increase for the state department in a decade. it's a budget that reflects the importance of investing in our people and our technology, and we appreciate the support for these priorities in the congress to date. president biden has been clear from his first day in office about his commitment to put diplomacy at the center of our foreign policy. the president's first visit to a major cabinet department was to the state department. an intentional signal of the importance -- it's on, yeah. the importance he places on diplomacy. secretary blinken is equally committed to this objective. today at the foreign service institute later this morning, the secretary will publicly outline the department's modernization agenda, which has five pillars, and i believe he came to speak to you, mr. chairman, and senator risch, yesterday about some of these issues. first, building the department's capacity and expertise in areas critical to our national security, including cyber and emerging tech, climate, and global health. second, elevating new voi

for the state department in a decade. it's a budget that reflects the importance of investing in our people and our technology, and we appreciate the support for these priorities in the congress to date. president biden has been clear from his first day in office about his commitment to put diplomacy at the center of our foreign policy. the president's first visit to a major cabinet department was to the state department. an intentional signal of the importance -- the importance he places on diplomacy. secretary blinken is equally committed to this objective. today at the foreign service institute later this morning, the secretary will publicly outline the department's modernization agenda which has five pillars. i believe he came to speak to you, mr. chairman, and senator risch, yesterday about some of these issues. first, building the department's capacity and expertise in areas critical to our national security, including cyber and emerging tech, climate, and global health. second, elevating new voices and fostering a

this state department would like for this bill to be rewritten. why aren't we consulting with the state department to get this bill right before we throw it on the house floor and pass it with such haste? in it, the administration also says it wants to include language, to, quote, ensure that the secretary of state has the necessary flexibility and permissive authority to dezing nate such an office and special envoy. in other words, the administration doesn't want to be required to create this office and position as this bill mandates. combating religious persecution against all people of faith including muslims is a serious issue. it deserves the kind of serious attention that draws bipartisan support. i also believe that a definition for clarity as to what islamaphobia is and how it would apply should be done through the legislative intent of the congress and that left -- not left up to the bureaucracy in the state department. unfortunately, the text has been rushed to the floor, it's vague, redundant as i've said and for that reason, i do oppos

recently, i received a second letter from the state department. they stated they have reviewed the relatively few materials still remaining on our website and included a spreadsheet containing roughly 2400 new items that they requested we draw down or replace. given how hard the department reportedly was working to evacuate americans from afghanistan and resettle afghan refugees, i was a bit so prized as well as my colleagues, that's state department found the time to go through every one of our reports and produce that list but nevertheless, upon reviewing their request, it quickly became clear to us that the state department had little if any criteria for determining whether the information actually endangered anyone. i think you will agree with me that some of their request were a bit bizarre to say the least. for example, the state department requested that we reject asharfghani's name from our reports. i'm sure the president may wish to be exiled from the annals of history but i don't believe he faces any additional threats or is there any th

the state department is leading the u.s. government's diplomatic engagements with key partners to ensure broad international counterterrorism support and assistance. state engages with foreign partners and leverages multilateral organizations such as the global organization to defeat isis. state in coordinate with interagency and international partners is using foreign assistance to build partner capacity to enable them to address terrorist threats. we are strengthening these partner nations' capabilities to secure their borders, investigate and disrupt terrorist plot, track terrorist financing, prosecute and incarcerate offenders and prevent and counter violent extremism and rehabilitate former terrorists. state is using terrorist designations to disrupt terrorist financing. on november 22, we designated three isis leaders as specially designated global terrorists. state is also working with our interagency and international partners to prevent terrorist travel we actively encourage partner governments to nominate terrorist

recently, i received a second letter from the state department. they stated they have reviewed the relatively few materials still remaining on our website and included a spreadsheet containing roughly 2,400 new items that they requested we draw down, erase, replace, et cetera. given how hard the department reportedly was working to evacuate americans from afghanistan and resettle afghan refugees, i was a bit surprised, as well as my colleagues, that the state department found the time to go through every one of our reports and produce that list. but nevertheless, upon reviewing their request, it quickly became clear to us that the state department had little if any criteria for determining whether the information actually endangered anyone. and i think you will agree with me that some of their requests were a bit bizarre to say the least. for example, the state department requested that we redact ghani's name from every one of our reports. i'm sure president ghani may wish ghani may wish to be excised in the annals of history, but i don't believe

