Washington at any moment, President Biden will give what could be one of the most consequential speeches of his presidency when he delivers his final address to the united nations general assembly. Right now, Brazils President is speaking. You can see him right there. President biden is up next we are toll as he looks to cement his foreign Policy Legacy against a backdrop of global crises, including the war in ukraine, in the conflict in the Middle East, that is widening this morning. Its threatening to explode into an allout war in the region. Cnns Alex Marquardt and Kayla Tausche are at the un this morning. Alex, let me start with you first. How will all of this fact, what we see there today and how big of a moment is this for the president No Doubt it is a big moment for him as he looks to this final speech at the un general assembly talking about his priorities for the past four years and those going forward. What has been done, what still needs to be done. And essentially so he talking about his accomplishments and cementing that foreign Policy Legacy, as you noted. But jim this was already going to be a un general assembly where so much of the focus was on the war In Gaza. Now, it is even more focused on the Middle East with fears over this escalating conflicts in lebanon concerns at the entire region is going to the war is going to expand across the regions. And that really does highlight the fact that the u. S. Has been playing a big role in trying to quiet and both those conflicts in lebanon and In Gaza and has failed the talks about a ceasefire are on ice In Gaza. The diplomatic efforts to get hezbollah to pull back from the border to get those Tens Of Thousands of residents on both sides of the border back into their homes that has failed. So No Doubt the president will be speaking about the Middle East as well. Countless others throughout the course of the next few days and theyre also be lots of meetings on the sidelines. This is going to be a major focus of the conversation but at the same time at this stage in his presidency, the president is also looking to talk about a number of other issues. The conflicts in sudan and in ukraine. Climate change, ai, competition with china, but there is going to be a real emphasis on the Middle East and following biden, youll also hear from Middle Eastern leaders from turkey, from jordan and from qatar, who will emphasize their concerns will probably bend some of their anger towards israel so this is a moment of countries coming together. Of talking about global cooperation, of highlighting the need to cooperate and talk to each other. But at the same time, there are stark differences between many of these countries here, jim yeah, theres no question about that. A lot of jitters inside that community of us allies there in that region of the world. And Kayla Tausche, i do want to go to you and ask, you know, given what weve seen in the last several days i wonder if the president s Speech Writers have had to sort of expand a portions of the speech its a deal with whats happening right now in the Middle East right now, what are you hearing in terms of his advisers and what theyre saying about what we might hear in the speech well, jim, that was a question that i posed to an adviser just a few minutes ago by text and we were waiting for the president s motorcade to roll through, which it just did ahead of that speech. That was expected to begin and at 10 00, can we expect it now to begin momentarily traditionally, the president keeps the Speech Writing Process open up until the final hours in the final minutes before delivery because he has had to allow for changes in these fastmoving developments. So many times we know that President Biden is expected to highlight the need for a ceasefire In Gaza between israel and hamas as the negotiations have been ongoing for months, but now of course, with the specter of this war widening its expected that President Biden and his top dignitaries in their discussions with their counterparts are now going to be increasingly focused on the Middle East and what, if anything they can do to stabilize the situation after their efforts so far as alex was just noting, have failed, but it does jim underscore just how much has changed in the last year for the biden administration, you may remember last year at the un, it was all about ukraine, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the u. S. After the general assembly, but President Biden used his remarks so really trying to rally the world and his domestic audience to come to Ukraines Defense and pass billions of dollars in more Military Aid for ukraine, which ended up happening several months later. But around that time, the president s national security advisor, jake sullivan, told a Conference Audience that they were proud of the way that the Middle East in his words it was quieter than it had been in two decades. There were essentially hailing the relative peace that was ongoing in the region at the time. And just eight days later is when October 7 took place. It was an attack that senior officials did not predict. And at the time they thought would be shortlived. And now its proven to be one of the biggest dilemmas vote facing the administration as President Biden stares down his final months in office and you can bet that theyre going to be working feverishly behind the scenes to figure out what, if anything, they can do. Jim yeah. And youre looking at live pictures right now of people arriving at the united nations general assembly. We cant tell whether or not that is the president whos about to get out of the limousine that see a stage right there. You did see some aides scrambling just a few moments ago, but Alex Marquardt, as were waiting for the president to arrive and deliver this speech and again, we might see images of the president here at any moment. I did want to ask you over the summer and there is the president right there that is President Biden entering the general assembly with his un ambassador by his side. So hell be speaking in just few moments, but alex, i mean, set the stage for us over the