the crisis and the relationship between the united states and its european allies, he said, it is very clear the trump administration does not care about europe. he says he does not know whether nato will survive in its current form, and he says that his top priority will be strengthening europe so that it can launch an independent path from the united states. this is the leader of europe's biggest economy, key nato ally, speaking in these very, very stark terms. >> anna sanchez there in berlin. thank you. that does it for us today. we'll see you back here tomorrow. thanks so much for joining us. i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage now. >> good morning. 11 a.m. >> eastern, 8. >> a.m. pacific. >> i'm jose diaz-balart. we begin this. >> hour in ukraine, where today. >> marks three years. >> since russia launched the full scale invasion. and a

diplomatic push to end the bloodshed is gaining momentum. this morning, france's. >> president emmanuel macron. >> was at the white house for a call with president trump and fellow g7 leaders in which they were expected. >> to discuss. >> the war in kyiv. leaders from canada and europe gathered to mark the day. it comes a day after russia fired more than 200 drones at the capital city on sunday, in what president zelenskyy said was the largest drone attack on kyiv. since the war began. nbc's richard engel is on the ground in ukraine and spoke with a mother who lost her son in the war and opened a coffee shop in kharkiv to honor him and others who died in this unit. >> this place is an. >> extension of his life, she says. what do you think. >> should happen. >> now after. >> three years of war? >> we dream that the. >> war ends, she says. >> our children. >> died not because we're bad people, but because our neighbor wants our territory. >> joining us now, nbc's.

richard engel in eastern ukraine, also with us, nbc's garrett haig at the white house. >> and igor. >> novikov, a former adviser to ukraine's president zelensky. richard. three years into this war, what's the mood today there? >> well, the mood is. profoundly different. three years ago, this country was in a in a bit of suspended disbelief. a lot of ukrainians didn't think that the russians were actually going to come across the border. obviously they did. russia came in with the intention of toppling the government. russian forces came streaming over the border. and we saw back then and jose, we were reporting on it live at the time, how the ukrainians stood up. they they didn't give in. the government stayed in place. president zelenskyy didn't leave the capital. he didn't accept foreign offers to form a government in exile. and the world, particularly the united states, was in ukraine's corner. and for the first year or two

years, there were flags in people's windows all across the world and fundraising events for ukrainians and ukrainian refugees were being being welcomed all over the world. right now, there's a sea change and a lot of ukrainians are watching what president trump and his government and his cabinet members are saying, and they believe that the united states isn't in their corner anymore. look at what this peace plan is, is shaping up to be. first, president trump's cabinet has said that it is unrealistic for ukraine to assume anything except the fact that it has lost the 20% of territory that russia currently occupies. that was never the us position. the us position was always that it would defend ukraine to try and get that territory back. so ukraine now finds itself looking down the barrel of having to give up 20% to russia, which is what russia wanted. it wanted a

corridor to crimea in addition to taking over the government. but when it couldn't do that, it seems happy to take that 20%. so it gives. >> putin what he. >> wants, but gets nothing in exchange from putin. and now president trump is demanding a half $1 trillion without providing any security guarantees. half $1 trillion, it seems, for money spent already with nothing going forward that would make ukrainians believe that the russian attacks will stop or will not intensify. so from ukraine's perspective, they're they're facing a terrible situation where they have to lose land and potentially burden themselves in an almost colonial like economic agreement to the united states, giving land to putin, giving half of their mineral resources and half $1 trillion to president trump. it does not seem like this country is anywhere close to where it was.

