thank you for staying with us. here are the top stories we're following this hour.

hunter biden on capitol hill, pushing back on house republicans aiming to hold him in contempt of congress and calling him out from the committee room. >> coming into the oversight committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed, what are you afraid of? you have no balls. >> five days from the iowa caucuses, with front-runner donald trump going from the courtroom to the campaign trail and back again to potentially speak at his civil fraud trial tomorrow during closing arguments. all as ron desantis and nikki haley go head to head in a gop debate tonight. and our andrea mitchell joining us from tel aviv this hour, with more of her exclusive interview with secretary of state antony blinken. with 90% of gaza's population struggling for food and growing concerns of a broadening conflict.

it is 11:00 eastern, i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. thank you so much for being here. jose diaz-balart will be up next hour. we begin with breaking news out of washington. hunter biden, president biden's son, making a surprise appearance on capitol hill, just about an hour ago, as two separate house committees are holding hearings on whether to hold him in contempt of congress for defying a congressional subpoena. you'll recall last month hunter refused to testify behind closed doors. as part of the republican-led impeachment inquiry into president biden. hunter appeared on the day of his subpoena, but said he would only be willing to testify in a public settin, which house republicans denied. the latest from hill with nbc's ryan nobles and julie tsirkin and also john kasich, former republican governor of ohio and nbc news political analyst, former democratic congressman donna edwards, and barbara m mcquaid, the author of "attack

from within: how disinformation is sabotaging america." thank you, all, for joining us. ryan, you were there, tell us how it went down when hunter biden unexpectedly walked into that committee room. >> reporter: i cannot overstate just how much of a surprise this was. not just for the republicans on this panel, but for the democrats as well. i'm told that house democrats had no idea that this was the plan that hunter biden and his legal team had hatched. they were prepared to gavel in for this hearing right before 10:00 when an suv pulled out in front of the rayburn house office building, capitol police and secret service in a posture of guiding hunter biden through the halls of this office building with a swarm of reporters and staffers around him. and hunter biden refusing any questions as he walked into that hearing room. he took a seat in the front row with a direct view of the

committee chairman, james comer and ranking member jamie raskin and listened for 20 minutes as republicans and democrats went back and forth about this pending contempt resolution that would hold him in contempt of congress from ignoring their subpoena. republicans obviously not pleased that hunter biden chose this path. they described it as him sticking a finger in the eye of the committee, and nancy mace of south carolina suggesting that he should be arrested on the spot. meanwhile, democrats arguing that this was an example of hunter biden demonstrating to the committee that he had nothing to hide, that he was willing to answer questions as long as it was in a public setting. and, ana, this highlights the difference between these two sides, the showdown that is taking place between the republicans in congress and hunter biden's legal team. they have been insistent the only way they'll answer questions as part of this investigation is in the daylight in the public view, where everyone can see the back and forth between the members of the

committee and between hunter biden. the committee wants to do it differently. they believe that this should happen first in a closed door long form deposition, without the spectacle that would come from a potential public hearing. and so that's why this showdown exists. to be clear, it is up to congress to set the rules for these investigations. it is normal practice in an investigation like this for there to be a closed door transcribed interview that would precede a public hearing. that is something that james comer said he would be willing to offer hunter biden if it got to that stage. but his attorneys believe this particular situation is too politically charged and any sort of conversation that happens behind closed doors, excerpts of it could be leaked out and used for political purposes against hunter biden and potentially of course his father, the president of the united states. the sum total of all of this is that the contempt resolution is likely to move forward, it will pass out of both the house oversight and judiciary

committees and then set up a showdown on the house floor where there are tight margins, but republicans have enough votes to hold him in contempt and then it would eventually head to the department of justice, likely referred to the washington, d.c.-based attorney, u.s. attorney who would have jurisdiction in a case like this. so, there is still a lot more to come as this process play itself out and, of course, it comes against the backdrop that tomorrow hunter biden is scheduled to appear in a los angeles courtroom to answer an arraignment on this next round of charges, these tax charges that have been filed by the special counsel in the legal case against him. ana? >> so, julie, ryan just gave us all of the big picture there, but what is happening right now in these hearings and the ongoing reaction to hunter's appearance? >> well, in the hearings, both the judiciary and oversight, there is partisan sparring happening back and forth between republicans and democrats. a couple of moments ago in the judiciary hearing, for example, congressman bishop had said that hunter biden needs to be arrested, he called him the most

