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 agencies tell many of

those same employees to hold off on responding. french president. emmanuel macron meets with president trump this hour at the white house. what macron can say to the president to convince him to stick by ukraine. and later, as catholics around the world pray for pope francis, the vatican says he's in good spirits. what we know about his condition. good day. i'm katie tur in new york. elon musk has issued an ultimatum. ultimatum? excuse me? to all federal workers, but not everyone on team trump is on board. >> in an email that. >> went out. >> to. >> more. >> than 2. >> million workers over the weekend, musk is demanding they respond to tell him what they did last week. it's literally. the title. >> of the email. he says. >> the demand. >> for five. >> bullet pointed. >> accomplishments is. >> coming from the president. but officials at the. >> fbi, the nsa. >> the. >> justice department. >> the department. >> of defense and the state.

>> department are telling their staff. >> don't reply, at least. >> not yet. the group. >> behind an. >> existing union. >> lawsuit against doj's mass layoffs amended their complaint this morning to include any firings related to this email, calling the threat, quote, one of the most massive employment frauds. >> in the history. >> of. this country. layoffs also hit the pentagon this. >> weekend. >> with major shakeups. >> at the top, at the leadership level and more planned. >> for the civilian staff. >> while the courts cleared the way for doge to terminate. 1600 u.s. aid. >> employees working. >> here in the states. >> president trump is. >> weighing in on the doj's dragnet. here's what he said over the weekend. >> we have a very corrupt group of people in this country, and we're finding them out. we're removing all of the unnecessary, incompetent and corrupt bureaucrats from the federal workforce. that's what we're doing. we want to make government smaller, more efficient. we want to keep the best people, and we're not going

to keep the worst people. >> and in other staffing news, conservative podcaster and former fox news host dan bongino has accepted the role as deputy. fbi director. the position does not require. senate confirmation. >> and. >> typically goes to a career fbi. >> agent, meaning the. >> top two people in the bureau come to. >> the job. with zero. fbi experience. let's begin with nbc news senior white house correspondent garrett hake, former rnc. chairman and co-host of the. weekend michael steele, atlantic staff writer. ashley parker. new york times white house correspondent tyler. >> page, and. >> former manhattan assistant district attorney catherine christian. so, garrett, give us the latest on this email from doge. elon musk. >> says. >> this is coming from the president. >> but the heads of these agencies. >> all trump picks are saying. >> no, you don't need. >> to do that. >> you don't. >> need to answer this email. >> it feels like. >> a power struggle. >> yeah, katie, it's not at all clear what the end game is here,

but it's certainly clear that this has been a mess. >> you have agencies. >> from the state department to defense saying to their employees, don't bother with this. while some agencies, like the va are telling people, they do have to respond. >> and. >> have to respond by midnight, the white house, for their part, tells. >> me that they mean. >> for this to be the kind of thing. >> where it's. >> actually individual. >> managers who will make. >> the review of the kind of information. >> that comes in from their employees that. makes more sense than the idea that this all goes to one central place. >> because if you're anything like me, there's no way. >> you're keeping up with your current email. >> load. much less getting. >> millions of emails from federal employees. >> all by midnight tonight. >> and trying. >> to make sense of them. >> but one more sort of piece. >> of. evidence for. >> the idea that. >> this. >> is just been sloppy is the fact that we now know nbc news has confirmed that their employees. >> who work for the. >> court system. >> in various states who have begun receiving these emails, that means they're. >> employees of the. >> judicial branch. >> they do not report to opm, to the executive branch, to the white. >> house in any capacity. but they're getting these emails. >> so i think what you see here is some kind of attempt by musk

and company. >> to. >> get more aggressive with their efforts, but the follow through here is clearly lacking, and it's not at all. >> evident what. the endgame. >> of this is going to be. >> yeah, that's. >> what i'm wondering about. >> tyler, can you help us try to understand this? i know they want to slash and burn the federal government to cut down on the workforce because they claim they're corrupt and they're lazy. is that really all it is? they just want to see the numbers cut down. they want to be able to go to, to. americans and say, we reduced the federal workforce from 3 million people to 1 million people. >> yeah, i think. >> there's a lot here. i mean, this email obviously comes after. >> president trump announced. >> on social media. >> that. he wanted elon musk to be. >> more aggressive in his efforts. >> to trim the government. >> and find ways to and cut government spending. so i think. >> this is part of a full throated attempt. by the. >> trump administration. >> led by. >> elon musk. >> to. >> do this slash and burn. >> and i think it's important to. >> note that these sort of tactics are the same tactics.