on the international press, international standing, that it was, you know, three years ago. but that's why this, these so many european leaders are right now in in kyiv. europe, canada, other countries are trying to step up and tell the government that. >> it is. >> not alone. >> even though. >> it is facing what seems to be a very difficult time and. >> a very different atmosphere. >> yeah, i mean, today the president of the spanish government pledged k71 billion o ukraine. that's just today. he's one of the leaders of western europe that is there in in kyiv today. but richard, you know, and i, i often think about the depth of understanding and, and study that you have and that your experience in covering so many conflicts and wars. how do you think these last three years? and we're just thinking of that massive amount of people who fled towards poland in the early weeks and months. how has these three years changed. the

character of the ukrainian people? >> i think this was a real opportunity for ukrainians to show themselves to the world. before, ukraine wasn't very well known. it was known from the maidan revolution for those people who covered it. and people got a glimpse of what ukrainians were all about, how they stood in their in the streets, in the freezing cold, stood up to oppression, stood up to a brutal and at times deadly crackdown by the pro-russian puppet government here that they overthrew. so people knew them a little bit from maidan. but i think the world really only saw ukrainians as they see themselves after after they started to resist the attack by the full scale invasion by vladimir putin and his forces three years ago, how they held together. there was not a single person in this country that is not involved in some way in the

war effort. people either volunteer or they serve, or they they're helping a family member, or they have relatives. who are now refugees who they are trying to support. this country is fully mobilized and in big ways and in small ways. and now they are feeling that at least the united states, at least president trump is turning their back on them. and they don't exactly understand why they people have asked me here. what did they do differently? what have we done to offend president trump? we are being blamed for this war. and you heard that woman just just quoted right now saying, this isn't our fault. we didn't start the war. we don't want this to be happening. and now they feel that they are being blamed for it. and to end it or potentially to end it, they have to give russia territory and burden themselves by giving trump half $1 trillion, which, by the way, is twice the gdp, the annual gdp of what ukraine was was taking in

before the war started, twice its entire annual economic output is what president trump is demanding, without really explaining where that number is coming from. >> richard engel in kharkiv. thank you, my friend. appreciate it. so, garrett. >> let's focus. >> in now on what's going on today in washington. the president of france, macron is in the white house. he's visiting the white house. what can we expect from that meeting? >> well, this will be a fairly wide. >> ranging meeting. >> i'm told by the white house. this is a european leader with whom. >> the. >> president has a long relationship. >> and one of his. >> better relationships. >> with an official from the continent of europe. but the national security adviser. also said. this morning that a good portion of this discussion will be around the security guarantees that france has already. >> announced for ukraine. >> the french have. >> gone much. further than other. >> countries in continental. >> europe, in. suggesting that they. could essentially pick up the slack for the united states. in security guarantees and.

>> in providing for. >> the defense of ukraine. >> as the white house. >> this administration. >> looks to get out of. >> the business of being the primary. guarantor of ukrainian security. >> i think. >> there's a pretty widespread. >> interest in exploring. >> exactly what the french have in mind with this. >> agreement that was. signed about eight days. ago now, and. >> what more the french could do. >> to take the lead. >> in that space? of course, we are expecting a news conference. >> with both. >> presidents later. >> this. >> afternoon. >> and have a chance to explore. >> what they hash out behind. >> closed doors a little bit later today. >> jose. >> garrett. >> are we to take anything? is there any symbolism or message there by the fact that the president of the united states wasn't outside waiting for to receive the president of france like he has done? we've seen it with netanyahu, with modi and others. >> yeah, never a. >> great. >> look, jose. i think there's probably at. >> least some. degree of. >> symbolism there. we also expect macron to come back. he had sort of a weird split series of. >> meetings here today. >> they had this phone call, essentially a video call with g7 countries. this morning. macron goes back. >> across the. >> street to blair house. he

comes back here in this afternoon. >> for their. >> sort of more traditional bilateral. >> meeting in. >> the oval office. and the press conference. >> put a pin in that question. >> and let's revisit it after we. >> see what the greeting is like for this more. >> formal afternoon session here coming up. >> that explains a lot. garrett. hey, thank you so very much. so, igor. >> let's talk a little. >> bit now from the perspective of ukraine. over the weekend, two senior trump administration officials addressed russia's three year old invasion of ukraine. here's how they responded when asked about who was responsible. >> but fair. >> to say russia. >> attacked unprovoked into ukraine. >> three. >> years ago tomorrow. >> fair to say it's a. >> very complicated situation. >> the war didn't. >> need. >> to happen. >> it was provoked. >> it doesn't necessarily mean it was provoked by the russians. >> there were all kinds of conversations back then. about ukraine joining nato. the president has spoken about this. that didn't need to happen. it basically became a threat to the russians.

