a companied by secretary of state anthony blinken. ♪ [cheers and applause] [applause] >> good afternoonif i didn't say anything this would go on all afternoon. as for president, it is an honor to welcome you back to the state department. on day one of this administration unit shared a few things with me. you told me something that reminded me that american engagement, american leadership is essential. if we are not engaged, if we're not leaving, you said, someone else is likely going to be doing it and probably not in a way that advances our values. maybe no one is doing get and then were likely to have a vacuum for what bad things. but the other thing you told me, mr. president, was that there's a greater premium than ever before on finding ways to cooperate, to coordinate, to work with other countries if we're going to get done what we need to get done for the american people. and so you instructed me, instructed all of us to get out there, to rebuild, to rejuvenate even to reimagine our lives and partnerships. i remember what you told me then. you said we don't know when this is goin

now, anthony blinken also said there's a little bit of what we've seen before, which is lucy and thewhat are you hearing? are we closer than ever before? and could joe biden, who has spent so much of his career focused on foreign policy, end on that note? >> i'm sure, chris, that that's his great hope. >> i bet he wanted deeply, profoundly to be able to announce a breakthrough in the hostage negotiations today. in this speech at the state department, as we heard. it's not there yet. you can get close closer. >> almost there. >> but the final pieces obviously haven't come together. the reports that we're hearing are that president biden, in his conversation yesterday with prime minister netanyahu, had israeli agreement on key points. but hamas, i think, remains the missing element in this final conclusive agreement on a hostage release. but i'm sure that was a disappointment to biden, even as he was listing all the things he thinks he's accomplished in his foreign policy. >> it was was it a fair assessment? i mean, on afghanistan, for example, he suggested that, you know, the importan

the fact that anthony blinken is going to sit there and we heard from jake sullivan as well. the fact that they will second defend the withdrawal from afghanistan which is one of the worst catastrophes in american military history is proof that not only are they wrong but they are incapable of recognizing where they are wrong. that makes for a very dangerous crew of people and that's what american voters ejected them. stuart: charlie hurt, thank you for joining us. we will see you again a great deal. it's great to be here. trump is inviting key republican lawmakers civil mar-a-lago ahead of an operation. what does he want. >> them to agree on how to push their one big reconciliation bill that would include three major republican priorities, the border, economy and tax cuts. speaker johnson says house republicans are targeting about, the first week of april. the question why one bill instead of the customary to. the answer is no party has passed to reconciliation bills in one year end decades. republicans don't want to risk not passing tax reform if they do with the border and

on tonight's programme — the us secretary of state, anthony blinken, says we're on the brink of a ceasefire hamas and israel — we'll bring you the latest. first, nick's here, because the anti—corruption minister tulip siddiq, who's been named in corruption investigations in bangladesh, has resigned today. this has been rumbling on for some days — why did she resign, nick? that's right. brewing for a few weeks after it became clear that tulip siddiq would be facing questions in bangladesh over her family's financial interests after the downfall of her aunt, is premised of bangladesh, sheikh hasina. the resignation today is all down to the findings of laurie magnus, the independent adviser on ministerial standards. he looked at two broad areas, firstly properties gifted to tulip siddiq and her sister buy, it was reported, allies of her aunt. and secondly tulip siddiq's links to her prime minister aunt, there was a famous visit to moscow alongside vladimir putin back in 2013 before she was elected to parliament. crucially, laurie magnus found no wrongdoing by tulip siddiq, he actually said her

the us secretary of state anthony blinken is set to meet france's foreign minister jean—noel barrot inel forces toppled longtime ruler bashar al—assad last month and while syria's leadership has high hopes of building a better future for the country, sanctions imposed under the previous regime, are hindering progress. jean—noel barrot told french public radio on wednesday that there were ongoing discussions with eu partners about the possibility of lifting some sanctions. it comes as international flights resumed at damascus airport on tuesday for the first time since the fall of bashar al—assad, including the first direct flight from doha in 13 years. passengers were met by a party atmosphere in the arrivals hall. staff from the country's airlines syrianair and cham wings, both of which are still under us treasury sanctions for transporting mercenaries and weapons, and for other forms of trafficking under assad, told reporters they are optimistic that new flight routes could soon open up. so is this an early sign that the country's economy can be rebuilt post—assad ? dr shamel azmeh i