>> we saw elon. >> musk use at private companies when he bought what was then called twitter. >> now x. >> he did very similar. he took very similar steps. and i think that's what we're seeing across the. >> government at each step. >> this is. >> a playbook that he has tried. he found. >> it to. >> be successful. >> and i think as we. >> see. >> on social media. >> and also as you see what trump has said in his recent public. >> appearances. >> he's bragged. >> about the amount of money that's been cut. now, i think it's. >> important to. >> note, as my colleague. >> peter baker wrote over. >> the weekend, that a lot of what he's saying is not. >> true, but it is part of. >> his stump speech now. >> it is part of. >> the pitch to the american people. that he is saving taxpayers money. >> yeah, but actually, they're also getting some pushback from the american people. some republican. lawmakers have faced some pretty. >> angry town halls. >> there are. >> a lot of people in the. >> the government. >> that voted. >> for. >> donald trump. >> who didn't. >> think that. >> he was going to come. out and just cut them off. >> at the knees. >> take a chainsaw to a, you know, a. silk silk rug, as i believe it was said.

>> in one of the. >> pieces that you wrote. what's what about the what about the backlash? are they worried about backlash? do they foresee backlash? >> so the most. >> important thing, of. >> course. >> is elon musk is not donald trump. donald trump is sort of a. >> as. >> you and i both know well, katie. >> a singular presence. >> whether. people love him or hate him. and elon. >> musk with the american public. >> does not have the same leeway and latitude. >> that president trump has. >> so even. >> a few weeks. >> ago, when. >> i was. >> talking to democrats who could sort of charitably be described. >> as. >> in disarray, one thing i heard the. >> sort of. >> silver lining. >> for them. >> was this idea. >> that already. >> elon musk was. >> not polling well with the american public. >> sort of. >> the actions he was taking. he wasn't elected. even republicans were skeptical. >> of him. >> and not. >> just what he. >> was doing, but just. >> the. >> mere fact that someone they hadn't voted for seemed. to be. >> operating with impunity outside the bounds of. >> what congress had.

>> authorized. >> and even what maybe. >> president trump. >> they believed wanted him to do now. >> is. >> you get down into. these cuts and you're seeing the atlantic. >> has. >> written about it. >> other places have written. >> about it. >> trump voters. >> who. >> supported trump are now alarmed. >> they didn't think. >> that their job would be cut. >> they thought because. >> they. >> were a veteran. they would be safe. >> or they thought because they had just. >> gotten a promotion. >> they would be fine. but of course, as we now know, a promotion means you are a probationary employee. so there is a lot of anger. and frustration. but in talking to close advisers to the president last night. >> the. >> real question, as. >> it. >> always does, comes down to president trump. >> and if and. >> when he turns on elon will be. >> the key thing. >> and one person i spoke to said as long as trump's approval. ratings are high, elon can kind of operate with impunity. >> once those. >> fall, trump will need a fall guy, and it very well may be musk. >> catherine, is this legal? >> no. >> and what's interesting, three federal judges last week, even

two that sided with the administration temporarily have criticized the onslaught of executive actions. one said it's caused disruption and chaos. one said there was a rushed and ad hoc process that doge has been doing, and also one. and that was judge chutkan, who denied the temporary restraining order, said that musk has rapidly taken steps to fundamentally reinstate the executive branch. yet unlike robert kennedy jr and kash patel, has not been confirmed by the senate to be in his position. so, no, you cannot send an email to someone and tell them you know they don't respond. that means their silence is a resignation. you cannot you have to voluntarily resign, and that these cabinet officials are telling their employees, no. you report to. >> the fbi. >> director. >> the attorney general, not to. elon musk is very interesting. they are basically, as you said, there's a little disarray that's going on in the executive branch now. but no, it's not legal. but

