before i let you go, mattis is leaving and so is mcgurk.ou expect because this is such a reversal there on to be more high-level departures because of this syria policy? >> it may not be the syria policy you, but to the extent that this sort of recklessness and the tweets and everything going on with the white house right now is sort of this last week, as i would call it. the person i'm looking at right now is gina haskell, the cia director. we are starting to hear reports that the president's reaction to the khashoggi killing and undermining the cia's assessment that clearly the royal family and the saudi prince was a targeted assassination, i would look to members of the intelligence community getting some sort of support by what mattis and mcgurk are doing so what i'm looking out for in the next couple of weeks. >> good to have you, juliette kayyem. >> thank you. >>> we continue to following breaking news this hour. new video of that deadly tsunami in indonesia overnight. hundreds are dead. the latest developments is next. ever since dar

mcgurk saying isis is not defeated.e best case, worse case scenario for what happens when the u.s. leaves there? >> i can give you the worst case, the fight against isis will slow down. it's going to have to. we know that erdogan has designs on moving forces east of the euphrates to the iraqi border. he said he is going to do that. i don't know that the president has talked him out of that, maybe that's a part of the deal why we are going to leave. but if the turks move in anyway against northern syria, we're going to see what happened the last time they did this. the sdf, syrian democratic forces, mostly made up of the kurds, who the turks believe are a bunch of terrorists are going to stop fighting isis, they're the primary force on the ground against isis, they are effectism. they will stop fighting isis, they will redeploy to their home areas to defend what they believe their family and their territory. the fight against isis will take the back burner. we can continue artillery and air. we will not be able to move o

the person, brett mcgurk worked as a u.s.pecial envoy to the international coalition fighting isis. >> he was in iraq and had just finished briefing partners that the u.s. would stay in syria when he learned president trump had reversed course. his resignation on friday came just one day after u.s. defense secretary james mattis quit over the same thing. >> and this tweet from the u.s. president claiming not to know his own envoy. he belittled mcgurk as a obama holdover and quote grand stander who is going to leave the administration soon any way. >> joining me now is political analyst peter matthews a frequent guest of our program. peter, thanks for being with us. >> good to be with you, natalie. >> all right. it's the holidays. happy holidays to you. i don't know how much happy holidays is going around washington because this is the first time in 40 years the government will have been closed three times in one year. and now congress says, well, we'll take it up after christmas. what do you think of the impasse and who is to

. >> his name brett mcgurk.s a senior dip mat serving as the president's own representative to the international coalition battling isis, a big job. >> but here is the thing, on twitter, mr. trump claimed that he did not know his own envoy. then he belittled mcgurk as an obama holdover on his way out. more now. >> reporter: u.s. envoy in charge of the fight against isis has resigned. brett measuring gurk told secretary pompeo on friday night that he would be leaving his post on december 31st. mcgurk was expected to leave in february to take up a post at stanford university, but his decision to leave early came on the heels of president trump's sudden announcement that he would be withdrawing all troops from syria. now, mcgurk just days earlier was talking to reporters about the new u.s. policy to stay in syria, not only to defeat the remnants of isis but also to counter iran. in fact, mcgurk was in the region meeting with coalition partners to discuss this policy and was sitting with iraqi leaders talking about

what can you tell us about brett mcgurk? >> we're talking about one of the u.s.st accomplished dip malomats and bt mcgurk has been working on issues related to iraq in the region for decades. he's been the envoy dealing with the 60-plus member coalition on isis for about five years now, and largely had been successful, but you know, you just remember in recent days the president had said that, you know, isis, the u.s. would stay and remain in syria to defeat those remnants of isis and also to counter iran, and brett mcgurk was talking to state department correspondents just a few days ago, and then went off to the region to brief partners about this policy assuring members of the coalition u.s. partners in iraq and syria, like the kurds, that the u.s. was going to stay. in fact, he was in iraq meeting with senior leaders when president trump tweeted that he was pulling out of syria. so according to sources familiar with his thinking, his colleagues, you know, brett mcgurk felt his credibility, his integrity was on the line. he could not defend this policy let alo

mcgurk is the special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter isis.cgurk's resignation follows defense secretary james mattis's stunning resignation on thursday, that resignation shocking washington and stunning u.s. allies. with me now is arwa damon, cnn's international correspondent. what are u.s. allies saying? >> they're reeling, as you can imagine, because up until that moment, where president trump tweeted that he was withdrawing all u.s. forces from syria, everyone thought that america's strategy, a strategy that they had just recently also had emphasized to them by brett mcgurk himself, was to stay the course in syria, until isis was completely eradicated to. train up adequately the local forces there. and to continue to add a buffer to iran's influence. and now, none of that is anything remotely close to what america's strategy or should i say trump strategy seems to be in syria. and then you also have to look at america's adversaries in the region. i mean who is welcoming this? the syrian regime, the iranians, and the russians. turkey's posi

