her. he'll make us all proud as california senator. i'm adam schiff and i approve this message. not just any whiteboard... ...katie porter's whiteboard is one way she's: [news anchor] ...often seen grilling top executives of banks, big pharma, even top administration officials. katie porter. never taken corporate pac money - never will. leading the fight to ban congressional stock trading. and the only democrat who opposed wasteful “earmarks” that fund politicians' pet projects. katie porter. focused on your challenges - from lowering housing costs to fighting climate change. shake up the senate - with democrat katie porter. i'm katie porter and i approve this message. vowing to act, the white

house says president biden is reviewing response options after three americans were killed in a drone strike in jordan. what the response looks like, we don't know, we do know that his decisions will have major consequences overseas and here at home. a battle over a bill that is not stand a chance. a key negotiator says that the agreement could be ready for the senate floor in days, but is the agreement dead before it gets a vote because of former preisdent trump? vegas baby vegas. we have a super bowl matchup for the ages. conference championship weekend with a bit of everything. epic comeback, redemption story, more taylor swift than anybody asked for, a live look at where it will go down in two weeks. we are following the stories and more coming in to "cnn news central".

>> three service members are dead and more than 30 wounded after a strike on a u.s. base in jordan just over the border from syria. officials tell cnn a hostile drone came in behind an american drone returning to the base leading to confusion and a delay in the defensive response. the white house says iranian backed militants are responsible, the first military fatalities from outright attacks since war broke out between israel and hamas. president biden who met with the national security team is promising to respond in the world is waiting to see what that will look like and if it could risk dragging the u.s. into a broader war in the region. cnn got some insight into the decision-making by the administration. >> we don't want to see this attacking continue. they are unacceptable and we want to make it clear we will do what we have to do to protect troops and facilities and national security interest. those are the options the

president is weighing. we will take this very seriously. >> several republicans are calling for direct strikes on iran. the regime as it often does when proxy groups conduct attacks is denying involvement in this particular attack. we start at the pentagon on this story, catch us up on what's the latest? >> we are learning today a little bit more about what may have led this drone to be with the impact this army base this military base and kill those soldiers. wounding dozens more. according to officials the enemy drone closely followed the american drone returning to the base and there was some confusion about its origin and identity which led to a delay in the u.s. response and ultimately the drone made impact near the living quarters of the space, tower 22 in northeast jordan right on the border with syria. in total the base houses 250

personnel and the number of wounded is expected to rise as servicemembers are presenting with traumatic brain injury. the question that remains is who was responsible for the attack? the u.s. points the finger at iranian backed militias, they have not said which group was responsible. we know there have been over 150 drone attacks, drone and rocket attacks on these coalition bases since october. previously, the injuries that resulted were either nonexistent or they were pretty minor and this is the first time officials say that the groups were able to succeed in what they believe they were aiming to do which is kill u.s. servicemembers and we expect to get the names of those servicemembers as soon as today given that the next of kin notification to the families has now been completed. >> natasha bertrand live from

the pentagon, we know you will be following this with new developments. >> the view now from the white house, walk us through the implications here for president biden. >> this is a hugely significant moment for president biden and the white house. these attacks by the iranian backed proxy groups have been ongoing for weeks, but the news from yesterday, the deaths of u.s. personnel is precisely the bad news that the president and senior advisers had been fearing and we saw the president saying yesterday that he intends to hold responsible or hold to account everyone responsible and he said at a time in a manner of our choosing and that's what he and his top advisers are working through. we know he convened the national security team yesterday. we have word that they met this morning as they return to gather more intelligence to figure out the next step and one thing that is important to

note. how much the u.s. and the biden administration have been set on not widening the israel hamas war into a broader conflict. this consideration has really affected every major decision that the white house has made and now they are considering the possibility of striking inside of iran. that is a kind of response we are potentially waiting for word on the white house on whether they are considering, that would be a major escalation and something the administration has been wary of going down that path. we know the president, as he makes the decision will be weighing out the desire for containment and the desire to show a strong response given that these attacks are now responsible for the deaths of u.s. personnel. we will wait to see what information we get at the press briefing set to begin in a few minutes. we are seeing this come at a moment when he is facing a lot

