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tv   Andrea Mitchell Reports  MSNBC  December 4, 2023 9:00am-10:00am PST

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he had just moved to michigan from venezuela and had never seen snow before. that's when his teacher, katie, had an idea. >> i saw him and said we have a sled. we're going to go sledding! >> and she brought the whole class along. >> it was so cool and it brought a tear to my eye. >> and that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. you can always reach me on social media. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. and right now on "andrea mitchell reports," israel's long awaited offensive into southern gaza raising questions for u.s. officials about just where palestinians can find safe haven with no internet connection to view warnings. >> as israel defends itself, it matters how. the united states is unequivocal international humanitarian law
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must be respected. too many innocent palestinians have been killed. frankly, the scale of civilian suffering and the images and videos coming from gaza are devastating. >> also, a barrage of missiles and drones from iran backed houthi rebels in yemen aimed at commercial ships in the red sea, shut down by a u.s. naval destroyer. plus, speaker johnson says he has the votes to open an impeachment inquiry against president biden. an explosive showdown. and the supreme court is hearing arguments about an opioid settlement that would provide care and compensation to millions of victims until it's overturned. good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. israel is warning residents of southern gaza of an imminent, heavy attack, where just weeks
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ago palestinians were told to take refuge. mass evacuation orders are expanding in the second largest city in southern gaza and where hamas believes key leaders are hiding. forces say its ground offensive is pushing south where they say it will be as fierce at the assault in the north. one senior pentagon official telling nbc he was taken aback by the ver osty of the campaign. the truce fell apart on friday, but the u.s. is insisting israeli leaders comply with demands to protect civilians. >> it's kind of a fight. the center of gravity is the civilian population and if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat. >> they have said they agree with our idea here that the approach they take matters. that the reduction of civilian
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casualties and minimizing damage to civilian infrastructure is important to them. they understand that. >> we start with richard engel in israel. richard, clearly, the defense secretary's warning at the reagan defense forum, a very important military and security audience here in the states, that is now being heard around the world. the defense secretary of the united states does not believe that israel is complying with basic humanitarian law because he believes it is you know, a strategic defeat if a tactical victory. >> so the concern is that israel creates more enemies than it's trying to kill. and is the same situation that the united states faced in iraq. some stage faced in afghanistan. and what israelis will tell you and this was what was told to me today by an israeli military
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spokesman, is that what's different for israel is that this is at home. that this is not far away in afghanistan. not far away from iraq. this is on their doorstep and they say they have no other choice but to go in militarily to topple hamas. but many will argue, certainly many palestinians, and you're hearing it from many officials, that this approach by bombing the gaza strip, first telling people to go down to the south and then bombing the south is increasing hamas' popularity and turning it into more of a legitimate resistance movement and is not achieving the strategic victory that israel hopes to do but is potentially causing massive problems for israel's reputation around the world. its popularity around the world. and some say its sustainability as a state. if you talk to some who think about this in the long-term. so this is a very serious campaign here and we are now
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entering what could be the most dangerous and bloody stage of this war because the war began with a military operation in the north. and told to move south. many did. quite reluctantly. complaining all the time that southern gaza was also not safe, but eventually, because they were, they did move south. many did. 1.9 million palestinians out of 2.3 million currently displaced. and now the south under attack with the focus of the assault. there aren't tanks on the streets there, but that is the expectation that in the coming hours or days, you could see ground fighting right in the center of southern gaza. >> and the argument from israel and people in the u.s., back many on the hill as well as in
