asking that question, where is i? we shouldn't spoil it for people who haven't seen season one, but my audi is on a really different journey. as you mentioned, the duality there. and yeah, to be all of these characters kind of awakened by helly ahs questioning of why, what's going on and being kind of that audience avatar of looking at this strange, beautiful world that dan created. and yeah, asking why? >> yeah, dan, it's so strange. i just have to ask, what's wrong with you? where did this come from? wow, what isn't wrong with that? i love how long do you have? i love hearing hearing exactly. i love creative forces, though. talking about where they first got the spark of an idea like this. where did you where did you first kind of get the

spark of the idea? >> well, the truth is, i was just working a job i really, really didn't like. >> i was i was working, you know, in an office in a little basement office in los angeles and was walking into work one day and just caught myself having this kind of dark, messed up thought, which is, what if i what if i didn't have to experience the next eight hours of my life? >> what if i could just totally disassociate from that? i totally would, i would jump ahead to the 5:00 pm and, you know, i think in theory, we should all want to experience all of our life not, you know, we should want to experience all all this limited time that we have on earth. and so i was like, well, that's that's interesting that i caught myself thinking that. and i wonder what that means. and the story just kind of came from there. i spent the rest of the day writing down ideas for the show, and i got in trouble from my boss for not getting any work done. and the rest is history. it paid off, i think. not paying attention to

your job and doing this worked out pretty well. that's the moral. yeah, exactly right. ignore the ignore the work. guys. i want to play another clip from this season where each of your characters interact with mark s, played by adam scott. >> kelly. we're not the same, actually. us in the 80s were not. and speaking for myself, i don't think we owe them. but miss casey is. she's one of us. so if you want to help your audi and find out what happened to her. >> i'll help. >> i locked you in a room like an animal. mark. as an unsevered man, i'll carry that knowledge the rest of my life. but for the past five months, we've been asking how a sadist like harmony cobel could take fertile root in

lumen's soil. and what that says about us. we also know miss cobel was at your sister's home when you awoke there. >> yeah. >> why was that? >> we believe she developed an erotic fixation on you and had plans to pursue both you and your audi and what might be termed a throuple. >> what a throuple. janelle. >> oh, dear. >> you know, watch watching those clips, it strikes me that you have the rare combination of a great conceit in the show, great writing and then great performances by you guys. that's rare in your business. you can have one some sometimes, but you rarely get all of those in one place. is that fair to say? >> i'm absolutely. and we're also fortunate that we all get along. there's a lot of love and respect on that set, and i don't know if you can have a show as high profile and specific if there's not a level of respect

and camaraderie and collaboration that's happening. >> there was a moment that's gone viral. i'm sure you guys, you were there, but i don't know if you know that it's gone viral. this was the severance cast. this is inside grand central station, appearing at a pop up recreation of the workspace from the show. this is inside grand central terminal. people are rushing past to go to work this week. what was that like in that box? >> guys, i have no recollection of that. >> there you go. >> you're severed. >> good. yeah. >> you're saying this for the first time. there it is. >> what are we doing there? >> what an idea, dan. >> that's cool. it was so cool. >> and when i when i heard that we were going to do this and actually try to pull it off, i was just so excited. and it was like, you just sort of saw this crowd kind of organically gather. we didn't really tell anybody we were doing it, and so it just kind of accrued over the course of it. and it was so fun. >> it was really fun to be able to improv and just find things to do. so that clip of, you

know, adam pushing that vacuum, that was just an idea that we had backstage, and i was knocking things off the table right behind him like a cat, just like, go pick it up. can you pick it up? >> just making trouble. >> we could have done that all day. honestly. >> yes, i bet mika. >> all right, i have a question for dan. as we close the creator of severance, you created this world where people are severed from their workplace. and i'm just curious. that's severance. what would you call us? where work is home. and home is work 24 hours a day, seven days a week? almost. >> are you saying you'd like some severance? i know, i'm just wondering what it would feel like, but even we've got these blended families, our work family, really? >> our home families. we're married. i mean, it never stops. it's definitely not severance. >> yeah, i you know, i always thought severance was sort of

