Transcripts For MSNBCW Meet 20240702 : comparemela.com

Transcripts For MSNBCW Meet 20240702



over. >> it's only the start, but so far it's gone well. >> does this breakthrough deal signal a turning point in the conflict? >> i don't trust hamas to do anything right now. i only trust hamas to respond to pressure. >> my guest this morning, national security adviser jake sullivan, and the chairman of the house intelligence committee republican congressman mike turner of ohio. plus, countdown to iowa. the iowa caucuses are now just 50 days away. we are now in second place in iowa. >> everybody's attacking me. that should show you who they care about. >> can any of trump's rivals catch up and stop him? and actor and advocate. selma blair, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis five years ago, is using her voice to fight for those with the right of all those living with disabilities. >> i want equity. i want justice. >> joining me for analysis are leigh ann caldwell of "the washington post." republican strategist brandon buck and symone sanders-townsend. former chief spokeswoman for vice president kamala harris. 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. it took weeks of excruciating secret negotiations involving u.s., israeli, qatari and egyptian officials and personal pressure from president biden to persuade a reluctant israeli prime minister netanyahu to accept a four-day ceasefire to that has so far freed 26 israeli hostages from hamas. this morning two senior administration officials tell nbc news the biden administration is disappointed americans have not yet been released, and they are hopeful three americans will still be among the 50 civilian women and children freed as a part of this deal. >> we also remember all those who are still being held, and renew our commitment to work for their release, as well. two american women and one 4-year-old child, abigail, who remains among those missing. we also will not stop until we get these hostages brought home. >> after a short but serious delay on saturday, 13 more israelis, five women and eight children, were freed. in return, israel released 39 more palestinians from its prisons, and aid organizations have been able to scale up fuel and aid deliveries for gaza. pressure on israel continues to mount. tens of thousands gathered in tel aviv saturday night accusing netanyahu of not doing enough to bring the 240 hostages home. the deal also comes as democrats are increasingly divided over president biden's embrace of israel as the civilian death toll in gaza grows. a biden administration official says this deal was a biden deal, not a netanyahu deal. >> i don't know how to feel like now because it's a weird situation, but i'm happy and excited. >> we saw the jeep passing by, and we recognized adina, my aunt in the jeep, and then we started shouting. >> i don't know that there will be words. i think there will be a lot of tears. a lot of happy tears, i hope. >> we want this chapter to be completed so we can lick our wounds and start to recuperate as a family. >> joining me now is national security adviser jake sullivan. welcome back to "meet the press." >> thanks for having me, kristen. >> well, thank you for being here, jake. we have seen these emotional and wonderful scenes of families being reunited as the hostages have been returned. i know the administration has said that it is hopeful that americans will be returned soon. can you tell us, do you expect american hostages to be released today? >> well, kristen, the initial hostage deal involves the release of women and children, and there are two americans, two women and one young child, and we have reason to believe that one of those americans will be released today, but until we see her out safely from gaza, in the hands of the authorities and ultimately in the hands of her family, then we won't be certain, but we have reason to believe there will be one released today. >> are you talking about the little girl, 4-year-old abigail idan, who, of course, celebrated her birthday in captivity? jake, is that th expect will be released today? >> we are hopeful that abigail will be released. we think it's long past time that this little girl who just, as you said, celebrated her fourth birthday is back home with her family. she tragically lost her parents in this vicious, brutal attack on october 7th and back with other family members. i'm not in a position here at this moment to confirm that, but i will tell you, kristen, that this is unfolding as we speak, and hopefully, literally any hour now, we will know which of the americans is out. we have a sense of who it is, but i just am not in a position to confirm it because we want to make sure that the release goes off as indicated, as we expect and at that point we'll be prepared to speak to it, quite joyfully speak to it. >> i understand this is an incredibly fluid and sensitive situation, but so that our viewers understand, have you actually seen the list, jake, and is there at least one american name on it or are there more? >> well, i started by saying we have reason to believe, and i wouldn't be sitting here saying that if i wasn't confident. i'm not going to get into exactly what we've seen, but i will tell you that we are in extremely close touch, down to every possible detail with both the israelis and qataris as well as with the egyptians. so we feel very fully apprised of what is likely to unfold today, but we proceed with caution because we're dealing with a terrorist group here so we can't be absolutely certain about what is going to happen until it happens, and so we will await the actual transfer of the hostages today at which point we can all speak with greater definition to exactly what happened. >> and so there are two other american hostages who you have said you would anticipate would be released as a part of this latest deal and then seven other americans still being held, u jake. what can you tell us about the other two who you have signaled will be part of this deal, and then the other seven who are still being held in captivity, held hostage? >> kristen, this is a great question. what we know is that there are three americans who fall in the category of the first deal. that is two women and a child, as i said before. we know that those three have been missing, presumed hostages, but we have not gotten proof of life on any of them, and we do not know for certain that all three of them are still alive. that being said, we do believe, we are hopeful that there will be additional americans released. and remember that there is another day to this deal, so