of pressure, including criticism and calls for him to back calls for a cease-fire. there are ongoing deliberations going on now to free the remaining hostages that are in gaza. a lot of these different pressures coming to a head at this moment. >> mj lee live from the white house . thank you. we are joined by the former greenbrae who served multiple combat deployments, including in the middle east as well as afghanistan. congressman how should the u.s. respond specifically what would or could it look like? >> well, i think first, the administration needs to take a step back and appreciate and realize that the middle east policy is failing and deterring has failed when it comes to iran. all roads, whether it is hezbollah, the houthis or hamas or these militias in iraq, all

roads lead back to iran. the appeasement strategy has failed. de-escalation attempts have only invited escalation from the iranian regime, the president said on friday iran got the message, clearly they have not and now we have three servicemembers dead because of it. i'm looking on this administration to do a 180 and put aside politics. a few years ago under the previous administration, isis was defeated, iran was broke and literally we had peace breaking out in the middle east with the abraham accords under preisdent trump and now we have this. so they have got, look, we just had sabrina seeing on this network lying to the american people and saying she is the pentagon spokeswoman saying that the conflict has been contained. tell that to the navy seal families that just died in the red sea.

tell that to these three servicemembers's families. tell that to the thousands of soldiers that are in bunkers every night under assault from iranian backed militias. until we make pay and there are all kinds a way to do that through cyber, through hitting operatives in iraq and syria. there are all kinds of options. until we make iran pay in a meaningful way and not bombing empty warehouses in the middle of the night which is what the administration has been doing, then deterrence will not be restored. iran does not believe this administration will hit back in a way they care about. every time you hear that we want to discuss -- de-escalate they hear a green light to push for their. >> i know you're critical of president biden that you think he is emboldening iran, but how should the u.s. respond when even former preisdent trump, you say that peace broke out, but his direct and controversial action like

taking out did not stop the deadly attacks on u.s. troops. >> wait, wait. i mean, i'm sorry we had shipping that was attacked, saudi was attacked, one of our drones was shot down and then when they stormed the embassy and killed an american, preisdent trump gave the order to take out iran, the general plotting more attacks. >> listen i let you speak. >> they launched some missiles and that was it. >> servicemembers died. servicemembers died. >> who died post soleimani strike? deterrence. >> servicemembers died march 2020. you had iranian backed proxies, you had as we remember former

preisdent trump downplayed the tv eyes which you know and i know are a big deal. you had an attack in february which looked like it may have been iran. the one in march was determined that it likely was and you had servicemembers, two americans and one brit who were killed. this is the drumbeat of the proxy attacks. so if we are talking realistically about what actually deters and does not deter the proxies, then let's use the fax to talk about what might actually be the way to thread the needle to get them to stop to get iran to stop. >> right now, we have the irgc, we have the new commander that replaced soleimani running unfettered all over the middle east. plotting and planning these attacks.

we have a whole series of drones, missiles, resources, flowing into all these proxies from iran. at the end of the trump administration the foreign currency reserves were 4 billion, now they are over 70 billion. the amount of oil being exported from iran was less than 200,000 barrels per day, now it is back to the millions. as long as tehran is flush with cash. >> is that the bigger deal to you? is that really, is that the more important piece of this, that they will care much more about that revenue and that is actually what is going to deter iran? >> a few years ago we heard all the groups, the reporting was clear, they were all complaining that they were out of money come out of resources and could not continue the fighting. that was from hezbollah down to

the houthis, hamas, the militias in iraq, they were broke because currency for tehran was failing. oil could not be exported, we were enforcing the sanctions. at the end of the day if the administration wants to do something effective, they have to back away from this hope of getting back into the iran deal and appeasement that goes with it. go back to maximum pressure, dry up the coffers and that will have a deterrent effect across the middle east. in addition to a connecticut attack on their operatives. they are all over the middle east, syria, lebanon, iraq and yemen. there are a number of things we can do, but we are hearing this well, you know, you have to invade iran in order to have a deterring effect, that's not what did in the last administration and we know what works. at the end of the day the iranian regime cares about it's

