they campaigned for him. like linda johnson, she says he is trying to blame others for what the policy created. >> you are not pleasing your constituents at all. this should not be on the backs of the people here and draining our resources. >> others say a political reckoning if the mayor and other democrats don't change course and listen to the voters who put them in office. >> if the democratic party can't stand up for us, i'm going to need to do something different this. is the sentiment of most of black chicago. we are not happy, we are not happy. we are very, very disappointed. >> this growing divide in the democratic party and among the chicago black voters comes less than a year before the national convention comes to town and the impact of the mayor's policies get the national spotlight. john. >> j j it's interesting to see, democrats fighting against

democrats. garrett in chicago, thank you. >> you've got it. >> john: fox news alert, waiting to hear from the white house after new attacks on the troops in the middle east. national security adviser jake sullivan will be there to field questions from the assembled white house press corps and with that, begin hour two. john roberts in washington. welcome back to another busy week of news. >> good to be with you, this is "america reports". that attack seen as the biggest escalation yet against u.s. troops in the region. it is sparking alarm that president biden is failing to head off a wider war in the middle east. iranian backed militias are responsible for at least 75 attacks on american troops in the region in just the last six weeks. >> john: complete coverage now, daniel davis moments away why the biden administration is not doing more to protect american troops in harm's way.

>> sandra: first chief national security correspondent jennifer griffin live at the pentagon for us. does the military consider this incident an attack on the u.s.s. carney? >> well, interesting enough, they do not. they say that the drone go close enough that the u.s. carney decided to shoot it down but do not believe that the carney was the target. it's a bit of a nuanced argument at this point. but the u.s.s. carney did shoot down not one, but three drones launched by the houthis from yemen sunday. pentagon does not assess that u.s. vessels were the target but the sailors were authorized to act. in total, four attacks by houthi forces against three commercial vessels operating in international waters in the southern red sea near yemen. according to centcom, they are connected to 14 nations. they blamed iran, the attacks,

louched by the houthis in yemen, a u.s. navy responded to the distress calls during the attacks by the houthis on the ships, the carney detected an anti-ship ballistic missile fired at a bahamian-flagged british-owned bulk cargo ship. three years later the same ship detected another ballistic missile fired from the houthi controlled area. 90 minutes later, a panamavessel was struck by a houthi missile and began taking on water. about the same time the u.s.s. carney shot down a drone as it was trying to render assistance. there have been more than 75 attacks on u.s. forces in iraq and syria by iran proxies.

prior to sunday's attacks, defense secretary lloyd austin promised the u.s. will not sit idly by. >> these attacks must stop. until they do, we will do what we need to do to protect our troops. and to impose costs on those who attack them. >> separately u.s. forces did carry out an airstrike in northern iraq sunday, killing five iranian proxy fighters who were preparing to launch a drone toward a u.s. base in iraq. >> sandra: jennifer, thank you. john. >> john: retired lieutenant colonel daniel davis, senior fellow at defense priority. centcom said in a statement, lieutenant colonel, we also have every reason to believe that these attacks, while launched by the houthis in yemen, are fully

enabled by iran. so the question is, why aren't we sending a stronger message to iran? >> well, the main reason is because we are trying to avoid escalating the war. we already have enough issues with just trying to keep the israeli-hamas war contained to gaza and the last thing we need to do send more messages to iran, iran will almost certainly escalate if we do that. what america needs to do, a great piece in "the hill" by jason beardsly says we need to withdraw troops from iraq and syria. america is much stronger when we get to determine the type of engagement we have or even if, as opposed to what we have right now, where they are sitting in the desert and easy access to the groups, otherwise they would have no way to attack american interests. it's not in our interest to go deeper in to continue striking, especially into iran, if that draws us into a war. now, we'll see anyone who has

attacked american forces should be responded to and killed, not just some message sent but the people who actually tried to do it. we have an obligation to defend our troops. >> john: what leon panetta said over the weekend. >> we have to go in and hit those that are responsible for doing it. so i would be much more aggressive about going after those that attack our u.s. forces. >> so you think to date that our response has been too soft? >> i think -- i think it's been a little bit too selective. i mean, we hit some ammo dumps, other targets. i want to go after those who are firing missiles at our troops. and make sure they understand that when they fire a missile, they are going to die. >> john: well, five iranian-backed proxies, or five members of the proxy, got the

message over the weekend, they were trying to launch as jen griffin was saying a drone and one of our drones took them out. we are a little tougher but do we need to get a lot tougher? >> i'm telling you, john, the best thing for american national security is remove the point of vulnerability so we don't even have to worry about whether americans are killed, but i do strongly agree that if individuals do take americans under fire, no matter the circumstances, it should be those people we go after so we actually destroy the people who are physically trying to kill americans. that's what needs to be going after. i do agree on that point. >> john: on october 25th in the rose garden, president biden said right out, did not suggest it, came out and said attacks against u.s. forces have nothing to do with the war in israel. >> my warning to the ayatollah was if they continued to move against those troops we will