>> what what. >> do you. >> hear. >> when. >> you hear those things, igor? >> well. >> on the personal level. >> i'm offended. >> because, i mean. >> i've been there since. >> day one. >> i've seen people die. >> i've seen, you know. >> the whole brutal. >> nature of. >> this unprovoked. >> war and emphasis on the word unprovoked. but at the same time. you know. seeing that coming from the americans, you know, one of our. >> closest allies, that's on. >> a personal level, offensive and petrifying. but at the same time, i mean. >> i fully get. >> what you know, the new administration is trying to. do here. i mean, it's trying. to get. that quick result with putin. it's trying to love bombing into actually kind of ending this war quickly, then lifting the sanctions, showing the economic. effects and kind of showing how they've made america great again. there's a big downside to that. there's a huge risk. you know, it's not only. >> about russia. >> it's also about north korea, iran and china. and, you know, the more allies, the current administration alienates, you know, the more countries are going to start looking towards china. and that's a huge risk.

and, you know, it could be a little too late by the time, you know, the trump administration actually realizes that. >> and what. >> what do you mean by that? and when you talk about north korea and you talk about china. i mean, north korea has been very involved in supporting russia. iran has been giving the russians, you know. these drones, of which there were. >> 200 drone attacks just. >> overnight in in kyiv and the kyiv area. but what do you mean by that? >> well, i mean it very simply, you know, it's not it's not north korea's game. it's got its own interests. it's not iran's game. it's russia and china's game. and you know what president trump is trying to do here, in my opinion, is to build that triangle, that tripolar world where the united states, china and russia get along and pretty much divide the planet. now, i mean, i can see upsides to that, economic upsides. and, you know, there's nothing threatening the us in theory. but at the same time, like,

look, china and russia are way closer than president trump realizes. and, you know, the same way he says that europe is across the pond from the us, so to say, so to speak, and so is ukraine. well, russia and china are actually connected by land. and i'm afraid when president putin chooses between china and the united states, he's going to prefer china. and by the time, you know, that kind of comes to, you know, the conclusion that entire move, you know, it could be very disappointing for the united states. >> igor. >> one of president zelensky's goals since russia's invasion has been for ukraine to join nato. as a matter of fact, that was the discussion that and we just. heard those different representatives of the trump administration say that. the talk of ukraine being part of nato helped russia. you know, decide to invade. i mean, that's kind of like. >> the ethos of. >> what they're saying. the issue. >> is here's.

>> here's what the. >> white house is. >> a national. security advisor, mike. >> waltz, had to. >> say. >> about this specific issue. >> listen to this. that is not. >> back on the table. >> i do not. see the united states having. ukraine enter into. >> nato. >> and then having. >> united states. troops essentially obligated. >> immediately. >> you in terms of. article five. or coming to have u.s. troops. >> coming directly in. >> for the defense of ukraine. igor, how much do you think that the issue of nato and ukraine joining it been to either help or hurt ukraine? >> well, i disagree with the whole notion that, you know, the reason for the invasion was ukraine's aspiration to join nato because, you know, since the invasion, finland and sweden have joined. and, you know, i

don't see russia attacking them prior to the, you know, the agreement with nato. at the same time, i think we're far past the point of when ukraine should actually worry about joining nato. i think nato should be worrying about trump at this point, because i, to be honest with this whole like, triangular bromance between russia, china and the us at the moment, that's kind of shaping up. i don't think there's much space there for nato, and i think we're going to see a very different configuration towards the end of this year. i think it's about united europe now. i think it's about the united kingdom and ukraine trying to reshape european security before it's too late. >> igor novikov, thank you very much for your time, i appreciate it. still ahead, we'll get a live update from the vatican on the health of pope francis. he is in this hour in critical condition. back at home. new reaction as president trump taps conservative podcaster dan

