liver supporting ingredients and is clinically backed to promote healthy liver function so that nothing is holding you back. >> okay, a very quick programing note before we go, msnbc is going to be your one stop shop for inauguration coverage starting tomorrow at 10 a.m. eastern. i'll be at the big table with rachel maddow and the rest of the team. everything you see on that screen, we'll have special coverage all day long, and then we'll be back here tomorrow night at 8 p.m. eastern. for now, stay right where you are, because there's much more news coming up on

msnbc. >> good day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters here in new york. >> welcome, everyone. >> to alex witt reports on a day of sweeping news both here and overseas. >> we begin in a location that honors those brave americans who made the ultimate sacrifice. >> arlington national cemetery right now, on the eve of his inauguration, president elect trump and vice president elect jd vance will be taking part in a wreath laying ceremony less than 24 hours before he takes the second oath of office, this one as the 47th president of the united states and commander in chief of its armed forces. >> nbc's courtney kube is there for us in arlington. courtney, welcome. what can you tell us about this ceremony? >> yeah, alex, we're waiting for president elect donald trump to arrive here at arlington cemetery. >> he's expected to motorcade over to the tomb of the unknown

soldier, where he will lay a wreath. >> of course, alex, this is common for the president elect to make this visit to one of the most solemn places here in washington, dc. >> the tomb of the unknown soldier, where originally from world war one, a soldier whose remains could not be identified was in turn, it's become one of the most iconic places for members of the military, veterans and for presidents. >> and president elects to visit to pay their respects. now, it would make sense. >> we have not heard yet, but it would make sense for him also to make a stop at section 60 while he's here. >> alex. >> of course, that is where service members who were killed in the war on terror are laid to rest. >> he has been very vocal about his his feelings about the war on terror, specifically about the withdrawal from afghanistan in 2021. so we'll be waiting to see if he makes it here. >> alex, the weather is not cooperating. >> as you can see, it's a mix of rain and snow. >> but we still await president elect donald trump's arrival here. >> yes, we're very much following that very closely with

your help as well. courtney, let me quickly ask you about that section 60 rather, that is the environment in which photographs, video typically not allowed. do we know if there are plans to be closed press in that area today? >> we if in fact he goes there, we do not expect that he will have any media following him. >> it's one of the most hallowed areas of this sacred area of the sacred cemetery, about 14 acres where service members have been buried in most recent years. >> and one of the reasons that they that the staff here don't allow coverage there is because it is there are so many people who are buried there from recent years. so there are often mourners who are here visiting their loved ones, and they want to be respectful of their their space. >> alex. yeah, 100%. >> courtney. do stand by for us. we appreciate and apologize for asking you to do so in the bad weather. that said, let's bring in our colleague, nbc's vaughn hillyard, who is inside. he's in capital one arena, where donald trump will be speaking later on this afternoon. so, vaughn, we

are already getting a preview to some degree of what trump is expected to do on day one. >> what do we know about that? >> and are we learning anything about the expected tone of his inaugural address? >> right. >> we're still waiting for specifics on exactly which executive orders he is going to sign. he indicated to our colleague, meet the press moderator, kristen welker, that he's going to sign a record number of documents. was the way he phrased it executive actions, executive orders. of course, he will be able to do that as soon as he is sworn in at noon tomorrow. >> we're 24 hours away from the swearing in, but here is where the first major event after he is leaving arlington national cemetery, he will make his way to capital one arena. >> this is where the washington wizards and the washington capitals hockey team plays. here in the heart of downtown washington, d.c, for what you could say is his final campaign or transition rally of sorts, a thank you rally here before he is officially sworn in at

tomorrow's inauguration. this arena is about going to be able to hold about 20,000 individuals. >> there's already thousands of individuals waiting outside in order to get in. >> we are told that we can expect elon musk, jd vance, but also speakers like incoming deputy chief of staff stephen miller, megan kelly and steve witkoff, notably, who just returned from doha a couple of days ago and was on the front lines of the negotiations between israel and hamas for the hostage release and the ceasefire deal that we've been watching play out over the last hours. all of those individuals are anticipated to speak here at this rally ahead of the president elect, addressing the nearly 20,000 people that are expected to fill this venue here. i want to let you listen, though, to speaker mike johnson on meet the press this morning here, talk about what the anticipation is for this week here, not only for donald trump, but also the republican majorities who are going to be taking hold of washington come tomorrow afternoon as well.