now it's careful to note that mcgurk was scheduled to leave in february. he was going in march to take up a position at stanford university, has a young child, was looking to have a life after government for a while. but really one of the best and brightest of the u.s. administration security team felt that he could no longer implement the president's policy on syria. i'm also told that the resignation of defense secretary mattis in large part because of the -- >> elise, i'm sorry, i've got to interrupt you. we're going to talk more on this departure of brett mcgurk, special envoy, his resignation, but let's go to capitol hill senate majority leader mitch mcconnell talking about this ongoing government shutdown and what they're working on to propose a bill. >> understanding that no further votes will occur until the president and senate democrats have reached an agreement to resolve this. let me say that again. we've pushed the pause button until the president from whom we will need a signature and senate does democrats from whom we will need votes reach a

mcgurk saying he could no longer serve the president in this policy against syria.se lavin, cnn. >>> let's bring in julian zeleny and siraj hasmi. thank you both for joining us. first, i'm going to start with siraj. let's remind our viewers what the president tweeted. so president trump is essentially admitting to not knowing the guy leading the fight against isis after declaring they were defeated. stop me if i'm wrong here, but shouldn't they have been having these conversations? should not there be briefings that would have him know who mcgrk um mcgurk was? >> quite possibly. it should give americans pause when russian president vladimir putin and iranian ayatollah. it cannot be understated. it's possible he might be inflating his own significance but he did get turkey on board with basically trying to stave off defeating the kurds and the kurds were absolutely integral and critical in defeating isis. they lost upwards of 10,000 troops in fighting isis. the fact that president trump doesn't know who mcgurk is not a good sign but he is the commander in chief and i

>> well, i've known brett mcgurk since we started working together in iraq in 2007.ed public servant. and i can only imagine that this was a very difficult decision for him. but as we talk about syria and the way forward, and admiral kirby made good points, the global coalition to defeat isis isn't just about boots on the ground, they have many musions ahead of it, like countering the extreme rhetoric that isis continues to spread online. and when you think about someone like brett mcgurk, if he had to go back and talk to the 78 other countries and organizations that still comprise that coalition, he would be in a much more difficult position today, when the u.s. is withdrawing. >> right. >> we cut off stabilization assistance that the state department was supposed to deliver. how is he going to ask other coalition members to continue the fight if we're pulling back? >> admirable kirby, is there any hope in your view of holding bashar al assad accountable for war crimes and maybe international courts? or do we just now live in a world where the genocide of a million

brett mcgurk.e has decided to step down. the president's decision has been turned into a formal directive. the executive order for syria has been signed by james mattis. cnn has learned that days before the president decided to withdrawal, he made a phone call to turkish phone call to recep tayyip erdogan. we have more from istanbul. what do we know? >> reporter: before that decision by trump was announced, we know there was a phone call between trump and his turkish counterpart recep tayyip erdogan. in that phone call, trump asked the turkish president can you handle isis. erdogan responded yes, as long as we have support from you. he said okay, we are done. turkey is going to be taking care of the isis presence in syria. this leaves the u.s. allies on the ground in syria in a lurch. turkey views that fighting force an extension of a territory group. the u.s. is leaving the troops on the ground in a tough place. mattis's resignation came after they said they would bury the members of the kurdish f

which is part of the reason why mcgurk himself was resigning.being in a position where you're hearing from top administration officials, that america's strategy is one thing, only to have that completely and totally flipped on its head. on the other side of the equation, of course, there is the reaction of america's adversaries in the region, namely the syrian regime, the russians, the iranians, and they're all welcomes this decision, and that speaks for itself. >> no doubt. what exactly does the u.s. role in syria look like going forward then? >> if the americans are completely withdrawing from the military battlefield, it is really hard to see what kind of role america is actually going to have, or at least what kind of a productive role it can have. look, america a long time took itself out of the political solution equation when it came to syria. the more significant negotiations when it came to some sort of a political solution were really just being held between the turks and the russians and the iranians and now america is effectively to

brett mcgurk. in one of his first interviews since the agreement was reached. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in the situation room. tonight, time is running out for tiktok. now that the u.s. supreme court has upheld a law that could shut off the site for 170 million americans as soon as sunday. cnn's paula reid reports on the high court decision and whether soon to be president trump will give tiktok a reprieve. >> a unanimous supreme court allowing tiktok to be banned in the u.s. as soon as sunday amid bipartisan national security concerns over the popular apps linked to china. >> no one had argued the ban violated the first amendment, but the justices disagreed, writing tiktok scale and susceptibility to foreign adversary control, together with the vast swaths of sensitive data the platform collects, justify differential treatment to address the government's national security concerns. last year, congress passed the law banning the

brett mcgurk. the special envoy for the global coalition against isis has decided to step down early. cnn has learned days before the president decided to withdrawal, he made a crucial phone call to turkish president erdogan. sources say president trump said okay, it is all yours. year done. a senior white house official said erdogan gave his word that turkey would finish off isis. the syrian kurds and alliance with the united states. turkey considers the kurds a terror group. >>> the third government shutdown of the year entering the third day and right now there is no end in sight. >> we apologize, but due to the lapse in federal funding, we are unable to take your call. once funding has been restored, our operations will resume. please call back at that time. >> that's the recording you will get if you phone the white house. 400,000 workers to work without pay. that is not all. another 400,000 are sitting at home unpaid. a number of national parks and monuments shuttered for the long holiday wee