money, it's control on power and its influence across the middle east and there are ways to affect that. what this administration has been doing has not been affected. >> there have been some attacks under this administration that have killed, for instance talking about maybe a different militia, but that have killed houthi militants. certainly has not stopped anything there. we saw attacks under the trump administration from these iranian backed proxies as well. so what actually stops them? you are talking about attacking them, but that did not actually stop. >> so, tehran will trade the lives of its proxies for american and israeli lives all day long. that's why they have these proxies. that is a good deal for tehran. until you hit the actual operatives, like soleimani or some of the irgc operatives

and until you dry up the cash. for example in the house we passed secondary sanctions on their oil exports. we did both. >> trump did that and more american servicemembers were killed in response. >> the trump administration hit both the proxies and eventually soleimani himself. >> and in march of 2020, american servicemembers were killed. >> and beyond there, we had no more attacks and we certainly did not have the hundreds that we have now. we did not have the attacks on international shipping, we do not have missiles flying. >> i'm not disputing that. >> we do not have hamas massacre 1500 israelis. in the largest attack on israel

in its history. this is all interlinked. this is, excuse me, this is iran's efforts to kick out the united states from the middle east and wipe israel off the face of the earth using all the proxies. now bolstered by its relationship with russia and its relationship with china. i don't think we can look at each one of these through a soda straw and we cannot come on international television and say it has been contained to gaza as the pentagon deputy press spokeswoman jested half an hour ago. that is gas lighting, it is wrong and inaccurate and giving the wrong impression to the american people and i think it sends a signal to adversaries that they can continue to get away. >> my point is if all the families of the servicemembers who have passed away due to iranian back proxies did

deserve answers, then all of them deserve answers and that's the point i was making. congressman, this is a very difficult problem and we appreciate your time today talking with us. congressman mike waltz, thank you very much. >> after months of talks a border bill could hit the senate floor this week, but will it be dead on arrival? the head of the far right network accused of engaging in criminal activities while promoting 2020 election lies, what the voting machine company is alleging in a multibillion- dollar lawsuit.

a bipart securing the southern border has been reached and it could be ready for the senate floor in the coming days, that is according to a key negotiator who says lawmakers are finishing the text of the bill,

president biden is urging them to pass the compromise, calling it the toughest and fairest set of reforms yet, but in an effort to take away a policy win for biden former preisdent trump is pressuring republicans to block it saying that he will take the blame if it fails. let's take you live to capitol hill. now what are we hearing is in the bill so far? >> we have not seen bill text yet but we are learning about some details over the weekend about what has been agreed upon. one of the provisions agreed upon is a provision that would shut down the southern border if migrant crossings reach a certain level each day. they are also agreeing on a provision that would speed up the process for those seeking asylum at the southern border. some pretty big concessions from democrats and president dicad he would send the package into law, but as you noted at the top, there

are other key figures in the gop who are not on board with the deal and that is primarily former speaker donald trump was now the front runner for the republican nomination. open the urging republicans to reject because he wants to campaign on the issue and he does not want to hand biden a win and the house speaker mike johnson put out a letter friday and has been saying that this deal is likely dead on arrival in the house. the pathway now for a border security deal is very uncertain even though republicans have been demanding these things the proposal will likely be fairly conservative. even though republicans were insisting on border policy changes in exchange for ukraine eight as opposed to just border security money which is what biden initially proposed for the package. so when the deal is announced, negotiators will still have to sell it to the rest of the colleagues since there will be opposition on the right and left and at this point, very