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the administration, some people, is at least they're giving warnings. the question occurs, it's leafletting they say. but from the ground's perspective, the situation on the ground, they don't have internet or cell phones anymore. they haven't had fuel to charge their cell phones. how are they going to know the complicated map that's being distributed? what is supposed to be safe? >> so the system that they have in place right now is some people are getting phone calls and we've spoken to some who have been getting phone calls and some of them are saying we'll actually, because imagine getting this kind of phone call. you're in your house. suddenly the phone rings from an unknown number and it's someone who identifies themselves from the israeli military telling you the leave. leave your area, your house, because it is about to be attacked. in some cases, the palestinians try and engage with the person on the phone and say where are we supposed to go? we can't go any further south. what area are we supposed to go
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to? and if they leave, potentially live but if they don't leave, they risk being killed. israel's solution has been is to publish this map. it is a map that is broken up the gaza strip into tiny quadrants. almost like a chess board. and people are being told to leave one quadrant and go to another, but palestinians don't understand where these quadrants are. they say they are quite arbitrary. you need a qr code to read the maps. so you need some sort of cell phone device that is on and has power and service to do that. and some palestinians just don't want to do it. they don't believe that even if they went from quadrant 1a to 2b that they'd be any safer. >> thank you very much. joining us now, the former israeli consul general in new york and former adviser to
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perez. ambassador, this is such a complicated issue. such a narrow space. people have been sent south. the population has doubled in south now basically. 80% of the people according to the u.n. are just displaced. what about the promise that israel has given that the idf has given, to secretary blinken that this will be done in a very targeted way? is it possible to accomplish what they want and not have massive attacks? >> the short answer is no, andrea. it's impossible. given the density and the size of gaza to assume that a million and a half people could move from the north to the south then move back again to the center, this is not the state of texas. this is a very narrow, very dense strip of land. which is why even if israel is telling 100% truth and even if
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the idf, israel defense forces, mean what they say when they say we've urged, warned, alerted, there's no place for them to go. which inevitably means the collateral damage, civilian casualty rate, is going to go up. i think you're on the money, andrea, in your introduction when you said israel is essentially not doing what the defense secretary, lloyd austin, asked. not doing what secretary of state blinken. in fact, not doing what president biden asked israel to do. and that, i think, is deliberate. because i think and the evidence shows and you connect the dots, that mr. netanyahu in his, you know, delusions of grandeur that he's saving western civilization
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and master mining a war of independence, seeking a confrontation with the biden administration because he's going to need as both you and richard said, he's going to need someone to blame for failing to reach that strategic objective of eliminating, obliterating, eradicating hamas. call it what you want. >> now, which is not to say that hamas started this. they're a terror group. the suffering, the hostage taking is outrageous. israel is pointing out they failed to live up to their agreement to release women and children first. therefore israel pulled out of the talk. so all of that is, you know, obviously a hideous situation. an existential situation for israel. that said, what i'm seeing and what kamala harris said, what lloyd austin said, is a very sharpening divide between israel
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and the administration. >> absolutely. what vice president harris said and by the way, secretary of state blinken and president biden hinted in that direction in the last week, what kamala harris, vice president harris did effectively is sketch out a u.s. version of what the day after would look like. no displacement of gazans. no beseechment of gaza. no changes in territorial borders. gaza should not and will not serve as a basis of terrorism and the palestinian authority, president biden called it, needs to extend its governing capabilities into gaza. to all of those, mr. netanyahu said no. he either derided it, dismissed it or failed to even respond to it. now, this gap that you're talking about is exactly right,
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andrea. because the u.s. has, we may argue with tenants. we may think it's flawed but the u.s. has a vision. israel did not until now come up with a vision and that's on brand mr. netanyahu. just like he did with iran. always explain the why not and the why he can't and never, ever come up with why we can responses. >> thank you very much. difficult time. >> thank you. >> and high alert as the us navy responds to another wave of attacks in the red sea. concerns grow that the war between hamas and israel could expand. that's next when "andrea mitchell reports" is back in just 60 seconds. you're watching msnbc. k in just 60 seconds. you're watching msnbc.