we're going to usher in a new golden age for america. >> he's excited. we're all excited. everyone walk around the city. there's this sense of anticipation because we know that something big is happening here. i feel like it is the comparison of reagan this morning on moving it inside, i think is apt because it was morning in america under reagan. now we're going to have a new golden age. you're going to hear that hopeful tone, i think, in president trump's speech and a unifying speech. and i think that's really important for the country. >> and notably, this morning, while the president elect has been staying at the blair house near the white house, we are told that there have been multiple republican senators, from john cornyn to susan collins to josh hawley, who have been making their way in and out of that residence where the president elect and the first family are currently staying ahead of moving into the white house tomorrow. alex. >> okay. vaughn hillyard, thank you for that preview of all of that. we will certainly circle back with you later on today. let's go now, everyone, though, to the day's other big breaking

news. the celebrations in israel, in gaza today, as day one of the israel-hamas ceasefire gets underway, three israeli hostages, all women between the ages of 24 and 31. they are now back in israel as a reprieve in fighting brings hope that it could bring peace after 15 months of war. here's president biden this morning. >> today, ceasefire in gaza and the release of hostages is a result of a principled and effective policy that we presided over for months. and we got we got here without a wider war in the middle east, many predicted. and now it falls to the next administration to help implement this deal. i was pleased to have our team speak as one voice in the final days. it was both necessary and effective and unprecedented. >> let's go right now to nbc's raf sanchez, who is at the sheba medical center in tel aviv, which is preparing to treat the hostages. they'll be doing examinations and the like. so talk about anything happening

right now at the hospital, ralph. what do you know? >> yeah. alex. so this is one of the biggest hospitals in the tel aviv area, and it is the staff here who have been given the task of caring for these three young women who just an hour or so ago emerged from gaza. romi gonin, doron steinbrecher and emily demari. and we are expecting potentially any minute now to start to hear the roar of the rotor blades as an israeli military helicopter arrives here carrying those three women, they will be landing at a helipad not that far from where we are here, and it will be ambulances that will drive them right past. and you may be able to see behind me. alex, there is plastic sheeting that has been erected by the authorities at this hospital, and that is to protect the privacy of these three women who have been through 471 days of captivity as they arrive here. this is the first step of

what is going to be a very, very long journey. we had a chance earlier to see some of the hospital rooms at a separate facility that had been prepared for them, for the other 33, for the 33 hostages. we expect to come out during this first phase of the deal. and i want to show you just a little bit of what we saw there. take a look. >> all of the rooms are prepared for a returnee and a family member if they would want them in. >> you can see it's a brand new room. >> nobody has occupied the room yet. >> it was built and kept just for this purpose, for the returnees and their families. >> this wing was specially designed for this purpose. >> designed. >> and since the day that it was ready, it has been waiting unoccupied, doors locked, with staff coming in all the time to make sure that everything is working and clean and prepared. >> and alex, the now former hostages, underwent an initial

medical check by israeli forces immediately after they came out of gaza. we don't have any detailed readout of that, i can tell you, just watching the footage, they do appear to be in relatively good physical condition after 471 unimaginable days in hamas captivity, all three of them walking on their own. it does appear emily demar suffered some kind of wound to her hand. a photograph posted on social media by her family. it looks like she may have been missing some fingers from injuries suffered on october 7th. just that scene you're seeing on your screen right now, alex, that moment when hamas released the hostages into the red cross's custody, you can see they are surrounded by an enormous crowd masked, heavily armed hamas gunmen. i've spoken to hostages who came out during the first deal, and they have told me that after october 7th itself, this was the most terrifying moment of their

entire time in captivity. being surrounded by these absolutely enormous crowds, you have people banging on the windows, you have the vehicles rocking back and forth just with the weight of humanity all around it. people said this was a terrifying, terrifying moment. the hostages came out of gaza. they were reunited with their mothers in israeli territory. we've seen a couple of pictures of them smiling. i will say, alex, these images that you are seeing are important to hamas. they want to show that after 471 days of israel's military assault on gaza, sparked by the october 7th attack, that they are still standing as a military organization, and one of the deep concerns for palestinian civilians in gaza, for the families of the remaining hostages, is that prime minister benjamin netanyahu said he is, intends or reserves the right to resume this conflict to continue degrading hamas as a military

organization, to make sure that what happened on october 7th cannot happen again. but the danger there is, it means more suffering for palestinian civilians who have been through so much over the last 15 months. some 46,000 people killed, according to local health authority. but there's also the very real danger that you are not going to see the remaining hostages coming out if the fighting resumes. >> oh boy. i do have one question to ask you about the prime minister, but let me quickly ask about these three girls, this hospital where you are awaiting their arrival there. is it likely they stay there for a period of time? based on what you saw with prior releases, do they stay in the hospital before going home? >> yeah, we expect that this is going to be a long stay. the hostages who were released back in november 2023. they had been in gaza for some 50 days. right. these women have been in for nearly 500. so we expect that they are going to be here for at least some time.