summer we heard the Secretary Of State, Tony Blinken described these talks to bring some sort of Ceasefire And Hostage release says that the ten yard line, that that certainly was not the Case Weve seen, all kinds of optimism, heard, all kinds of optimism from various senior administration officials. And most recently what weve been told is that the agreement that is on the table is 90 there. And so while that sounds like its quite close those, that final 10 is really going we need to be the hardest part and what it comes down to sources have told us is that exchange of hostages for prisoners you have more than 100 hostages. Israelis who are still being held, israelis and other other nationals, i should note being held by hamas and other groups around half of whom are still believed to be alive. And so there is still some negotiating about which palestinian prisoners in israeli prisons, the hamas would demand at the same time, weve also heard the prime Minister Netanyahu talking about how they are refusing to leave. They will never leave that egypt to gaza border known as the philadelphi corridor. That that is critical for israeli security so those do appear to be the two main sticking points. But at this point, jim, what were hearing increasingly from the mediators, egypt, qatar, and of course, the United States is that they just arent sure whether the parties want a ceasefire. They do not know whether yahya sinwar, the leader of hamas In Gaza, wants a ceasefire in this moment. They dont know frankly whether prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants a ceasefire in this moment because its clear that he believes that he still has things that he wants to accomplish, that that you want the israeli military to accomplish when it comes to taking out hamas inside gaza. So those conversations have essentially been stalled for most of the past few weeks, despite the fact that they do believe that they are relatively close. Now you can imagine that those conversations are even farther back, even further stalled because of this escalation in lebanon. So what were seeing now, jim, is a very interesting moment where us and israeli officials are trying to delink, decouple the conflict In Gaza from the conflict in lebanon. So they can just get to a quiet stage on that northern border, that northern israeli border, the Southern Lebanese border with hezbollah, and then turn their focus back to gaza. We have heard hezbollah say know that you are links until theres quiet and gaza, were going to keep fighting. So that is really one of the priorities, right now to try to get quiet on those two fronts, jim absolutely. So at any moment we should tell our viewers youre going to see President Biden make his way up to that podium to address the un general assembly thats going to happen in just a few moments from now, Kayla Tausche, i do want to address ukraine for just a moment because that has also been sort of hotly debated issue inside the administration among the u. S. Us. And its allies over not the ukrainians will get permission from the United States, use those long range missiles against russian targets. Perhaps we might hear something about that from the president. What do you think . Its certainly possible because its something thats been under discussion in recent weeks. President biden has said, were working on it when asked whether the u. S. Would in fact allow ukraine to use its long range missiles to hit targets further inside russia. And it was something that President Biden discussed with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who visited him the White House for a bilateral meeting. Just last week, we expect President Zelenskyy to address the un Security Council Today and to address the broader general assembly tomorrow. But i think jim, that really the focus for any potential us Policy Announcement would be when President Zelenskyy visits the White House on thursday, President Biden has had a tradition of providing heros welcome for zelenskyy at the White House and using those meetings to shore up support domestically to provide some of this aid to ukraine where theres previously been resistance. This happened this time last year when zelenskyy visited the White House and shortly after that also held a meeting with the House Speaker mike johnson. Johnson, as well as the Big Four leaders in congress who were then deliberating whether to provide the tens of billions of dollars in Military Aid to ukraine at the White House had requested that ended up happening six months later, and that really incited some worry within the administration that if there is a need for more aid as there is expected to be, that it would be very hard pressed to actually get that support from capitol hill. So look for that. Washington visit where zelenskyy will be meeting with both biden, but as well as Vice President Kamala Harris who could potentially assume the reins of the democratic Foreign Policy if she wins in november, certainly that could change the game as well for those discussions, but i think thursday is really key there, jim yeah. I was just talking with the british foreign Secretary David Lammy just a few moments ago and he was being very cagey as to whether or not the uk was going to go along with this idea. It sounds as though that all of the u. S. And its allies are sort of waiting to see what the president , what the White House ultimately decides to do in your youre all to correct there okay. Let may come down to this very critical meeting between the president and Volodymyr Zelenskyy coming up on thursday, Alex Marquardt, back to you for just a moment. I mean getting back to the situation in lebanon we were just talking about the prospects for a ceasefire, a Hostage Deal between israel and hamas. What has taken place over the last several days, really over the last week, we saw those Exploding Pagers last week and so on. As just really complicated things, i have to thank to a degree that is just going to be confounding for us officials here in the coming days. Its i assume its made very complicated for the president in delivering this