respond and he should be prepared. having nothing to do with israel. >> john: nothing to do with israel. listen to the houthi military spokesman who said yemeni armed forces prevent israeli ships from navigating the red sea until gaza strip stopped. and those associated with israelis, includes us, they will become legitimate target if they violate what is stated in the statement. all about israel, nothing to do with anything else but israel. >> it's never been -- we do periodically take attacks and have over extended period, but a massive spike since the 17th of october, ten days after the israeli response to the hamas terrorists started. so of course it has to do. you don't need anybody to have to confirm that. it's self-evident that's the case, but it's not a good look

for the president of the united states to threaten we are going to do something and then not do it. much better if he says hey, we are going to reduce our vulnerability and what's best for the country, but don't claim you are going to do something against iran if you are not ready to do it, that invites more attacks. >> john: remember obama's famous line in the sand. syria crossed that without consequence. lieutenant colonel dan davis, good to get your thoughts. i have a sense this is going to continue until the biden administration decides we have to be ronald reagan or donald trump here and the iranians have to know they cannot keep can pushing this. >> sandra: why all the updates we get almost daily, john, from the white house are so essential and we have this one coming up here, we were told a short time before our show began that jake sullivan would be at the podium, so expected to be underway any moment now. we will listen for changing

stance as michael waltz said at the top of the 1:00 hour, john, he hopes he hears a change in policy from this administration on how we are responding to the continued attacks. >> john: they did step it up a bit, they killed some iranian proxy fighters but the master of puppets in tehran is pulling the strings. >> sandra: as this fighting rages on in the middle east, hamas is still holding dozens of hostages in captivity. we will speak to one man whose cousin was presumed to be taken hostage while trying to fight off hamas. he'll join us live to share his story and what he says needs to be done to secure his release. >> john: and james comer revealing details about new evidence in the biden family probe as hunter biden prepares for possible system next week. jonathan turley says hunter has

been reinvented by his lawyers. and he's not sure which version congress is going to get to see. professor turley is up next. if you're a veteran wife, homeowner, and the family bookkeeper, you're the first to know when high rate debt is stressing your budget. but your family's service has earned you a big advantage. the e va home loan benefit. with the lower rate newday 100 va cash out loan, you can pay off high rate credit cards and car loans. and can save $6,000 a year. that's real money you can use to take care of your family and home. i won't let me moderate to severe plaque psoriasis symptoms define me... emerge as you. with tremfya®, most people saw 90% clearer skin at 4 months... ...and the majority stayed clearer, at 5 years. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to.

emerge as you. emerge tremfyant®. ask you doctor about tremfya®. with 30 grams of protein. those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks. -ahh, -here, i'll take that. woo hoo! ensure max protein 30 grams protein, one gram sugar, 25 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients for immune health. (♪) [city ambience sounds] [car screech] [car door slam] [camera shutter sfx] introding ned's plaque psoriasis. [camera shutter sfx] he thinks his flaky, red patches are all people see. otezla is the #1 prescribed pill to treat plaque psoriasis. [ned?] it can help you get clearer skin and reduce itching and flaking.

with no routine blood tests required. doctors have been prescribing it for nearly a decade. otezla is also approved to treat psoriatic arthritis. don't use otezla if you're allergic to it. serious allergic reactions can happen. otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. some people taking otezla had depression, suicidal thoughts, or weight loss. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. [crowd gasp] ♪ with clearer skin, movie night is a groovy night. [ting] ♪ live in the moment. ask your doctor about otezla. in order for small businesses to thrive, they need to be smart, efficient, savvy. making the most of every opportunity. that's why comcast business is introducing the small business bonus. for a limited time you can get up to a

$1000 prepaid card with qualifying internet. yep, $1000. so switch to business internet from the company with the largest fastest reliable network and that powers more businesses than anyone else. learn how you can get $1000 back for your business today. comcast business. powering possibilities.