brett mcgurk, the state department's pointman on iraq, deputy secretary of state for near eastern affairs, sent this tweet a short time ago. "fully support president of #iraq as guarantor of the constitution and a prime minister nominee who can build a national consensus." jim, a strong indication that the administration is very frustrated with prime minister nou nouri al malaki and actively trying to build support for another alternative candidate. this comes as two iraqi police officials tell cnn that significantly more iraqi troops and security forces are being deployed in and around the green zone, major brings, which link east to west, baghdad have been closed. so, nouri al mall lack kirk as you mentioned a short time ago, flexing his muscle there is in baghdad and the u.s. state department now clearly actively supporting candidate against him, the kurdish candidate for prime minister. >> they have been pretty circumspect, that a very public withdrawal of support for the iraqi prime minister. >>> i want to bring in a democrat representing hawaii's second district, also an iraq war ve

. >> senator, the president also tweeted yesterday about mcgurk, the top u.s.iplomat in the fight against isis, who announced he was going to leave his post early. brett mcgurk, who i do not know, was supposed to leave in february but just resigned. fake news is making such a big deal about this nothing event. in point of fact, brett mcgurk worked for president bush before he worked for obama. but he doesn't know the presidential envoy to defeat isis. >> i would not be surprised if they did not have a meeting. he has a real talent and we've dealt with him for years. he was leaving in february, but as mattis just did, one of the greatest patriots i've ever met in my public service, general mattis. as mattis did, he followed suit and left. he did the right thing. i don't look at that as grandstanding. he has been an important person to us. the secretary of defense, obviously, is in a higher role, much higher profile position but brett has played an important role for our country. i thank him for our service, i thank him for dealing with the most difficult issue a

and now president trump is blasting mcgurk and mattis on twitter. barbara starr at the pentagon and also bring in cnn global affairs analyst, aaron david miller. barbara, let's start with you and what you're hearing from your sources in the pentagon now about decision and the concerns about fact that there's not going to be very much overlap between mattis and even his acting -- obviously, none, with whomever will be nominated. >> well, at this point, patrick shanahan, who has been tagged to be the acting secretary of defense, is on his way back to washington, we understand. we've been out of town for the holiday, on vocatiacation, and clearly, this catching him unawares. he is now heading back to washington. madison and shanahan from worked together since the beginning. but it's important to understand, they really have two different jobs. as deputy, shanahan very involved in the business affairs of the pentagon, working on budget planning, acquisition, innovation, that kind of thing. mattis much more out there on the global stage. and it is that g

his stunning departure was followed by the resignation of brett mcgurk, the president's top diplomat charge of destroying isis. despite those major exits and criticisms, the president's incoming acting chief of staff says trump has made up his mind on this issue. >> any chance the president changes his mind about this and reverses course? >> no. the president has told people from the very beginning he doesn't want us to stay in syria forever. you're seeing the end result now of two years worth of work. >> president trump declared historic victories against isis, but the terror group still carrying out attacks in syria and around the globe. several lawmakers and u.s. allies fear a pullout of u.s. troops in syria could breathe new life into isis. here is cnn's ian lee. [ sirens ] >> reporter: an isis-inspired shooting leaves five dead in france. two scandinavian tourists beheaded in another isis-inspired attack in morocco, all in the month u.s. president donald trump tweeted the terror group defeated in syria. >> we have won against isis. >> trump's decision caught administration offic

mcgurk and how much of a loss is this? >> john, it's a significant loss.s one of the most influential and astute diplomats out there. he has not only led the diplomatic fight against isis but also has been the one person who as, in essence, together put all the elements of national power. when you are talking about that, what you are talking about is not only the diplomatic part but the military part. from my perspective he was the one person you could go to to make things work, and that was true not only for the u.s. government, the u.s. side of things but also for our allies and partners around the world. he was extremely influential that way, and as far as whether or not this is a big deal, it's a huge deal because if brett mcgurk goes, and he's probably doing it in solidarity with secretary mattis, when somebody like that goes it's a critical notice to the administration that their policies and way of doing business has really not worked with the folks that are carrying out those policies. >> presumably this is somebody the president should have known

defense secretary james mattis resigned, followed short bye-bye anti-isis envoy brett mcgurk who just region that thes would finish the job. >> nobody is saying that they're going to disappear. nobody is that naive. we want to stay on the ground and make sure that stability can be maintained. americans will remain on the ground after the physical defeat of the caliphate until after we are sure that those are stable. >> trump, who said he didn't know mcgurk, called him a grandstande grandstander. >> main ally against isis, syrian kurds are now abandoned, weakened and exposed. turkey assured the trump administration they could defeat the terror group but any operation in northern syria would likely start a new confrontation between the sworn enemies, turks and syrian kurds, chaos isis would likely exploit. republican senator bob corker had strong words about trump's decision on cnn's state of the union. >> we're just a few months away from finishing something that we started, where we would annihilate large number of isis members and we stopped. i'm just saddened for our country. i'm sa