uncertain how successful that sales job will be. >> a tough road ahead for this deal. let's take you now live to houston and you are in contact with sources on the southern border so what is happening there in light of this discussion over a proposed immigration deal in congress? >> well, what i'm here from sources is migrant apprehensions on the border are still down. yes there has been a small spike in the tucson border patrol sector but it is very small. nothing compared to the thousands of migrants that we were seeing pouring into the southern border in mid- december. dhs attributes this drop in apprehensions to increased enforcement in mexico and the northern border, on the trains and the migrant routes and deportations by mexican officials before they get to the southern border. this lull gives border patrol a

breather, but there is no question that the answer to solving the border issue is immigration and border security reform. both of these things are different and both need to happen, meanwhile while this goes unsolved in washington, states like texas are taking matters into their own hands. take a look at this video because this is what it looks like on the southern border while the issue continues to be unsolved. these are migrants from venezuela. they had several young children, several months old, they were cold and hungry and trying to turn themselves into immigration authorities at shelby park. this is the area taken over by the state of texas for several weeks. they were trying to turn themselves in and texas authorities were telling them to go back and these individuals, the migrants were telling them we want to turn ourselves into immigration

authorities, does the united states not have human rights? those were the questions being posed. after going back and forth several times the migrants turned them into texas authorities. the point being while the issue goes unsolved in texas in the area, authorities have taken over a portion of the border. border patrol does not have access to this area. i talked with law enforcement this morning who says border patrol does not have access and migrant apprehensions in this section was about 200, so the numbers are low, but the point being is dhs is trying to get border patrol access but they have given the state two deadlines that have come and went with no change on the border with texas maintaining that it has authority to keep border patrol out. the point being, until this is solved in washington the standoff continues in texas.

>> potentially by congress or the supreme court. thank you for the update from houston. the voting technology giant currenembroiled in lawsuits against fox news and other right-wing outlets is launching new explosive allegations, this time directed at the pro-trump network, one american news. potentially stolen passwords, when we come back.

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voting technology company ona accusing executives at one american news a potentially engaging in criminal activity while peddling lies about the 2020 election. court filings allege in the immediate aftermath of the january 6th attack on the capitol, the president of the company sent an explosive email to a former trump campaign lawyer at the center of the disinformation campaign. joining us live on this, walk us through the ona claim. >> this is a wild story according to court filings, after that 2020 election, the president of the company sent a spreadsheet to former trump lawyer claiming to contain passwords of ona employees which came at a time as you mentioned when ona and powell

were promoting baseless conspiracy theories that they had rigged the election. details have not been made public before on the spreadsheet, we put together the story from three court cases stemming from the election. in one of those cases ona is suing ona for defamation and in a recent filing ona reference to this email exchange. it is unclear how he got the spreadsheets or the passwords were real, but ona says this means ona executives may have engaged in criminal activities because they appear to have violated state and federal law regarding data privacy. a very heavy accusation from ona against the french far right network ona. >> that is pretty wild stuff. how is ona responding? >> they deny wrongdoing, they deny defaming anybody and they

deny breaking the law with this suppose it spreadsheetcharles babcock an attorney for the network told cnn that this vague accusation is a clumsy attempt to smear and ever attention from ona misconduct. the email in question was sent in january 2021, the timing is crucial. it was sent one day after the voting systems in georgia from coffee county were breached by sydney powell associates. looking for evidence to smear their fraud claims and powell has pleaded guilty to state charges stemming from that. >> marshall, thank you. we will continue to follow this. defense secretary lloyd austin returning to the pentagon after his hospitalization.

we will hear what he had to say about this flashpoint moment in the middle east. the number of countries spending money on the united nations program in gaza is growing, some agency employees may have been involved in the hamas attacks on october 7th. why some palestinians are calling the suspension of aid d from this s program a dedeath sentntence.

