jake sullivan specifically on the middle east and october 7, eight days before october 7 jake sullivan was boasting about how there was peace and quiet in the middle east in eight days later that wound up not being true. that is something that deserves little more exegesis and a book about that topic yet it was completely absent so it read like a biased account. nevertheless there good nuggets in there but bob woodward has written better. no shade to him. he is a fabulous reporter. that is not a book i would recommend. host: what is a book you would recommend? guest: i am reading the demon of unrest by eric larson about the civil war and i'm reading another book about the united states from 1870 to 1878. what is relevant to me is that donald trump walks out of that period of history, the frontiersman. the growing nation. he seems to be more of a throwback to that time than we have seen in the recent era although he is more modern iteration. i could probably do a better job explaining this had i thought i was going to talk about the books i was going to read. host: if you want to watch

i'll speak with national security adviser, jake sullivan. and, separate. >> it was growing, growing, growing with the number of kids. >> harm to children was part of the point. they believe it would terrify families into not coming. >> erol morris and jacob are here to talk about their new film, examining the trump administration's family separation policies. joining me for insight and analysis are nbc's senior national politics reporter, jonathan allen. kimberly atkins stohr. republican strategist, matt gorman, and sahil kapir. welcome to sunday, it's meet the press. >>> from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is meet the press with kristen welker. >> good sunday morning. president-elect trump proving once again he plans to shake up washington in his second term. announcing plans to nominate patel. a hard line critic of the bureau who has called for shutting down the agency's washington headquarters. firing its leaders, and bringing the nation's law enforcement agencies quote, to heal. >> do you bel

so jake sullivan is speaking. let's listen to the national security advisor, jake sullivan, and people wherever they may be. we're now in the midst of a political transition. i have been engaging my successor, the incoming national security advisor in a professional and serious way on all of the issues that affect the state of israel, the threats and the opportunities. and we've had good discussions, constructive and substantive discussions, and those will continue to ensure that there's a smooth hand off on january 20th. there's also something else important in those discussions, which is that is my personal commitment to ensure that the us is real partnership rests on a solid bi partisan foundation going forward. and i'm going to continue to do everything i can to contribute to that because i believe it is in my country's interest and the interest of the state of israel. so thank you for bearing with me . as i set the context for my visit today, a report on some of the things we discussed and the current events

cease fire in gaza and hostage release in the coming days or weeks, as national security adviser jake sullivan tries to nail down an agreement between israel and hamas. critical factors, israel's actions against hamas, hamas's patrons and allies in iran and lebanon. president-elect trump signaling publicly he wants a deal before he takes office. the collapse of the assad regime, a big focus for secretary of state blinken as he's shuttling between iraq and jordan today. all of this is breaking as the president has one of his final meetings now with g7 counter parts, and nbc news is reporting white house officials are talking to trump's team about ending the war in ukraine. also the president-elect's team pressuring senate republicans to approve their controversial cabinet choices as former intelligence officials argue against tulsi gabbard being in charge of the nation's top secrets. >>> the test on drones, triggering bipartisan criticism from the pentagon on capitol hill. n on capitol hill >>> good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. we begin in the middle east, a lot happening.

one of the things jake sullivan said, we tried everything i have to take into.ought of a lot of things but very little has been done one is jacob. we have some ideas of what the ideas, maybe not as innovative and effective but it is nonetheless the united states government the turmoil right now in syria but their statements have been the same for 12 years. it wasn't the same as what we see right now. our government of anything for years and years. you'd like to encourage president biden to follow through on what is the value. fulton want we are still holding the last couple of months the biden administration will vigorously no time like now searching the right so that's what i say meeting with the essay >> experts in the room was going on. for others the. >> we know president trump was interested directly domestic. describe that they are optimistic and opening up viewpoints and i want to clarify. can you elaborate let's. >> what donald trump was president he had a session mike pompeo and john bolton only could keep that from happening so when donald trump was el

yes, i'd like to pick up on one would that jake sullivan use the word elimination? what he's saying is that what he calls, the illumination of seeing, you know, how much lead is, has helped put the cx 5 talks back on the plane. he's also saying that the living on agreement that was signed a few weeks ago as also to the diplomatic space to as all, possibly full an agreement to happen. so the us now involved in a push this administration wanting to get a c 5 deal in place before it stands down. come january, the 20th. it has its, uh, it national security adviser in the region, the secretary of state, as you saw. so this is a major push. now what we are hearing that from the national security adviser is a change in circumstances that may allow for a, a agreement to be put in place. he mentions the release of those being held captive by a boss in gaza. what he does not mention in that news conference is the palestinians being held and his really prisons, whose release would be a part of any sci fi deal. should it be reached? well, sullivan is going from is, well, he's g