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an american warship shot done several drones over the red sea on sunday launched by houthi rebels. according to u.s. officials,
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around the same time, three commercial ships were hit by missiles fired from houthi controlled areas of yemen. joining us now is pentagon correspondent. this seems like a real escalation by the houthis. >> it's important to point out the houthis there, an iranian-backed group in yemen, backed by iran and they provide them with some of the weapons probably including the one u.s. officials believe we've seen them launch over the last several weeks. but despite the fact that some of these iranian-backed groups have quieted their activities during the truce or cease fire in gaza, the houthis continue to operate and they really stepped up their actions yesterday in the red sea. this was about an eight-hour long prolonged attack against these three commercial ships. houthi rebels fired ballistic missiles at these ships. they hit several of them, but there was no damage according to u.s. officials or injuries.
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but in each case, the us navy warship that was in the region on patrol responded to distress calls, moving towards each ship. again, in each case as the carney moved closer, iranian rebels fired off drones that came in towards, close towards the carney. now, it's important to point out defense officials are not saying in fact the drones targeted the carney, but because of the trajectory they were coming in on, because of the proximity of the ship, the captain had the authority to the right of self-defense and took out those three drones when they were on their way. so it was a very active period over about eight hours and reflects the fact the houthis have been more active since october 7th, firing off ballistic missiles toward southern israel and a number of drones in the last several weeks. >> and some of the ships did have an israeli connection were either flagged or owned by israeli consortia.
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thank you very much. >> thanks. and impeachment round three. speaker johnson says he may have enough votes to launch an impeachment inquiry into president biden. we'll have a reality check up next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. watching "andreal reports. this is msnbc. ♪nothing is everything♪ i'm celebrating my clearer skin... my way. with skyrizi, 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. in another study, most people had 90% clearer skin, even at 5 years. and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine, or plan to. thanks to clearer skin with skyrizi - this is my moment. there's nothing on my skin and that means everything! ♪nothing is everything♪ now's the time. ask your doctor about skyrizi, the #1
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house republicans could vote this week on an impeachment inquiry against president biden. even with only a three vote
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margin, speaker johnson says he has the voted despite evidence backing claims that the president benefitted financially from his family's business dealings overseas. >> it's become a necessary step. elise and i both served on the impeachment defense team of donald trump twice when the democrats used it for brazen partisan political purposes. we decried that use of it. this is different. remember, we are the rule law team. we have to do it methodically. >> a spokesman calling it a baseless, politically motivated attempt to smear president biden with lies. adding quote, this chaotic house gop is focused on the wrong priorities. joining us now is garrett haake, former obama white house press secretary, robert gibbs, and the bullwork editor at large, charlie sykes. garrett, does the speaker have the votes? >> it's something we're going to find out soon, andrea. so far, the only vocal no vote has been colorado's ken buck
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who's made it clear he doesn't think republicans have found the goods here. impeachment of joe biden has been one of the few things that's tended to unite this conference which has been so unruly over the past year. the speaker thinks he needs to have this vote to add inquiry to get this vote on the ground out of of conservative media and to give his members something to go home and talk about. they really sputtered through the end of this year to really pass anything. they've struggled on spending. they'll continue to do that into next year. they seem to think this is the kind of vote even for the moderates, they can at least take back to their constituents and say we did something. now whether they can schedule that remains to be seen. we just learned from ryan nobles that james biden, who the committee has subpoenaed and hopes to interview this week or next, it's fallen through and it looks like they'll continue to