>> sandra: house oversight chairman james comer says his committee is finding a pattern among the biden family and payments disguised as loans from china. comes as he believes house republicans would have enough votes for a formal impeachment inquiry into the president. all this as hunter biden is set to head to capitol hill next week for a closed door deposition and possible public hearing. jonathan turley, with a head's up, professor, that the white house briefing is, we are inside the two-minute window set to begin, we want to get an update

from there. you're writing about the hunter biden personalities that may testify before congress. possibilities, hunter the genius, hunter the international businessman, hunter the drug addict, hunter the hunted. explain. >> well, this has been a series of efforts to reinvent hunter as the scandal has gotten to be more and more serious, as the circle is closed in tighter around the biden family and a lot of the personalities don't make sense anymore. idea that hunter biden was a blacked out junkie to raise corruption to insult all reformed people who fought addiction is ridiculous. he was at the center of a global effort of influence peddling that produced millions of dollars for the biden family through a complex series of accounts and shell companies. now, it just does not add up. so he's going to have to answer questions now and a lot of these past excuses are just not going

to hold. >> sandra: so over the weekend comer discussed a bank investigator's concerns as we mentioned, jonathan, concerning -- concerns regarding loan payments made to hunter from china, saying the evidence fits a pattern with the biden family. here is comer on sunday morning features. >> subpoenaed bank records that show hunter biden business entity, made direct monthly payments to joe biden. this wasn't a payment from hunter biden's personal account but account for his corporation that received payments from china and other shady corners of the world. >> sandra: also says he's confident house republicans will have the floor votes to offer a formal impeachment inquiry into the president. how does this change things, jonathan? >> i think that vote is long overdue. when i testified in the first biden impeachment hearing i said there was ample evidence to justify an impeachment inquiry and formal vote should be held.

i cannot imagine any one will look at the evidence and not believe a formal inquiry should begin. a litany of lies out of the biden family and the white house. president denied knowing about business arrangements, even hunter said it was not true. and called clients, meetings, photographs with the clients and now we see joint accounts where money is moving to joe biden. we even have joe biden's house being listed for some of these payments by hunter biden. it's rather daunting to imagine what you need according to the democrats. i think the moment of truth has arrived. democrats have to show they stand against corruption or approve an inquiry or take ownership of this. influence peddling is the favorite form of corruption in washington but none of us have seen the likes of this. >> sandra: all interesting developments, comer adding over the weekend he's confident house gop will have the votes for a

formal biden impeachment inquiry. mike johnson said a vote is necessary, the necessary next step after he claimed the administration stone walled the investigation into the first family. hunter biden heading to capitol hill for testimony, what are your expectations for that as we leave off here. what will that look and sound like? >> well, i think he's going to do a mix of all these different images that have been created by his team. i think he's going to claim that he has no memory because of his past drug addiction on some issues, he'll state with clarity of other issues. just won't wash. this circle is tightening around the bidens in a way that they can no longer expect an enabling media to protect them. >> sandra: very interesting stuff. jonathan turley, as always, thank you so much, sir. john. >> john: the white house briefing has started by just a little bit of housekeeping by

karine jean-pierre. we'll get to that when jake sullivan comes up. meantime, federal appeals court says former president trump can be sued over the january 6th riot. the judge ruled he does not have presidential immunity since he's not currently holding an office. presidents can be charged like any other citizen. david spunt live from the justice department with more. does any of this move the president's trial date? >> john, right now all things are full steam ahead for march 4th of 2024, and this appeals court ruling think police officers, others there that day that want to sue the former president in a civil manner. this was just one of the setbacks the former president received on friday. the district court judge who is overseeing the case for attempts to try to overturn the 2020 election going to trial, she ruled against him. says he is not immune and does

not have any type of presidential or absolute immunity from being prosecuted. he wanted to dismiss the case on those charges. she said i'm sorry, that's not going to happen. whatever immunity the sitting president may enjoy, the united states has only one chief executive at a time and that does not confer a lifelong get out of jail free pass. back to you. >> sandra: david spunt, thank you. jake sullivan is talking about the israel war. let's join in. >> i met with the families of americans who are still being held hostage by hamas. it was my second such meeting by myself, i also joined the president's meeting with the families and i can tell you it has not gotten any easier what these families are going through is gut wrenching, heart-wrenching, and unimaginable, unthinkable for any of us. we continue to do everything in

our power under the president's leadership and guidance with his direct involvement and participation to try to bring all of these americans home, as well as all the hostages and we will not rest until we have succeeded in doing so. the president and i, along with director burns will stay in touch with the qatari counterparts and egyptian counterparts to press hamas on this issue. right now hamas is refusing to release civilian women who should have been part of the agreement. and it is that refusal by hamas that has caused the end of the hostage agreement and therefore the end of the pause in hostilities. since october 7th, we have worked very hard on the humanitarian assistance front. we have announced $100 million for the palestinian people, including through unwar and other agencies as well as humanitarian actors and call to fulfill the flash appeal.