in an exclusive interview with national security adviser jake sullivan. >> diplomacy is back also, david brooks on the divide over donald trump. >> they love me and i love them. >> why do so many americans see him as a hero? while many others see him as a zero? we'll explore but first, here's my take as joe biden's presidency enters its final month. one way to assess his foreign policy legacy is to look at how america's adversaries are doing. and the answer almost overwhelmingly, is poorly. the axis of upheaval russia, china, iran and north korea is in much worse shape than it was four years ago. some of this is good luck, but some is the product of good strategy and painstaking work. in any event, this new reality offers some real opportunities for donald trump to make significant gains over the next year. iran may be in its weakest state in decades. during those decades, the islamic republic developed a careful and complex asymmetrical strategy to undermine the american led security system in the middle east. it funded and supported a series of militant groups, from hezbollah to the ho

i heard that jake sullivan was not in a position to make that commitment. he did not say yes and i found that to be a striking response given what we have heard from the president himself about the ceaseless efforts he has encouraged his administration to take in order to free austin. so that was the question that i put forward and that was the answer that i received and i had hoped for more. i had hoped for a direct commitment for that conversation to take place. >> how old are you? >> i'm 36. >> how old were you when austin was kidnapped? >> that should be fairly easy math -- 24, 24 years old. >> what was the last big thing you did with austin? >> it was before one of his deployments. he and i went to glacier national park in montana together for a week, went backpacking together. and that was his gift to me for my high school graduation. that was a formative trip for us, a moment we were able to have alone together for a long time and it was the last of such moments. i have not -- like any of my siblings, i've not had the opportunity to speak with my bro

staff in this administration all four years as the principal deputy national security adviser to jake sullivan. the conversation we're having today is one certainly i wouldn't have predicted when i was a much younger person and those that lived through the cold war, would not expect this. and i wouldn't have expected to hear it 10 years ago. but the expansion of china's art natural and russia's experimentation and breaching of taboos and experimenting with nuclear blackmail has heightened the danger nuclear weapons pose. the united states has -- this national security council both has said in shorter words, bigger isn't necessarily better in terms of a nuclear arsenal and protecting deterrence but recognizing increasingly in order to maintain deterrence they believe we may need to expand our nuclear arsenal with great cost and also with great care. the national security council has played a key role in defining our nuclear strategy the last few years and we're honored and delighted to have john here for the address and followed by a panel discussion how the administration sees it as the admini

—— jake sullivan, the us was trying to not to buy possible threats and neutralise them.st here that a new order is taking shape. this lightning events, which ended in the spectacular overthrow of president assad's andy —— regime began in the city of aleppo and economic heartland, and rr correspondent hugo bachega is there now and i asked him how things are looking there now.- asked him how things are looking there now. lots of --eole looking there now. lots of peeple are _ looking there now. lots of people are watching - looking there now. lots of| people are watching events looking there now. lots of. people are watching events in aleppo. — people are watching events in aleppo, paying attention to what — aleppo, paying attention to what happened, because this is the first— what happened, because this is the first major city to be captured by rebels in the astonishing offensive against the regime of bashar al assad earlier— the regime of bashar al assad earlier this month. so the streets _ earlier this month. so the streets have been busy, public squares— streets have be

as my colleague jake sullivan told the group, these actionings are two sides of the same proverbial nuclear coin or enhancing our nuclear capabilities enables us to negotiate arms control measures from a position of strength and arms control helps limit and shape our adversaries decisions on nuclear capabilities. in addition to russia's nuclear threats, we've seen increased cooperation with other countries, including with the dprk which i'd like to talk about next. north carolina has taken increasinglyiest came tore actions from the peninsula and increased missile tests and fired rounds towards the south along the maritime border with the r.o.k. we've seen dprk troops fighting and dying in russia's unjust war against the people of ukraine. the dprk's first ever expeditionary mission. and even further, the two recently concluded a treaty to turbocharge their cooperation, including the possibility of russian support of the dprk in technical areas like nuclear energy and space programs. now, throughout all this, the united states has made clear we stand ready to engage in kyle ok with the dprk