they both loved the state department. the state department loved them. they both believed in the power of diplomacy. and they both knew that the state department doesn't exist to deal with problems elsewhere, to focus out there on the rest of the world, but rather to deliver for the american people, to solve the challenges that affect their lives, to create opportunities that will make their futures brighter. those are beliefs that we wholeheartedly embrace in this administration. and i know they're shared across our political aisle. so i want to thank congress for confirming a large slate of our nominees over the weekend. no administration in american history has had fewer confirmed ambassadors and senior officials than ours. and we need our full team on the field right away to protect our interests and our people. it has been an honor to serve the american people this year as part of our outstanding diplomatic workforce. it's also been an honor to travel with many of you here in this room, to take your questions up here at this podium from time to time

this state department would like for this bill to be rewritten. why aren't we consulting with the state department to get this bill right before we throw it on the house floor and pass it with such haste? in it, the administration also says it wants to include language, to, quote, ensure that the secretary of state has the necessary flexibility and permissive authority to dezing nate such an office and special envoy. in other words, the administration doesn't want to be required to create this office and position as this bill mandates. combating religious persecution against all people of faith including muslims is a serious issue. it deserves the kind of serious attention that draws bipartisan support. i also believe that a definition for clarity as to what islamaphobia is and how it would apply should be done through the legislative intent of the congress and that left -- not left up to the bureaucracy in the state department. unfortunately, the text has been rushed to the floor, it's vague, redundant as i've said and for that reason, i do oppos

outside the state department _ fight back? outside the state department a _ fight back? outside the state department a chance - fight back? outside the state department a chance to i fight back? outside the state i department a chance to personally plead their case. irate department a chance to personally plead their case.— plead their case. we are not iranorin plead their case. we are not ignoring you _ plead their case. we are not ignoring you want _ plead their case. we are not ignoring you want to - plead their case. we are not ignoring you want to listen l plead their case. we are not | ignoring you want to listen to plead their case. we are not i ignoring you want to listen to you. don't think that were not thinking of ways to be supportive of all sides of these conflict come of all the communities.— sides of these conflict come of all the communities. what you see here in washington _ the communities. what you see here in washington is _ the communities. what you see here in washington is a _ the communities. what you see here in washington is a reflection - t

is the blame on congress, the dod, department of state? because that seems to be the critical thing people point to as to why the overall 20-year effort failed. so who do you assign blame for, for doing it that way? >> there's not -- that's a very good question. there's not one person, one administration, one entity of the government that is responsible. and if you read our report, it's just the way we approach these big efforts like this. we're not really organized for it, the u.s. government. so i would go back to our lessoned learned report and happy to come out here again and have my whole team who worked on the report give you soup and nuts on it at any time because we're already doing it with the administration right now. i have made this reference before that when we sent people to afghanistan, they weren't nefarious, stupid, lazy, you know, people. above and beyond, most of them were brave, smart, and eager to do the right thing. what we gave them is a box of broken tools. you have heard me say that. and the broken tools just -- it

a state department official says tear on his back tracking and compromises made during recent talks to revive the 2015 j. c. p. o, a agreement, she returns the choices live. now from washington, so she have, this is developing sort of our to our, at the moment this is coming with the state department, what the saying? well it was, it was a, it was a background briefing and so we're not allowed to name who, who is, who was talking to us, but it was a senior state department official. and i think what, what so important to stress is if you look at those headlines, some of the comments that you just made, which have been, we would, we have been hearing loss day or 2 from as a blinking on the recorder and ange, jan saki at the white, as you might be thinking of these, these talks in vienna, they're on the rocks, the u. s. is going to walk out and storm out. it's like blinking suggested they already did on, on friday, which was kind of belied by what everyone else was saying. and who was at the talks, but in fact when you, when you talked and listen to this background briefing by an anonymo

well, we've all state department for a response to the comments made by sir g. a lab rather than to there is no direct confirmation off the lab rubs intention to hold a meeting between experts from both the us and russia at the state department simply says that it's willing to engage in diplomacy. whatever the forum be direct talks or the through nato allies, however, it says as well that any talks must depend on the fact that russia addresses us concerns about security. and also as such, discussions have to be on the basis of reciprocity. so there's no direct confirmation from state department. apart from that comment saying that that is open to any form of dialogue with russia on condition as well. it adds that it is in consultation with its nato allies. now we do know that jake sullivan, the national security advisor, held a talk with his russian counterpart early last week. not clear whether that conversation del to this upcoming meeting or potential meeting. we also know that president biden held a telephone conversation with the russian president a short w