working to try to overcome remaining obstacles to increasing and sustaining the flow of humanitarian assistance to innocent palestinians in gaza. secretary blinken made it a focus of his trip to the region this week and we will do everything to flow assistance into the region. last week we had a successful airlift, over 50,000 pounds of medical and food aid to the civilians in gaza, the number of planned deliveries over the coming days. beyond what's happening in israel and gaza, developments in the region more broadly. this past weekend saw four attacks against three separate commercial vessels operating in international waters in the southern red sea. three vessels that are connected to 14 different nations, which goes to show you the extent to which this is truly source of global concern and a threat to

international peace and stability. as dod has relayed, a destroyer u.s.s. carney responded to the distress calls from these ships and provided assistance. in doing so, it detected three uabs at three different times heading in its direction and took action against all three of those uabs. centcom reported this weekend, we cannot assess at this time whether the carney was a target but the carney took prudent action in taking down those three uabs, and we will continue as we go forward to consult very d partners to determine and take all appropriate responses. we have every reason to believe that these attacks, while they were launched by the houthis in yemen, were fully enabled by iran. on ukraine as you have seen earlier today, the omb director sent a letter to congressional

leaders, explaining without congressional action, administration will run out of resources by the end of the year to procure more weapons and equipment for ukraine and provide equipment from u.s. military stocks without impacting our own military readiness. the resources congress has provided for ukraine and other security needs have halted russia's advances in ukraine, helped ukraine achieve significant military victories, including taking back more than 50% of the territory russia had occupied, and our own industrial base, jump starting and expanding production lines and supporting good paying jobs across the country. now it's up to congress. congress has to decide whether to support the fight for freedom in ukraine, as part of the 50 nation coalition that president biden has built, or whether congress will ignore the lessons we have learned from history and let putin prevail. that simple, that stark a choice and we hope that congress on a bipartisan basis will make the right choice.

there is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment. as director young said, we are running out of money and we are nearly out of time. congress has to act now to take up the president's supplemental request which advances our own national security and helps a democratic partner in ukraine fight against russian aggression. finally, as karine was just describing and talking through the achievements we have made on methane, vice president harris delivered to dubai for cop 28 and delivered a statement and participated in a leaders' session on renewable energy. made clear the biden-harris administration is delivering and will keep delivering on the most aggressive climate in history, to reduce greenhouse gas, and boost resilience. since he took office, united

states is once again leading the world in responding in an urgent and sustained basis to the climate crisis. and with apologies for trying your patience with those opening remarks, i would be happy to take your questions. >> jake, i want to ask you about the attacks on commercial vessels over the weekend. houthis have threatened to attack any commercial ship in that region that has ties to israel. you mentioned the fact these ships had ties to 14 different countries. all of these ships have ties to israeli? >> i cannot answer that definitively. we don't think they all three had ties to israel, and the level of recklessness the houthis are operating on. any ship they shoot at, whether israeli-owned or a connection in the past, does not make it more of a justifiable target than if the ship didn't have ties to israel, but some of the ships we believe may not have, although i

don't want to give you a definitive answer on that. in addition to that, the position of the united states, consistent with the position of the u.n. security council and position of maritime nations across the world is that attacks on commercial shipping in international waters have to stop, and partners and allies to determine the next steps. the last point to underscore something i said in my opening statement. we are talking about the houthis here, they are the ones with the finger on the trigger but that gun, the weapons here are being supplied by iran, and iran, we believe, is the ultimate party responsible for this. >> talk about next steps with partners, is one possibility setting up some kind of escort service, you talked about the u.s.s. carney that responded. is there a possibility that the u.s. would partner with other militaries in the region to escort the ships as they go

through the sensitive region? >> we have task forces elsewhere with shipping, the gulf, and off somalia with respect to piracy and are in talks with other countries of maritime task force v involving the ships, for safe passage in the red sea. talks are ongoing. that would be a natural part of the comprehensive response to what we are seeing here. >> thank you. continuing on that, you said these attacks were fully enabled by iran. can you talk about what are the consequences or what the consequences will be for iran? >> as i said, we have seen this unfold over the course of the day yesterday. we are taking this time to consult with allies and partners because we believe this is not just an issue for the united states. these ships are -- were not u.s. commercial ships. they were from a variety of nations. this is an issue for the entire world. for every country that relies

upon maritime commerce to sustain their economy, and by the way, that is every country, and that's why you saw the statement come out of the u.n. security council at the end of last week. we will take the time to do the consultation, build a response for buy-in for as many countries as possible and more to report once we have done the consul consultations. >> retaliatory efforts by the united states have not been working. how concerning is that, we have heard the administration warn those who want to take advantage of the situation don't. those messages are not landing, clearly. >> i would say a couple things. first, we have taken a number of steps, including the movement of carriers, air wings and others to keep this war that is being waged now between israel and hamas in gaza from spilling out into a broader conflict, a full-on regional conflict, by many people in the room were warning about or concerned about