i think the trump administration knows that. and they want these cases to go to the supreme court and then hopefully get a63, five four decision in their favor. >> expanding the power of. >> the executive. >> the power. >> of the executive. >> they expand it. >> much more. >> than they currently have it. and it's like the executive. >> is. >> the only person there. so where's the. republican party. >> in all. >> of this? >> do they want to maintain. >> power within congress? do they want to protect. >> that branch of government. >> or are they they looking for an alternative? michael. >> an alternative. >> to what? >> i don't know, what do you mean, alternative? >> alternative to democracy, michael? >> yeah. >> i mean, that's that's been the playbook. it's called project 2025. >> they signed off on it. >> they lied to the american people. >> about it. >> you don't hear members of congress standing. >> up rebuking elon musk. >> which would be easy to do because he's an unelected individual. >> who is. >> you know, taking a chainsaw

to the federal government. so you would think that since they have control in charge of the federal government, that they would. >> be somewhat put out by it. >> but they're not. >> and the reason they're not. >> is. >> that they. >> they are. >> in alignment with what trump wants to do, because that is the safest harbor that they can. park themselves. they're not. i mean, they're just now having the town hall meetings, right. and reluctantly so, and, and the results that they're beginning to hear and see and experience is sending a shockwave, which i don't know why they're. >> shocked. >> but they are that the base is recoiling from all of this. >> why? >> because it's now hitting them, just as you noted before, they didn't think that, you know, because i got this, this great new promotion in the department of x that i'm going to be safe because i'm a trump person. well, no, you're not. you're expendable because you're a federal employee. and when

they want to cleave 2 million federal employees from the rolls, where do you think that's going to come from? so this is the new reality that's starting to set in, you know, is it legal? no. but does anyone give a damn? no, because the courts the courts are not going to be the safeguard here. they're not going to be the bulwark to this. i mean, when it gets to the supreme court, you'll find that out. and so i think that they're going to have to be other, other activities, measures that will help redefine this moment from the direction it's currently headed. >> dare i ask you, michael, about bongino being at the fbi? >> it's just one more example of someone who's not competent and capable for the job that they're being put into. he is a sycophant of donald trump. he is there to carry out what trump wants there. he is a secret service agent. he was a former secret service guy. he's not an fbi guy. he's not a doj guy. he's not a guy who's dealt with the kind of law enforcement

issues that are required for the job and the oversight of that agency, but it is consistent. he comes from radio. he's a familiar face and name for a lot of the base. and that's a box checked. it's not it's not a good day for the american people in terms of government service and protection, because you've just got one more trump stalwart inside the building. >> all right. michael steele, tyler pager ashley parker garrett. hey, catherine christian everybody, thank you very much for starting us off on this monday. coming up in just 90s, as the war in ukraine enters its third year, president emmanuel macron of france is at the white house right now to discuss europe's plan for peace. what can he say to donald trump to counter the influence of vladimir putin? you're watching vladimir putin? you're watching msnbc. when emergency strikes, first responders rely on the latest technology. that's why t-mobile created t-priority built for the 5g era.

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president zelenskyy. said he would be willing to resign. >> in exchange. >> for peace in ukraine or nato membership. zelenskyy is pushing back against demands from the. >> trump administration. >> for billions of dollars. in ukrainian. >> natural resources, and. >> for. >> holding peace. >> talks that exclude kyiv. >> trump is demanding. >> ukraine accept. >> whatever deal. >> he makes. >> so i want them to give us something for all of the money that we put up, and i'm going to try and get the war settled, and i'm going to try and get all that debt ended. so we're asking for rare earth and oil, anything we can get. >> joining me now from kharkiv, ukraine, is nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel and former assistant deputy secretary of. defense evelyn farkas. she's also the director of. >> the mccain. >> institute and the former u.s. ambassador to russia, michael mcfaul. so, richard, you begin us off here. give us the latest from ukraine. and this move by