. >> so on october 6, brett mcgurk, who oversees the middle east for the white house, was sitting in his office meeting with saudi diplomats and they were outlining plans for a palestinian state as part of a broader other deal to normalize relations between israel and saudi arabia and to create a defense treaty between the u.s. and israel. and it was it was detailed. they were talking about what the welfare the welfare system and the energy grid would look like and how to reform the corruption in the palestinian authority? and then a couple of hours later, mcgurk gets a text from my herzog the ambassador, the israeli ambassador to washington. he says were under attack in mcgurk rights back, we're with you and they were and are but they're the approach of president biden and his top aides shifted over time. you write about how at first his approach was just to hug prime minister netanyahu tight, hope that they can have a lot of influenced by staying as close as possible. and then by march, so about five months in biden was feeling hoodwinked. first, the israelis had said the war would

and today the president is taking switake taking swipes at both mcgurk and mattis on twitter.me now, general james "spider" marks and sam vinograd, a former obama administration official who is now a cnn national security analyst. good afternoon to you both. general marks, you are talking to active duty military personnel who are concerned. what are you hearing? >> right after jim mattis took over as sec def, there were two majors, they were sitting in this cube l and they have the picture of jim mattis and they have underneath it the sign that says, "watch over us." sadly, that is gone. this tremendous commitment he's made over four decades is now going to fade to the side and a new sec def will step up and i don't know that this individual feels good about trying to replace jim mattis. yet at the end of the day, let's be frank, the pentagon will be fine. the defense department is going to be fine. it's much stronger and has the s sinews and connections with multiple leaders and we'll be okay. but it's very difficult at this time have this incredibly talented george marshal o

sam, i know you knew mcgurk.nations are a security risk. i first met regret breath mcgurk in iraq in 2007. a his resignation means there's going to be a major knowledge gap. we are not fully staffed on a key issue like countering isis. brett should be the one in the room briefing the president if he'll listen on the actual status in our fight against isis overseas and here at home. remember, brett was leading efforts as part of this global coalition to defeat isis. it was composed of 79 countries and organizations. with him gone, it is unclear who's going to be there to ask countries to keep deploying resources. this could impact the homeland, the global coalition doesn't just deploy troops oerverseas, they crack down online. we could me isis-inspired attacks here at home. >> ask and usual receive is working pretty well with president trump. president erdogan of turkey asked president trump to withdraw troops from syria. president trump said yes. now reportedly the united states is withdrawing 7,000 troops. so i

mcgurk worked for president bush before he worked for obama. but he doesn't know him? >> i would not be surprised if they did not have a meeting. as mattis just did, one of the greatest patriots i've ever met in my public service, general mattis. as mattis did, he followed suit and left. he did the right thing. i don't look at that as grandstanding. he has been an important person to us. the secretary of defense, obviously, is in a higher role, much higher profile position but brett has played an important role for our country. i thank him for our service, most difficult issue and wish him well as he moves on. >> senator corker, you said more than a year ago about president trump and what some people called the axis of grown-ups. take a listen. >> i think secretary tillerson, secretary mattis and chief of staff kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos. >> tillerson was fired via twitter. mattis and kelly will be leaving in the coming days and months. first of all it's hard to imagine that the last year is the year without chaos but should we exp

you were listening to brett mcgurk there. two key questions stick in my mind. back and forth on whether it's a direct threat on the u.s. what is the strategy here? do you see a strategy and do you believe that there is mission creep here as they expand the action possibly into syria? >> what i see is an administration trying to figure out what its strategy is and how it would then explain it to the american public. you know, as you point out, originally the american public was told that there were these two goals, you know, the humanitarian goal and to protect americans. and now it seems that after these hundred or so air strikes, that the mission has broadened. and we haven't been told what it's going to be broadened into and i think that's partially because the administration itself doesn't know yet. i mean, remember, jim, just a year ago, there was the red line with syria. and there was a lot of saber rattling about what we were going to do, then the president balked if you recall and walked away from air strikes in syria. i don't think they want to get into

we are talking about, we have had the current middle east coordinator for the white house, brett mcgurk, and the incoming person playing that role for donald trump steve witkoff they have basically been in the same place in doha having these negotiations, being involved in the same conversation. so basically working together to hammer out these final details. one interesting thing i note is that president biden did say in his remarks, if the negotiations do not result in the next phase of a ceasefire during the first six weeks, the ceasefire will still remain in place so long as the negotiations are still ongoing and the talks are happening. but of course, he is somebody that knows better than anybody else how tough those talks are going to be. but in just five days, that is no longer going to be president biden's problem, jake. all right. >> jeremy, there's still a process that has to happen in israel. tell us what has to happen next in order for these 33 hostages to come home? >> yeah. that's right. jake. tomorrow we expect that the israeli prime minister will bring this agreement bef