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>> 17 past the hour. 1600 us aid workers are being fired as part of president trump's sweeping changes to the federal government. while thousands of others are being placed on administrative leave. and tonight, a looming deadline for over 2 million federal workers after elon musk sent a weekend email through the office of personnel management asking all federal workers to provide five bullet points of their accomplishments for the past week. musk said on social media that failure to respond will be taken as a resignation. it comes as the president announced another key administration pick over the weekend. trump named dan bongino to be the deputy director of the fbi. bongino, a popular conservative podcaster who served as a secret service agent and an nypd officer. he does not have fbi experience. joining us now, nbc's aaron gilchrist at the white house. barrett, a former federal prosecutor. david drucker,

senior writer at the dispatch. so, aaron, what is the white house saying about this email to more than 2 million federal workers over the weekend? >> well. >> jose. >> the response across. >> the administration has been somewhat varied. >> you had elon musk. saying over the weekend. >> telegraphing that this email was going to be going out, saying that it was going. >> out from him and his team. >> at the direction of president trump through. >> the office. >> of personnel management. >> the office of personnel. management has said that. >> this is about. accountability and efficiency. >> it stood behind this email going out across the federal government. >> across so many different. >> agencies that. that have federal workers. and said that they. >> wanted to. >> have a summary of the work. >> that these folks. >> would be are doing. >> or did last week. i should. >> say, and that any. additional steps that would. >> come as a result of. those five bullet points would be actions taken by individual agencies. at the same time, we saw some of those individual agencies, the fbi, the state department, the department. >> of defense and. others telling their. >> employees, either hold.

>> on, don't. >> respond to this. >> just yet, or don't respond. >> to this. >> at all. >> for various different reasons. >> that. were laid out. >> and then there were other agencies that said, yes, this is a valid email from opm. you need to respond to it by midnight tonight. and as you might imagine, jose, that has created some confusion for a lot of federal workers wondering, what is this? i've never had to send an email like this before. others who are concerned that responding to that email then gives someone maybe an opm, maybe elon musk and his team a list of things that they can sort of pin and say these are not sufficient for the job that you have, and therefore you should be terminated. so that the chaos and confusion is something that really resulted again over the weekend from this email. and of course, we've heard from democrats saying that they believe that this is not only unusual, but it's cruel and arbitrary, creating a lot of chaos for federal workers. jose. >> yeah, i mean, david, as aaron was mentioning, there have been a variety of responses from different government agencies within the trump administration. i mean, the fbi, state

department, a few others have instructed their employees, as aaron was telling us, not to respond. how do you read that? david? >> well. >> you would hope that the fbi, the doj, the intelligence agencies would tell their employees not to respond because we don't want to prejudice federal investigations or reveal sources and methods for intelligence gathering. i mean, it just shows you, in a sense, how haphazard a lot of the must department of government efficiency work has been, where they're just slashing and they're not being strategic and they're not explaining. now, i will say politically, you know, i think a lot of americans may look at this and say, you know, i've had some pretty annoying bosses over the years, or i have a boss that i may like, and i have to regularly explain what i'm doing, what i'm accomplishing, maybe more than just once a week or once a year, but every day. and so i don't think you're going to get a lot of sympathy politically for this idea that federal workers are being treated more like private sector workers. but again, to my

first point, the government is not a private sector business. and there's a reason why you can't just reveal this, because somebody high up is asking, i think this might be easier for, you know, for americans that are concerned, it might be easier if the administration was presenting more of an explanation for the strategy behind this and simply cut. and explaining why this was going to improve services. but until this thing really impacts americans adversarially right. it hurts their quality of life. it hurts the program they depend on. i think that there's some goodwill for this idea that somebody needs to get into the government and figure out how to make it work better, because most americans left, right and center. you know, they may have different reasons, but they don't believe government works well enough for them. >> and david, where is the or do you see there is a line or a moment in which that general american thought about how their