the ultimate nightmare, but you guys are sort of living on the other end of the spectrum. >> perhaps this is the ultimate nightmare. who knows? season two of severance premiere premieres tomorrow on apple tv+ with the. >> we're so excited, guys. >> hey, congratulations. >> congratulations on this. thank you so much. >> new episodes every friday through march 21st. so grab those costars brit lauer and trammell tillman and creative executive producer and writer dan erickson. thank you all. congratulations on your success. >> are you ready to wake up at 4 a.m. every morning? well, friday. >> you're so crazy. >> yeah. >> you always you always watch. and then i find out later, and then we don't watch. yeah. okay. tomorrow show, we're going to bring you joe's. sit down with severance star adam scott and director ben stiller. so that's a great interview. that will be fun. it is now two minutes past the top of our fourth hour of

morning joe, and we're going to get to the news now, starting with the latest from the middle east. israel is claiming hamas has created a last minute crisis and that its cabinet will not meet meet to approve the ceasefire deal announced yesterday. until hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement, a senior hamas official says hamas is committed to the ceasefire agreement. we asked white house national security communications adviser john kirby about it moments ago on morning joe. what is the very latest on these negotiations on the cease fire deal between israel and hamas, and reports that it might be breaking down. >> it's not breaking down. micah. there are some implementing details that still need to be flattened out here. prime minister netanyahu spoke about that a little bit earlier today. we're confident that that we're going to be able to work our way through these final implementation, implementing details, confident that it will, that it'll get it'll get ironed out, and we'll get started on

sunday. >> all right. so let's bring in nbc news international correspondent danielle hamamdjian live from tel aviv danielle, what's the latest. well good morning to you. >> i'm in hostage square where it is fairly quiet here. >> not a lot of people, but they are building a stage behind me for what they hope will be a bigger crowd in the next few hours and in the next few days. >> and people are crossing their fingers that this will go ahead. >> but i have to say that the news today, that the votes that were supposed to take place in the morning has now been delayed, has been met with disappointment, but not surprise. i was here yesterday and in fact, we started off our evening in front of the defense ministry where people were protesting. they were emotional. they were sad. they were angry. there was no celebratory mood here. they're angry because they know that this deal was put on the table back in may. but i asked one woman what she thought about the deal and she says, i

don't believe it. and she didn't say it out of shock. she said it out of sheer disbelief. that is the sheer distrust in this government. they don't believe that they will go ahead with it. they don't believe until they see the hostages come back to israel. they do not believe that this deal is going to go ahead. now. in the past hour, we have heard from president herzog, who's met with the family members of the hostages. and i just want to read you part of his statement where he says that there are stubborn negotiations on a very significant detail and that he expects and he hopes that this is going to end as soon as possible. now, i have been told by sources, according or familiar with the matter, that the issue now is about eight names of palestinian prisoners. now, as you know, the first stage of this deal will see the release of 33 hostages in exchange for hundreds and hundreds of palestinian

prisoners, among them women and children, yes, but also high profile prisoners who are serving life sentences. and so there are a number of them. we don't have their names or their list. but if i had to guess, i would say that somebody like marwan barghouti, who is serving five life sentences, could be on this list. his release. hamas has said in the past they are committed to israel, has said in the past they will never let him out, but he. poll after poll shows that he has the support of both hamas supporters and fatah supporters, the more progressive palestinians, and he is the one man who the majority of palestinians would like to see as the president of their future state. >> and nbc's daniele hamamdjian live for us in israel, though, danielle, thank you. joining us now, the henry kissinger distinguished professor at the johns hopkins university school of advanced international studies, as well as being a columnist for bloomberg opinion. hal brands, his new book is titled the eurasian century hot wars, cold wars, and the making

of the modern world. how good to see you, daniel just well detailed the distrust that the families of these hostages have for the netanyahu government. these deals have been close before and have fallen apart. this does seem to be the closest yet. and we heard the reassuring words from admiral kirby a few moments ago. but give us your assessment of the lay of the land, and walk us through the pockets of resistance that netanyahu is facing within his own coalition. can he get by them for a number of months? >> the big challenge politically in israel was that netanyahu would would perhaps lose the support of the farthest right members of his own coalition if he were to go for a hostage deal, that that danger has receded more recently because he has brought another party into his government. that gives him a little bit more margin for error. and the other thing that this hostage deal does, which is critical in israeli political context, is it punts on the issue of whether this is an end of the war or simply a time out,