lloyd austin got confirmed with 48 republicans and anthony blinken 28 republicans.ey get these republicans? time for republicans to grow a backbone after you voted for guys like this. >> right? republicans need to stand together and the democrats need to put america first. just like republicans try to put america first too but at the same time fighting an incumbent president that's currently still in the white house. people know that president trump is competent and we need to put these people in office as soon as possible and democrats need to start putting their party in the back pocket and put america first. >> love that. let's see if that many democrats come over and vote for the trump nominees. not holding my breath. here is for hoping. >> i am not either. >> thank you. up next democrats admit they were wrong about just about everything. [ ♪♪ ] bere ya? you'll never truly forget migraine, but qulipta reduces attacks, making zero-migraine days possible. it's approved to prevent migraine to help give you that forget-you-get migraine feeling. don't take if allergi

two senior officials karine jean-pierre in anthony blinken are trying to do that. difficult to defend a failed presidency. that is my take top of the hour. a mysterious respiratory virus overwhelming hospitals in china called hm pv. doctor frank will explain it all next. all the buzz around bitcoin isn't just talk anymore crypto has gone mainstream. at itrustcapital, you can buy and sell cryptocurrencies 24/7 with the tax benefits of an ira. that's right, with an itrustcapital ira, you can defer taxes until retirement or choose a roth ira for tax-free withdrawals later. setting up an account is quick and easy it only takes minutes. open your account today at itrustcapital.com. the new era of crypto is here. what will you do when the power goes out? power outages can be unpredictable and inconvenient, but with a generac home standby generator, your life goes on uninterrupted. because when your generac detects a power outage, it automatically powers up, giving your family the security and peace of mind they deserve. we don't have to worry about whether we lose power

and allies called illegitimate, biden administration recognizes gonzales as the winner, anthony blinkenduro's inauguration a desperate attempt to seize power. the maduro regime blocked opposition marina from running from office she emerged from hiding in venezuelan police detained her she spoke with fox about the potential for change in venezuela. >> we can be the best ally the united states will have in america. first of all because we also are desperate to solve the immigration problem in our region we will all venezuelans to come back and billions and involuntarily that will happen when they see a future in the country. >> the united nations is 6 million venezuelans have left the country because of economic and political crises, biden administration hit maduro with new sanctions during the first term trump did as well and he recognize the different opposition leader juan goya. rejecting, president biden spoke with benjamin netanyahu about a hostage deal white house national security advisor said agreement is close we are very, very close and being very close means were far because un

anthony blinken went to the un and said, you have to do a study and tell us how racist we are. i just remember hitting myself in the head and saying, what the heck are they talking about? but these people, there's no reason to compare one to the other, but that's just about their ideology. >> tyrus, you know, in an effort not to go to you first on the race question, you know, and i and i appreciate that. >> but at the same time, i'm offended because that's the world we live in. you know, i always find it funny when a person he's saying white supremacist, a white man saying white supremacy is the problem. i was, but not him. yeah, because he's got his merit badge and he has his blm and his other stuff, so, you know, but not him. interesting. it's virtue signaling. but it wasn't about that. this was about january 6th. this was about starting to lay the tracks. you can't call a guy hitler unless he has followers. so you continue to build the lay the tracks. you put party over people by saying the biggest threat was white supremacists. and who is the king of the white supremacists?