government is run and how it is, you know, the bureaucracy runs in our country. is there do you think a line where they would say, this is just too much? >> i don't know that they would say that. i think it just has to impact them. and it's hard to predict, you know, how that would impact them, right? i mean, we could i could come up with an example here, right? i mean, let's say that, you know, the food and drug administration that a lot of staff is cut, that a lot of programs are cut or the things that it does are cut. and then if there's, you know, some crisis involving the things that that oversees that hits americans. that would be a problem at the fbi or kash patel, the new director, wants to implement a lot of changes, right? i mean, i think americans may or may not be supportive, but if there's, you know, a something that happened on his watch, on the president's watch that people felt shouldn't have happened, then there are going to be questions. it sort of gets

us back to that pre 911 way of looking at the intel community where they didn't talk to each other. and that came out of the 1970s and 80s. and this feeling that the intel agencies were too powerful. we didn't want them talking to each other because we felt like they were infringing too much on our, our civil liberties. 911 happens. and what did everybody say? why didn't this agency know what this agency knew? so maybe they could have stopped the attack or done something about it. and so that's the sort of thing that tends to happen. >> yeah. and barrett, meanwhile, the top democrat on the house oversight committee, congressman gerry connolly, slammed what he called these musk email threat. and he called it illegal. is there anything illegal in this? >> i guess that. >> depends on who you're asking. i mean, possibly i think it depends on who has the authority to make demands of federal employees and what the repercussions are. look, i. >> agree with david that it may be. >> a perfectly. >> legitimate government. >> goal to want to have. >> a better understanding of. >> what individuals in the

federal. >> workforce are doing. >> but the execution of. >> this email was. >> terrible and seems to have been sent. >> out with. >> almost no coordination from the actual agency heads who were appointed by this administration. >> we don't know. >> who has the authority to make the request. >> we don't know who's actually tasked. >> to review these responses. and that's where. >> you know, there's potentially a. >> huge national security threat. >> i mean, you. >> can really see why responding to this email. >> would be. >> dangerous for. >> so. >> many federal. >> agencies, and why we see some of. >> these heads pushing back. i mean. >> obviously. >> any agency where employees are. working on sensitive matters should not be sharing broad data. >> about. >> their daily activities. >> outside of. >> their. >> own agency. >> and again, we. >> don't. >> know who is it, somebody. >> from doj's. is it somebody. >> from opm. >> that's reviewing these emails? >> and even if they. >> don't actually contain classified information, sort of the aggregation of all of. agency employees work. >> details would be. a huge. >> security threat. i mean, if somebody was to get access

activities of over. >> 2 million federal. >> employees, working details. >> that would. >> be, you know, a national security threat, just plain and simple. >> yeah. although barrett musk sent out a subsequent message that those that work in sensitive agencies or in departments, you know, should not include sensitive information. that was correct. although my point is. >> right. but even if it's. >> again, even if. >> it's not. >> national security. data or, you know, information that's protected by. >> you know. >> 60, if you're working for the. >> department of justice. >> you know, even regular information, the aggregation of that, if you have 2 million employees sharing what even if it's not sensitive, if you put it all together, all of a sudden that becomes sensitive information, because now you have a map of what the entire. >> federal workforce. >> is doing, what their. >> priorities are. >> if this falls. >> into. >> the wrong. >> hands. >> that absolutely is a national security risk. >> and aaron, meanwhile, president trump also announced

his pick for the second in command at the fbi. what more are we learning about why the president picked dan bongino? >> well. >> this was an announcement that the president made. via his truth social platform last night saying that kash patel, the new fbi director, had chosen dan bongino as his deputy director. dan bongino did post about this last night as well, thanking the president and the fbi director. he also spoke about this, i understand just a few minutes ago on his podcast. i think we have some of that we can play for you now. >> so. >> president. >> attorney general. >> bondi and. >> now director. gosh, that. sounds good to say. fbi director kash patel. >> offered this role. >> role? >> i expressed an interest in. and ladies and gentlemen. >> i told you, you see, it's