while israel gets back as many hostages as it can, and the israeli government has left itself the option of renewing the war after the first phase of this cease fire is complete. if it cannot get satisfaction on the release of the remainder of the hostages and other critical issues. >> so, hal, let's talk about the historic nature of what happened on the american side with an outgoing president and an incoming president, different parties who really don't like each other on, on on a personal level, working together and more importantly, their people working together to bring this deal in to a landing. do you think despite the reservations and concerns from the most extreme members of netanyahu's right wing coalition, that this deal will get done at the end of the day, in part because of donald trump's popularity in israel? >> i think it will get done. i

think this is it's still the middle east, and so no deal is final until it's final. and sometimes it's not done even at that point. but but i do expect that the deal will ultimately get done, because both parties are pretty well incentivized to do it. it's been interesting on the american side, where we've basically had two presidents negotiating this deal. so you've had the biden administration involved, but then president trump and his representatives have been involved as well. and the interesting thing here is that trump has actually been pushing for this deal to get done on biden's watch, which is unusual. we all remember the end of the iran hostage crisis, when the hostages weren't released until just after ronald reagan had taken the oath of office. but i think what trump has calculated is that he doesn't want the gaza issue swallowing his presidency in the way that it swallowed the last year of joe biden's presidency. and so he simply wants to get it off the table so that he can move on to other priorities in the region and beyond. >> so in a moment, we're going

to be diving into the hearings yesterday of secretary of state nominee senator rubio. but give us your assessment of some of the challenges he faces in your expertise. eurasia there. obviously, the war in ukraine still rages, even as there's some suggestion that this year, 2025, might be the year where both sides are willing to get to the negotiating table. >> from a us policy perspective, if you get a ceasefire in gaza, it's really out of the frying pan and into the fire. you're just moving into the next phase of a middle eastern crisis, which will revolve primarily around the iranian nuclear program and the trump administration's efforts to come to grips with that. but but the really challenging issue, i think, is going to be ukraine, where trump initially promised in that war within 24 hours. now, he said, give me six months. and i think the basic challenge, the basic dynamic there is that ukraine is losing the war. it's losing slowly, but it is losing. and so the us and ukraine and their friends are going to have to find a way of

putting more pressure on russia simply to get to a point where a cease fire might be feasible. >> all right. important conversation. we'll be continuing to have the new book, the eurasian century hot wars, cold wars and the making of the modern world, is indeed on sale now. author hal brands. hal, thank you for joining us this morning. so, as mentioned, the confirmation hearings are underway here in washington. there will be a new round of them taking place later this morning for more of several several more of president elect trump's picks. they include lee zeldin for the administrator of the environmental protection agency, eric scott turner for secretary of housing and urban development, scott bessent for treasury secretary. and then pam bondi will have a second day of hearings with outside witnesses called bondi herself, will not testify and is not expected to attend. this follows contentious questioning yesterday that she faced the attorney general nomination as well. did marco rubio that trump's pick for secretary of state, nbc news

chief capitol hill correspondent ryan nobles, brings us a look at the key moments. >> it is a crucial step in forming the cabinet that will implement donald trump's agenda when he takes office in just four days. >> do you swear that the testimony you're about to give a round robin of senate hearings for powerful posts across the federal government, headlined by trump's pick for attorney general pam bondi, who tussled with democrats while defending her connection to the incoming president. >> i'm not going to be bullied by the 14th amendment of the united states of america, which was deeply disappointing, bondi, the former attorney general of florida, replaced trump's original pick, former congressman matt gaetz, when it became clear gaetz did not have the votes to be confirmed. >> she promised the panel that politics will not play a role in the justice department's decisions. >> there will never be an enemies list within the department of justice getting into a heated exchange with california senator adam schiff, when asked if she would investigate some of president elect trump's political rivals,

including former republican congresswoman liz cheney. no one has asked me to investigate, but the president has also president cheney. >> the president has called for us to be worried about miss bondi. >> please answer my questions right now. you are aware the roof. >> miss bondi bondi, who was involved in trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election in pennsylvania, pressed on whether she would now acknowledge trump lost who won the 2020 presidential election? >> joe biden is the president of the united states. >> later, asked if she had doubts that biden had won. >> i accept, of course, that joe biden is president of the united states. i was on the ground in pennsylvania and i saw many things there. but do i accept the results? of course i do. do i agree with what happened? and i saw so much loyalty was a question for other potential nominees as well, including john ratcliffe, who has been tapped to run the cia. >> will you reassure your workforce that loyalty tests are not allowed and not encouraged in the cia?