when things happen. when this kicked off on october 7th. that does not mean we are not seeing very alarming behavior and there are two terms in particular, one is attacks by iranian enabled and aligned shia militia groups in iraq and syria attacking our forces, we are taking steps to protect our people and strike back against them. just yesterday, centcom announced a strike that took out five militants attempting to attack us with uabs. and second, made clear the entire world needs to step up together, not the u.s. alone but all working together to deal with the emerging challenge the houthis prevent backed by iran. appropriate action in consultation with others and a time and place of our choosing. >> next phase of fighting in gaza. you feel the israelis are receptive to the message to

limit civilian casualties, maps and leaf lets, but it's not clear the warnings are reaching people, given the level of destruction, communication issues. are you satisfied this is enough, are the israelis doing enough to make sure that people get these messages to limit civilian casualties and can you really be more targeted in a situation where you have so many people now trying to squeeze into such a small area. >> well, first, the pause ended on friday. it's monday, and over the course of the weekend we have seen basically 48 to 72 hours of activity, so it's too soon for me to sit here and tell you that i'm going to pass some comprehensive judgment. what i'm going to do instead, what i did earlier today, talk to my israeli counterparts about what they are doing to target hamas and what they are doing to try to protect civilians. now, as you noted, they have actually taken the quite unusual step for a modern military and identified precisely the area they intend to have ground

maneuver and asked the people in the area to move out. com combined with that, we are working hard for a sustained flow of humanitarian assistance through the rafah crossing, so as people leave the areas, there is food, water, shelter to avoil themselves of. but it's a dynamic situation and watch day-by-day and persistent contact with the israelis as we reinforce the basic point. they have every right to go after the hamas terrorists who committed this brutal massacre on october 7th and who continue to fire rockets just in the last hours at civilian areas in israel, but also have a responsibility to try to protect civilians. these are the kinds of steps we have asked them to undertake. these are the conversations we are having day in and day out and i'll keep coming back to report on those developments as we go, but i'm not going to sit here on monday and pass comprehensive judgment. >> i want to ask a question

about ukraine. are you saying any member of congress who votes against aid to ukraine is voting for putin? >> i believe that any member of congress who does not support funding for ukraine is voting for an outcome that will make it easier for putin to prevail. that is a vote against supporting ukraine is a vote to improve putin's strategic position. that's an inescapable reality. it's not speaking to a motive, why they chose to vote against it, that's the outcome of their vote. a vote against supplemental funding for ukraine will hurt ukraine and help russia, hurt democracy and help dictators and we think it's not the right lesson of history and every member, democrat and republican should support. >> the same way about the money for taiwan, a vote to help xi, the communist community party, and help hamas instead of israel. >> again, i don't want to characterize this in the way the

question presupposes. our view is every dollar in this package is meant to enhance the national security of the united states and the piece and stability in vital parts of the world. that's why we want people to vote for it. not voting for it in our view for the package in totality, against national security objectives going forward. >> you mentioned israel has told palestinians where they could go and where they are going to be bombing or attacking. some of the areas that they have gone where they were told they would be safe are also coming under fire. what are palestinians to do, and do you think this is in line with the -- >> just to take a step back, what israel has done, said this is the area we are going to conduct ground maneuver, please, everybody move out of this area so you are not caught in the crossfire. also indicated there are areas where there will be no strike zones and in those zones we do

expect israel to follow through on not striking. there are other areas in the south that hamas continues to occupy with military infrastructure where targeted precise strikes are part of israel's ongoing military operations, so the real question is how do you, on the one hand, allow a sovereign nation like israel to go after terrorist targets, the other hand have them do so in a way that minimizes the harm to civilians, and that's really where the rubber hits the road in all of this. but fundamentally we have laid out our expectation that in the areas that israel has asked people to go, that it ensure the safety and security of civilians and that it do so in the conduct of its military operations and that it do so in the facilitation of humanitarian assistance getting to them. >> you were talking this weekend, the vice president was talking this weekend about the end game and what happens to gaza afterwards. do you have a sense or have you

given israel a sense of your own expectations about when that end game should come, i.e., how much longer will this last? weeks, months, any idea? >> we have had conversations, it would not be wise to lay that out in public for all of you but it is a topic of conversation we are having with israel. >> first on the hostages, given that the formal talks in doha have stalled, is there any possibility right now that the white house is contemplating that would try to secure the release of the dual american citizens separately from the talks that have been going on? >> there are still intensive discussions among us, qatar, israel and egypt how to best get traction on a strategy that will get all the hostages out. but of course, for the united states, the paramount priority is getting the american hostages out and talking to the president about all of his options to

secure the release of american hostages. beyond that, i'm not going to comment. we need the discussions behind closed doors. >> i know you said you can't offer a comprehensive assessment about israel's military operations as fighting resumes, but can you offer any kind of initial assessment based on what you've seen since friday of whether israel appears to be taking a more surgical, more precise, more deliberate steps in its military operation since friday? >> here's what i will say. characterizing, like offering qualitative judgments like more this, less that, is just something i'm going to be very hesitant about doing. what i would prefer to do is just state facts as i see them. and the facts that i see over the course of the past few days, that israel has identified a very specific area, has asked people to leave that area. israel has actually coordinated the commencement of its military