speech today. And the message that hes going to get across the united nations yeah, jim and backing up one step farther, i mean, there has been this low Level Conflict between Hezbollah And Israel for essentially the same period as the war in Gaza Israeli officials will say that hezbollah essentially started that conference clicked on october 8, started Firing Rockets into northern israel, some 60,000 israeli residents have had to leave that area. Same thing has happened on the other side of the border as israel has responded. Now of course, this situation has escalated significantly. So while those Gaza Ceasefire negotiations negotiations have been going on, theres been a simultaneous separate Track Led by a senior us official named amos hochstein, who is the essentially the envoy for lebanon who has been trying to come up with alex. Im sorry to doing his job. Was im sorry, alex, the president has just gotten up to the leaders at the lectern. Lets talk to the president. Is the fourth time ive had the great honor speaking to this assembly as president of the United States it will be my last ive seen a remarkable sweep of history. I was first elected office in the United States. Americans, us senator in 1972 now i know i look like im only 40. I know that 29yearsold back then were living through an Inflection Point Moment of Tension And Uncertainty the world was divided by the Cold War Middle East was headed toward War America was at War In Vietnam at that point. The longest war in american history our country is divided and angry and there were questions about our Staying Power and our future but even then, i entered public life not all of despair. But all of Optimism Nia states in the world got through that Moment Wasnt easy or simple. Without significant setbacks well we go on to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons throughout through Arms Control and then go on to bring the Cold War itself to an End Israel and egypt went to war. But then forge a historic peace we ended the War In Vietnam the last year and annoy i was met with vietnamese leadership. We elevated our partnership to the highest level its a testament to the resilience of the Human Spirit and the capacity for reconciliation that today the United States and vietnam are partners and friends as proof, the from the horrors of war, theres a way forward things can get better we should never forget that ive seen that throughout my career in the 1980s, i spoke out against apartheid in South Africa then i watched the racist regime fall in the 1990s, i worked whole milosevic accountable for war crimes. He was held accountable at home. I wrote and passed the Violence Against Women Act end the scourge of violence against women and girls. Not only in america but across the world as many of you have as well where we have so much more to do, especially against rape and Sexual Violence as weapons of War And Terror we were attacked and 11 Biocarta And Osama Bin Laden we brought him justice then i came to the presidency at another moment of Crisis And Uncertainty i believe america had to look forward, new challenges, new threats, new opportunities are in front of us we needed to put ourselves in a position to see the threats to deal with the challenges and to seize the opportunities as well we need to end the era of war that began on 911 as Vice President to president obama. He asked me to work to wind down the Military Operations in iraq and we did painful as it was i came to office as president afghanistan replace vietnam, as americas longest war i was determined ended. And i did was a hard decision. But the right decision for american president s had faced that decision but i was determined not to leave it to the fifth was the decision accompanied by tragedy 13 brave americans lost their lives along with hundreds of afghans in a Suicide Bomb i think those lost lives, i think him every day i think of all the 2461 us Military Deaths over a long, 20 years of that war. 20,744 american servicemen is wound in an action. I think is our service, her sacrifice and their heroism i know other countries lost her own Men And Women fighting alongside this we honor their sacrifices as well face the future. I was also determined to rebuild my Countries Alliance and the partnerships to a level not previously seen we did we did just that from traditional treaty alliances to new partnerships like the quad with the United States, japan, australia, and india i know i know many look at the World Today and see difficulties and react with despair. But i do not i wont as leaders, we dont have the luxury i recognize the challenges from ukraine to gaza, to sudan and beyond war. Hunger, terrorism, Brutality Record Displacement of people. The climate crisis, democracy at risk strange and in our societys. The promise of Artificial Intelligence and a significant Risk Well List goes on but maybe because all ive seen and all we have done together over the decades, i have hope i know there is a way forward. In 1990, the irish Poet William Butler yeats described the world. And i quote for Things Fall Apart the Center Cannot Hold Veronica is loose upon the World End of quote some may say those words describe the world not just in 1919 but in 2024 i see a critical distinction in our time the center has held later in people from every region and across the political spectrum have stood together turn the page. Turning the page and the worst pandemic in a century, we made sure covid no longer controls our lives we defend the Un Charter The Shorter Survival of ukraine as a free nation my country made the largest investment in climate, clean energy ever anywhere in history will always be forces a pool our countries apart and the world apart. Aggression extremism, chaos, and Cynicism Desire to retreat from the world and go it alone. Our task, our test, is to make sure that the force is holding us together are stronger and those are pulling us apart as the, principles of partnership that we came here each year to uphold cameras withstand the challenges that the center holds. Once again my fellow leaders i truly believe were at anothe