>> i will. >> you saw i mean, there was really a split screen with a lot of these hearings. marco rubio, it appeared, got bipartisan support, but mostly same thing with ratcliffe, who's going to be most likely the cia director. and i would guess, scott beset today for scott bessent for treasury also. we'll get there. but there have been a few and there will be more coming up that that will will have heated, heated hearings that, you know, it looks like pam bondi will likely get through. what is interesting, though, yesterday and the new york times wrote this, the bondi hearing almost seemed like, you know, in part also a hearing on some of the more intemperate and troubling statements that the that the

possible fbi director, kash patel, has said about the press, about political opponents, about enemies list. so a lot actually in pam bondi, these hearings about kash patel. yeah. >> as you saw there in ryan's report, democratic senator alex padilla of california pressed pam bondi on the issue of the 14th amendment and birthright citizenship. here is more of that exchange. >> i gave an opportunity to study overnight. so can you tell me in this committee what the citizenship clause of the 14th amendment says? >> senator, i'm here to answer your questions. i'm not here to do your homework and study for you. >> if i'm confirmed as attorney asking for a confirmation vote, you cut me off. >> can i can i please finish? >> what does the 14th amendment say? >> senator? senator, the 14th amendment we all know, addresses birthright citizenship. i have been a state prosecutor. i've been a state ag. i look forward to even given your remarks today, working with you and the

people of california. if i am confirmed as the 87th attorney general of the united states of america, i didn't take your homework assignment. i'm sorry. i was preparing for today. >> so on the 14th amendment. now, you've testified repeatedly to this committee that you will uphold the laws of this country and defend the constitution of the united states. do you believe birthright citizenship is the law of the land, and will you defend it regardless of a child born in the united states, regardless of their parents immigration status? >> senator, i will study birthright citizenship. i would love to meet with you. regarding birthright citizenship. can i answer the service? >> the attorney general of the united states, and you still need to study the 14th amendment of the constitution. that is not helping me have more confidence in your ability to do this job. >> and senator padilla joins us now here on set in washington.

senator, good morning. thank you. thank you for joining us. good morning. we obviously just played that exchange you had with the attorney general nominee after the hearing concluded. did you have any more or fewer reservations about her ability to serve in that post? >> look, a few more reservations. you saw that exchange. that's one of several issues that i personally raised that she either couldn't answer or wouldn't answer and let me sort of level set, you know, because i get it. this is donald trump was elected, so he's going to have a cabinet that aligns with his views. policy differences is one thing. one of the big issues in the hearing yesterday was the concern about her willingness or ability to be independent of the president of the united states, because we saw what happened in his first term. you remember pete sessions, what happened when he got crossways with donald trump? we saw at the end of the first term, even attorney general barr getting a little crossways with donald trump. so how do we expect that she will or won't

stand up to trump when the constitution of the united states would require it? >> now, there does seem to be the whip counts that the pam bondi will have the votes to become attorney general. but there's more skepticism about kash patel, who joe and i have been talking about all morning, seemed almost like a secondary figure in this hearing yesterday. he, of course, will have his own hearing down the road. what concerns do you have about him, and do you think that enough republicans share them? >> well, i think that is really at the root of all of this, you know, attorney general nominee bondi looks like she can count on the support of most, if not all, the republicans. they do have a 53 vote majority, so they don't really need democrats to confirm her. we're hearing those reservations about kash patel. we don't know how many republicans and how many republicans would actually be willing to act on those concerns publicly, maybe even vote against him, as opposed to express concerns privately, but not be willing to stand up to trump. so concerns about kash patel, his conspiracy theories, his his enemies list, which does