president zelensky to say that he is willing to step down. >> so president zelenskyy spoke yesterday for about two hours. he was in a chair up on a stage all by himself. he looked remarkably relaxed, giving what was probably one of the most difficult press conferences of his career, because he had to say to the world, but specifically to president trump, thanks, but no thanks. we want to deal with the united states. ukraine wants a security and economic agreement, but not the agreement that president trump is demanding, which would see ukraine, which would force ukraine to set up a half trillion dollar fund, spending $500 billion to put it into a us controlled investment fund, effectively using natural resource revenue from rare earth minerals, from oil to create this fund, which, as i said, would be completely governed and

controlled by the united states. president zelenskyy said he wouldn't do that, that it would take ten generations for ukrainians to pay this off, and that it had no security guarantees attached to it, which is the most important thing that ukrainians are seeking, because, as you said, they didn't start this war. they've been invaded numerous times. first, president putin took crimea, then he took the donbas, and then he tried to take the entire country. so that's three in relatively short order. and now ukrainians want to make sure that if they do sign some sort of peace deal and relinquish territory, you're showing that territory in red some areas that they may have to give up, that if they do that, they at least will have security guarantees from the united states. but now, as it is, katie, ukrainians are potentially facing the prospect of having to give up that territory, which they don't control. right now, it's about 20% of the country occupied by

russia and saddle themselves with a half trillion dollars debt to the united states that president trump is demanding. and president zelensky, in his two hour very awkward address, although i will say he did look pretty, pretty calm, cool and collected during it said thanks, but no thanks, that that price is just too high. >> richard, thank. >> you very much. >> all right, ambassador mcfaul, let's try to sort this out. let's talk about the minerals. first off, what is donald trump trying to extract out of ukraine? >> honestly, i don't really understand it. he thinks he's doing the american people a favor by getting the ukrainians to pay for the aid we already gave them. i just want to remind everybody, the american people did not ask him to do this. the us congress voted to provide to appropriate this assistance. the president of the united states signed it off. there was no clause saying we have to pay it back. i just like to remind

everybody we have allies, too, who have gone to war with us, who have died with us, by the way, in afghanistan and iraq. they have never asked us to repay them. i think what it really is, is just a political cover, so that there might be negotiations that trump can say he got a great deal. you know, by the way, if they had all this half a trillion in wealth, do you think they wouldn't have exploited it ahead of time already? but tragically, i think president zelensky eventually will sign something. i talked to many of his senior people in munich last week. they know they have to do this. they just want to get something in return. just like richard said, they're not going to sign this if there's nothing in it for the ukrainian people. >> let me talk about what can happen without the. united states. evelyn, can ukraine keep on fighting if it has the support of europe? can europe stick together without the united states? >> katie, the short. >> answer to that question.

>> is yes. >> of course. and ukraine will continue fighting rather than take some kind of raw deal. >> that. >> requires them to forfeit their sovereignty and get no real security guarantee. and at the end of the day, if there's no real security guarantee, they will have to fight. it will just be a cease fire. so leaving aside the weird mineral deal discussion, the europeans are able. >> to. >> provide assistance to ukraine to continue. they have $300 billion of frozen russian assets that they can unfreeze and provide to the ukrainians. so the ukrainians can go on the open market and buy weapons from the united states, from the european countries, and also, of course, start putting some of that money towards reconstruction. but at the end of the day, this is about a compromise. katie, if the russians want to keep the territory, ukraine would have to compromise and say, you can keep the territory that you're holding right now. but if there's a compromise, ukraine has to get something in