on the ground in the south with that type of notification. i cannot judge how many people have received the communication, i don't know that, and indicated to the israelis they need to use every means and tool they have available to be sure when they move in force into an area in the south they do so with some confidence people have gotten safe passage out of that area. an ongoing conversation with them. but all you can tell you from our perspective, one of the key lessons from the north was to ensure that as you commence a ground operation, you have got to give civilians the time and capacity and real opportunity to leave, that is our position, that's what we intend to continue to reinforce privately and are happy to share publicly because we think that's basic -- that that's the right thing to do. it's also the most effective way to actually see this whole operation through.

>> you are saying you won't make qualitative judgments but other senior officials have done that, in recent days, talking about the operations in northern gaza, israel heeding u.s. previous operations, experience with urban warfare, there does seem to be -- we have heard that judgment from other officials in the past, right. >> what you have heard and heard it from me, too, the basic propo proposition proposition one innocent civilian killed is too many and too many have died in this conflict. that's a truth that does not require a kind of judgment that parses a particular act in a particular location. so we will speak out on principle the protection of civilians and operations consistent with the laws of war are fundamental, and should be respected. and i have said that repeatedly from this podium.

but when asked to characterize a precise comparison between northern gaza and southern gaza, particularly after talking the course of a couple days, i'm not in position to do that. but i will reinforce what all of my colleagues have said about the basic principles that under gird the u.s. approach to this issue. >> thanks, jake. you have said the vice president, secretary blinken, yourself have said too many civilians have died. we have not heard the president himself say that. is daylight on that issue, why won't he say that himself? >> there's no daylight on this. >> jake, when we heard from john kirby last week he said we need to have a pause to continue to get hostages out and we need to continue to get hostages out in order to get the pause. given that those factors are no longer the case, what are the points of leverage, the pressure available to get back to that situation and secondly, you mentioned the vice president

travel to the region. was she able to read out the conversations she had in terms of whether she secured new commitments from arab leaders for the future of gaza? >> actually, the vice president just had the opportunity to sit with the president to give a detailed readout of her meetings there, including discussions about the future but i'm not -- they were private diplomatic discussions and went through them with the president and he'll be following up with the leaders in the days ahead. look, the basic bottom line when it comes to where we are in the hostage negotiations is that the first phase of the hostage negotiation was about the release of women and children. hamas continues to hold women, civilian women, and will not release them. and israel is not prepared to close the book on those women or to give them up. so israel is insisting that hamas follow through on the

release of those women and then israel has said, if hamas is prepared to follow through on that, israel is absolutely prepared to discuss additional categories of hostages. civilian men, the wounded, and ultimately all of the hostages, the idf soldiers being held there. we the united states, of course, look at that negotiation and think ok, how do we get back to it. the easiest, most straightforward way to get back to it is hamas to be held accountable for not following through on its end of the bargain. but then we also have to think about how we get all of our american hostages out and we are giving thought to that as well, and you know, handicapping forms of leverage or precise strategies how we go about that, i will say we are thinking through in concert with israel and as a country with our own citizens being held, what tools we have at our disposal to be able to get them out. >> and quickly on the vice

president's trip. obviously bill gordon stayed behind having meetings, any consideration for the vice president travelling to israel as part of her trip and if so, why did she decide not to. >> more to do with the fact that she was going for the climate conference, that was a great target of opportunity for her to see a number of leaders and for a variety of reasons did not add a second stop to the trip. but of course she spoke with president herzog with israel, in touch with israeli leaders and anticipate in the months ahead she'll make her own trip to israel but refer you to her office for that and part of the reason she wanted phil to go was so that he could read out in detail everything she had learned on her travels to dubai and so they are fully apprised of the outcomes of those meetings. >> thank you, nato ally, spain, some from the spanish intelligence service are under investigation for leaking

spanish secrets to the u.s. are you aware of this investigation or feedback from spain? >> i have no comment on that report today. >> the middle east, can you tell us what kind of weapons is the u.s. sending to israel since the october 7th attacks, and talk about 15,000 bombs, some of them very large, is this accurate? >> so, on the precise numbers, i refer you to the defense department, in the best position to lay out the security assistance since october 7th. >> first on, as you look at post conflict gaza planning, are you optimistic you can get buy-in from arab partners on refugee resettlement, and ukraine, is the president getting involved with calls on the hill or something you feel will come later? >> the president has spoken to