not just any whiteboard... ...katie porter's whiteboard is one way she's: [news anchor] ...often seen grilling top executives of banks, big pharma, even top administration officials. katie porter. never taken corporate pac money - never will. leading the fight to ban congressional stock trading. and the only democrat who opposed wasteful “earmarks” that fund politicians' pet projects. katie porter. focused on your challenges - from lowering housing costs to fighting climate change. shake up the senate - with democrat katie porter. i'm katie porter and i approve this message. defense secretary lloyd austin back at the pentagon after a month away, he spent two weeks at walter reed and another two weeks recovering at home following complications from surgery to treat prostate cancer, he came under heavy criticism for not notifying the white house or his defense

chain of command for several days about his december hospitalization. he will return one day after three servicemembers were killed in a drone attack in jordan the syrian border. this morning he met with the nato secretary-general at the pentagon and that is where we find, what is austin saying now that he is back? what's on the agenda? >> this is the first time we've heard from the defense secretary in the pentagon in more than a month. we heard from him once when he was in the hospital that was a virtual meeting of the ukraine defense contact group, this is the first time we have seen him back in the pentagon. you can see the video there. he gave a brief opening statement and began with the deadly attack on u.s. forces in jordan, expressing outrage and sorrow for the death of three brave troops and for the others wounded. he then said the u.s. would respond and for a brief moment

he talked about how he was feeling. he said i feel good and i am recovering well. we know on friday he had a checkup at walter reed military medical center right before coming back monday. the first time he has been back in the pentagon in one month. an incredibly passing time with that attack in the meeting of the nato secretary-general and then back into a busy time at the pentagon because of national security issues. >> incredibly busy. thank you from the very latest from the pentagon. is really defense forces hammering gaza in a new round of strikes, palestinian media says the shelling hit a school run by the main un agency in gaza. or than a dozen countries are suspending funding after israel accused some members of the a group of having ties to hamas

and participating in the attack in israel. nick robertson live from tel aviv. what more are you learning about the israeli strike in gaza? >> there been two principal areas of focus for israeli military activity. one is the hard units in the second-biggest major city south of gaza which incidentally there were rockets being fired that arrived in tel aviv on the outskirts of tel aviv for the first time since the beginning of the year, hamas or other rockets were fired toward the center of israel. military operations going on there, but this situation in gaza city which is surprising because the idf has been operating there for so long. the attention in this neighborhood which according to palestinian authority officials,

they reported that a building there. this building housing displaced people was surrounded by israeli troops. there was artillery and gunfire resulting in deaths and nearby in the same larger military operation four ambulance workers were killed when two ambulances were hit by israeli jets. they have not responded to queries about this incident but it does show how intense the fighting is in the north and south of gaza and to the reports that are been shared with cnn about the allegations that israel has made, some of them are quite detailed, we understand these 13 people alleged to be involved, six of these employees went into israel as part of the hamas operation. four were involved in bringing back hostages in gaza and another three were sent text

messages telling them where to report on the morning of the attack and they would get weapons. not clear if they took part in the attack. these are detailed allegations that are already causing many countries, half of the principal detonation supporting to withdraw funding which in gaza is causing concern about the lack of humanitarian aid. there is another cause for concern which is that some of the aid convoys are getting blocked. when we went to look at the israeli protesters blocking the convoys yesterday. >> in southern israel, protesters snaked through fields, dodging police checkpoints. eventually forced to walk. >> getting near the border, there are a lot of police and soldiers here. it seems people can pass through. >> they have come 100 or so to israel's only functioning border crossing to gaza.

to block aid trucks. >> the army and police stop you? >> they tried, but we came with a lot of people and they are with us. >> a pause as he finds the right words, that the soldiers sympathize. >> all of us, we have the same kids inside of gaza. >> organizing the protest, and the last four days effectively shutting the border, with demand of no eight until a hostages. >> we are going to cut away from this piece because spokesperson john kirby taken the podium in the press room. let's take you his remarks live. >> what is required to protect ourselves, to continue that message and to respond appropriately to these attacks. i know the first set of questions i'm going to get. what does that look like?