exist. you talked about it earlier in the program. it's not just out there publicly. it's in his book. it's all chapter. and the fbi director works within the department of justice, which is why it was so relevant in yesterday's hearing with the attorney general nominee, bondi. so time will tell. will enough republicans stand up to do their job on advice and consent and act on their concerns, or are they going to just prioritize loyalty to donald trump? >> well, senator, let's turn now to the ongoing tragedy in your home state of california. these wildfires in the los angeles area, as you sat down on the break, encouraging news with the weather forecast, the winds perhaps have not been as fierce as as feared. but tell us what you've seen. i know you've spent time there in these areas have been ravaged by fire. what have you seen? what has happened? >> yeah. look, staying busy on both coasts, as you can understand, having had a chance to be in the palisades over the course of the last week in the altadena pasadena area in the

course of the last week. it's devastating. i mean, you see the visuals. we've been seeing them all week long, but i don't think watching on television gives you an appreciation for is the scale of these fires. if you look at the acreage the area burned, we're talking about just six fires, but combined four times manhattan. so it's a huge event, a lot of heartbreak. people displaced, you know, two dozen at least perished in the fire. as search and rescue teams are out there visiting property by property, that toll is probably going to go up. we're getting a little bit of a break in the weather, wind wise, but still no precipitation in sight. so the dry conditions are going to continue, and we're going to have to continue to be vigilant in the weeks and months ahead. >> and a very brief final question, do you want donald trump, once he takes office to visit california? do you think that he will spearhead enough relief to the state that needs it? >> absolutely. i've joined with the governor, the mayor, a whole lot of officials inviting him to

come see firsthand not just the impacted areas, but to meet with the families that have been impacted, just as he did when he was president. in his first term, we had wildfires in the north, and let's not condition federal aid. let's not play politics with the disaster that californians deserve, just as we've supported other regions of the country in their time of crisis, trump aides said that visit could come as soon as sometime next week. >> democratic member of the senate judiciary committee, senator alex padilla of california. senator, thank you. thank you, jonathan, coming up here on morning joe, president biden delivered his farewell address to the nation last night, and he issued a stark warning about the dangers of artificial intelligence. we'll play for you those comments, plus 170 million american users of tiktok, may not be able to use the social media app come sunday, as the company weighs whether to go dark. if a federal ban moves forward. we'll bring you all those details from

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blue origin, the space company owned by jeff bezos, launched a massive new rocket on its first test flight early this morning. the 320 foot rocket, 15ft taller than the statue of liberty, blasted off from florida and successfully reached orbit 13 minutes later. the new glenn rocket, which of course, is named in honor of john glenn, the first american to orbit earth, carried a prototype satellite and the athletic teams at whitesboro public high school in central new york have decided to forego using a nickname going forward. the teams are currently competing under the warriors nickname. the district had previously retired its native mascot, native american mascot. the decision to go nameless was voted on by students, staff, and school alumni, beating out the name. whitesboro blue. don't tell golden state president

biden delivered his farewell address to the nation last night, and he recapped some of his accomplishments while in office, also issued dire warnings about the future of our country. nbc news chief white house correspondent peter alexander reports. in his farewell address. >> after five decades in politics, president biden looking to define his legacy following four tumultuous years. >> every day i've kept my commitment to be president for all americans through one of the toughest periods in our nation's history the president vigorously defending his record, leading the nation out of a global pandemic, restoring jobs after an economic crisis, and heavily investing in the nation's infrastructure and clean energy initiatives. >> with president elect trump set to retake the white house, president biden highlighted the peaceful transfer of power and wish the incoming administration success. >> because i want america to succeed. >> still, he delivered a dire warning about what he called a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of very few, very

rich people. >> an oligarchy is taking shape in america of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead. >> another danger, he warned the growth of ai and big tech. >> americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation. the truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit, with first lady jill biden, his son hunter and vice president harris in the room. >> this word of thanks. >> she and doug have become like family. and to me, family is everything. >> after a lifetime in public service, the president calling on americans to defend our democracy, a nation where the strength of our institutions and the character of our people matter and must endure. >> now it's your turn to stand guard. >> let's bring in right now the co-anchor of cnbc's squawk box