we will see another list tomorrow. and then we are working with all sides on the possibility that this deal gets extended to additional hostages beyond the initial 50. that ultimately is up to hamas. if hamas is prepared to release additional hostages, israel has indicated as part of this agreement that it is prepared for additional days and pause to a fighting, and so the ball really is in hamas' court in terms of its willingness to step forward and release additional hostages including releasing additional americans. >> and i do want to talk about potential next steps, but obviously the red cross was a part of this deal, being able to let them in to see the hostages. have they been able to do that, jake, and what have they been able to glean about the remaining hostages? do you know whether the additional seven americans are alive and the rest of the hostages, more than 100 now? >> we don't have that information yet. as part of the agreement, as you just alluded to, by the end of the fourth day, that is, by the end of tomorrow, we expect to have that information, but as i sit here this morning, i cannot confirm anything about the condition of the additional americans being held there as other countries and as israel cannot confirm the condition of their citizen hostages, but it is part of the agreement that that be done by the red cross, and we expect that to be fulfilled. >> do you know the exact number of hostages that remain, jake? what other groups in addition to hamas are holding them? >> we've been very straight from the start, kristen. as have israel and other countries that we do not know the exact number of hostages that are alive at this time being held in gaza, and we won't know that until those hostages are physically in the hands of authorities and ultimately in the hands of their loved ones and their families, and so we have been direct, straight, and candid about what we know and what we don't know. we also are aware that it's not just hamas holding hostages. palestine, islamic jihad, another terrorist group that participated in the brutal massacre on october 7th, is holding some, and other groups who are not directly affiliated, but have loose connections to hamas and palestinian islamic jihad are also holding hostages. so part of the effort here is to ensure that all of those groups somehow get connected to a deal in which every last possible hostage in gaza who is still a live gets turned back over and reunited with their families. >> jake, do you have any concern that the u.s. publicly negotiating a hostage release sends a message that americans are willing to negotiate with terrorists, even if indirectly, and that that could ultimately put the lives of other americans at risk on the world stage? >> look, we've been in the business since the beginning of the biden administration and president biden has taken a leadership role in this in taking steps to bring home americans who are unjustly detained or being held hostage overseas, and we've been willing to make hard decisions to do that because as the president said, he has no higher proo i yort than to bring americans home. when the united states had one policy or another people were taking americans hostage. so from our perspective, this isn't about precedent, it isn't about policy. it's about a simple principle. if there is an american citizen being held overseas, we are going to do everything in our power, using diplomacy, using influence, using leverage to bring those people safely to their families and that is the commitment of president biden. >> israel has said that it would extend the pause in fighting for every day that ten additional hostages are released. is it your expectation at this time, jake, based on your conversations, that this pause in fighting will be extended beyond four days? >> i think it is certainly a possibility and we would like on see that happen -- >> is it likely? >> it's up to hamas. >> is it likely though? >> it is hard for me to handicap that, kristen, because this is hamas. hamas will make the decision about whether they're prepared to release another ten hostages. israel has put its cards on the table, and they're prepared to extend the ball in fighting. will hamas step up and release an additional ten hostages? if they won't, then they're the ones choosing to bridge an end to the pause in fighting and not israel, and that is something that we'll watch very carefully. and president biden has been on the phone just in the last 24 hours with the emir of qatar. he will speak today with the prime minister of israel and he continues to work on this hour by hour to see if we can secure those additional days of pause and those additional hostages coming home to their families. >> let me ask you about a reese end op-ed about bernie sanders. the indiscriminate bombing has led to an untenable amount of civilian deaths. he is becoming a growing part of progressive lawmakers that is asking that aid to israel be conditioned on a plan to mitigate civilian deaths. president biden called this ideay a, quote, worthwhile thought. so would this administration support that? >> in that answer president biden acknowledged the idea, but he went on to say that his approach, president biden's approach which was high-level, public diplomacy has generated results. it has generated the substantial amount of humanitarian assistance to civilians in gaza. the exit of thousands of foreign nationals including american citizens from gaza and the first pause in the fighting since the conflict began and the release of a set of hostages, 50 hostages, all of that has been the product of presidential engagement, private engagement, hard diplomacy. that's the course that brb has set us on and that's the course that the delivery is set on. >> just to be very clear, should we take his words that it would be a worthwhile thought to mean that the president is open to signing legislation that would provide aid to israel that comes with conditions? >> i thought the president couldn't have been clearer when he answered the question. he acknowledged the idea, and then he said, by the way, that i have conducted our diplomacy -- >> is that a yes, jake? >> -- that that's what he's done so far, and that's what he's going to do. >> is he open to it? >> again, he is going to do what continues to generate results and as he said in his press conference and for the last two days we've seen hostages released. the approach that he is taking direct, presidential diplomacy behind closed doors with the israelis and with our partners that's what's generating the results right now and that's