you have brett mcgurk, jake sullivan was just until the region, as was secretary of state antony blinken worth highlighting what we heard from sullivan this morning, he was far more detailed in the past. even the tone of voice, having heard him discuss this crisis for months, seemed much closer to optimism in terms of a finish line being further down the field than in the past. hala is right to inject skepticism and sullivan and others have acknowledged they have seen these types of deals fall apart in the past. what's different now is you have a trump administration now on the doorstep here coming in. you heard from the president-elect yesterday saying he wants to see a hostage deal, a cease fire done before he comes into office or as he put it, it's not going to be pleasant, and it's worth also highlighting the fact that today secretary of state antony blinken spoke in much more detail with his potential successors, senator marco rubio, and we know that there has been some good cooperation between the national security teams of the outgoing and ingoing administrations about major devel

joining me now is national security adviser jake sullivan. welcome back to "meet the press." >> thanks for having me. >> thank you so much for being here. i want to start with hamas releasing that video of american hostage edan alexander who has been head by hamas now for more than 400 days, jake. is the united states any closer to bringing the hostages home or striking a ceasefire deal between israel and hamas? >> well, kristen, that video was a cruel reminder of hamas' brutality and of the fact that they are holding so many hostages from so many countries including american citizens, including americans like edan, and we are doing everything we can to get those hostages home safely to their families. we were in touch with edan's family yesterday. i'll be speaking with all of the american hostage families this week. president biden pledged coming off of the announcement of the lebanon ceasefire that we would be working round the clock to produce a ceasefire and hostage deal in gaza. we are working to do that. i can't make you any predictions

and my goodness, jake sullivan, our national security advisor, is in israel today. and this very much was a part of the discussions he had with the israeli national security team as well as the prime minister. he brought it up today. secretary blink is in the region -- blinken is in the region. i have no doubt he'll be bringing it up as well. reporter: two questions. one on afghanistan. if you have any thoughts on the death of the taliban minister in a suicide bombing claimed by a region alice lambic state affiliate? -- regional islamic state affiliate? john: i think it's a little too soon for me to make a comment. the only thing i would say is that we recognize and we said so at the time that there was still an isis threat inside afghanistan, and clearly they have set their sights on the taliban, but i don't really have any more say on that. reporter: is there anything in terms of u.s. over the horizon capability, any comment on that in terms of how this suicide bombing -- john: we maintain and have improved since our withdrawal from afghanistan the ability to cond

and my goodness, jake sullivan, our national security advisor, is in israel today. and this very much was a part of the discussions he had with the israeli national security team as well as the prime minister. he brought it up today. secretary blink is in the region -- blinken is in the region. i have no doubt he'll be bringing it up as well. reporter: two questions. one on afghanistan. if you have any thoughts on the death of the taliban minister in a suicide bombing claimed by a region alice lambic state affiliate? -- regional islamic state affiliate? john: i think it's a little too soon for me to make a comment. the only thing i would say is that we recognize and we said so at the time that there was still an isis threat inside afghanistan, and clearly they have set their sights on the taliban, but i don't really have any more say on that. reporter: is there anything in terms of u.s. over the horizon capability, any comment on that in terms of how this suicide bombing -- john: we maintain and have improved since our withdrawal from afghanistan the ability to cond

and jake sullivan, noted over the weekend, is the following, u.s.rson, special operations battling isis. that's the key interest to the u.s. that needs to continue. >> so mark, let's dive into what jake said about how the distraction here. russia is so, you know, so devoted to the war in ukraine. in fact, raising military spending to record levels. it's going to be 32% of the budget over the next year. allocated for national defense. talk to us about whether that is sustainable for the country and with such a dedication of resources to ukraine. does that leave other russian interests, including syria, vulnerable? >> right, and i think jake sullivan said, we shed no tears for such events. because in essence, russia is massively distracted in ukraine. the russian air force was critical in 2015-2016, and bombing aleppo and bringing rebels to their knees. they don't have the resources to be there anymore. the amount of casualties the russians are taking in ukraine is staggering. and so there is some question is, how much aid russia can move to syria now