. >>> the american state department staffer suffering from the mysterious havana syndrome speaking out for the first time. her fight to be believed >>> and the holiday mystery. the heartfelt thank you card inspiring america. >>> this is nbc "nightly news" with lester holt. >>> good evening it was just a month ago a covid variant of concern was reported out of south africa. days later, it got a name, omicron. and tonight it's now spreading in all 50 u.s. states, driving a wave of new infections the cdc reports the seven-day average has climbed by 25% over the prior week while authorities are urging americans who may be on the move this holiday to get tested, lines remain and supplies are short. one chain of walk-up urgent care clinics in new york temporarily closing some of its locations over staff shortages. tonight doctors do have a new weapon to heal the sick, a covid treatment. a pill has now been authorized for emergency use by the fda. at the same time another treatment is running in short supply miguel almaguer leads our coverage tonight >> reporter: the fda's emergency use autho

it appears i phone maker, apple notify the state department of the spyware attacks. and this is the 1st case . and as so groups, pegasus tool being used to hack american officials. now last week the us congress department blacklisted at a so group and another is really fir. mcandrew alleging the companies provide spyware to foreign governments intending to target journalists, embassy workers, activists, and other. back in november, apple filed a lawsuit against and s o group in its parents, company o s y technologies for targeting, i phone users with pegasus spyware. so let's go ahead and dig deeper into this story as cybersecurity has been front and center this year with morgan wright, chief security advisor at no one and former senior advisor to the us state department, anti terrorism assistance program. now, morgan, i mean, it seems like this spyware, developed by this group, has been extremely controversial since that came on the steed. what do we need to know about pegasus and how it was used in this situation? so this package, the software, is to zeros. it's us

reports that the state department is ignoring military veterans requests, maybe impeding them. they're trying to help rescue americans stranded in afghanistan. keep it here on "the evening edit". ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list event. growing up in a little red house, on the edge of a forest in norway,ry there were three things my family encouraged: kindness, honesty and hard work. over time, i've come to add a fourth: be curious. be curious about the world around us, and then go. go with an open heart, and you will find inspiration anew. viking. exploring the world in comfort. your shipping manager left to “find themself.” leaving you lost. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire hi susan! honey? yeah? matching your job description. i respect that. but that cough looks pretty bad... try this robitussin honey. the real honey you love... plus the powerful cough relief you need. mind if i root through your tras

it appears i phone maker, apple notify the state department of the spyware attacks. and this is the 1st case of s o groups pegasus tool being used to hack american official. now last week, the u. s. congress department blacklisted at s. so group and another israeli firm. mcandrew alleging the companies provide spyware to foreign governments intending to target journalists, embassy workers, activists, and other. back in november, apple filed a lawsuit against an s o group in its parents, company o s y technologies for targeting, i phone users with pegasus spyware. so let's go ahead and dig deeper into this story as cybersecurity has been front center this year with morgan wright, chief security advisor at no one and former senior advisor to the us state department. i terrorism assistance program. now, morgan, i mean, it seems like this spyware developed by it. so group has been extremely controversial since it came on the feed. what do we need to know about pegasus and how it was used in this situation? so this pegasus software is to zeros. it's uses 0 day exploits, e

well, i would say that because, you know, you worked with the state department. i would think that it would be some sort of requirement that if you're some sort of, if you would keep updated, you would have some sort of. 5 some sort of anti virus security or something on there, right? i don't, i don't know what you're into over their brand or you can the government, yesterday's technology tomorrow. i mean are still using software that is not officially supported by microsoft, and other folks now looks infect state department ranks at the bottom of most of the federal agencies in terms of their stature on this. so now look, you would think that, but as we get into these newer technologies, it does become a little bit easier to manage. but guess what? in the old days it was about anti virus. it was about a desktops. but guess what? what we have, i was actually going for my phone here, but we're gone for everybody's life. revolves around this right now. everybody's life is based on this. you were just talking about crypto currencies and tools, guess where you contai