and a new york times columnist, andrew ross sorkin. also, nbc news senior business correspondent christine romans. so, andrew, the president, of course, last night in his farewell address, warning of many things, but but but mainly about this sort of tech industrial complex sounding a bit like eisenhower warning the military industrial complex back in january of 61, but specifically on the issue of ai. he warned about that, too. those warnings are going up against a group of leaders in silicon valley that have this almost absolutist libertarian view that government can have no role in in helping to manage and regulate and, and, and sort of trim some of the most extreme elements of what may be the most powerful technology that mankind has ever faced. well, look, i think we're we're in this sort of unique moment when it comes

to ai. interestingly, a number of the folks who are running these institutions now have the ear of the incoming president in a major, major way. many of them actually have called for regulation, including elon musk and sam altman and others. and yet it is unclear whether congress, whether the senate, whether washington understands enough and can reach some consensus on what regulation of these institutions really is. i think there's been a big question as to when you hear an elon musk or you hear sam altman or you hear these companies say, please come regulate us. and we were hearing that for some time, whether that was a genuine effort to create some real regulation or that was a knowing wink at the not at the american public, but cynically that, you know, if you can come out and say, we want regulation, knowing full well that that kind of regulation may be impossible. and when it comes to the details and we haven't seen it yet, you know, whether those same people

would be pushing back on that. >> so, christine, president biden, of course, used part of last night's speech to issue that warning about ai. but he also in the speech and the letter the white house released earlier in the day defended his economic record. it's something he believes he can be very proud of. what's your assessment? what sort of economic legacy does this president leave behind? >> well, the biden team for months has thought it has a good story to tell, but american public is so scarred by higher prices that they're not they're not hearing it. i mean, you look at 16 million jobs created in the biden administration. you stack that up against previous presidents. i mean, it's very clear this was a very strong period of job creation and economy. that is the biggest it's ever been. and above, above pre, you know, pre covid trends i mean one after another you see these strong numbers the investments in infrastructure. and you know the biden team also knows that now people can say they're not going to have to ration their insulin anymore. and seniors on medicare, you

know, they'll only pay $2,000 out of pocket for their prescription drug costs. but all of those things did not resonate with voters, which is why donald trump will be president again. so they know they have a good story to tell. i think in those 17 minutes last night, it was for the moment in terms of technology and the oligarchy, as they said, but also for the history books. they think time will be kind to them about the economy overall. >> let's talk about the warning regarding oligarchy. we had conversation earlier. andrew, this is this is somewhat reminiscent of the time when teddy roosevelt, at the turn of the century, between the 19th and 20th century, when there was real concerns about growing trust, having extraordinary power over the economy and the lives of average americans. and teddy roosevelt, of course, came in to push back against that. but let's talk about how perhaps other than that time, billionaires, the richest of the rich, are accumulating power and

authority and wealth in a way they never have before. it's astonishing. and i will tell you, there was a letter that warren buffett published just a couple of months ago, where even he said that he could not fathom the amount of wealth he was able to create over these last several decades. he said that nobody could, and that it's actually a remarkable shift. even the rockefellers, this is outdoing that, that kind of wealth. and so then the question is, you know, what we allow people to use that wealth for? and this gets to the very basis of our democracy between citizens united and the way our system has developed, those individuals, those very specific individuals at the very top of these forbes 400 lists and the like have enormous, enormous power. and we're seeing it in a way, i think that we haven't in decades manifest itself insofar as the people that you will be

seeing sitting behind, for example, president elect trump, president trump, we will call him on monday at this inauguration. how do you imagine our founders believing that you could pay $200 million to influence a presidential campaign and increase your net worth by $200 billion? talking about investment, let's talk finally, christine and andrew, about tiktok chances that, you know, we've been seeing tiktok influencers going and saying, don't worry about it. you're just not going to be able to update your but now possibility that tiktok may go dark on sunday night. tell us about it. well, look, there's two pieces to this. you know, my expectation had been there would be a longer negotiation because the plan was that the law specifically says that they can't update the app, that that's what the law says. there's a little bit of a grand bargain or negotiation going on where tiktok is now saying, we're actually going to shutter it. and the question is, are