brett mcgurk president biden's national security council coordinator for the middle east was in cairo yesterday. i'm with her yesterday as well. that is smile haniah, the leader of what political one of the political leaders of hamas was also in cairo's absolutely no indication that the pair met. but the fact that hamas had sent representative back to cairo because the egyptians have been an intermediary, seem to indicate that hamas was beginning to come round to perhaps some of the pressure that is israel has been putting on it to given more to israel's terms of what a temporary cease-fire might look like and what hostages might be released as part of that deal. so that was one indicator. and then today, brett mcgurk was meeting both with the defense minister and with the prime minister. the other indicator that came yesterday i think was from a member of the war cabinet here for benny gantz, saying that he was just a little bit more optimistic that there was an indication that perhaps things perhaps things can happen. and then the defense minister today after that meeting were brett

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officials including brett mcgurk who is deeply involved not only here in israel and also in qatar since all of the talks have been happening. at one point the feeling behind needing to get a deal done was so intense that the prime minister grabbed mcgurk by the arm and said he needed to get a deal done. and that happened over a week or so ago. what happened before then and since then were a lot of moments where officials felt like they had gotten really close only to then have the outlines of an agreement fall apart. there was a point after israel took over the al-shifa hospital that hamas kind of went dark on the talks, these discussions that were going back and forth with officials in qatar. but then things seemed to get back on track. so that is what we're expecting to happen. there is a lot of intensive work behind the kreens. clarissa ward is also here on the ground in tel aviv. she's here where families of the hostages who were so desperately waiting on word of their family members have been gathering what is known as hostage square. i imagine there is a lot of hope but also anxie

in terms of brett mcgurk leaving, what happened from my reporting is that the administration officials like national security adviser bolton, were talking about deflecting iranian influence in syria and keeping troops inside syria until that was able to be achieved. the turks heard this, were worried about the u.s. supporting, as they called it to me, a kurdish terrorist statelet on syrian soil, and that led to this phone call in which erdogan offered to take care of the isis problem. president trump has always wanted to hand over these intractable problems to his foreign allies. so this was sort of his gravity. he heard what he wanted to hear and said great, that works for me, surprising everyone. >> well, now still a surprise and still what is going to happen now and how long is that pullout going to be from syria. what is the drawdown going to look like in afghanistan, these are huge questions with huge implications and no answer right now. thank you guys. i really appreciate it. >>> still ahead, republican senator bob corker, he says this whole shutdown situation is totally made up

mcgurk.dds while she was working in iraq, brett never gave me sensitive or classified information, nor did he trade his knowledge for my affection. nbc seems to have cornered the market on presidential offspring like chelsea clinton. so when the "today" show had an opportunity to interview the 41st president of the united states, the call went out to his granddaughter. and it seemed like jenna bush hager was having a leisurely chat at a family reunion. >> there were waterworks. full disclosure, i tried as hard as i possibly could not to cry, but we are the family cryers. sometimes i know you can hear me, but you pretend you can't. >> right. >> why do you do that? >> it keeps you on the ball. >> what about the role of husband? what's it been like being married to ganny? >> it's been a challenge and a reward. >> i don't want to be too hard on jenna, but whatever this was, it wasn't journalism. would nbc have gotten the interview without sending a close relative? there's just something like fox

brett mcgurk was saying the u.s. is not leaving syria until the fight against isis is finished. he's not only confusing people sort of in the lower level among his aides and so forth, he's also contradicting top officials like mcgurk, who are widely respected, worked during the obama administration, who are looked to around the world for guidance as to what this president is doing in a very important battle against isis. >> jim acosta, appreciate it. the panel weighs in on all of this shortly. >>> also coming up, later, what could be very big breaking news. new reporting on what special counsel robert mueller told the president's lawyers about whether the president is or is not a criminal target of the investigation. ocket mortgage®, you can be approved in as few as eight minutes, giving you super hero levels of confidence. rocket mortgage: america's largest mortgage lender. "avengers: infinity war" in theaters april 27th. taking over 7,000 maria's steps each day.o, and she does it in any shoes she wants, with lasting comfort. only dr. scholl's stylish step has insoles that are

and another interesting point the white house taught me the least official, brett mcgurk is now in the region. he had talks yesterday in saudi arabia, headed that, the litigation of all the top middle east officials in the biden ministration. they were in saudi arabia to talk about secretion yemen and the houthis is going to egypt later today and he's there while the whole region is getting more and more and more tense and i think it will be very interesting to see whether mcgurk changes his plans and goes to israel. and other countries in the region from egypt may be to doha in qatar, maybe to other places. >> but his visiting the region is in a very interesting timing. barack is his presence in the region. does it make his safety more precarious at this juncture again, i think, i'm pretty sure that you know, he's taking all the needed 60 measures, but i think it's just so be very interesting to see how the region is going to react to this series of events that are very, very dramatic and i don't think when i think about this is one of the most dramatic days in the war since october 7