>> alex, understandably, question from a military perspective, is this cease fire happening, ralph, because benjamin netanyahu feels hamas has been effectively dealt with? i mean, can we expect this calm to be short lived or extending to phases two and three? >> you know, alex, prime minister netanyahu has promised his people what he is calling total victory. and it is a phrase that he has been using for a long time. it's a phrase he has literally put on bumper stickers on baseball caps. no one has ever really defined what it means, whether it's every single hamas gunmen inside of gaza is killed by israeli forces. the united states has said it feels israel has achieved its military objectives, that hamas is a military organization, is no longer able to carry out the kind of widespread, organized invasion of southern israel that it did on october 7th, 2023. but

prime minister netanyahu is under a lot of pressure from the far right of his government to continue this war, and the fear is that he may do so on the other side of this six week ceasefire. okay. >> ralph sanchez, excellent reporting, as always. thank you so much. we'll check back in with you. joining me right now, we have our friend, the democratic congressman from massachusetts, jake auchincloss. so, congressman, i saw you listening there on the monitor. you heard ralph, does this cease fire still feel tenuous, or do you expect it to hold and see the remaining agreed upon hostages freed? and how much will the incoming administration help or hurt in getting through these phases without one more shot being fired or bomb dropped? >> good afternoon. alex. thanks for having me on. i was struck as i was watching your interview with ralph, that that video of the three young women being released, surrounded by literally hundreds of masked armed gunmen hooting and hollering and jeering at them.

and i think hamas thinks that that makes them look strong. what it actually reveals to the wider world is that they're a barbaric terrorist cult that uses sexual violence and torture and terrorism to try to intimidate people. what israel has proclaimed over the last 450 days is that it, as a country, will not be intimidated. it is going to achieve peace through strength. that strength requires that it defeat hamas. now, hamas is a military military organization i do think has been decimated. the harder question is, as a political organization, has it been marginalized to do that requires that netanyahu helped architect host war, governance and governance in gaza. that's palestinian led, that's arab financed, that's western backed, and that provides security and infrastructure and education to the palestinian people. >> we await the release of two american hostages. we believe the first will be keith siegel. that will happen on day 14 of

the cease fire and then to be followed soon after. 36 year old daca chen and siegel has been injured. do you have any reason to fear that they will not come out as expected? i mean, the tenuous nature of this. we have seen negotiations in the past. we have seen them fall apart on on a moment's notice. turn on a dime. are you worried about getting these americans out, or do you think they're coming? >> of course i'm worried. we're. hamas is not to be trusted. of course. and i'm holding in my heart today, hersh goldberg-polin, whose family has strong ties to massachusetts, that young man had his whole life ahead of him and was executed by hamas terrorists months ago. and his tragic death, i think, is a is a reminder to all of us of who exactly we're dealing with across the table, people who

just have no value on human life. so of course i'm worried. i do think that phase one, though, will happen. the not to be cut is going t be in phase two, because phase two has some ambiguity embedded within it about the degree to which hamas is going to have to be marginalized from the levers of governance before the rest of the hostages come home. i am squarely in the camp that says hamas can have no role in governance. >> postwar congressman, i know i was supposed to let you go. i hope you won't mind if we just take a very short break. we are waiting for the president elect to get to arlington. and given your experience as an afghanistan veteran, i would afghanistan veteran, i would love to get your take on that. prilosec knows, for a fire... one fire extinguisher beats 10 buckets of water, and for zero heartburn 1 prilosec a day... beats taking up to 10 antacids a day. it's that simple, for 24 hour heartburn relief... one beats ten. prilosec otc.