exchange. and the thing that they want more than anything else, and they're willing to forfeit their territory and their people for this is a guarantee that they won't have to fight russia again. >> that's a big guarantee. >> let's talk about what's happening at the white house right now. >> french president emmanuel. >> emmanuel macron is going to arrive there shortly. he's going to have a meeting with president trump after speaking with the g7. they're going to meet in the oval office and they're going to have a bilat. what is the goal of emmanuel macron today, ambassador. >> i think he's going to try to persuade president trump to say on the side of the democrats, and not to pivot to the side of the autocrats in this world. i got to say, this is just a really embarrassing, sad day for me as an american. it's the third anniversary of this barbaric invasion of ukraine, and our president is now siding with the with the dictator. he's siding with putin against the will of all european leaders. and i hope president macron makes that clear, but also,

importantly, against the will of the american people. we don't have many polls where you get 80% on one side. you know better than i do about american polling, but 81% in a quinnipiac poll a few days ago. don't trust putin. only 9% support the president's view. so i hope with this meeting today, i hope with senators, republican senators who i know personally, who do not support this pivot to support putin, i hope they'll be political pressure to stop this bleeding, because this is not in america's interest to capitulate to putin. it has negative consequences for our security in europe, but it makes us look weak everywhere, including in asia, including around the world. we have got to stop this. >> evelyn. >> can you make any sense of why donald trump always leans towards vladimir putin? why he believes him over our own intelligence agencies, why he believes him over western allies, why he's now saying

something that is just verifiably untrue. we watched it happen. russia invaded ukraine. why? he's now trying to claim that ukraine started this. why is he always siding with vladimir putin? well, katie. >> before i get to that, i just want to add to something that mike mcfaul just. >> said, because i. >> just came from taiwan and they're incredibly nervous. they think that the next thing is a deal that president trump might make with president xi. so the question, your question, why does president trump want. to do say things that basically are reiterating moscow's talking points? and why does he want to take russia's side? this autocratic government, which, by the way, has infiltrated our nuclear facilities, our energy facilities. i mean, they are preparing for a war with us. vladimir putin talks about it all the time. so it's not as if we have to look for. it's not a hidden secret. i mean, the russians have said out loud they view us as the adversary nation. so it's really perplexing. i

can't answer it because i am not i don't know, president trump personally. i have not engaged in a conversation with him. but it is really dangerous because if it's part of a negotiation, it does actually make us look weak. and it does encourage the chinese, the north koreans and the iranians to follow suit. so i don't think it's a wise negotiating tactic to make putin think or to actually appear to believe his talking points and his perspective. >> all right. evelyn farkas, ambassador mcfaul, thank you guys very much. again, we're watching the white house. we're waiting for french president emmanuel macron to show up for his meeting with donald trump. coming up, prayers for pope francis, double pneumonia and kidney complications have him now in critical condition. we have the latest update on his health coming up next from rome. don't go anywhere. hello, i'm veronica. >> my name is darvin, i'm

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let's see if we can. >> listen for. >> a moment. >> do you have something. >> to say to the. >> pope who's in the hospital? pope? oh, yes. >> no. you see the culture there wish you a. >> recovery in the hospital. thank you. >> federal workers be. >> listening to their agencies or elon musk, sir. >> so french president emmanuel macron right there saying that he wishes the pontiff well and hopes for a swift recovery. claudio, on that note, give us the latest about his condition. >> what is. >> the vatican reporting at this time? >> hi, katie. well, early this morning, the vatican sent out a very short statement saying the pope had a restful night and then he continues to rest. but the real update is going to come up in about half an hour from now. usually in the evening, the vatican gives out a very detailed report on what the latest tests performed on the pope say. so the latest we got was last night, as you mentioned. now he has he continues to be in a critical

condition, even though the vatican said yesterday that he did not have any further respiratory crisis like the one he had on saturday. and that's some good news. the other good news is that the blood transfusion he received on saturday worked, and his hemoglobin levels are now stable. the bad news is that his latest blood test, as you mentioned in the intro, revealed that he has an initial initial light kidney insufficiency. he continues, though to be alert. we will wait for a more update, a more detailed update in about half an hour from now. katie. >> all right. claudio lavanga. claudio, thank you very much. and coming up next, the big shakeup at the pentagon after the president fires the nation's top military officer. the impact on gutting decades of experience from the u.s. military. that's coming up. you're watching coming up. you're watching msnbc. nature knows best. that's why new chapter vitamins... ...follows her example. with key vitamins, minerals, herbs, and whole food ingredients... ...crafted to work with your body.