and the state department, who was it? >> i believe -- when i arrived in the position, it was already wellll advanced so i can't hey y who the specific driver was. it was always a component of our support the peace process in updating the threats we face. >> my understanding is what you are doing sanctioning those who have not put their arms down delisting those in our following integration can their society but this is an example of when i pressed the question both in nominations and the administration about consultation versus notification. in this particular case my notification was "wall street journal". that's not what i consider consultation. the lack of getting that kind of consultation creates problems so i hope we don't relive vatican. this hearing record will remain open until the close of business tomorrow, members with questions will be submitted by them. would like your answers to be expeditious and make you to the committee, this hearing is adjourned. [background noises] [background noises] [background noises

it appears i phone maker, apple notify the state department of the spyware attacks. and this is the 1st case of n s o groups pegasus tool being used to hack american official. now last week, the u. s. congress department blacklisted s. so group, and another israeli firm. mcandrew alleging the companies provide spyware to foreign governments intending to target journalists, embassy workers, activists, and others. back in november, apple filed the lawsuit against and so group in its parents, company o s y technologies for targeting i phone users with pegasus spyware. so let's go ahead and dig deeper into this story as cybersecurity has been front center this year with morgan wright, chief security advisor at no one and former senior advisor to the us state department, anti terrorism assistance program. now, morgan, i mean, it seems like this spyware, developed by an a. so group has been extremely controversial since it came on the feed. what do we need to know about pegasus and how it was used in this situation? so this pegasus software is to zeros. it's uses 0 day exp

the state department was actually responsible for trying to train and afghan police force. it was doing a terrible job of it. rumsfeld would really let powell have it bureaucratically in terms of criticism. there was a lot of sniping back and forth. eventually the defense department took over the training programs. it did not do much better. yes, there was a lot of pin fighting, but on that subject in particular, it was really important. under three presidents, the whole objective was to try to stabilize afghanistan so al qaeda could not come back. a goal was try to train and equip an afghan farm he so they could fight the taliban on their own without us there. there are number of chapters and passages about how bad that approaches. most americans were shocked at how quickly the afghan army sort of melted away and how the taliban took over so quickly. the roots of that go back to the fights between rumsfeld and powell. we explain those in detail in the book. >> thank you. >> god bless the investigative reporters. one of them is a lady who i had the privilege of meeting a co

. ♪ >>> we're keeping our eye on the state department where secretary of state antony blinken will be speaking shortly in his unofficially end of the year press conference. we'll bring to you live. this as the state department says that he spoke to foreign ministers today about a coordinated response to omicron. and also we expect him to address russia and ukraine, china's a aggressions toord toward taiwan. and i'm joined by david ignatius. and if you look at the biden administration through the lens of foreign affairs, it has been a tough year. no other way to put it. >> yeah, it has been a painful year. it began with a theme that really seemed resonate, america's back. if we think back to president biden's trip to europe in june, his summit meeting with vladimir putin, that team dealing with its partners and allies effectively, seemed to carry some weight. and then came the traumatic departure from afghanistan. and you could feel the wind going out of the balloon of the biden administration foreign policy. and in a that claim that we'll manage our alliances, our foreign relations wi

the department of homeland security and state department have not responded to cnn's questions about the process for family reunifications for these afghan children. what does the biden administration need to do right now to kickstart these reunifications? >> show an ounce of political will. have president biden make this a priority. we've been working with the state department, with the department of homeland security throughout the interagency process on not just the evacuations that took place but the ongoing evacuations that need to occur, and they have been a stymieing, slow force that every turn. and it all flows down from the fact that at the top, in the oval office, with the president, there is no sense of urgency. no sense of compassion or concern for those that were left behind. and until that changes, we're going to continue to see the delayed, drawn out and frankly deadly process nat we've seen so far. >> the remain afghan allies stuck in increasingly unstable country, do you get any sense the effort to evacuate them has stalled? >> it is -- if this isn't stalling, i don'

. ♪ ♪ >> state department officials testified on u.s. policy in latin america and the caribbean before the senate foreign relations committee. they were asked about several things including drug trafficking, the removal of the colombian organization from the foreign terrorist list, and the kidnapping of american missionaries in haiti. this is just over two hours. : : review of the state of democracy in the region. we heard concerns about the uptick in fraudulent elections, shrinking space for civil society, media, efforts to politicize judicial institutions and at the loss of hope in the region plagued by insecurity. while the inter-american democratic charter marked its 20th anniversary in september, the harsh reality is that we are witnessing a fraying of democratic consensus in the americas. given the secretary-general's diagnosis, it is critical the biden administration continue efforts to restore the democracy as a central pillar of u.s. foreign policy. in the june memorandum the president made it clear that combating is a u.s. nati