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negotiate. the impeachment inquiry continues to flap its wings but sputter along. >> thank you, garrett. robert, hunter biden has offered to testify publicly to the house oversight committee but chairman comer rejected that, saying it would be special treatment. they want a private deposition first. how does this white house fight, how does the white house fight back against this? it's going to stretch into 2024 clearly. >> i think the white house has to fight this exactly the way the statement you read at the top of this piece talked through . this is a congress, republican controlled house, that is focused on the wrong set of priorities. we just don't have a budget. we don't have money for ukraine. we haven't passed money for, to help protect israel. all of those things and yet here you have a congress that's obsessed not just with an
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impeachment inquiry, but the needs to create it to find evidence to justify an impeachment inquiry. i think the white house is in a good place fighting the process of this and using that process as the message in a serious world with many problems that this is a group that's simply not focused on the needs of the american people. >> and charlie, i also want to get your reaction to some of what liz cheney had to say today on the "today" show with savannah. her new book is coming out tomorrow. let me play some of that. >> do you believe if donald trump were elected next year that he would try to stay in office beyond a second term? that he would never leave office? >> no question. >> do you think he would try to stay in power forever. >> absolutely. he's already done it once. he was stopped thankfully and for the good of the nation and the republic, but he said he will do it again. he's expressed no remorse. you cannot count on a house of
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representatives led by somebody like mike johnson to stop this president. you can't count on a senate of josh hawleys and mike lees to stop trump. >> so, charlie? >> unfortunately, she is absolutely right about this. this is something i think we need to focus on. the trump 2.0 presidency would have very, very few constraints. either constitutionally or politically. and donald trump has made it clear that number one, he will never acknowledge actual defeat. there's no scenario which he's going to graciously concede losing the 2024 election. he's already said that he would support spending or terminating elements of the constitution that would keep him out of office. so you know, what liz cheney is doing though is raising the stakes for fellow republicans. understanding exactly what it is you are doing. one after another, they're falling in line behind donald trump. and liz cheney is out there saying do you understand what that means?
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what you are buying in for? but she's completely right. anyone who thinks a republican house or senate would serve as any sort of a break or a guardrail on the excessing of a trump presidency i think is beyond naive at this point. >> and robert, the white house is responding to large protests outside of an israeli jewish flaf el shop in philadelphia yesterday saying quote -- i've seen other pictures. this was a huge march. we have more video here. it went all through center city up through west philadelphia. university city. going after stores and really from people that i talked to,
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terrifying people on the streets. quite aggressive. >> yeah. and important for this administration and for others regardless of party to call out this sort of antisemitism. you know, it is just and right to support the palestinians in gaza that are dealing with the repercussions of what's happening as israel goes about trying to destroy hamas, but there's a broad difference between something like that and what happen in philadelphia. what we've quite frankly seen over the past many weeks since october 7th in regards to antisemitism. >> it's a growing political problem as well. this war and the dissent at home. a growing political problem in the election for the democratic president. no matter what he does. we'll leave it there, but pick up on that subject next couple
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of days. robert, charlie, thank you very much. and family ties. the supreme court considering whether a billionaire family linked to the opioid crisis can be shielded from civil lawsuits. this is "andrea mitchell reports." only on msnbc. this is "andrea mitchell reports. only on msnbc. y. this is better than toilet paper get great deals on gifts that deliver excitement, at chewy.