the course that he's on. >> all right. national security adviser, jake sullivan, thank you so much for your time this morning. we really appreciate it. when we come back, the chair of the house intelligence committee republican congressman mike turner of ohio joins me next. congressman mike turner of ohio joins me next goli, taste your goals. you want to be able to provide your child with the tools or resources they need. with reliable internet at home, through the internet essentials program, the world opened up. fellas, fellas. that's how my son was able to find the hidden genius project. we wanted to give y'all the necessary skills to compete with the future. kevin's now part of this next generation of young people who feel they can thrive. ♪ ♪ welcome back. just this morning egypt h welcome back. just this morning egypt has received a list of 13 israelis and 39 palestinians scheduled for release today. the third group in the four-day truce deal. as the national security adviser just told me, the white house has reason to believe that group could include at least one israeli american dual citizen. here at home, aid to israel is still uncertain. house republicans passed a $14.3 billion aid deal earlier this month, and new speaker mike johnson has vowed to back separate legislation combining ukraine assistance with tougher border security measures. joining me now is the republican chairman of the house intelligence committee congressman mike turner of ohio. welcome back to "meet the press," congressman. >> thank you for having me. >> thank you for being back in person on a big day. we really appreciate it. so let's start with what we know about this release of hostages in addition to the three the white house has said they anticipate will be released. there are still seven other americans who are unaccounted for. is it your expectation that those seven americans based on the intelligence that you have are still being held hostage? do you know if they're alive? >> right. you know, it's been very curious that the administration is so quick to claim this is a biden deal, and as you just heard from jake sullivan, he continues to say we know every detail, and he can't answer those questions as to those details. there are ten americans out of the 240 hostages and people who are missing. no one really knows the number as jake sullivan was saying that he doesn't even know the number nor do we know proof of life. you would have thought if they're claiming credit that this is a biden deal, that we would have conditioned this process because the aid going into northern gaza is a condition that hamas required includes american aid, and everyone is very concerned, and one thing that's very important here is to understand that the word hostage barely describes what these people have been through. these are not detainees and they were not in gaza and they were in their homes in israel. they witnessed the brutal murdering of their families, neighbors and friends and then were taken, kidnapped from their homes into gaza, a bld they've been held in brutal conditions, and as we know, some of the hostages have been killed. so i'm certain these hostages, these individuals that have been kidnapped and are being released, whenlet through a very brutal time. >> i want to ask you more about the intelligence that you have, but to your point about whether this is a biden deal. you heard mr. sullivan tell me that the details are very sensitive. does the president deserve some credit given that he has been working the phones with the leaders of qatar and israel to try to get this temporary pause in the fighting? >> right. i think people would expect nothing less, and certainly it appears that the administration has stepped up for that. >> do you give him some credit? >> absolutely. this is a period fraught with peril to claim credit for a deal that we don't know what will come out of this. i just think it's very dangerous. >> speaking of the perils here, do you have any concerns that hamas is delaying the release of american citizens to use them effectively as bargaining chips, congressman? >> exactly. which is why i'm concerned that the biden administration didn't make it a condition of this deal that americans be in the first hostages released especially since american aid is going into gaza right now, into northern gaza as part of the conditions that hamas had. i think when the administration says they know every detail and they don't even know that they're alive, that is certainly very concerning, and also the aspect is what you raised in the interview. the red cross is supposed to have access to the remaining hostages, and we're is up poised to be getting information as to what the condition is and who is held. the hostage list is based on people who are missing. >> jake says he expects that that will happen potentially by tomorrow. why is that so critical, and do you anticipate it will happen by tomorrow? are you getting any information that points to that? >> i think this is a war zone, and so its very unknowns are rampant. and the other aspect here is that we're not even sure that hamas has all of the hostages, and there are radical groups that might have possession of some of these hostages, and which ones are alive and where their bodies may be in either gaza or where hamas has held them and how will the red cross be able to tell the us who is alive and who is not, and that is part of certain will i the terrible distress that these families go through and people who have been told that their relatives are deceased and now finding them alive and they might find out the tragic news. >> i want to ask you, big picture about how israel is conducting this war. as you know, the idf has taken the head of al shifa hospital in for questioning. israel, the united states have said that their intelligence points to the fact that hamas is effectively embedding itself inside al shifa and inside other hospitals. do you think the united states should release its intelligence publicly or at least more information publicly to help make the case to people globally who are saying too many civilian lives have been lost here? >> right. i think we have to remember that right now this is a war zone, and israel has openly stated that its goal is to take out hamas and hamas' control of gaza. hamas still has control of gaza. when this cease-fire ends, netanyahu has said the conflict will continue, and the conflict will continue, as us real has stated, until hamas is removed. and obviously one of the issues that you have to look at in

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