egypt says mcgurk and the u.s. national security adviser, jake sullivan, met on saturday with egypt's president. the us is again expressing cautious optimism about prospects for a deal, saying hamas has shown increased flexibility. in israel, protesters were back on the streets of tel aviv on saturday. they're demanding the israeli government do more to get a hostage release agreement. >> this is the 435 day. >> this is the rally of saturday evening pushing for a deal where there is a deal now on the table. and they say that perhaps it's for this month and we we hope it's true. we get another release of hamas hostages, released a movie, and we see that we don't know if he's alive or not. and it's demonstrated for releasing them and get the deal done soon as possible. >> u.s. secretary of state blinken says the u.s. is working intensely to get a deal over the finish line. hospital officials in gaza say a strike on a municipal building has killed the mayor of deir al-balah and at least 11 other people. gaza civil def

but ambassador mcgurk is exactly right.f, oh, i want to pull these troops out. the kurds have proved over decades to be a bull work against the influence of iran and russia in the region. that's one of the reasons we fought with them not just against isis. we have protected them for a very long time. >> and they've protected us and our interests. >> and they have protected our interests. and to stand up and without consulting our allies, without there being a process within the administration for the president to just say, we're leaving, you know sort of will leave them viciously exposed who have been waiting for this moment for decades. it just shows the sort of capriciousness of -- and the lack of understanding the president has. and i guess the last point is it helps the russians. and if you look for a commonality in decisions that the president has made that don't seem to make sense on their face is it helps the russians. >> and so here's a president who hates to look weak, yet many are questioning why give into the tur

mcgurk more focused on the issues with gaza and both so these are very much live balls at the moment.es seem like there is perhaps more momentum though and more possibility of progress on the lebanon ceasefire front as we reported yesterday, us israeli and lebanese officials have been pursuing a potential ceasefire deal that could include something like a month or two months long negotiation or implementation period before you ultimately get to final cease-fire agreement that would end the war between israel hezbollah, israeli officials believed that now is the right time to pursue such a ceasefire after having achieved a significant amount of military gains against hezbollah. and it also seems like hezbollah's has kind of shifted its position away from linking a ceasefire to the end of the conflict in gaza after having suffered that drubbing over the course of the last couple of months, including the killer, the killing of its leader hassan nasrallah. we heard some optimism expressed by the lebanese caretaker prime minister yesterday, who hoped that a ceasefire could be achieved with

brett mcgurk. uh, nsc coordinator for the middle east, as well as mr. steve witkoff. uh. president trump, special envoy. i actually was in qatar myself last week meeting both of them and know the commitment that they showed to get us where we are today. but we all must remember that the job is not done. they are still, even after this first phase happens. uh, five u.s. citizens that are still being held in gaza, and we are urging the negotiators to sign speed up the process between phase one and phase two, that this ordeal will end not just for us, but also for the people in gaza and have a sustainable cease fire. >> and ruby, you were in qatar. that's really interesting. so you had a, uh, an involvement in a front row seat to this, a really extraordinary partnership between the incoming trump administration and the outgoing biden administration to try to get this done. can can you talk about those discussions? and, of course, the question is, as part of those discussions, as part of this deal, do

. >> yet almost at the same time that bret mcgurk was saying that yesterday, the president was saying this. >> i want to get out. i want to bring our troops back home. i want to start rebuilding our nation. we will have, as of three months ago, $7 trillion in the middle east over the last 17 years. we get nothing, nothing out of it. nothing. >> but today after what cnn is reporting was a contentious and inconclusive meeting, the president, his national security staff and top military commanders, here was the walk-back from the white house. >> we're continuing to make progress. we're continuing to work with our allies and partners in the region. but we want to focus on transitioning to local enforcement and do that over this process to make sure that there's no re-emergence of isis and take away some of the progress that we've made. so that's what we're moving to. as this environment has changed because of the success under the president's leadership, we're evaluating it as we go. >> very soon the president said on thursday, we're coming out very soon, which is now six days later morph

it was not just republicans criticizing mcgurk and the nomination.foreign relations committee who were raising concerns about his nomination in light of the revelations. now he has withdrawn the nomination. very sensitive position remains unfilled. a spokesman for the national security council says the administration regrets to see mcgurk withdrawing his nomination but there's no doubt in their view he'll be called on once again to serve the country. >> have to go find a new u.s. ambassador. >> yep. >> thanks very much, kate bolduan. google has a tool for terrorists. just ahead, what the online search engine is doing to get al qaeda propaganda off the internet. >>> and a u.s. service member surfaces after going awol almost 30 years ago. why he's now telling cnn he can't believe he didn't get caught. ♪ [ male announcer ] for our families... our neighbors... and our communities... america's beverage companies have created a wide range of new choices. developing smaller portion sizes and more low- & no-calorie beverages... adding clear calorie labels so