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today, the supreme court is hearing oral arguments in a case that would provide billions of dollars for victims and communities across the country
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who suffered from the opioid crisis. it would also protect the wealthy sattler family. their company earned billions off the painkiller, a drug that fueled america's opioid crisis, according to critics. joining us now, ken dilanian and paul butler. the biden administration argues the settlement is an abuse of bankruptcy protections. how are they building and arguing that case? do you have a sense of how the justices are viewing this challenge? because it would excuse the family from any further civil lawsuits but it's a lot of money. $6 billion that was, if this is upheld, goes to communities and victims all across the country. >> that's right, andrea. so this is a case of money versus principle. the u.s. trustee, a unit of the
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justice department, is objecting to this on the grounds of principle saying the family should not be able to have the benefit of bankruptcy, shielded from future civil suits without actually declaring bankruptcy. which they did not. the doj is largely alone though in making this case. everybody else involved wants the settlement to go through because as you said, there are billions of dollars at stake. dollars for state governments. for individuals. for children who were born addicted to opioids. there's a lot of settlement pools. there was some skeptical questioning of the government lawyers who were saying we need to stop it in its tracks. the government was trying to argue that actually the family could be good for more money if this was held up and if they
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pressed them harder. most people involved in this including the chamber of commerce, the lawyers, the governments, all want this settlement to go forward. they want the supreme court to allow it to happen. we just have to see what they do. >> paul, this settlement hangs on a little known mechanism known as the third party release that would allow the sackler family to escape further lawsuits. >> little known other than to bankruptcy judges and litigators who love it because under this deal, no one could ever sue is sacklers, even people who aren't party to this litigation. the biden justice department says it's unconstitutional to shut out people from having their day in court. it's true under the deal, the sacklers get the benefit of bankruptcy law, but they still get to keep their billions of dollars. the biden administration says that's kind of like having your cake and eating it, too. ken is right. this is like the justice
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department against everybody else. all of the states are saying they need the billions of dollars they would get right now to fight the opioid crisis. there are also about 60,000 individual plaintiffs who would get money. between 10 and $50,000. not a lot considering the scale of this crisis, but they're saying a little money is better than no money or having to wait years for another settlement. >> and why do people believe as ken was explaining, that this is the best deal they could get? if they lose this protection in the supreme court, arguably they have to go back and fight their way through it. >> it's a power play by the family. they're saying take it or leave it. they started with around 2 billion. they've gone up to 6 billion. the alternative is for these folks to sue individually or to work on another settlement which could take literally a decade. >> paul butler, ken dilanian. a complicated case that affects a lot of people.
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real suffering here. thank you all. and the spy game. a key surveillance tool for u.s. intelligence agencies under scrutiny and facing exploration. mike turner joins us next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. watching "andreal reports. this is msnbc. 's unlikely to ime without treatment. i felt like my movements were in the spotlight. #1-prescribed ingrezza is the only td treatment for adults that's always one pill, once daily. ingrezza 80 mg is proven to reduce td movements in 7 out of 10 people. people taking ingrezza can stay on most mental health meds. ingrezza can cause depression, suicidal thoughts, or actions in patients with huntington's disease. pay close attention to and call your doctor if you become depressed, have sudden changes in mood, behaviors, feelings, or have thoughts of suicide. don't take ingrezza if you're allergic to its ingredients. ingrezza may cause serious side effects, including angioedema, potential heart rhythm problems, and abnormal movements. report fevers, stiff muscles, or problems thinking as these may be life threatening. sleepiness is the most common side effect. it's nice. people focus more on me.
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now this, is protection! always discreet- the protection we deserve! officials expect terrorism near the eiffel tower in paris
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saturday by a man who they say has plenled allegiance to the -- he killed two others using a hammer. authorities say the suspect called france an accomplice to israel's action. he also served prison time for planning a previously failed terror attack. joining us now is josh letterman. european officials had been warning about the risk of attacks just like this. what do we know about the suspect? >> in fact, andrea, france had already been at its highest level of national security threat before this attack. that had been elevated in october after another terror attack that killed a teacher in northern france. there are a lot of questions about how this attack was not deterred if advance given how many red flags there were. not only had he been in prison for a previously failed terror
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attack, but he has been on a terror watch list. he had continued to be in contact with jihadis in france according to the antiterror prosecutor's office. they had been involved in plotting over successful terror attacks in france. and he had a long history of severe psychiatric illness. but this man did carry out this attack over the weekend in which authorities say he shoutedal la akbar in arabic and told police he was angry about the war in gaza, felt that france had been an accomplice. this is really raising the level of concern about how the level of safety is starting to spiral into instances of violence and instability in other parts of the world including here in europe and in france where they are preparing to host the olympic games about eight months from now. officials had been asked in france how it is they can be