what's appropriate and what response options is the president considering? i hope you can understand why i'm not going to telegraph any punches from the podium nor will i get in front of the president or his decision- making. he met twice with the national security team he is weighing the options before h. as he said yesterday we will respond on our schedule in our time in a manner the president chooses as commander-in-chief. we will do it fully cognizant of the fact that these groups backed by tehran have just taken the lives of american troops and i think i will leave it there. quickly over the weekend, sorry, over the weekend national security adviser jake sullivan held more than 12 hours of meetings in bangkok with his kind of park from the people's republic of china. taking stock of progress on key issues following the meeting between president biden and the

chinese president in november which includes efforts to resume military communication which has occurred. addressing artificial intelligence, safety and risk and advancing narcotics cooperation. the launch of a working group on counter narcotics will begin in beijing with a delegation led by the homeland security advisor. two sides held discussions on global and regional issues including those related to russia's war against ukraine, the middle east, south china sea and burma and they discussed crossing the street issues. >> a couple of questions, can you confirm the initial report suggesting that the attack drone the killed u.s. forces was misidentified for a u.s. drone returning to the base? has the u.s. definitively confirmed attribution of the attack beyond vaguely iran

backed militias, is there a specific militia group? >> we are working through that right now. >> the president is still weighing options, does that mean the present has not made a decision? >> i won't get ahead of his decision-making, he met twice with the national security team including not long ago when we had something to speak to we will speak to it. >> will be here directly from the president? will he speak to the american people? >> you mentioned yesterday in south carolina. i don't have anything on his schedule to speak to but i have no doubt he will continue to communicate about how important it is that these missions continue and troops are safe. >> has the president directed change to force posture in the region? >> we don't talk about force posture changes one way or another and we don't preannounced them especially on areas on the ground that are

under threat. the president is confident the defense department will do what they've got to do to look after force protection issues. >> do you expect the president would go for the dignified transfer where these americans are returned to the united states? >> i don't have anything on his schedule to speak to. >> given the fact that there are americans in harm's way it has been a while since we had this kind of incident resulting in death. is it a consideration of the public type of response? there are a range of responses the president could use going from military strikes to cyber or sometimes things the public cannot see. do you believe this event rises to a level where whatever the decision is it would have a public, we would know? >> well again without getting ahead of the president's decision-making. i want to do that and i'm not

going to telegraph punches. we will make these decisions on our own time, the president will choose for himself how he wants to respond and as i said in the opening statement, we will do it fully cognizant of the fact that now and just with what happened american lives have been taken. so, his decisions whatever they are will be informed those circumstances. what that looks like and when that comes, i'm not able to say right now. >> what does this strike in jordan fundamentally different from what americans have been facing? does the u.s. believe it was a direct attempt at escalation? >> different now because we have three families who just got the worst possible news. that is different. in the scope of the wounded, 30 injured, some seriously that is also different and it's

possible the number could go up. traumatic brain injury symptoms for instance do not present right away and that is a very serious physical injury. this was not the first drone attack on an american facility in >> the fact that this had lethal consequences if it does not mean that the previous ones were not intended by these iran back militias to have that same effect. this time they killed americans and they wounded a lot. it does not mean that they would not prefer that outcome in the past. >> officials told abc news confirming how the troops mistakenly identified the drone as one of their own. can you talk about how this might have gotten past the defense systems? >> i think i will let the defense department talk about

the forensics. i am sure they are picking it apart and trying to figure out how this happened. it would be inappropriate for me to get into that. >> can you talk about the options in front of the press today and could this be in phases? could we see a smaller scale or larger scale? >> no, i'm not going to do that. i appreciate the question. that's why i try to take that out of consideration in my opening statement, i am not going to talk about that. >> could this hamper the ongoing cease-fire negotiations? >> whatever our response is, there is no reason for that of an impact in our ability to get these hostages released. as i said last week and i can say today, those discussions are ongoing and we believe they have been constructive and moving in a good direction. there is a lot of work left to be done. we do not have a deal yet.