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help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need, and the flavor you love. so, here's to now... now available: boost max! cemetery. let's go right to nbc's courtney kube to give us an update on what we were seeing before the break. in that lead up behind you, we saw a lot of cars. does this mean that the president elect is on scene? >> yes. he's just arrived in an enormous motorcade actually pulled into arlington cemetery. >> we expect his first stop to be at the tomb of the unknown soldier, where he will lay a wreath. >> this is common. >> president elects have been doing this for years now. alex. this is his first public event of a pretty busy day for the president elect here in dc. he's going to have a rally a little bit later at capital one arena, but before that, he'll spend several hours here paying

tribute and respect to the fallen service members for years and years. >> decades of war. >> we do. >> we're waiting to hear whether that might include a stop at section 60. that's, of course, the 14 acre part of the cemetery where service members who've been killed in the global war on terror in iraq and afghanistan are laid to rest. >> alex. >> okay, courtney, thank you so much. do stay with us as i bring back in the congressman. and, sir, as i mentioned before the break, you're in afghanistan. veteran, veteran. rather, i'm curious your impressions as donald trump will be shortly laying a wreath there at arlington cemetery ahead of his inauguration tomorrow. what goes through your mind as you see him about to become commander in chief once again? >> arlington national cemetery is the union's most hallowed ground, and it's appropriate that the president elect visit, pay his respects, perform a solemn duty of demonstrating to the american public the sacrifices made by our veterans and service members for our for our way of life. i hope this

marks an inflection point in donald trump's relationship to the armed forces and to veterans. previously, he has been either dismissive and mocking of them or he has politicized them. my hope as a member of congress, as a veteran, as an american, is that this marks a new orientation for him to the armed forces and that he approaches them as every single previous commander in chief has, which is as as his most sacrosanct responsibility to be commander in chief. >> we have to and i don't i don't want at all douse those sentiments. and we're all hopeful that things will perhaps be different in this regard, as you've so articulately outlined there. but we have to remember what did happen in that very hallowed, revered area of section 60 when donald trump, you can you can say he was using it as a photo opportunity. he was taken. he a photo was taken of him there. and, you know, thumbs up. smiling in a very

sacred area. do you hope or think believe that kind of tenor is a thing of the past within the next four years? >> i don't think donald trump is a person has changed. alex. i think that would be naive. what i can hope for is that he is using this great transition to become the 47th president of united states, and recognizing that he's not running for office again, that at the very least, he will set aside his grossest politicization of the united states military and try to act like a statesman and at least put that veneer in front of the american public, because i do think it's important for the institution and for the united states military. >> okay. courtney, qb, please join the conversation. right now. i'm curious what specifically we are looking at here. i do hope you have a monitor, but seeing these stairs nearly full with people standing by for the president elect's arrival, where is that in

national? in the national cemetery? and what will be done inside that building? >> and so this is this is the tomb of the unknown soldier. >> there's an amphitheater right behind it. >> i'm actually not seeing exactly what he's doing, but i suspect, even just based off the way that you described it, alex, that that's what you're seeing right there. >> as we were here earlier this morning, we saw busloads and busloads of supporters brought in, and i suspect those are the people who have been lined up early. >> i can tell you that, you know, some of them were medal of honor recipients who we we've recognized and done stories on. >> they were lined up and they were here to see president elect donald trump lay the wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier. >> and i have to say, many of the people who we watched come in early. >> this is a very special place for them. >> they know people who have been buried here, people who they served with. >> and so this is a solemn moment for them to see the president elect lay this wreath and a very solemn moment for the for the country ahead of what's going to be a busy 24 to 48

hours. >> absolutely. and as i look at the scheduled timeline, that is certainly differing from the actual timeline here, it looks like we're about, oh, coming up on 45 minutes running behind. and weather may be in part the reason for it, but tell me what we do expect. this will be the first stop. and then there's discussion about a briefing in a display room there, which i presume is in that building. do you know what that's about, courtney there. >> yeah, there is a there's a sort of a small museum inside that building there. and, and frequently vips, including presidents and presidents will go in there and they'll have sort of a tour or see some of the, the mementos that are inside that building, most of them related specifically to the tomb of the unknown soldier and the amphitheater there. so i wouldn't be surprised if that's if the president elect also gets that. you know, as we've said, it's i wouldn't be surprised if he makes a stop by section 60 as well. and then he has other public events still on his schedule for today here in dc, including a rally at capital one