i believe the national security adviser, jake sullivan, spoke of the concern that will create for isist is our responsibility to meet these challenges, to guard against the foreign threats, to guard against the domestic threats and keep the american public safe and secure. yes, we are concerned. events in countries far from the united states can have consequences in the united states. i have spoken publicly about the increasing convergence of national security and homeland security. >> finally, your family came from cuba. you have a remarkable story, and i know you've been through a lot leading this agency and served before as deputy at homeland, but just what are your thoughts as to your own background and some of the things that have been said about immigration and immigrants at the border and some of the things people are facing at the border? >> andrea, we are a nation of laws and we are also a nation of immigrants. i was driven to public service because of what this country gave to my family, including me, an opportunity. opportunities that my parents did not have. my mother was t

our own shannon bream is there she spoke with national security adviser jake sullivan and a firesides ago here here'ssome of that conversation. >> so reagan does a national defense survey every year where they ask people about a lot of these pressing topics. in one of them they were asked but the increased economic and military cooperation between iran, russia, north korea and china. 86% of americans have significant concerns about that. how do you answer critics who say this alliance of bad guys has gotten tighter? and, in a way we more solidified this ministration. >> there is no doubt there is increasing alignment among these four actors. that is true. that something i have spoken about, we have pointed out. we have a national security memorandum where in the closing phases of pulling together that is memorialized in the work we have them within the u.s. government over the course of the past four years across defense, diplomacy, development, all aspects of american power to deal with what is an emerging reality. but why is this happen? it is not happen because these countries are

as national security advisor jake sullivan, who spoke here at the reagan national defense forum a short time ago well, it's important to start by observing why this is happening, and it's really happening for two reasons. >> first, assad has been brutal and repressive to his own people and totally intransigent in terms of actually trying to provide a better life or better future for the people of syria. and so the people of syria are fed up. second, assad's backers, iran russia and hezbollah have all been weakened and distracted and so he has not had the support from those three actors that he expected to be able to count on and has been left basically naked. his forces are hollowed out the biden administration's position, and we heard it from sullivan here earlier today, as well as a number of others, is that the u.s. >> should not get involved in the fighting between the assad regime and the rebels, or what's left of the assad regime at this point. and this is an issue on which the biden administration is in agreement with president elect donald trump, who also said the u.s. should no

year, at kardia.com or amazon >>> we're joined now by president biden's national security adviser jake sullivan. he's in new hampshire this morning. good morning. good to see you. the hamas video release of edawn alexander, the administration regards it as a cruel maneuver but do you detect any tactical at all in the timing of the release of this video, jake? >> well, major, first, thanks for having me. as far as this video, it is a cruel reminder of the barbarity and the brutality of hamas. holding so many innocent people hostage, including americans, including edan. we were in touch with his family yesterday. i'll be talking to the families of all the american hostages this week. i do think that hamas is feeling the pressure. they're feeling the pressure because one of their main partners in crime here, hezbollah, has now cut a cease-fire deal and they thought hezbollah would be with them until the end. they're feeling the pressure, of course, because their top leader, sinwar, has been killed. they may be looking anew at the possibility of getting a cease-fire and hostage deal and we're worki

what i can say though, is, that the national security adviser to the president jake sullivan did have a meeting this afternoon. and jake sullivan has regularly met with the families of wrongfully detained americans and in line of what he has been able to do. i think you have seen that commitment from this administration and what we have been able to do in the last several months over the past four years and brought home 75 unjustly detained around the world. we work and partner in partnership with our allies. and i don't have anything to say about that particular statement and obviously -- i can't even imagine what they are going through right now as austin tice have prayed for austin to come home to them and what we have been committed to is making sure they get home and we have been able to do that because of this president's leadership and i think that matters and shows the president's commitment. [indiscernible] karine: we are going to work 24/7 as we have day and night to secure a deal. and that would certainly free the hostages, bring about a ceasefire in gaza and so we have bee

or on wednesday jake sullivan, live at 2:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. online at c-span.org. >> are you a nonfiction book lover? on q&a, you will listen to interesting interviews, subjects that matter. book notes plus through conversations with felon fiction authors. after words nonfiction authors with influential interviewers for wide ranging long conversations. we talk about the business of books with news. the house will be in order. this year c-span celebrates 4 years of covering congress liquiflu