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leaders with decades of experience. foremost on that list, the country's top. military official, chairman of the joint chiefs four star general, c.q. brown, only the second black military officer to ever hold that job. navy chief admiral lisa franchetti, the first woman in that position, was also fired. in addition to several. >> top military. >> attorneys this morning at the pentagon, general brown's and admiral franchetti's pictures

were removed from display. >> defense secretary pete. >> hegseth defended the firings on fox news yesterday. >> nothing about this is unprecedented. president trump has given another set of lawful orders and they will be followed. if they're not followed, then those officers will find the door. >> nbc news national security correspondent courtney kube joins us from the pentagon. are we getting a reason as to. >> why these two people. >> were removed? no. and. >> katie, what's what's. >> remarkable about what. >> we heard from the secretary on fox news yesterday is that we don't have any indication that any of these individuals who were removed from their jobs have not been upholding, or have not been adhering to whatever it is that they're being told to do. i mean, on the contrary, general cq brown has he has served with distinction for more than 40 years in the air force. and i feel the need to point out, you know, he was the chief of staff of the air force. he was appointed to lead the air. force by president donald trump during his first term. so at

that point, president trump thought at least that he should be the most senior airman in the in the united states air force. but you know, this another thing that secretary hegseth said yesterday on fox news was this is not unprecedented. he's absolutely right about that, katie. it's not unprecedented for the president or the secretary of defense to fire generals and admirals. it's not and it's not illegal for them to have the senior military officers in the jobs that they want. they all serve at the pleasure of the president. the reason that this is getting so much attention is because another thing we have heard from secretary hegseth is that he wants to institute meritocracy. it's a word we have heard from him many times in his short time here at the pentagon, including during his confirmation hearing in front of the senate armed services committee. and at this point, despite what he said on fox, we have no indication that any of these individuals did anything that was contrary to the policies that president trump has said that he wants to lead the pentagon right now. on

the contrary, they have been in the jobs that they have been in. they have been following the policies of the civilian leaders. remember, the military is run by civilian leadership, that the officers who are put in these jobs, they are simply carrying out the policies for the jobs that they're supposed to be, that they are assigned to. now, general brown will be replaced by lieutenant general david cane and unorthodox choice for several reasons. number one, he's retired. he retired on december 31st of 2024. he also has never fulfilled some of the mandated the legally required requirements for the job. that is either to have served as the vice chairman of the joint chiefs, to be a combatant commander, or to have served as a service chief. but katie. president trump has the authority to waive those requirements in the case of a national if it's in the national interest that's written into the law, it's still not 100% clear exactly. how the administrative side, the bureaucracy is going to work. >> on all of that.

>> or when his confirmation hearing will be. but we are asking all those questions here today. katie. >> courtney, what about what's happening in africa, our presence in africa that's going to be rolled back. >> so that is another thing we have been asking. look, there have been indications that that the trump administration, frankly, during his first term, he talked about potentially pulling some u.s. troops out of africa, including places like somalia. well, now we're learning exclusively today, according to our colleague carol lee and i, that the administration is talking about abolishing or eliminating u.s. africa command, essentially making it potentially as a sub command underneath u.s. european command. now, katie, that's actually what it was. for a long time. there was not africa command until about 15, 20 years ago. i think it was 2008 that it became fully operational and became its own command. some officials who we spoke with said, look, this is a good idea. it's eliminating bureaucracy. you can put some of the decision making on the continent itself. >> but others are. >> concerned about the