but first, i sat down with secretary of state tony anthony blinken this morning.nbc news can report a possible breakthrough on a ceasefire in gaza and the phased release of all the hostages, two u.s. officials and a diplomatic official familiar with the talks telling me that israel is now on board and the deal could be announced as soon as this week unless hamas backs out at the last minute, which has happened before. i asked the secretary of state about all that and a lot more, as well as the administration's close coordination on the hostage deal with president elect trump's special middle east envoy, steve witkoff, who also is in qatar. he arrived three days ago for the talks and who the biden administration says has been very helpful at key points. mr. secretary, thank you so much for making time for us today. we appreciate it. >> always good to be with you, andrew. >> we're told that there is potentially some very good news that there is a breakthrough, that we've been close before, but that this time there could be a deal, a cease fire deal with the hostages

anthony blinken got 28 republicans. my gosh, how did they get these republicans? and it's time for republicans to grow a backbone after you voted for guys like this. >> right. well, republicans need to stand together and the democrats need to put america first. just like just like republicans try to put america first, too. but at the same time, we're fighting an incompetent president that's currently still in the white house. if people know that president trump is competent and we need to put these people in office as soon as possible, and democrats need to start putting their party in the back pocket and put america first. >> love that. yeah. let's see if that many democrats come over and vote for the trump nominees. i'm not holding my breath, but hey, here's for hoping. thank you, senator mullen. well, well. up next, democrats finally admit they were wrong about just about everything. >> i used to think we could see heaven from masada, but all i saw were the gates of hell. make those jews drink the blood of their children. we did not care what price we had to pa

secretary of state anthony blinken introduced the president of the united states for the last time. >> simply put, it's been the privilege of my lifetime to work for you, to work with you, to work with this extraordinary team that you've assembled. and it's the honor of a lifetime to be able to introduce one more time, the 46th president of the united states, joe biden. >> thank you, thank you, thank you. thank you. thank you, thank you. please. >> thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. it's good to be back at the state department. >> president biden gave a 28 minute speech today. that was a foreign policy assessment of where the united states stands now in the world at the end of the biden presidency. but because it was a biden speech, it began with domestic policy, because more than any other president of our lifetimes, joe biden has always presented foreign policy and domestic policy as related as two sides of the same coin. >> during my presidency, i have increased america's power at every dimension. we increased our diplomatic power. creating more allies in the united states

people on the front line, like anthony blinken. but to have donald trump come out with, in some ways it was meaningless bluster, this idea that he would, you know, unleash holy hell. guess what? holy hell has already been unleashed. so it was unclear exactly what he meant. but his he has tremendous political capital with israelis. he has tremendous political capital with netanyahu as well. and that ended up making a difference, naming sort of a time and a date saying, this is this has to happen before he gets into office. going forward, who knows what happens, what kind of negotiator donald trump is in terms of securing the peace in israel and making that region much more stable? we know he has aspirations, right, of being the peace through strength president, somebody who envisions himself as somebody who could win the nobel peace prize. and we know that he will and his supporters and his allies will frame this as a new era in american sort of diplomacy and american presence on on the world, and that this was donald trump's might

anthony blinken said since day one we were supporting ukraine. we would support ukraine as long as it takes and as much as it takes it is a matter of the future of international law. we would let -- we would allow them to provail. it's a matter for the french people and europeans. we should show no complacency. especially when it comes to the imperialistic of putin. the threat by putin that changed. we see that putins launched a full scale invasion. it became more international as well by exporting the conflict and involving others as well. it became hybrid by getting into all of the conflict and attacking even members of the uk and union. like blinken said, with the priority we want to support ukraine and allow ukraine we do this with a strong hand and make sure there is no return of war in the european continent. on behalf of the europeans. we needed to deter the threat from russia pushing towards the west. now, very quickly, interference in actual processes. europe has been very clear in 2022 at the time france was the head of the european cou

and we know that the us secretary of state, anthony lincoln, is travelling to south korea this weekend. —— antony blinkenw of support? i anything changer is this more a show of support?— show of support? i think more the latter- _ show of support? i think more the latter. from _ show of support? i think more the latter. from washington l the latter. from washington bosman point of view, although no reasonable responsible statesman can say so, this is a most unwelcome development in terms of us interests because president yoon been very pro—us and pro— japan, trying to mend fences with japan, korea's former colonial master, which is not always very popular among a large segment of the korean population. so what comes next with the new trump presidency in the united states and perhaps the removal of president yoon from office and another snap election, and the emergence, the election, of a slightly less pro— trilateral cooperation on the us, south korea and japan kind of head of state, this is all very murky and unsettling for the us. let's turn to some other important news around the world. an award—winni