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certain they can protect those olympic games given this fatal attack over the weekend and they say look, we have to be at this point, at a permanent state of vigilance, not increasing their alert level with specific information. they have to constantly be at the maximum level of alertness for these types of incidents but they also say they are confident they are going to be able to keep those olympic games safe, andrea. >> thank you so much. joining us now is house intelligence committee chairman, republican mike turner of ohio. mr. chairman, thank you for being with us. let me ask you, chris wray testified that this is the highest level alert he's seen since the war against isis. what are your concerns? >> it's absolutely true. the director has i think rightly cited the public alarm of that
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we are facing the possibility of terrorist attacks now that are highest in a decade. he cited both the southern border. individuals who have crossed the border who have alliance or affiliation with terrorist groups and organization. he spoke of the conflict in israel and of hezbollah, hamas, and isis, calling for attacks in the west including in the united states. he's also you know, been very concerned about the issue of lone wolves. people who might respond to these types of calls that intend to do other people harm. >> there was, you know, a barrage of missiles and drones just this weekend that we saw in the red sea. the pentagon has been saying they were not targeting the u.s. ships. they were targeting commercial ships. is that clear? >> well, the attacks that came from the houthis toward the commercial ships, none of those ships were flagged as u.s. ships but certainly when you attack
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commerce in the red sea, you're attacking the west, symbolism of the united states. where he had a destroy in the area that came to the defense including taking down drones. it's unclear whether those were directed at u.s. military ships and they certainly could have been. >> that was the u.s.s. carney. i want to ask you about fisa. in the intelligence committee, it's considered absolutely necessary to protect the homeland from foreign attacks and it permits the united states to collect data on e-mails and cell phones. not the conversations themselves. unless there's, they go to a fisa judge and then ask for permission to that. that's the way it's supposed to work. it has to be reauthorized and is very controversial now. a lot of opposition, not only among civil libertarians, but also among libertarians on the right who say there's an invasion here and there were
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known abuses that went to trial by the fbi under the mueller probe. >> you're right. the fisa program 702 is going to expire at the end of december and it needs to be reauthorized. it's one of our most important tools for gathering intelligence. it has to be renewed. it is only targeting foreign individuals outside the united states. not u.s. citizens. not even u.s. persons located within the united states. as a result of the abuses that have occurred at the fbi, it must be reformed and congress has been debating various packages and how can we accomplish making sure this program goes forward but at the same time, it is reformed. i think we're close. senator warner and jim himes have worked together on a package that's a very good one. we want to make certain we don't adopt reforms that cripple the program and hurt america when we have the highest terrorist threat we've seen. >> you mentioned senator warner
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and himes. that is bipartisan. i want to ask you about impeachment because you've got ukraine, israel, the border is a dispute that's holding up ukrainian and israel money. there's a lot to be done. only three weeks until christmas. >> there sure is. >> and time is running out on that supplemental and a lot of other things. is this the right time to be opening an impeachment inquiry into the president? one thing to be investigating hunter, who's under indictment. but the president? >> you know, there has already been ongoing an impeachment inquiry and the speaker has determined that really the white house is not cooperating with that inquiry at its level of where it's been established at his direction. at speaker mccarthy's direction. so the next step is for congress itself to vote to open the inquiry, which gives them a higher level of ability to compel responses and compel the information being provided to them. this is a speaker's call really
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with respect to what are the tools necessary for the inquiry to go forward. >> the pushback is that there's no evidence. the president gained financially from anything his family did and this is election year of politics. >> with all investigations, you start with information that has troubling events. we've passed that threshold. then there are questions that the president and president's family need to answer and in order to accomplish the president answering those, the impeachment inquiry has to go forward. >> let me ask you about ukraine because the head of the omb sent a letter to congress saying money has run out. there is no more money for ukraine and that's a hot war. >> absolutely. >> which is stalemated and the best thing for putin would be for ukraine to run dry and not have ammo. >> absolutely. it's very important the white house has made this statement. what would also be important is if the white house came to the table and began negotiations on
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the package. the package including funding for israel. for asia, the taiwan concerns and issues. funding for ukraine itself then for the border. but what congress has said is that we need more than just funding. the issues at the border are not just an issue of how do we pay additional costs for refugees and those entering the countries. but we need actually policy changes and the administration knows what those are. they've been adopted previous administrations and have shown to work. and the administration needs to come to the table. the on actual policies that will change the border, you have bipartisan support for changes at the border. the governor of colorado and the mayor of new york -- >> it was in the supplemental, but not as sigh lull changes. >> not policy changes that the american public want and a bipartisan coalition is calling for. >> what if the money just runs out of ukraine?