hard for me. i am. >> i'm going to accept the. >> role. >> you noted that dan bongino is a popular conservative podcaster. that is something that we know president trump has shown an affinity for. and so this former police officer, former secret service agent, is now going to be the deputy director at the fbi. and there's been some pushback to that, some objection from from lawmakers, from the fbi agents association, because typically the person in that role is a career fbi person, someone who's been around for a while because they are in charge of the day to day operations of the bureau, the, the, the bureaucracy, part of what happens here, not just somebody who's a political appointee who is going to be responsive solely to the president as a political appointee. and so there are concerns, jose, that he's not someone who's got experience with running a large federal agency. >> aaron gilchrist, david drucker and bert berger, thank you. barrett berger, thank you so very much. up next, new

developments from the vatican about pope francis's health. plus, hamas says israel is in violation of the cease fire agreement. why prime minister netanyahu is delaying the agreed upon release of more than 600 palestinian prisoners. you're watching jose diaz-balart watching jose diaz-balart reports on ♪♪ sonya earlene and marcia are among the thousands of real women living with metastatic breast cancer; doing what they love. and taking ibrance. ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for adults with hr+/her2- metastatic breast cancer as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed disease progression versus letrozole alone. ibrance may cause low white blood cell counts that may lead to serious infections. ibrance may cause severe inflammation of the lungs. both of these can lead to death. tell your doctor if you have new or worsening chest pain, cough, or trouble breathing. before taking ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection

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with a medical provider at sparks. >> each week, veteran. >> lawyers andrew weissman and mary mccord break down the latest developments inside the trump administration's department of justice. >> the administration doesn't necessarily want to be questioned on any of its policy. >> main justice. new episodes drop every tuesday. msnbc presents a new podcast hosted by jen psaki. each week, she talks to some of the biggest names in democratic politics, with the biggest ideas for how democrats can win again. the blueprint with jen psaki. listen now. >> 33 past the hour this morning, pope francis remains in critical condition, battling

double pneumonia and kidney issues. he's been in the hospital for ten days now, with a vatican source saying he's in good spirits today after a peaceful night. nbc's anne thompson is at the vatican. and what are we learning about the pope this afternoon now? >> well, jose. >> the good news. >> is that that mild. >> kidney failure. >> that he experienced. >> over the weekend. the vatican says that is. >> under control. >> he is. >> still dealing with that double pneumonia. and that, of course, is exacerbated by the fact that he has chronic. lung issues. >> and those stem. >> from when he was. >> just 21. >> and he. >> had to have the upper. >> right lobe of. >> his lung removed. >> and so. >> all of that is creating a situation that the vatican. says is complex and. is why he is still. in the hospital. >> i can tell you that. >> here in saint peter's square, jose. pope francis health. >> is on. everyone's mind. >> people come by all the time

and ask us, what? >> do you know. >> what's going on? >> we have. >> not gotten an update yet from the vatican. we expect one in the. next two hours or so, and that one is usually filled with more medical news. but just to go over, he is in critical condition. >> he still. >> fighting double pneumonia. >> they say. >> that that. >> mild kidney failure is. >> under control and. >> he is not needed any more transfusions. over the. >> weekend he had blood transfusions, transfusions because they noticed. when they did tests that his platelets were low. and that's because of the anemia. >> jose. >> anne thompson, right at the entrance of the vatican. thank you so very much. appreciate it. up next, pentagon purge as president trump fires six top officials. what we know about the man trump plans to nominate as the nation's top military officer. plus the remains of israeli hostage shiri bibas now finally home. the latest on the tenuous cease fire deal ahead.