arena. we're expecting that later on today. and i have to say, we've seen supporters also lining the street behind me, memorial avenue, with flags and make america great again hats and shirts. so i suspect we'll see that throughout dc today. >> yeah, you mentioned capital one arena, which is where our colleague vaughn hillyard has the distinct advantage of being indoors there as opposed to you. so i do appreciate you being outside for us, congressman, as i bring you back into the conversation as well. have you been into that area that courtney was describing this display room? do you know what articles of interest and historical significance are there? >> i don't i imagine that there is some explanation of the site's history, which, of course, is that it was the mansion owned by robert e lee, the civil war general for the confederacy. and that's really how arlington national cemetery came to be. is that the union army reclaimed robert e lee's

plantation and turned it into a burial ground for union soldiers. and that is its inception as the union's most hallowed ground. it's a fitting backstory for a president elect to learn from, as he takes over the helm of a nation that is deeply divided. >> what what is it like as a veteran to go to arlington national cemetery and see the dignity, the respect, the tradition that is embodied there for its goodness? we're coming on almost 200 years in another couple of decades of its existence. >> well, it it frames the great and incalculable. sacrifice that our veterans and service members have given so that we can live in the greatest nation in the history of the world, and from the war of independence, through

the civil war, through world war two, this nation has been defined by its victories in consequential wars, and they have cost tremendous blood and suffering. and by acknowledging and paying respects for that suffering, i think it makes clear the challenge and the duty ahead of all of us who take an oath to support and defend the constitution of the united states. it's not an oath that is simply been signed with ink. it's an oath that has been paid for with blood on this particular camera angle, we are seeing pete hegseth. >> he is there in the lower left part of your screen. it looks like he is flanked by his wife. of course, congressman, that is donald trump's pick to be secretary of defense. now that camera has just centered him up there. he looks very quiet. he's staring straight ahead. he doesn't seem to be conversing with people around him. he's controversial, that is for sure. how do you think his initial

committee hearing testimony and grilling, if you will, by democrats, went earlier this week? and do you expect him to be confirmed? >> i do expect him to be confirmed. i do not think his hearing revealed an individual who is ready and qualified to be secretary of defense, just to be, you know, clear for our viewers, the secretary of defense is running an organization with a budget bigger than the gdp of most nations. and this is a guy who's run two small non-profits into the ground through incompetence and malfeasance. the secretary of defense is a leader of hundreds of thousands of officers and enlisted troops who hold themselves to a high standard of conduct. his past has displayed a lot of poor standards of conduct, and i think that matters right on the welcome banner for officer candidate school for the marine corps is ductus exemplo leadership by example. it's a

core trait of marine corps officers. and it does matter how someone has comported themselves in the past in what they are going to be expecting people to do. so i don't think he's qualified. i certainly would not be voting for him. i think he's going to get confirmed. and as an american, i hope that he is successful because i want our armed forces to be the strongest fighting force in the history of the world. >> yeah. let me pivot to you, courtney, because i'm curious, given your position as our nbc pentagon reporter, what is the tenor of those who work in that building at the prospect of pete hegseth taking over? >> i have to say. >> i mean, there's some concern about some of his his previous positions and statements, even recent ones about policy positions at the higher levels, you know, especially among civilians and more senior military officers that i've been speaking with. >> but i will say, alex, you know, at the more junior officer, there's a lot of excitement about having sort of one of their own coming in to

lead the military. >> people are excited about the idea that he, you know, talks about doing push ups and he knows the weight of an artillery shell. >> so it's there are two different camps of people now. >> there has been a lot of concern about his past comments about women in combat, and he addressed that at the nomination hearing, or at least he was asked about it a number of times. but it's still really unclear exactly how he's going to handle that. what seems pretty clear from the hearing, though, is that he seems like he wants to look at the standards for all men and women serving in combat roles, and potentially whether they need to be strengthened or made more strict, which could potentially eliminate some future candidates from serving in combat roles, including women. so there is some concern about that. exactly what that's going to look like, alex. >> okay, both of you, i'll ask you both to stay put, if you don't mind. we are going to continue to monitor this. there's some activity, but we're going to go right now back to ralph sanchez. there is the helicopter ralph, you were telling us about approaching or arriving at the hospital there