>> i would agree with my department of state colleague. at this point, all we can do is be clear in our expectations and commitment to not let a terrorist threat grow. >> yes or no, mr. landberg, is there an isis presence in afghanistan today? >> i think that would be better left for the classified session. >> i will assume yes. mr. landberg, do the taliban and al qaeda have a mutually beneficial relationship? >> going back, there has been a relationship. i think that is well known. >> are al qaeda operatives within the taliban? >> again, any level of discussion about specific terrorist group activities -- >> does the taliban actively shield al qaeda? chris: i think what is clear from conversation so far with the taliban, they are aware of our clear message that they cannot allow al qaeda to use afghanistan as a safe haven. i think they are wary of allowing afghanistan to do that. we can talk in more detail later. >> mr. landberg, can you confirm that after the withdrawal of u.s. troops, the taliban were going door-to-door and quietly exec

we have experts from the treasury department, the state department, and the national security council in daily contact with the key capitols and brussels to work for those measures. i think it is not profitable for us to lay out the specifics of it standing at this podium today. >> thank you. did president putin ask for president biden to commit to not allow nato or ukraine to join nato, and did president putin make plans of concessions, such as a reduced u.s. presence or any commitment on nato and ukraine's membership? >> i'm not going to characterize president putin's side of the conversation or go into details in terms of what they discussed because i think they need to have that space to be able to have robust exchange, but i will tell you clearly and directly he made no such commitments or concessions. he stands by the proposition that countries should be able to freely choose who they associate with. >> the material that you said you're going to send following up on kaitlan's question, how quickly can that be delivered. >> we have an ongoing pipeline that delivers various forms

department's top policymaker for south asia, he's in charge of policy for afghanistan and state department chiefs spokesman under president bush. this is how his interview starts off. general observations. let me approach this from two directions. the first m question, did we knw what we were doing? the second is what was wrong with how we did it? the first question, did we know what we're doing? i think the answer is no. first we went into get al qaeda and to get al qaeda out of afghanistan, even without killing bin laden and we did that, then the taliban was shooting back at us so we started shooting at them and then came the enemy. ultimately, we kept expanding the mission. if there is ever a notion is afghanistan. we went from saying we will get rid of al qaeda so they can't threaten us anymore to think we are going to and. then we said we would get all of the groups taliban works with and having our exit strategy we started we needed a stable government in afghanistan. once you start seeing that you see collections making sure supreme court functions properly, the afghans have an anti

now at the same time, we also heard from the spokesperson for the us state department. and they said that essentially they won't rule out the deployment of further troops to eastern europe . they won't rule that out. in addition to that, we did hear a pretty firm statement that the united states does not believe that the russian federation has made a decision regarding a possible attack on ukraine. but regardless of the fact that they don't believe the decision has already been made, they apparently have a new round of sanctions that are ready to be laid out against moscow. so quite an odd, you know, turn of events, but that is what we're hearing from washington in the aftermath of the meeting. kill him up and in new york and earlier saskia taylor speaking to us from moscow now in the u. s. is preparing the mother of old sanctions against russia, if it invade ukraine threats coming from a democratic center, a bub menendez comes again despite repeated statements from the kremlin, that it has no such plans. now, the most drastic measure on the table is cutting russia or f

regulating stabilizing braces and encouraging states to adopt red flags through the state department. in june he announced a conference of plan to reduce gun crime. the fact is there are three bills right now that have passed the house, the violence against women act, including provisions to keep guns out of the hands of abusers, the bill includes background checks for all gun sales, and build back better, which invest $5 million in evidence-based community violence intervention. he will continue fighting for this and continue to look at what steps can be taken through executive action as well. but this will continue to be a cause for the president. on the other question, i will check. i will see if there are any updates. reporter: the travel restrictions, when they are in place, it seems like it could be hard for them to go away. india had a travel ban for months and months, the u.k. had a travel ban for like a year. are there specific measures the white house is looking for to decide ok, let's people -- let people travel here again? especially considering it is here. there are cases