we will talk unfinished business with white house national security adviser jake sullivan. >>> finally, a conversation with author and historian h.w. brands his latest book "america first" examines the debate over isolationism in america ahead of world war ii. it's all just ahead on "face the nation." ♪ ♪ >>> good morning, everyone. welcome to "face the nation." as we put the final touches on this long holiday weekend and the leftovers that go with it, the economy and border loom large as the nation and world anticipate a second trump administration. meanwhile, president biden tries to secure last-minute diplomatic breakthroughs, congress tackles unfinished business and retailers slash prices to launch the holiday shopping season. in this final month of 2024. but we begin this morning with the latest on the trump transition with senior white house correspondent weijia jiang. >> reporter: kash patel's pending nomination for fbi director embodies president-elect trump's desire to disrupt federal law enforcement agencies. >> i would shut down the fbi hoover building, on day one, and reope

the americans let this whole dirty war again, syria, they supported different terrace groups, a jake sullivan, who is the current national security advisor of the president sat in an email on february, the 12th 2012 to hillary clinton. that in syria, i'm outside is on our side. okay. the, the is on our side, meaning a decade after 911, the united states was working with the guidance area. they were carrying out parent attacks in syria, and they were constantly engaging the syrian army when it was needed in the south. and there's right the resume constantly bomb syrian army positions. often we are at the, in a level so we'd have a, we can in the syrian army during this year. they were engaged in north b is riley, regimes. prime minister netanyahu said that we carried out the ceasefire because we needed to deal with the honey and threat that was one of the key issues that the rates and then right after the cease fire, there's really regime bombed all of the crossing points between 7 on and syria, and so that sensible troops could not go back into syria after the cease fire rapidly. and then imm

announcer: this afternoon, national security advisor jake sullivan will give an update on the u.s. defense industrial base and america's war fighting capabilities. live at 2:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3, c-span now, our free mobile video app, and online at c-span.org. announcer: c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we're funded by these television companies and more. including charter communications. >> charter is proud to be recognized as one of the best internet providers. and we are just getting started. building 100,000 miles of new infrastructure to reach those who needt most. anuncer: charter communications supports c-span as a public rvice, along with these other television company providers. giving you a front row seat to democracy. ournal" continues. host: welcome back. we are talking about presidents and pardon power with samuel morison, former staff attorney for the department of justice and the office of the pardon guest:. welcome to the program. thank you for having me. host: what was your reaction to the president's pardoning of his son? guest: i wasn't surpris

the 2 diplomats on different missions in a way, jake sullivan, focusing on the release of the captives being held in gaza and blinking, of course, dealing with the often the soft events in syria. now sullivan is still in israel. he is holding tulsa with the is really president. he's expected to travel to cut her late in the day for ongoing talks and negotiations to get some kind of an end or pause in the conflict to allow captives to be released and palestinian present as being held in is really jails to be set free. now blinking is focused on events in syria, primarily, and he is speaking in the iraq. he has also been to to a t a and is late to to go back to jordan where he's due to attend the error of foreign ministers meeting on this situation in syria in the course of saturday. so bring can focused on this particular aspect and very key to the united states is that the n t, i sole coalition remain intact throughout these events in syria. this is a major reason why he's in baghdad to ensure that a rock remains part of that n t. i. so coalition, the greatest fear of the us and some o

you also have jake sullivan, the national security advisor, who was just in israel.use all of this is related. this is all a set of dominoes that were launched by hamas's attack on october seven. and the decisions made by the us, iran, israel and others since then. but, yeah, we're trying to put some kind of regional position on syria so we can speak with one voice. obviously, it is aspirational, a democracy, reconciliation inclusive. but, you know, as bad as iraq was in many ways and as difficult a situation as iran has been trying to encroach on the iraqi institutions and system, iraq has much of that today. it's not messy but bosnia isn't very pretty, either, but they are both a hell of a lot better than yemen or libya or a lot of other places, so we can hope for something like that with syria, i believe. you described the region as really a set of dominoes. let's talk about a few of those dominoes now. firstly, iran. it poured so many resources, didn't it, into syria? this was a crucial piece of its strategy in the region. what do you think this all means for ira