mcgurk, of course, has worked for republicans as well as democratic presidents. in fact, he worked for president trump in the first term for a number of years before they they hit a split. um, i think that that that handoff is about as smooth as you could possibly imagine it to be. i think the problem is, is what happens when prime minister netanyahu, sensing that his own government may be in trouble, goes to president trump and says, i can't go ahead with this part or that part. and how much does president trump hold his feet to the fire? >> and then what about the commitment of rebuilding gaza? i mean, as part of this phase one, palestinians are able to return to their homes. they might find there's really nothing left to them based on the kind of debris field that we've been seeing through all of this bombardment. but on whose shoulders will it fall to eventually rebuild gaza? >> well, you've got two elements of that, frederico. the first is the immediate humanitarian problem, and one of the big elements of this is that the humanitarian aid has got to flow at

witkoff has been going along for each one of these negotiations, has been in the room with brett mcgurkwho's been the negotiator for the biden administration. he told me last week, mcgurk is leading this, but clearly, many of the deadlines will fall into the trump administration if this comes together. so they want to have a tight handoff. and it's interesting because you've heard everybody, including secretary of state blinken, who you saw on the screen there a moment ago, talk about the role of the trump appointees. so one way to look at this is it's the way it's supposed to happen. you saw the press conference last week. president elect trump issued this threat that, you know, if there isn't a deal before he takes office, there'll be hell to pay. we heard jd vance later say that that would be unleashing the israelis to go after the remainder of of hamas. um. leadership. but a lot of that's happening anyway, the core of the deal hasn't changed. it would be 34 of the hostages, which is probably a little under half. it would last with a ceasefire for 42 days. and then the question is, w

and second, the fact that they were able to send witkoff not brett mcgurk, but witkoff on saturday to see netanyahu and say president trump wants this resolved before inauguration day, in part so that it's not on him to go, you know, be the one who is squeezing the israelis. i don't think the israelis would have made the deal. i think they would have just said, well, let's just see what we get out of trump. >> interesting. mike dubke well, first, on a serious matter, i what's what's amazing to me is america matters. >> i mean, that's the at the at the end of the day, what other country we can have this argument about trump or biden, but what other country can step into an international conflict and really have the level of influence that we did in this? so to to to david's point, i mean, america matters on that. more of a lighthearted side. i'm sick and tired of these two arguing about golf scores. i'm sick and tired of these two arguing about who mattered. the fact that these two gentlemen got together, told their people to get this done. that's what's important here. i wish they wou

the way to make an n is a deal and with the hostages coming out to brett mcgurk, who works for president biden, seem to have any indication did they have any insight into what netanyahu is going to do next or did they seem to be in the dock? park i think everyone has signed a calculate what is happening now, but i do not believe that there's a name now to overthink it we all on the stand the? >> window of opportunity and i think that the united states must do everything possible to get clear answers from the prime minister, as well as from qatar that have the ability to pressure the leadership of hamas, which in gaza does not exist anymore. so the leadership is now in qatar. so that is the pituitary now, to bring the people of hamas in qatar to the front, to negotiate with and to bring a deal for the benefit of not just the people here, but for the legion and for the strategic interests of the united states, when you just mentioned, you're saying time to end the suffering, release the hostages, let them let them return home. when the idf for release that video, the drone video showing ya

witkoff, who was in the region, who was talking to brett mcgurk, our negotiator at the table multiple times a day. and mr. witkoff actually helped cinch down some of the details. there was great coordination between the two of us. and because the president elect made it clear in public that he wanted this deal to, and his team wants to make sure that this deal works. so they're invested in this as well. and in a significant way. and i think that's what gives us confidence that it can be implemented. but look, hard work ahead. all of both sides have got to stay true to their commitments. we have seen in the case in the past where hamas hasn't always done that. so i can't say with 100% certainty, but the president's confident that this can it can move forward and be implemented. >> and i think it's impressive that president-elect trump's incoming middle east advisor, steve witkoff, has been in very close contact, working very closely together with president biden's middle east advisor, brett mcgurk. i think that's really important to americans. as you know, john, two americans held in g

top white house official brett mcgurk will extend his stay in the mideast as he works on a potential hostage and ceasefire deal in the israel-hamas war. a u.s. official says mcgurk was directed to stay there by national security adviser jake sullivan, and this follows their diplomatic mission last week to israel, qatar and egypt, where they had talks with regional leaders about the war and broader middle east stability concerns. omar. >> now, this week, robert f kennedy jr. is preparing for his confirmation hearings on capitol hill. the longtime vaccine skeptic is now president elect donald trump's choice to lead the department of health and human services. now, his potential appointment has sparked significant concern among medical experts. and in a recent interview with time magazine, trump said he would consider getting rid of some vaccines for children. quote, if i think it's dangerous, if i think they are not beneficial. cnn's whitney wild has more on vaccine hesitancy in minnesota, which experienced its worst outbreak in seven years. >> hi, i'm stacey, nice to meet you. i'm whi