well, we've all state department for a response to the comments made by sir g. a lab rather than to there is no direct confirmation of lab rubs intention to hold a meeting between experts from both the us and russia at the state department simply says that it's willing to engage in diplomacy, whatever the forum direct talks or through nato allies. however, it says as well that any talks must depend on the fact that russia addresses us concerns about security. and also such discussions have to be on the basis of reciprocity. so there's no direct confirmation from state department. apart from that comment, saying that that is open to any form of dialogue with russia on condition as well. it adds that it is in consultation with its nato allies. now we do know that jake sullivan, the national security advisor, held a talk with his russian counterpart early last week. not clear whether that conversation del to this upcoming meeting or potential meeting. we also know that president biden held a telephone conversation with the russian president a short while ago. once

the state department, for example. but until we we lies, as general pineiro just pointed out, that the chinese and russians are clearly engaged with us in asymmetric ways, we might not have it as a kinetic contest with them, although it's possible that we might, but we are in a contest and in all other aspects of our culture and society, and we are showing ourselves to be slow in making decisions and slow in understanding that the national debt is part of our difficulties. a last budget, the last balanced budget we had was during the clinton administration. and ever since then, we've been going in the wrong direction in terms of how we spend our dollars and what we get for it. i think the book it's very timely and a very useful reference to understanding. understanding the magnitude of the problem. in 1997, as general punaro pointed out, we tried to and we did write a plan for the pentagon to reform its entire acquisition system and organization. we have had no secretary really that's been able to take this on as a pri

we've also designated three individuals under section 7031 of the department of state foreign operations and related appropriations who abuse the public position in the region by accepting bribes and kickbacks and misappropriating funds for their own self enrichment. we've also taken similar actions in central america in places like nicaragua, guatemala, honduras and el salvador and we will continue to do so. in haiti, weak institutions into pervasive corruption contribute to the proliferation of gang violence including kidnappings and ransoms. they control nearly half of the key transportation infrastructures. when i was in haiti two weeks ago i met with the prime minister, the acting minister of justice, the new director general of police and the international partners to emphasize the concerns for the security situation and to discuss the plan to support to help the national police establish a tactical anti-gang unit. i stressed the need to ensure the officer accountability respect for human rights and transparency particularly for the antigang unit and will continue to support the lo

let's bring in john kirby, the press secretary for the state department. you have done a huge amount of work this year. lots to cover. on this -- did you ever think it was more than 100 americans there? why was that so hard to nail down? >> it is a great question, dana. it was a bit of a moving target throughout the evacuation. as you know, we don't require american citizens to register their presence in afghanistan. some of them are -- most of them were dual nationals so they were struggling with whether to leave or not. sometimes we get an indication that i want to go and then they might change their mind and taken off the list. the number was a bit of a moving target. what i think is encouraging. almost 1,000 have been brought up and we are continually to look for others that want to go. >> bill: the problem with the numbers that you were off by 90%. >> again, it is not a science, bill. not like they register on some sort of list we have that is static and permanent. >> bill: as they crossed the border into pakistan or what was the assumption? >> lots o

the state department deny third degree and called it a mistake. the taiwan foreign minister said in regard to the anomaly, it was malfunction of the screen-sharing feature. map showing taiwan separate from china would be deeply expensive to china. the u.s. recognizes one china policy that maintains people's republic of china is unified under one government. in another twist this morning, "washington post" columnist josh rogan told brian kilmeade it was a state department employee working the tech booth who made the decision to pull the visual on the map and blamed the white house. we are hoping to get clarity into the briefing. >> trace: clarity would be good. thank you. >> sandra: let's bring in governor of north carolina, nikki haley, she wrote "american strength," and this is her first interview since president biden's call with putin. i'll get to that in a moment, ambassador. welcome and great to see you. what did you make of the situation of the video getting cut off, did you make anything of it? >> nikki haley: it would be laughable, it woul