she'll sit down and what's interesting has the us national security advise that jake sullivan, louis, or decided to speculate to a lot less listening to that. we've seen some early indications that would certainly point to the possibility that this jet was brought down by russian air defense systems. that said there was an ongoing investigation right now. so in this statement, jake sullivan does not provide any, all the mentor evidence that can back up his was. so, you know, it's just the us seems the once again to use this as a to point the finger at most. okay. but what we have to say here that it's trudy actually is a miracle that so many passengers, nearly half of them actually suffice and such a deadly pipe plane crash fluoride. we're secondly, keep a tap on this as investigations are ongoing. are the correspondence? yes. and they cannot and then a 6 you have already know. thank you for bringing us up to speed on this and to gather now where multiple, these really strikes on the northern part of the in k, you've killed at least 10 palestinians on friday. the it is ready drones ta

blessing of the united states, no words of condemnation that from the national security advisor, jake sullivan, infected with this and actually saying that the is really actions logical. and he claims temporary. the us itself is attempting to juggle a lot of poles in the region. it is concentrating on the cap to release. it is concentrating on a program of democratize ation in syria. and what it is also doing is attempting to keep its alliance against iso together. that is the primary function of tony blinking visit the secretary of state. he's speaking the to king of teller and jordan. he's on his way to speak the rest of at one into tea a. this is the prime focus of the us is to keep this alliance together. and also, of course, as the thinking says, to try and get a common standing among the region. the believe this in the region on what happens next in serious thinking. once again, quoting the us, reframe, that's what happens in syria must be done by syrians and not imposed by any outside agency, including the us and mike sullivan also seem to suggest that there's a kind of new found to men

and meanwhile, mike asked me blinking, and jake sullivan are in the region. we're seeing this rather the last minute diplomatic push a by, by the us. what can be achieved given they'll be out of office in a short time. well, the national security advisor jake sullivan contends that the situation has changed following the signing of a ceasefire 11 on following. he says the is really a tax on a mouse in gaza itself as the situation now, he says is on a bit to play into getting some kind of agreement for the release of captives in gaza. and the release of palestinians being held in is really prisons. so key is focused on that particular aspect. whereas the secretary of state anthony blinking is focused more on syria and its consequences and it's around the speak ations that surprise visit to baghdad. very clearly and intent to keep the n t so coalition together this a crucial factor for the united states during this period of change in syria to hold together this coalition, that is what lincoln is talking about in baghdad. he will return to jordan late in the da

national security advisor jake sullivan has returned from the middle east after stops in israel, qatar and egypt. jake comes as the biden administration continues to push for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in gaza. to that end, official bret mcbeginning stayed behind in the region to continue working on a possible deal. joining us now white house national security advisor jake sullivan on the set with us. good to have you. >> thanks for having me. >> what can you tell us about efforts toward any type of deal? >> well, mika as you know we've been close before. and we've expressed optimism and we've gotten close to the finish line and we have not gotten over the finish line. we're wary about making predictions or promises but this is close. and with -- enough pushing from the outside mediators, and the commitment of israel and hamas, we can get it done. i was in israel as you said just a few days ago. i sat with prime minister benjamin netanyahu, and prime minister benjamin netanyahu made clear at this moment, israel is ready to do this deal. so -- the final piece of the puzzle fro

with just over a month left in president biden's term in office, his national security adviser, jake sullivants down with the israeli prime minister to see if a hostage and ceasefire deal can be reached before biden leaves office. and sullivan struck a tone of cautious optimism, saying that he believes that there is optimism in the air, that there is cause to believe that a deal can indeed be reached, and that he believes the israeli prime minister is indeed ready to reach a deal. he gave a number of reasons for why things have changed, for why there is more optimism in the air. he said that following the ceasefire between israel and hezbollah in lebanon, that hamas seems to have changed its negotiating posture somewhat, recognizing that it was no longer receiving the support of hezbollah and that perhaps other actors that it had hoped would come into play in its defense, ultimately will not. at the same time, he also indicated that there were changes on the israeli side as well, noting that israel has killed a hamas leader, yahya sinwar, and that some of its other military successes in gaza

austin tice who were kidnapped in syria in 2012 met with officials at the white house including jake sullivan and

and we begin with white house national security adviser, jake sullivan. jake, thank you very much for being here with us. i want to get to all that's happening around the world, but first i've got to ask you about the news trump made overnight appointing kash patel as the director of the fbi or his intention to nominate him for that position. patel listed you in one of his books as members of the executive branch deep state and one of the 60 corrupt actors of the first order. does this nomination concern you? >> well, i'm not going to speak to president-elect trump's nominees. i'll let him and his transition team speak to that. i would just point out what the biden administration did in approaching the question of the fbi director. as you know, fbi directors are appointed for ten-year terms and the idea being that they extend beyond the term of any given esident, and so we inherited an fbi director who actually had been appointed by president trump, director chris wray who's continued to serve in that role through the four years of the biden administratio