possibility that this would make it easier for the trump administration to eliminate some of the command, the u.s. military presence in africa, because if there's not a four star commander in charge of africa command, there may be less resistance to pulling some u.s. troops back from places. and all that potentially does is open up a vacuum for some potential u.s. adversaries, like russia and china, to gain more of a foothold on the continent. katie. >> which we know they've been trying to do. courtney, qb. >> thank you very much. and joining me. >> now is former pentagon spokesman and biden administration official chris maher. chris, really good to have you. what is the what is the reason that that you can suss out for why cq brown was fired? >> it's a. >> good. >> question, katie. >> and the. >> administration has been unable to answer it. i think. that only leaves us with one possibility, which is politics. it's certainly not because of their experience. cq brown had a 40 year career that spanned democratic administrations, republican administrations. he was a fighter pilot who flew

3000 hours in an airplane, and he showed up every day to work focused on war, fighting. on deterring wars and. >> making sure. >> that our adversaries knew that we were ready for whatever might be coming our way. lisa franchetti. >> saying she. >> served 40 years in the. united states military. she commanded the sixth fleet most recently. these are people with an incredible amount of experience. they performed at the highest levels each and every day. it's not the performance from these folks that is the reason why they're fired. >> and that. >> only leaves politics as the reason. >> they're the top attorneys for the army, and the. navy and the air force were also fired. why would you fire the top attorneys? and what does it mean to not have them? >> well, that's another. really great question that we don't have an answer to. these are men. >> and women that are. >> three stars in the services the army, the navy, the air force. they're charged with, among other things, making legal decisions about ensuring whether

orders are lawful or not. you know, pete hegseth was on fox news yesterday saying that part of the reason why they got rid of these people is because they were being roadblocks. look, i find lawyers as cumbersome as anybody else, but they're the there's a reason why they are in place not to be roadblocks, but to make sure that we're following the law, that we're doing things the right way and that things will hold up in court. there's a reason why lawyers are at the pentagon, and that's to make sure we're doing the right things for the right reasons. >> i guess the other question i have for you is, is looking at africa to, to pull out of africa and redirect command to, to europe as china and russia are trying to gain more of a foothold there. how does that impact the united states? why should americans care? >> well, i think courtney hit the nail on the head. you know, friday night with this purge of

some of our most senior, most experienced officers was the day that china and russia are probably celebrating this news about potentially ending us. africa command is also going to be news that is welcome in china and russia, because that will allow them to gain a greater foothold in in this region, which is critical to our national security, not just that, but our decreased presence in the region will only lead to more spread of terrorist organizations and organizations that seek to harm u.s. citizens, u.s. soldiers, and other people around the world. so it's a terrible idea. if they're looking to cut bureaucracy, it's the wrong place to go. you know, the biden administration took a lot of effort to increase our presence in africa, to increase our interactions with the people

in africa. secretary austin went there. members of the cabinet across the board showed that africa was a priority by showing up. and now we're going to be showing the people in africa that they're no longer a priority by pulling out. >> chris, if somebody's. watching and they're looking at you and. looking at your title and they're saying. >> well. >> you're. >> a biden administration. >> person, you were a spokesperson for the pentagon under biden. why should i listen. >> to. >> any of the criticism that you have? what's your response? >> the best part about the job that i had at the pentagon was showing up every day and getting to work alongside the men and women in uniform. these are men and women who were serving their country, who swore an oath to the constitution, not because joe biden was president, not because barack obama was president, not because donald trump is president, but because they wanted to serve their country. you're talking about people in nbc broke this news like lieutenant general jen short, the secretary's senior military aide. she is well

respected among the men and women in the united states military. she knows her stuff. she was a fighter pilot in the united states air force with about 2000 hours of flying. you know, pete hegseth wants to return lethality and war fighting to the united states military. it already exists, and it exists in people like jen short, like cq brown, like lisa frank. these are the people that we're kicking to the curb. >> chris marr. >> really good to have you. thank you very much. and coming up next, a live report from tel aviv as israel presses for more hostages to be released from gaza while sending tanks into the west bank. and what the u.n. is calling a, quote, dangerous is calling a, quote, dangerous escalation. you're where does the time go? where does the time go? until this week, my dad did not know where he was from. i'm african american. i want to know where i come from. it means the world to share ancestry® with my dad. so nigeria, this is where it all started.