>> bret: benjamin hall live at the state department. thank you. let's bring in arkansas republican senator tom cotton. thanks for being here. >> bret, good to be with you. >> bret: i want to talk about all of this and foreign policy as well. i want to start what have you seen out of kentucky. you are a state very familiar with tornado damage and all that comes with it? >> bret, terrible storms starting in arkansas and going across the mid south and into the midwest. we lost two lives in arkansas. on my visits over the weekend with local officials the mayors, the judges, the nursing homeowner of the nursing home that was destroyed. one constant refrain i heard they couldn't believe more life wasn't lost. thanks to the quick wits and bravery of our fellow arkansans we only had two lives lost. >> bret: from arkansas right there. >> some of the scenes you have seen from kentucky and mayfield in particular is just heart breaking. my prayers and condolences go out not just to my fellow arkansans but fellow americans affected by these storms. >> bret: it

well, we've all state department for a response to the comments made by sir g. a lab rather than to there is no direct confirmation of lab rubs intention to hold a meeting between experts from both the us and russia at the state department simply says that it's willing to engage in diplomacy, whatever the forum be direct talks or that through nato allies, however, it says as well that any talks must depend on the fact that russia addresses us concerns about security. and also as such, discussions have to be on the basis of reciprocity. so there's no direct confirmation from state department. apart from that comment, saying that that is open to any form of dialogue with russia on condition as well. it adds that it is in consultation with its nato allies. now we do know that jake sullivan, the national security advisor, held a talk with his russian counterpart early last week. not clear whether that conversation del to this upcoming meeting or potential meeting. we also know that president biden held a telephone conversation with the russian president a short whil

benjamin hall live at the state department. thank you. ♪ breaking tonight, hope is fading to try to find more people alive among the dozens still missing as mentioned at the top of the show, the official death toll stands at 88 from those devastating tornadoes. 74 of them in kentucky. dead. tonight the search continues through the devastation on the ground. senior correspondent mike tobin joins us live with the latest. good evening, mike. >> good evening, bret. a meteorologist out of paducah, kentucky two hours before the tornadoes caused all this destruction they started putting out warnings conditions were perfect for something very bad to happen. warm air collided with cold air and there was nothing, not even other weather systems could stop tornadoes from ripping through the heartland. >> as chainsaws roar across kentucky to clean up the catastrophic damage, communities are pitching in to help their neighbors. >> people would give anything, people give their shoes, the clothes that they have the money that they have the r

the justice department's filed suit against the state of texas for violating section ii. of the voting rights act. as the supreme court has observed, the core principle of our democracy is that voters should choose representatives, not the other way around. section ii requires that state voting laws, including laws that drawn electoral maps, provide eligible voters with an equal opportunity to participate in the democratic process and to elect representatives of their choosing. the complaint we have filed alleges that texas has violated section ii by redistricting plans that violate the rights of latino and black voters to vote on account of their lease or -- of their race or membership in a linkage group. in 2015, the supreme court effectively limited the preclearance provisions of the voting rights act. earlier this year, i noted that this redistricting cycle would be the first since 1960 without the protection of preclearance. i also said that the department should use all available authorities and resources to continue protecting the right to vote. in september the de

well, we've our state department for a response to the comments made by sir g. a lab rather than to there is no direct confirmation off lab rubs intention to hold a meeting between experts from both the us and russia at the state department simply says that it's willing to engage in diplomacy. whatever the forum be direct talks or through nato allies. however, it says as well that any talks must depend on the fact that russia addresses us concerns about security. and also as such, discussions have to be on the basis of reciprocity. so there's no direct confirmation from state department. apart from that comment saying that that is open to any form of dialogue with russia on condition as well. it adds that it is in consultation with its nato allies. now we do know that jake sullivan, the national security advisor, held a talk with his russian counterpart early last week. not clear whether that conversation del to this upcoming meeting or potential meeting. we also know that president biden held a telephone conversation with the russian president a short while ago

state department correspondent benjamin hall is live in washington with details on this update. hi, benjamin. >> first of all the administration and state department have gone silent on afghanistan for the last couple months. in the past they've moved on and it low longer exists. that's not true. the humanitarian and security situation is crumbling and continues to be americans and siv holders trying to get to the u.s. the state department is saying the numbers they gave us last year -- back in august and september at the height of the evacuation were not true. in fact, they were around potentially up to nine times more americans trying to flee the country than previously thought. >> president biden: we believe 100 to 200 americans remain in afghanistan. with some intention to leave. >> are you committed to making sure the troops stay until every american who wants to be out? >> president biden: yes. >> that's what we were told. troops were will stay until they all get out. according to the state department at least 900 american citizens and lawful residents were abandoned who h