i asked national security advisor jake sullivan about that sunday on state of the union was the u.s.surprised by how swiftly these rebels took over well, let me tell you one thing. >> we weren't surprised by. we were not surprised that these rebels would try to take advantage of a new situation in which the syrian government's main backers iran, russia and hezbollah were all distracted and weakened by conflicts and events elsewhere all right. >> cnn political and national security analyst david sanger joins us now. david. good morning. i actually kind of want to start there with what jake sullivan would or wouldn't say about what happened here. do you think the u.s. government was caught off guard by the speed of this takeover i'm sure they were probably caught off guard by the speed, but the fundamental dynamic that mr. sullivan described casey, i think, is right. >> think about it. the main backers of syria's assad government which has been fighting a civil war here now for what, 13 years were russia hezbollah. right. and the iranians hezbollah has been virtually destroyed by the i

white house national security adviser jake sullivan is next. plus, it's complicated, as trump's cabinet picks face skepticism in congress, his tariff threats raise consumer fears. >> it's going to make us wealthy again with a razor thin house majority. >> are there more bumps ahead? republican congressman mike lawler joins me exclusively hello i'm kasie hunt in for jake tapper and dana bash in washington, where the state of our union is watching a new battle brewing. president elect donald trump is closing out his thanksgiving weekend by setting up another major political fight. he wants longtime loyalists and partisan firebrand kash patel to lead the fbi. it's a move that would require firing the current director, christopher wray, who trump appointed after firing his first fbi director in 2017. patel is a highly divisive figure. he's accused the so-called deep state of targeting trump and proposed a quote, comprehensive housecleaning end quote, of the justice department saying that under trump, it would go after members of the media. in his m

>> the biden administration, jake sullivan expects an inclusive democratic process in syria.o are running this now come out of the jihadist world, al qaeda and isis of veterans, they may be doing a little marketing right now, no one changes their strikes. and person noting christians and kurds. bay singly a caliphate like state. >> better relations with that, who is to say a donald trump won't capitalize on these missteps, and maybe be able to extract more concessions out of lateral put in when it comes to whatever settlement if we have a settlement in a rack in ukraine. >> there's a play here, the russians had a warm water port in syria or crimea. the problem is the ukrainians keep sinking their boats which is unfortunate for the russians. there may be a play trump can make to end the war in ukraine, vladimir putin keeps crimea area as the likely outcome but maybe abandons syria, his ports and airfields and stops messing around in that area. trump is a dealmaker. that is game. stuart: good seeing you. in the meantime, $100,000 a coin on a regulatory front which is curious af

. >> national security advisor jake sullivan highlighted the achievements of the biden administration in replenishing usb nation stockpiles following the -- u.s. munition stockpiles following the onset of that ukraine war. he made the remarks at the center for strategic and international studies. going to take any longer. seth jones is going to moderate the conversation. with your enthusiastic applause, please welcome the national security advisor, jake sullivan. >> and for the future of american statecraft. earlier this week, president biden signed his 71st security assistance package for ukraine, the latest step in a massive effort on a scale not seen since the second world war to equip a partner with military capability it needs to defend its sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity against a brutal invasion by a larger neighbor. in the process of providing this support, we have modernize our own arsenal. with every package, the department of defense provides ukraine older equipment it has on the shelf and uses congressionally appropriated funding to purchase new, more

what do you make of what jake sullivan said there? >> well, he defined the reality of what is taking place. iran is back on its heels in a way it's never been in 44 years since the supreme leader and radicals took over the country. both of their proxies, their main proxies, hamas and hezbollah have been decimated and they lost their strategic platform, syria, which was the main platform for them to be able to dominate and control the middle east. they are defenseless at home. the military has always been weak and their investments have been rockets and missiles for the conventional military and the same for their proxies. but the reality is, israel has stripped away their air defense system. the leadership in tehran is not protected from an air attack. nuclear sites are not nor rocket and missiles production sites. they're very vulnerable and they know it. what option does iran have left? move to a nuclear weapon as soon as possible. they've always wanted a nuclear weapon. been in pursuit of it for decades. why? for the same reason ot