you mentioned brett mcgurk, but there are obviously others as well.how does getting this deal here in his final days in office, what does that mean to him, and how does it fit into his legacy as a world leader? >> he's not thinking about his legacy, not when it comes to this. he's thinking about those hostages and those families and getting them reunited. he's thinking about increasing and a terrific surge of humanitarian assistance in to the palestinian people who are so desperately in need of it. and they're also in need of peace and security on both, you know, both in israel and in gaza. and a cease fire would bring the war to an end. certainly all the fighting for a matter of weeks and hopefully bring an ultimate end to the conflict. that's what he's thinking about. he wants to get those hostages home. he wants to get the humanitarian assistance in, and he wants to end this war. >> all right. admiral john kirby, very grateful to have you on the program tonight. thanks very much for your time today, sir. yes, ma'am. all right. we'll be right back.

there are people from the obama administration that they are holding over for critical reasons, brett mcgurk, he's been held over and over counter terrorism officials, held over, so just because somebody is staying over to the obama administration doesn't make them a risk to the agenda, but sean spicer said if there are people in this government that can't get on board with what the president is doing, there's the door. >> jim acosta one of the hottest seats in the white house. thank you very much. we have more breaking news from washington senate democrats deciding to boycott not one but two nominees, today they were set to vote on tom price, and steve mnuchin, but democrats with the republican kountder parts especially pulled a no-show minutes before the vote was set to take place. manu raju was on it. manu what happened? >> reporter: brooke, a number of democrats believe that tom price and steve mnuchin did not answer questions clearly and honestly at the committee hearings, they believe tom price misled the committee on a questionable stock purchase before pushing legislation that would

we did hear from brett mcgurk, the former u.s. envoy to the coaliti coalition, who described this as a reckless gamble with our security. here's a man at send the of 2018, resigned from his position because of president trump's decision at the time, not carried out at the time, to withdraw u.s. forces from northeastern syria. this definitely changes the terrain in that area in a way that no one was expecting yesterday. >> ben wedeman live for us in beir beirut. thank you. >>> the british foreign secretary is getting personally involved as a family in tuhe u.. demands justice after the death of their son. the teen had been hit by a suspect on a road. the suspect was the wife of a diplomat. she left the u.k. under diplomatic immunity. she is just heartbroken and would like to see some justice. >> i spoke to them yesterday. i struggle to say the anguish this family feels. their son died in the most dire circumstances. he was so broken, he couldn't get to hospital. the hospital had to come to him and nothing could be done. they discov

this trip is coming on the heels of the top white house official brett mcgurk going over to also talk about hostage negotiations. we're told the meetings were productive, that they were sober and serious. but all of our sources are cautioning that we are not on the cusp of a deal, that nothing appears to be imminent. even hesitating to call the talks negotiations. but the parties are at the table. and that is really important. and what we understand, john, both the israelis and hamas separately have put forward proposals that now the main mediator, u.s., qatar and egypt, are essentially trying to find common ground. and so there are still major sticking points. but if a bill were to be agreed to, what it would likely look like is a long pause in the fighting. we know israel has proposed as much as two months, the longest proposal that they have made so far in this war, that we would see the hostages released likely in phases, first women, children and the elderly, followed by the idf soldiers both men and women and bodies of hostages who have been killed. and also palestinian prisoner

that is what brett mcgurk is working on. it is not clear that hamas will agree to that. it is certainly not clear at this point that prime minister netanyahu will agree. hamas wants a permanent cease- fire. in other words an end to the bombing that would mean that israel would basically give up on its objective of eliminating hamas. and netanyahu of course is caught between these two contradictory objectives. getting the hostages back and defeating hamas. >> hard to see netanyahu doing that. david sanger it is great to have your insights. thank you so much. >> thanks briand it great to be with you. >>> ceo apologizes twice for a decision that ignited backlash. an employee who requested to work remotely was turned down despite having a newborn baby in the nicu. in intensive care. we will have that after a quick break. will this election is a choice between results or just rhetoric. californians deserve a senator who is going to deliver for them every day and not just talk a good game. adam schiff. he held a dangerous president accountable. he also helped lower drug costs,

mcgurk, and they worked together. i think the trump effect, as it is called, was actual because for months there was no progress. and this created a dynamic that we saw, uh, become actual, uh, i could say when i was in qatar and uh, before i even mr. witkoff came, i actually reached out to him and suggested that he, uh, come to doha because the need for the negotiators to see the commitment of the u.s. government to not only come from the biden incumbent administration, but actually from the incoming administration as well. and the fact that mr. witkoff was there and said in his voice on behalf of president elect that indeed, uh, the guarantees that are being provided will be, uh, valid by the trump administration, i think, made a significant impact. >> so, ruby, your son, a huge celtics fan, which i find to be awesome being from boston. so just, you know, tell us a little bit about him. >> yeah. fun loving kid. he is the middle child. uh, so he has the elder and younger sibling. so he is the connector in the family.