in tel aviv. give us a sense of who will be on board there and what happens next. >> yeah. alex. so just in the last couple of minutes, we heard the roar of the helicopter landed at a helipad not far from where we are right now. on board are those three hostages romi gonin, doron steinbrecher and emily demari. and all three of them are accompanied by their mothers. you're now seeing israeli forces coming out of the back of the helicopter. we think these are probably both medics and special forces who met the hostages immediately when they came out of gaza in the custody of the red cross, and we so far have seen a stream of israeli military personnel in their distinct dark olive green uniforms coming out one after another. and we are just waiting now to see whether we will see the hostages themselves coming

out of. okay, the ramp is going back up. their possible, their possible. they're going to wait for the rotor blades to turn off completely before they have these hostages come off. so we are we are monitoring the situation on that helipad. alex. >> yeah. i'm just curious. i'm not familiar with this particular chopper. is there another door from which they can exit, or does everyone go in and out through that ramp that we just saw being raised there? >> there may very well be a side door. i'm sure our viewers who are more familiar will correct me. i think that is some kind of variance on a seeking helicopter. it may be that there's a side door just thinking about this, alex. you know, these are three women who have been through so much over the last 471 days. the medical professionals we've been speaking to today have said one of the goals is to try to keep what is going to be an overwhelming day from being overstimulated, overstimulating. and it may be that they don't

want them walking out until the helicopter blades have stopped. alex. >> and we've we're just seeing it take off again. so maybe that was the first of a couple trips that either that will make or there's simultaneously another chopper heading in that might actually carry the three. i know you're you're watching it as closely as, as we are, ralph. so when we get another whir of the chopper blades, please let us know and we will come back to you. we're going to go back now. everyone, to arlington national cemetery. let's all take a look. at.

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fast, fast, fast. >> all right, courtney, as we watched the end of this very solemn ceremony, laying a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier. is it lost on on you, is it? i mean, i can't imagine it's lost on you. the solemnity around this event, particularly in the rain. and i'm curious if you know who those two people joining the president elect and vice president elect were. i'm going to presume one of them, the young man, was perhaps a veteran of iraq or afghanistan. do you know who they were? >> yeah. it's funny, alex, we've been trying to figure that out. i think it might be tyler vargas

andrews, who's a marine sniper who was injured at the abbey gate bombing in august of 2021. we're just trying to verify that right now because we're actually not we're a little ways away from the actual wreath laying right now, but it looks a lot like him. >> i can tell you that the general who was standing there is major general trevor bredenkamp. >> he's the, the commanding general of the task force, national capital region and military district of washington. >> and our viewers may be familiar with him from the jimmy carter funeral recently, where he he played a major part in escorting the carter family around and being part of those ceremonies. >> also, you know, i was i was scanning the crowd there as well. we had the medal of honor recipients sitting in the front row there, right behind the president elect and vice president elect. but then a number of the cabinet secretaries select selectees were also there. alex, we saw pete hegseth, as you mentioned, marco rubio, who's likely to be one of the first cabinet picks, confirmed to secretary of state as early as potentially even tomorrow. also, elise stefanik

there so, so many of his his close allies, mike waltz, the national security advisor there in the in the audience. mike waltz, of course, in afghanistan veteran himself serving in the special forces while he was in uniform. alex. >> absolutely. courtney, thank you so much for that. can you just tell me quickly how long the ceremony or the briefing that the president will get in that room behind us? i know there was a display. you were describing how long that should take as we're trying to follow, because, again, they're running late, so we'll know where he'll be next. >> yeah, we're asking those same questions. >> i suspect that also. and i heard you speaking with the congressman about that earlier part of the museum inside is also it's also paying tribute to the old guard. >> those are the soldiers who we saw there on site. you can see they have those little tabs on their shoulders that, that say old guard or honor guard. >> it's the third infantry regiment. >> it's a it's an extremely honored unit to be a part of the unit that actually guards the

tomb. so there's some memorials and some mementos to them inside that, that that museum as well. alex. >> okay. courtney kuby, thank you so much for the extended coverage and staying with us, everyone. we're going to go right now back to tel aviv, israel. raf sanchez has just signaled that a second helicopter has arrived. what do you know about everything going on behind you there? >> yeah. alex. so you and i were live together a couple of minutes ago. a first helicopter landed. several israeli military personnel got off it, then flew away. a second helicopter landed a few moments later. and what you're seeing there are screens that were put up on the helipad after it landed, after the rotor blades were turned off. those screens, we think, are there to protect the privacy of these three female hostages as they come off that helicopter. and we believe that they came past the off the helicopter, through those that tunnel of screens, and were then loaded onto that