they doing that to force something else to happen uniquely overnight? my colleagues at the new york times and i have now made a number of calls to confirm this as well, have said that the president, the ceo of tiktok, has been invited, interestingly, to sit on the dais at the inauguration behind president trump. it's a remarkable situation given that this is a company that he runs that has been declared a national security threat. and so here we're going to have on monday the head of a company that is the being described as a national security threat. and what may signal some kind of grand negotiation. how that would work, i think, is a real question, though, because this was a law put in place, voted on by the senate in congress and cannot be undone, if you will very easily at least that i understand through some kind of executive order. >> guys. the arc of the story is just so remarkable, isn't it? i mean, that you have and also you

have an incoming administration, by the way, that is that is pro-american. you've got washington saying we shouldn't have an ally, a japanese company, invest in us steel. but at the same time, a company that has been declared declared a national security threat. you have this moment where you could see potentially an administration coming to the coming to the to the rescue of it if it could. and this ceo sitting on the dais of the inauguration, just the arc of the story has been really remarkable. >> it is extraordinary. you make such a great point about u.s. steel, where we don't want the japanese to purchase u.s. steel, but at the same time, we're allowing the communist chinese government to continue to scrape data from our children and others, and possibly the supreme court explained in their hearing last week, possibly use it to spy against americans for years to come. lots of andrew ross sorkin. yeah, a bit of a bit of

a contradiction there. cnbc's andrew ross sorkin and nbc's christine romans. thank you so much. and it is a contradiction. it also is scary as hell. it really is. it's remarkable that the chinese communist government has been allowed to get this foothold in, in, in american media, and that they've been able again, set up an app that is going to be able to scrape up information and intel from tens of millions, hundreds of millions of americans. not sure who could be for that. coming up, we're going to dig into new reports on tulsi gabbard's unauthorized trip to syria in 2017 and the hunt for american hostage austin tice, the reporter behind the story, will join us on what his investigation uncovered. morning joe coming right back. satan. christ became better. >> run through the jungle. better run through the jungle.

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start your health journey today at lumen me. >> tonight, president biden sits down with lawrence o'donnell in the final exclusive oval office interview of his presidency. they'll discuss his achievements, his legacy and what's ahead for the country. the last word tonight at ten on msnbc. >> a very busy day of news. >> we have never seen anything like it. >> we're going to report the facts out together. >> there are several stories breaking what protects the country? >> what protects the constitution? >> do you still believe that the collapse of the regime is inevitable? >> what's your level of concern and fear for your own future? >> america is dealing with many

issues, from grocery prices to gun violence. >> it has been over 400 days since the war in gaza started. >> you're watching trump hire a fiercely loyal staff. >> much more to come here tonight. >> stay with us. >> record from breckenridge, colorado. the new york harbor, the statue of liberty. a beautiful shot and beautiful imagery used last night in president joe biden's farewell address to the united states and the world. president elect his his pick to lead america's intel agencies. tulsi gabbard still doesn't have a confirmation hearing date set. gabbard is expected to face the biggest challenge to being confirmed, with several republicans saying they are still unsure if she's the best choice to be the director of national intelligence. the concerns, of course, revolve around gabbard's 2017 unauthorized trip to syria,

in which she met with then dictator bashar al assad, whom she has spoken positively about since that meeting. there's now a new reporting, fascinating, important reporting surrounding that trip and the possible possible connection to a missing american that three presidents have tried to bring home. in a piece titled tulsi gabbard, sean penn and the hunt for an american hostage. let's bring in right now the reporter behind the story, senior editor at the economist, steve coll. steve, always great to see you. this really is such an important story. fascinating story about not only tulsi gabbard and sean penn, but also austin tice. tell us what you learned. >> well thanks, joe. >> i think the most important element is that while they were on this trip that you highlighted to syria in 2017, a member of representative gabbard's traveling party was led by the syrian regime to meet