leaders on the hill in the course of the past couple weeks on the supplemental. he will continue to do so as necessary. as you know, he's quite hands on when it comes to dealing with the hill, particularly on a national security priority like this. i was not sure i understood your first question. what are you referring to -- what do you mean by refugee resettlement. >> post conflict gaza. obviously there is going to have to be talks on refugee resettlement with other countries that might be involved. are you looking at that with optimism that these partners will follow through on things that you can all agree on? >> resettling palestinians to their countries? we are not inactive talks resettling palestinians out of gaza to other countries at this time. >> following up on ukraine, what's the plan b if it does not get through congress, and what's your estimation how long ukrainians run out of bullets, spare parts, food, stuff like

that. >> when we provide a draw down package to ukraine, in u.s. stocks to the battlefield, we take money congress has given us and buy new weapons to replace the weapons we have given so we don't impact the u.s. readiness. when we run out of money to buy weapons the weapons we are giving and the point of director young's letter, we are not in position to continue to supply weapons to ukraine. that is the stakes with this vote. we need to see -- we need to see the congress step up in a bipartisan way to support it because there's no way around the simple arithmetic, if there is no funding to provide weapons to ukraine we are not in position to provide weapons to ukraine. we have asked for that funding. received that funding in multiple rounds since the war began in february of 2022 and

put it to remarkable use, saving kyiv, saving kherson, winning back, or savings kharkiv, winning back kherson, allowing ukraine, enabling ukraine to retake 50% of the territory taken and saving that entire country from being dominated by russia. at this point it's a pretty simple choice. congress has to step up and provide the funding. in the absence of that, as director young put it, there is not a magical pot of money that we can dip into that we have been hiding off in the corner. it's straightforward, congress has got to provide the funding or the united states cannot continue to support ukraine. others looking at us and saying you are not giving them money, it undermines the case we can make to the broad-based international coalition we have pulled together. now, the good news is, a very strong majority of both democrats and republicans support giving this aid and so there is no earthly reason why it shouldn't be put to a vote in the house and the senate and if it were put to a vote in the

house and senate, you would see overwhelming bipartisan support for providing this funding. >> why -- [indiscernible] >> i am not going to speculate on that, only to say they have not done it and only to say we are gravely concerned about that, but i'm not going to speculate as to their reasoning. >> united states is providing israel with laser guided missiles. yet many areas have been flattened. many bombs have been dropped on gaza, more than dropped on ukraine during the entire war. does the united states monitor how the weapons are being used, and if not, why not. also foreign minister in d.c. next week, disagree on that. what message do you have and where do you agree and disagree how to go forward. >> first our defense department and the israeli defense forces are in constant communication

about the scope and nature of israel's military operations. that's a conversation that happens at every level and it involves the way in which u.s. assistance is deployed in this conflict. with respect to the arabs, the arab foreign ministers coming here in the coming days, there is a lot we agree on about the long-term vision, and the work that we can all do together to come out of this conflict in a way that produces greater peace and prosperity for all of the countries in the region, and produces a political horizon for the palestinian people routed in the two-state solution and we look forward to talking with them about that. we have a difference of view about a ceasefire because we believe israel has the right to go after a terrorist organization, not only continuing to threaten israel but holding hostages, including american hostages, and saying that israel has no right to conduct military operations against that terrorist group is inconsistent with our view of what is appropriate. we'll have that debate as we have before in the course of

that conversation. i think karine is going to kick me out of here, one more. >> two quick questions. one, has any aid been able to get into gaza, i know when kirby was here, he did a gaggle friday and said aid had not been able to get in, and clarify the task force in the red sea is a new 1 or 1 that operates in the region. >> the first question, yes, trucks have been flowing into gaza, we'll try to get you the precise numbers, but the rafah cross is open, aid is moving in and our goal to sustain and increase it over time and i was on the phone today with my israeli colleagues talking to them about ways to get it put up above where it is. in terms of the task force, as i said before, we have other task forces that deal with issues relative to maritime security. what the precise structure would be i will defer to the consultations that are taking place, only to say that at a broad level the idea that we

would work with other countries and their naval vessels to try to provide a greater level of security through the red sea is something we are actively discussing with our colleagues. i'll leave it at that. >> are the american hostages alive, jake? >> thanks, jake. all right, let's see how we do. darlene, good to see you. have not seen you in a while. >> two quick questions, what is the reaction to the collapse of the border talks over the weekend, that is supposed to unlock money for ukraine. you are getting to the end of the road on ukraine, so what is the view here on what happened over the weekend with the breakdown those talks? >> so look, we have been pretty consistent and are not going to get into the hypotheticals or specifics of the conversations happening in congress. let congressional member senators have those conversations. i can say that as we have done with many, many -- when