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kaine to be the next joint chiefs chairman. his top military adviser. here's what defense secretary pete hegseth said about the firings over the weekend. >> nothing about this is unprecedented. the president. >> deserves to pick his key national security. and military advisory team. >> there are lots of. presidents who've made changes from fdr to eisenhower to h.w. bush to barack obama. this is a reflection of the president wanting the right people around him to execute the national security approach we want to. >> take. >> with us now, nbc news senior national security correspondent courtney, qb and msnbc military analyst, retired four star general barry mccaffrey. so, courtney, what more do we know about general cain, the man president trump wants to be the next chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. >> yeah, jose, he's not really a household name. and frankly, he's not even that. >> well known. >> to people here in the pentagon. he actually retired about two months ago from the air force, most recently recently, he was assigned as a

senior military. officer at the cia. >> working for. >> the director, bill burns, for the last several years. but the way that president donald trump got to know him was back when he was assigned to the mission in iraq. now, back then, he was he was with a special ops task force. he was the deputy commander there. >> and according to the way that. >> president trump has spoken publicly about it, he got to know him when they had a candid conversation about isis. and he won over the president, saying that they could he could defeat isis in a matter of weeks. the way president trump says it. he says that he told him that he loves him and that he would kill for him. now, at this point, we have not heard. directly from general cain about whether any of that is true. >> he will. >> have a confirmation hearing where i'm sure he'll get asked those questions, but there are. >> still some. >> procedural hurdles, hurdles that have to be that the pentagon has to get through before he. can even get there. the first is, as i mentioned, he's retired. they have to bring him back to active duty. he also

has not fulfilled several of the congressionally the legally required requirements to be the chairman of the joint chiefs, that being either being the vice chairman, being a combatant commander or being a service chief. he never served in any of those. but the way the law is written, the president has the authority to waive that requirement if it is in the national interest. so the big question now is. >> how will. >> he change the joint staff? the building right behind me here. now, he of course, is replacing general charles brown. cq brown, who was the chairman for about 16 months. jose, i have to point out, you know, he was relieved of this job. he did serve as a service chief. he was the air. force chief of staff, and he was appointed to that job by the man who just relieved him, donald trump. during his first term. jose. >> yeah. general, let's talk a little bit about that, because that isis campaign by the united states was extraordinarily effective and efficient. but the defense secretary hegseth, says

there's nothing unprecedented about removing so many military leaders at once. how do you see it? >> well, look. >> i. >> think we should be very clear. >> eyed about. >> what's going on. i don't think there's anything to do with competence. >> of. >> this current senior. >> military leadership. it has nothing to do. >> black or anti-women. >> i think what. >> you're. >> seeing is a. >> consolidation of power. >> by president. trump and by the secretary of defense to put into place. >> people who will. >> primary focus. >> will be on loyalty to. >> the regime. >> i think that's what's going on. >> i think we ought to be concerned about it. the nominee. >> retired three star air force general. >> perfectly talented. >> capable guy. i mean, he. was combat pilot. he's an air force brat. >> you know. he's white. >> house fellow. so there's nothing. >> he lacks. >> in talent. but as courtney

said, this is. >> a tremely unusual move. and firing all three of the service senior legal. >> officers again. adds to this. notion that this is. consolidation of. >> power of. >> the. >> people who have the guns. >> general, on another issue, i want your thoughts on the new york times is reporting the trump administration plans to use military sites across the nation to detain undocumented immigrants. what do you make of this move? >> well. >> this comes. >> up in every administration. >> you know. >> why don't we just. stick migrants. >> or prisoners. >> or. >> refugees or whatever. >> on military bases? >> these military bases. >> are there. >> as training platforms. >> and on most of them. >> they have tens of. >> thousands of. >> military family members. so it isn't a, you know, turnkey

operation where you can start moving. >> tens of thousands of. people in to everybody will just move over. >> a few rooms. so i don't know what they're. thinking of. this is going to be an expensive major operation if they're actually going to. export tens of. >> thousands. >> hundreds. >> of thousands. >> of migrants. >> general barry mccaffrey, thank you both so very much. still ahead, the migrant shelter at a midtown manhattan hotel that's processed almost. excuse me? 200,000 migrants is closing. and it's not the only one. you're watching. you're watching. >> jose diaz-balart reports. [fighting scene] —ugh! here we go again —wait there's a red hulk now? excuse me... what do i do about this? —we use tide oxi boost. —it's a life saver. the most powerful clean in any universe. lookin good. thank you. see captain america: brave new world. this is where you are. but this...is where you want to go.