white van that you see there on the right of your screen. not clear if all three hostages and their families were loaded onto the same van, if they are going to be separated. but those images you're seeing on the screen right now are from a couple of moments ago. and we think that in any second that van is going to come past us here at the main entrance of sheba hospital, i can tell you there are small crowd of onlookers here. there is a real current of electricity, of anticipation. people have their smartphones up. this is a moment that they have been waiting a long, long time for. and there are a lot of folks here who are waiting in the i won't pretend it's cold compared to washington and what our colleagues standing outside arlington cemetery going through, but they are here late at night in tel aviv because they want to see what they think is going to be a moment of

history. the first three hostages to come out in this new ceasefire deal, the first three of 33 hostages, we expect to come out in this first phase. i can tell you, alex, that having covered the hostages who were released back in november 2023, and that brief one week ceasefire, that was really a period of joy. those people had been in gaza for some 50 days. it was a lot of children coming out. it was a lot of mothers coming out. there were truly joyful scenes in hospitals like this one, as families were reunited with hostages who had been through hell, but for the most part were in good physical condition at least. and i can tell you this time around, there is more trepidation here in israel. there is a question of who is going to come out of gaza alive, and what kind of condition are they going to be

in. we know that there are some 94 hostages left in gaza now. we do not know how many of them are alive, how many are dead. i can tell you, though, people in this country are very, very heartened by these initial images that they saw of those three women, romy gannon, lauren steinbrecher and emily demar, the fact that they were all able to walk themselves, the fact that we have seen emily demar reunited with her mother, smiling, speaking to relatives on facetime, holding up her wounded hands but seeming to be in good spirits. people are taking a lot of comfort from that. people are taking a lot of strength from that. they know that there are going to be difficult days ahead. one of the things israel is bracing for is to learn the fate of kfir bibas. you might remember, alex, this was this little baby boy, nine months old, when he was kidnaped along

with his family on october 7th. he, along with his older brother ariel, his mother sherry, his father yarden, and we do not know his status. hamas has said that he was killed by an israeli bomb. israel says his fate is unknown, but this country is waiting to see what happened to him and we are waiting to see. hopefully in the next few moments, these hostages come past. >> can you can you imagine if that little nine month old, then now greater than two year old, were able to be alive and returned with his family? that would be just beyond a joyful concept, but we can all keep hoping and praying on that. ralph, i'm going to have you stay keeping your eyes peeled on this. we're going to bring you into the conversation as well when something more happens. but i also want to welcome right now bloomberg white house correspondent kayla gardner and lincoln project senior adviser stuart stevens. i thank you both for being here. i know it's a

bit later than we had planned to get to both of you, but when you look at kayla, what is happening right now? talk about how president joe biden, whom you cover and have covered for the last number of years while he's been in the white house, how much must he be feeling about all of this and the incredible effort that he, his administration, the secretary of state, antony blinken, also, brett mcgurk, the middle east envoy, trying to negotiate what we're seeing come to fruition. it's happening less than 24 hours before he leaves office. talk about what went into getting to this point. >> well, alex, i can tell you that this is something that the biden administration absolutely wanted to do before president biden left office. >> it has really been months in the making since we saw biden initially announce this framework that we're seeing implemented now, but something that has really complicated for him right now is because donald

trump, of course, has taken credit for seeing this deal come together. >> and i think my colleagues in the middle east have really said that it was his warnings that really upped the pressure and the urgency to get this deal done, because, of course, he has reiterated multiple times that there would be hell to pay for hamas if hostages were not released by the time he took office on january 20th. >> so there's really complicated legacy here. >> it's really something that he wanted to burnish his policy legacy here. >> and yet donald trump still overshadowing him in this moment. >> well, let's go back to you, ralph, because we also see more activity. what's happening there behind you? have they just gone by you? >> any of the hostages you were just seeing the tail ends of a convoy of those large white vans and israeli security vehicles coming past, and we believe that all three of those hostages were in that big white van, that they came off the helipad. they drove past us here. there was a big