legislation is discussed sas we have done with many components or other times legislation comes to like a debate, we offer technical assistance and certainly we offer any advice that may be needed from us, but i'm just not going to get into hypotheticals from here. you saw the letter from, as it relates to our national security, the letter from omb director young, you heard from jake sullivan just moments ago about how important it is to get the supplemental done. it is important to our national security and so we are going to be really clear about that and continue to speak pretty steadfast and let congress know the time is now to get this done. >> one follow-up on israel, hamas. the general secretary of the international federation of journalists in an interview today that jrnalists or media workers, one is killed every day on average in the war, making it a conflict beyond compared to any other. at least 60 journalists killed

since october 7th, most of them palestinians. as the u.s. urges israel to of minimize the deaths of palestinians. >> i have not seen this interview, i want to be clear about that, but obviously making sure that journalists who are really important on the ground and reporting on what's happening on the ground and making sure that they are protected and able to do that is critical. it's important. and that is -- we have been pretty consistent here about protecting, making sure that journalists are able to do what -- are able to gather the facts, report the facts and do that in a way that, you know, they are not threatened or they are not put in danger. obviously they are in a dangerous situation, but obviously that is a concern for us. we are certainly monitoring that, having those

conversations, but i did not see this interview so i want to be really, really clear about that. but we want to make sure that journalists are protected, what they are doing on the ground is critical. it's important in hearing directly from them on what they are seeing. >> thank you. >> karine, does the white house believe that additional election monitors are necessary in swing states across the country? >> i want to be careful because we are talking about upcoming elections, obviously, assuming you are referring to 2024 and what we are going to be potentially -- >> john: jump back out of the white house briefing after a lengthy and question and answer session with jake sullivan, hostages, top of mind with the administration and making sure israel while it prosecutes the war against hamas takes effort to protect the palestinian citizens in gaza. >> sandra: and in response to the growing attacks on u.s.

forces in the region, jake sullivan a few minutes ago said about the vessels, we have every reason to believe the attacks, while launched by the houthis were fully enabled by iran and on the release of civilian women, hamas is refusing to release civilian women. a lot about that in the briefing as well and those are part of the administration's ongoing efforts to get those hostages out, john. >> john: on the subject of hostages, bring in udi goran, his cousin, a father of free with one on the way, he confronted hamas terrorists and presumed to be held. nothing to confirm that tal is actually in hamas custody, is that correct? >> that's right. first of all, thank you, john, for keeping this top of the news. yes, we don't know any news, we have nothing new since october 7th. we only know that his phone was

traced to gaza, and his body has not been recovered yet. so all we -- all we have to hope for is that he's still being held hostage. >> john: all right. hamas is holding more than 100 people hostage, as military operations resume, now beginning to focus on southern gaza. what are your concerns or hopes, potentially, because israel believes bringing pressure to bear on hamas may actually result in the release of more hostages. what are your concerns and hopes as military operations intensify? >> my biggest concern is that the israel offensive we know -- and we know even those not affected were terrified because they don't know, the people are being held hostage, when they hear bombing around them, they do not know that they are not being targeted and this we know

from the hostages that have been back. but my biggest fear at this point is that the previous deal ended and there's no new deal on the horizon, and all we know at this point is that the military offensive is the only step israel has taken in order to get the next deal underway. and this is the only initiative that israel has taken, then this means that at some point when we really reduce the numbers, let's say when we get down to the last 30 or 40 people, which will be young male, which is my cousin, then they will be the only thing standing between the hamas leadership and their death. and at that point i don't see how this plan is going to get my cousin back. and this is actually terrifying for many families that don't see

how keeping on in this form would actually bring all the hostages back home. >> john: what you say is something i've been thinking myself, as pressure increases on hamas leadership and their backs are against the wall, why would they ever release the final hostages? hamas's position now, if you want hostages back, permanent ceasefire. israel is saying it could never agree to that because then october 7th will just keep happening again and again and again. i mean, they and the hostage families and the hostages caught between a rock and a hard place. >> you are absolutely right. but here's the difference between the two objectives of this war. first of all, of course, nobody doubts that we must secure our western border, and we must find a new regional sustainable order in order to make sure that israelis can go back to living where they live and the gazans

have a promise for a future better, 100%. this has been going on 18 years and a long time to achieve it. the objective of bringing back the hostages alive is time sensitive. we know for fact, we know we don't guess, that people are dying right now. the elderly, the ones who got in wounded, the people who are chronically ill. so, that leaves us in the matter of talking about the core principles of what connects israel and the u.s., the fact that we value life, the fact that we are not hamas, we care about our civilians, leaves no place for doubt, what we should do first. >> udi, i'm afraid we have to go. ten seconds left in the show. our prayers are with you. thank you for joining us. we'll stay in touch. thank you. >> sandra: important story and will pray for his cousin's release. i'm sandra smith. >> john: i'm john roberts.