based on the discussions we have had over the weekend and recent days, we feel it is moving in a good direction. >> how does the president balance the desire to not see escalation in the region with a decision to respond? >> that is the hard part. that is what being commander in chief is about. acting in accordance with our national security interests. what is unacceptable to those interest and what has to be done to protect those interests. there is no easy answer. that is why the president is meeting with his national security team and weighing the options. he will do that as he has in the past in a careful and deliberate way, so our interests are best preserved. >> has the president or administration communicated via third-party to iran what message you are saying about not wanting to have escalation? >> i am not aware, as you and i are speaking, that there has

been a private message relayed to leaders in iran. we have done that in the past. as you and i are speaking right now i am not aware of such a mechanism. >> on the hostages, can you give us an update and what you expect in terms of cease-fire? >> the constructions discussions have been constructive. i want to be careful here because i do not want to say anything that would torpedo the deal we are trying to put in place. what we are trying to work huma sufficient duration that will allow a large number of hostages to be released. as you have seen in the past, you have got to have a pause in the fighting to get them safely out. that is what we are aiming at. if you get that. of time, whatever it ends up being, you can take advantage

of it to get more humanitarian assistance. certainly, when there is a pause in the fighting there will be a reduction in civilian casualties. >> can you confirm, is the president currently considering potential attacks inside iran? >> we are not looking for a war with iran. we are not seeking a conflict with the regime in a military way. as i said in the opening, we are not looking to escalate. this attack over the weekend was escolar tori, make no mistake, it requires a response , make no mistake. i will not get ahead of the president's decision-making. >> you are not saying either way whether striking inside of iran -- >> i am not going to speak to the president's decision. >> the administration has said that iran does not want a direct with the u.s. leader, does

yesterday change that? >> i am not at liberty to discuss or speculate about what the supreme leader wants or does not want. >> clearly these attacks continue and now they have lethal consequences. we know these groups are supported by iran. this administration has taken action in the past hold them accountable and we have taken action to hold iran accountable. we have issued more than 500 entity sanctions just since we came into office as well as changing our posture in the middle east appropriately. we will continue to look at the options that are available. >> was the attack yesterday urging or was this more of a proxy group acting on its own? >> i am not going to talk about intelligence issues. we know iran supports these groups, to a degree at which

they order and direct is something that intelligence analysts will look at. we know they support them and we know they trained them and we know they are not discouraging these attacks whether it is attacks by the houthis, what haspel is capable of doing and what these groups continue to do. >> israel says that they have information about 13 employees who are connected to the october 7 attack. do you have any reason to believe that might have been more widespread? that there could be information that would indicate it is beyond those 13 people? >> i have not seen any information that makes that case . that it is more than 13. last week we were looking at a dozen. that is why investigation is so important so we can look at the

scope of the problem set. 13,000 employees, you have 13,000 in gaza alone. as i said last week let's not impugn the good work of an agency because of potential bad actions by a small number. i am not dismissing the seriousness of the allegations against those employees. whether there will be more that are found, hopefully the investigation will give us more insight. it is important, the staff and commissioner general and un secretary-general terrace made it clear that they are taking this seriously. that is our expectation. it is really important that this investigation be as thorough and transparent and is credible as possible. >> can i push you more on the hostages and the link between the hostages and whatever action you decide to take? one of the things that you talked about is how intertwined the

region is, whether it is lebanon, hezbollah, hamas, the houthis and the difficulty with not wanting to set fire or spark in one place that goes around the region. what gives you any confidence that if you are close to a deal on hostages and the president orders a strike that that deal does not fall apart as a result of outrage and anger in the region at the actions of the united states? how does the president make that calculation given six americans are still in gaza >> i did not say we are confident.

we are mindful of the way some actors in the region are trying to make connections. what i said was, there is no reason why our work on a hostage deal needs to be affected or impacted by what happened over the weekend for what we do about what happened and we will respond. we want to keep the work going on this hostage deal and we will have to see where it goes. i also want to repeat what i said earlier, we are not cocky, we understand there is a lot of hard work ahead. that work ahead of us might be affected by events elsewhere in the region, not just what happened in jordan and what might come as a result. there is no reason why it should be a that is why we will stay at that task. >>