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>> yeah, well, i mean, this is a. >> big. >> big issue. we've seen this kind of thing before. >> where both sides. >> have. accused the other. >> of. >> violating the ceasefire. >> one of the big. things that prime minister benjamin netanyahu of israel. >> is protesting against. >> here is the displays. >> of the. >> the handover. of those hostages. >> israeli society. >> has been outraged by these sort. >> of choreographed shows. >> where all of the. hostages are paraded onto. >> a stage. >> that's often emblazoned with anti-israeli slogans. they're made or. >> asked to. >> wave to the crowd. and a lot of people here in israel find. >> that to be. >> in incredibly. >> poor taste, especially the transfer. of dead bodies. >> that was done with a similar spectacle. >> now. >> hamas has. >> also accused the israelis. >> of violating. the ceasefire on their side. >> the real issue. here isn't. >> so much. >> what's going to be happening in the coming days, or that is a. big problem, and it really is hurting the potential for some of. >> these hostages. >> to be released. some of the palestinian. >> prisoners in. israeli jails. >> to also. >> be released. >> the big issue. here is that.

there has been no negotiation. >> there have been. >> no negotiations to move from phase one of this. >> deal to phase two. according to the terms of. >> the deal that was inked. >> back in january. >> there were. supposed to have been. >> negotiations to see a. more permanent ceasefire. >> and a more. >> permanent peace. >> that was. >> supposed to. come into effect on march 1st. >> we've seen no. >> movement. >> in. >> that direction. >> matt bradley in tel aviv, thank you very much. up next, why new york city's main migrant center at a midtown hotel is closing. you're watching jose closing. you're watching jose diaz-balart reports dry... tired... itchy, burning... my dry eye symptoms got worse over time. my eye doctor explained the root was inflammation. xiidra was made for that, so relief is lasting. xiidra treats the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. don't use if allergic to xiidra and seek medical help if needed. common side effects include eye irritation, discomfort, blurred vision, and unusual taste sensation. don't touch container tip to your eye or any surface. before using xiidra, remove contact lenses and wait fifteen minutes before re-inserting. dry eye over and over? it's time for xiidra.

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would take place. nbc's erin mclaughlin joins us now from outside the roosevelt hotel. aaron. good morning. what did the mayor decide to close the intake center? >> jose, in a lengthy statement, mayor eric adams didn't explicitly say why, calling the closure a policy change, also noting the cost saving measures that the city has taken in recent months, including the closure of some 53 sites. also citing a decline in demand at its peak of the migrant crisis. the hotel behind me the intake was more than 4000 migrants. that's now down to 350 migrants a week. take a listen to what the mayor had to say. >> thanks to. >> our policies, we're down. >> to an average. >> of just 350 new arrivals each week. and while we're not done caring for those who came into our care. today marks another milestone in demonstrating the immense progress we have

achieved in turning the corner on the unprecedented international humanitarian effort. >> also not stated was that the roosevelt. hotel has been a source of ire for the trump administration. administration officials alleging that the hotel was at the epicenter of gang and criminal activity, and citing that activity as the reason for the administration removing some $80 million from the city's bank account that funds granted by fema meant to pay back the city for its expenses during the migrant crisis. in recent days, the city filing a lawsuit of its own. the city comptroller saying that it was to regain those funds that the trump administration had, quote, stolen. that lawsuit, filed by mayor eric adams, also seen as a key test for the mayor

following the department of justice lifting those corruption charges or ordering the lifting of the corruption charges against the mayor of new york city, jose. >> erin mclaughlin in new york. thank you so very much. before we go this hour, i want to take a moment to remember legendary singer roberta flack, who died this morning at the age of 88. flack launched to stardom super stardom in the early 70s with her grammy winning hits first time i ever saw your face and killing me softly with his song. cause of death not provided. but flack had been battling als and said in 2022 that she could no longer sing. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz balart. thank you for the privilege of your time. katie tour picks up with more news right now. >> right now on. >> msnbc reports federal workers up against the clock, facing a midnight deadline from doge to justify their own jobs, even as the president and his own head of federal anc