cry cheering from the crowd here. it was all just a couple of seconds and they were past. you can imagine a lot of thought has gone into the logistics, into the medical protocols. but we believe that at this moment, behind those plastic screens, the hostages are stepping out of that van. they are walking into the main lobby of sheba hospital, and this is likely to be their home for the foreseeable. this is going to be a long, long journey of recovery for them. but we think right now they are meeting the medical teams who are going to take care of them as they begin to recover. >> alex. well, that is a joyful thing, boy, i tell you, it's such relief. and with their mothers by their side, it is extraordinary. i do want to bring in stuart stevens as well. stuart, i'm curious, when you look at this big picture, all that is happening on this pivotal day, which will be followed tomorrow by yet another pivotal day as we move

officially from one administration to the next. you see hostages being released as a result of 15 months of efforts on behalf of the biden administration. and then in the last couple of weeks, the addition of steve witkoff, the middle east envoy there for the incoming trump administration. you see that and you see the incoming commander in chief as well, at arlington, laying a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier. big picture. what is going through your mind on this extraordinary day? >> i think that what we saw at arlington is in the best american tradition for these normalization of all of this, we should have everything should be normal. this is president is a temporary position. you are there as a custodian of the legacy of what it means to be an american. so, you know, donald trump has said horrible things about america's military. i think going back to when he said

that john mccain was not a hero. so a moment like this, it doesn't undo that, but i think it's positive that he's doing it. and i can't help but think, looking at these hostages, the horror that they have been through, i have to think about how disgraceful it was, is that donald trump refers to the criminals who were arrested in january 6th as hostages. there is just no comparison whatsoever. and, you know, everybody wants to hope that donald trump is going to be a successful president. there's nothing to be gained if he's not. but if you look at some of these nominees, like pete headsets, the idea that he's a veteran, great. but there's a lot of veterans who are much more qualified. and i personally believe that trump nominates someone like that. i think he knows that he's a buffoon, but he wants to prove that he can exert his will over these

senators, many of whom he knows have great doubts about him. so this is sort of a humiliation to subservience going on here. and it's a very autocratic process to do that. and i wish that the republican senators had stood up. i wish that senator wicker, my former mississippi client, had insisted that donald trump appoint someone who's a competent conservative who has a history. i don't think that roger wicker would let pete hegseth cut his lawn. i mean, this guy shows up, tattooed drinks on the job, has his history with women. you're not going to let that guy near your house. and yet here he is going to be in this tremendously powerful position. and this is just all so unnecessary. and it goes to the sort of flaw of donald trump's character that he has to use the public policy, being in the white house to work through these personal issues.

retribution. what sort of theme is that to enter a presidency? >> and yet, stuart, despite everything i've heard and there'll be many, many people who agree with you, i will describe myself as a glass half full kind of girl until proven that it's actually half empty. so are you thinking, perhaps unlike our former guest and good friend, congressman jack ross, who i'm sure had to leave, although he was with us, extended for our coverage of the delayed ceremony in arlington at the tomb of the unknown soldier. he said he does not expect donald trump to change at all. and yet, with every new administration, there is the hope for change. do you think donald trump has the capacity to, with his advisors, with people around him, to unify this country in a more positive way going forward? >> i don't think donald trump can change. i mean, look, if you had a friend, a female friend

who was marrying a 78 year old guy and she said, you know, there's a lot of things i don't like about him, but he promises to change. what would you tell that, friend? you'd say, you better like what you're getting, because 78 year old men don't change. and donald trump's character and personality has been in display for decades now. you know you want to hope for the best for the country. you want to hope that marco rubio, who i think is a very he's going to be nominated or confirmed with bipartisan support. there could have been more nominees like him, and there are a couple more. you hope that he's a great secretary of state. you hope at the end of the day that donald trump would be seen as a great president. i mean, i felt this way. i worked for mitt romney when barack obama was elected. that's what you should believe as an american. but it doesn't mean that you have to suspend

disbelief and suspend knowledge of what you know about donald trump. and it shouldn't hesitate. no one should be hesitant to criticize donald trump. >> well, we've certainly heard a lot of that. i want to thank you both. i know we had planned to talk on a number of issues, but thank you so much for helping us through this breaking news on this quite extraordinary day. both of you, kayla and stuart, thank you. we're going to take a very short break, everyone. we're going to talk further about donald trump's promises for day one and what he will realistically get done. as we give you a final look for this hour there in tel aviv. and those three women hostages being returned to the arms of their mother and getting treatment now at that hospital, the sheba hospital in tel aviv. we'll be right back. >> your life is pretty smart, but when it's time to eat, suddenly you feel out of sync. >> refresh your routine with factor chef prepared meals delivered with a tap ready in two minutes. imagine dinner on

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