an american prisoner who that colleague of miss gabbard, later identified as austin tice, the missing american journalist who was abducted near damascus in 2012. this report became a thread of intelligence that ultimately reached the trump administration's lead hostage negotiator. >> a couple of years later. >> it was explored, but it's just remarkable that miss gabbard didn't know about it at the time. >> according to our reporting, she was told about it a couple of years later. >> but a spokeswoman for her denied that she'd received this information, that she'd received actionable intelligence. otherwise she would have acted on it. >> so it's sort of emblematic of the world of intelligence that she would have to sift through if she were confirmed to be the director of national intelligence. >> well, and what is would be so surprising to many. shocking to

so many is the fact that that sighting and that intel from 2019 would be the last time that americans that that we had any information, any intel that austin tice was, in fact, alive. is that correct? >> yeah. >> i mean, with an identifiable witness at least. and, you know, it's a sad and important story, this abduction, it's been front and center for a number of administrations. and in fairness, i think all of them have made an effort. we quote deborah tice, austin's mother, as saying that she nonetheless worries that the government sat on leads across all administrations that they could have pursued. and now that the assad regime is gone, the hostage negotiator lead in the biden administration has been over there sifting through prisons. and still the mystery remains. i think one of the questions that gets raised in

this reporting is, if the syrians had him all this time, and if successive american administrations were interested in bargaining, really to be generous to syria, to try to get this american home, why did it not work? i think one of the things i came away with was that the syrians under assad considered that if they release tice, they would lose more than they gained. they didn't trust the united states to deliver on promises, but more. they feared that if austin tice came home and told the truth about what he had endured in syria, that the united states would turn hostile very quickly. so it's a unfortunately, a recurring part of american foreign policy to a greater and greater degree. donald trump was very focused on freeing hostages during his first term. i'm sure he will be again. but the trade offs and the complexity of dealing with these closed regimes when they take americans is just mind boggling.

>> so, steve, let's talk about what comes next now that assad is gone, the new regime coming in, you know the region well, you know, if they find austin tice, would would they be willing to make a deal? you give us your sense on that. and also just the future of the nation writ large. >> i think the new government would be very anxious to take credit for discovering and freeing austin tice. i mean, they've been trying to liberate prisons around the country. they don't control all of the territory of syria, even as they've taken damascus and major cities, at least as i understand it. so there may be facilities that are yet to be liberated. but i think this is a piece of unfinished business for the united states in syria, that it would be very much in the interest of the new government to clean up, no matter what the truth is. there's another element, which is that the assad regime, like other dictatorships in the middle east, kept meticulous records and recordings that have been

scooped up by various intelligence agencies in the region, and at some point, sifting through those materials, more truth should emerge, both about austin tice's case, but also about interactions like the one that miss gabbard had when she came to syria in 2017. >> well, steve, you also say there's another element of that trip that hasn't been reported in the american media, which you talk about here, and that is that actually, when tulsi gabbard went to meet with assad, your reporting suggests that she may have been a conduit to donald trump talking about the possibility of a communications even assad reportedly giving gabbard donald her his phone number for a call. is that is that correct? >> yeah, it's a puzzling element of the story. again, miss gabbard denies that any such thing took place. she denied it in 2017, soon after she came

back when a lebanese newspaper carried a pretty detailed account of this aspect of her mission, saying that she had been carrying. what would it be? a fairly standard professional diplomatic message from then president elect trump, asking assad if he would take a call. new administration coming in. there are complicated common interests, like the fight against islamic state, so such a call would have made sense. but she says that that's just simply untrue, that she didn't carry such a message. what we do know is that she did meet with donald trump in november of 2016 at trump tower, when he was formally forming his new administration, and she said openly afterwards they talked extensively about syria. so that's kind of one of the pieces of background about her trip. i still feel like there are a lot of questions there that that we could dig into and try to answer better. >> all right, steve coll, thank you so much. the new piece is available to read online now.

senior editor at the economist steve coll, thank you so much. always great talking to you. >> great to see you, joe. thanks for having me. >> all right. and still ahead, firefighters are finally making progress against the wildfires that are ravaging parts of southern california. we're going southern california. we're going to have the very latest on [coughing] copd isn't pretty. from the struggle to breathe... to getting stopped in your tracks. bye, grandma. ♪♪ but with trelegy, i can finally move forward. with 3 medicines in 1 inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open for a full 24 hours and prevents future flare-ups. once-daily trelegy also improves lung function, so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia,

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