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are they just going to stay in through christmas? >> i certainly hope the president doesn't do that. i hope the president will agree to meaningful changes with respect to the border that can allow this funding to go through. there's strong bipartisan support for the funding, for ukraine and israel and the asia funding. there's strong bipartisan support for these changes. really at this point the president is the impediment. >> one quick question. do you have any concerns that israel's offensive in the south now may lead to so many casualties that you're going to lose support for israeli funding on the hill given that people have been displaced and they're being told to go to safe zones but they have no way to even know where those safe zones are given the lack of communication? >> i think the administration has been very clear holding israeli accountable for palestinian casualties. i do think you will see steps that israel is taking that are
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meaningful. if those steps are not meaningful, and if they don't take them, i think the administration will be clear and it does affect overall support for israel. let's assume those changes occur and that we're able to deliver. israel needs this support. we need them to be able to be successful to eliminate hamas which has conducted the unbelievable atrocities on october 7th. >> mr. chairman, thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. the border battle. a new twist in the court fight over b buoys in the rio grande river. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. r. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. prescribed pt plaque psoriasis. [ned?] it can help you get clearer skin and reduce itching and flaking. with no routine blood tests required.
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now to a surge of migrants at the southern border that is complicating the effort to reach that agreement on a funding bill. in arizona federal authorities are temporarily closing the border crossing. they goal is to help border patrol deal with an uptick in people trying to get into the u.s. in texas governor greg abbott is vowing the appeal a court ruling banning the use of barbed wires and buoys. morgan chesky joining us from eagle pass, texas. on friday there was a court order for texas to remove those buoys. how is texas responding? what is the governor doing. >> reporter: andrea, we're still
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waiting to see what happens to that buoy following the governor saying he does plan to appeal. i can tell you right now in eagle pass we are seeing part of this influx of migrants they're talking about, in arizona as well. there are hundreds of people lined up against this border barrier just outside one of the bridges for eagle pass. these are men, women and so many children we're seeing here, andrea. we've had a chance to speak with several of them. the majority of these people say they're from venezuela, others colombia, other nicaragua. no numbers are in yet. we can see the reason why authorities diverted agents from the bridge to the ground so they can help border patrol process thousands of people under this bridge. no official numbers are in just yet, andrea.
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>> what are leaders in arizona saying about that move to close that border entry? >> reporter: we had a chance to hear from both senators of arizona and the governor condemning the biden administration saying this is not the right solution. they demand better answers right now, pointing to the fact that every day that border crossing is closed down, the state is missing out on potential commerce with its neighboring city across in mexico, not to mention the fact that the sheer communities are so close to each other that a lot of the people go back and forth for business as well. that impact only going to become more drastic here in the coming days and weeks. andrea, federal authorities have not said if there's any timeline on when they will open these international crossings back up, only saying they will do so when the number of migrants returns to a more sustainable level.
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andrea. >> morgan, just very briefly. what's causing this, if you can in about 15 or 20 seconds? >> reporter: federal authorities are attributing some of this influx to human smugglers peddling what they're calling false information. and that's contributing to what they're calling a shift in migration trends that have put so many people at that arizona location. eagle pass, part of what we saw in september with the second highest number of crossings on record. >> morgan chesky covering it all. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." remember, follow us online, on social media. "chris jansing reports" starts right now. good day. i'm chris jansing live at msnbc in new york city. chaos and confusion across southern gaza today as israel expands its military campaign. the idf nowro