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>> well, katie, i mean, that's really unclear. you know, hamas. >> has. >> said they're not going to be releasing on. their side. >> and the. >> israelis seem intent. >> that they're not going to be releasing. >> these prisoners. >> unless they see. >> an. >> end to these. >> ceremonies that we've. >> been seeing images. >> of for. >> so long. but this is. >> a, you know, a real. >> problem, not just for the final days. >> of this. >> cease fire. >> the fact is. >> is that these. >> sorts. >> of. >> disagreements, where. both sides have. accused the other of violating the. >> cease fire. >> this peace has endured worse. >> in the past several weeks. so they have. >> moved past this. >> the real issue. >> coming up. >> here, katie. >> is that neither side so far has been negotiating, moving from. >> phase one of this. >> deal, which. >> is supposed to end on. march 1st into phase two, phase. >> two, according to the. >> terms that were laid out. >> in late. >> january. >> that's supposed to see a more permanent. >> peace in the gaza. >> strip, and perhaps the full. >> withdrawal of israeli. >> troops from. >> the gaza strip. >> without any. negotiations moving towards that direction. it doesn't look like there's any. >> real plan. >> to see a more. >> permanent peace. >> and that means both. sides

are already preparing. >> for a return to war. >> katie okay, so there's no plans moving forward. has benjamin netanyahu been a little bit clearer about his his expectations or his desires for the end of this? does he is he still talking about donald trump's plan. >> which is that. >> the us is going to take over gaza? >> he's been a little bit, you know, back and. >> forth on donald. >> trump's plan. he hasn't. necessarily endorsed it. >> it's not entirely. >> clear, at. >> least from where i'm sitting, that he. >> takes it. >> totally seriously. >> but the fact. >> is. >> is that he. >> would like to see, and we've heard from. >> israeli sources saying that they do want to see this peace treaty moving forward. whether or not they're actually going to do. >> it, that's a. >> big question. >> he's definitely. >> empowered by the new. >> president in the white. >> house. >> who has. >> made it clear that he's. >> going. >> to be giving. >> benjamin netanyahu. >> everything he wants. and that makes things. >> very difficult. >> especially since benjamin netanyahu. >> remember, he's facing so much pressure from right wing elements within his cabinet and

within. >> israeli society. >> that are saying that they don't want to. >> see some. >> sort of permanent. >> peace in the gaza strip. >> the main. >> stumbling block. >> here is hamas's. >> continuous refusal to disarm. >> and that's. >> one. >> of the. >> things. >> that is keeping this peace. >> treaty. >> from becoming more permanent. >> all right, matt bradley. matt, thank. >> you very much. >> and we just received a promised update from the vatican about the pope's health. the statement says the pontiff's condition has actually improved. >> slightly, but. >> he is. >> still. >> critical. insisting his kidney problem is not a cause for concern. officials say some of his. lab results are improving. and doctors. >> have been. >> able to cut back. >> on the level. >> of oxygen. >> that. >> they've been giving him. pope francis was able to make some phone calls this morning, but doctors are still not providing a full prognosis. that is going to do it for me this hour. you can always catch me right back here at 3 p.m. eastern on msnbc. don't go anywhere. chris jansing don't go anywhere. chris jansing reports starts when migraine strikes,

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him from this position. are you feeling differently about that responsibility? what are you expecting from the trump administration on ukraine? what do you make of this existential question about whether or not court rulings are going to be treated as optional? why do you think the us government is sending immigrants to guantanamo? watch what's happening in the country and watch what effect it's happening on politics, because politics is how this will turn around. good day. i'm chris. >> jansing, live at msnbc headquarters in new york city, defying doge new. >> resistance from. >> inside trump's own administration, pushback. >> against elon musk's blanket warning. >> to federal workers. >> to justify their work over the. >> past week, the. >> agency heads, who are telling their employees to. >> ignore it.