recalcitrant witness in the history of congress and certainly this is something worth paying attention to. it comes against an impeachment proceeding into the president joe biden. they're using hunter biden as a cudgel to see what they can get in terms of trying to link any wrongdoing that his son had did -- done, excuse me, to the president when he was vice president, going back to that term. and they still have not been able to link those two things. but i want to make it very clear, they did formalize this impeachment inquiry last month. that suggests the votes are on the republican side, they are there, for anything concerning this matter moving forward, except perhaps remains to be seen whether they will formally authorize impeachment of the president, that would certainly mark an escalation, but at this point, they really have no wiggle room here to move backwards after they use this political capital to pursue this impeachment inquiry, and also a side by side impeachment inquiry into alejandro mayorkas,

possibly secretary austin. this is something they're marking the start of this year as an oversight impeachment year, it is also an election year, so because of this, and all of these political dynamics today will be one to watch. but as ryan said, it is expected that they will successfully report out this resolution and then it will head to the house floor for a vote. >> julie, i'll let you go, so you can go and see what is happening. barb, the house could vote to hold in contempt hunter biden. that would send this to the department of justice. are there contempt claims legitimate, do you think? would you expect the doj to move forward with charging contempt? >> so this is really interesting. i think from a political matter, before congress, hunter biden likely is in contempt. that's because he doesn't get to call the shots. if the house wants to have him behind closed doors, he wants to be in public, it is not his call. so i think he could very well be in contempt of congress. now, making that a crime, however, is a very different matter. if i'm a prosecutor looking at

this, and i see that he showed up, he was willing to be there, he was willing to submit himself to questions, i don't think this is the matter that would be pursued criminally. i think what you would say is, look, this is for the politicians to work out. if you want him to testify, work it out with the lawyers, figure out a way for him to testify, that's agreeable to both sides. but in terms of making this a crime, which is a willful defiance of an order, i think that's a much tougher call and as a prosecutor i would be reluctant to take that case before a jury. >> if he's there saying i'm here to testify, i'm happy to do it today, i'll talk to you as long as it is public, is that enough to show good faith effort on his part, not to defy a subpoena? >> yeah, i think so. that's why i think technically maybe he's in violation of the law here. but i think it would be very difficult to prove to a jury unanimously beyond a reasonable doubt that he was willfully defying a subpoena when he showed up and said i'm here to testify. i would be surprised to see this result in criminal charges.

but i can see him being held in contempt of the house and the remedy there is to negotiate terms by which you can testify. >> governor kasich, what we witnessed was dramatic, it was chaotic, it seemed like members of both parties were either playing to the cameras or were upset about how everything was unfolding. i think at one point a republican lawmaker was interrupted by a republican colleague and he said, what are the rules here, where's the decorum? it was truly, like, watching reality tv. it was -- you couldn't write a script really to be more dramatic. what do you think is the republicans' broader political strategy on capitol hill, especially in the context of this election year and how they're utilizing hunter biden as a potential political weapon

against the president? >> you know, with all the use of the term impeachment, this person, that person, ana, i think you got to be careful they're not going to try to impeach you. when i watch this, honestly, i was there when we went through the impeachment hearing of bill clinton, which was deadly serious, but this term now is just being thrown around just left and right, which diminishes the significance and seriousness of it. i will also say if they have a revenue problem down there in washington, which we know they do, instead of raising taxes, they could just sell tickets out of that committee room. and think how much you would pay to go and watch the spectacle, maybe not that much, but, look, what they're trying to do is muddy the water, democrats, you know, they got trump, and now that the republicans say we got hunter biden and we're going to investigate his father, the problem is it just locks both sides in and, secondly, it obscures the discussion of what we really need to have, a

discussion on the border. border security, comprehensive border reform. the situation in regard to the economy, and, look, all this isn't going to make a difference in the election. what is going to matter the most in this coming election in 2024 is the state of the economy. it is always a thing that matters the most. and i would prefer to see people in a very significant discussion about what we are doing about inflation, what we're doing about the fact that there is a growing divide between the rich and the poor, i would like to see why can't we have some reasonable changes on the border that can provide border security, but at the same time, an orderly way for people to come into the country and leave if they want to work, and an orderly way for them to come in if they're seeking asylum. we're not doing that. now we're just talking about, you know who is going to be impeached next and yelling at one another. that's why the public doesn't have -- doesn't have really much respect for what happens in congress.

and it is a shame. it is a shame. hunter biden -- >> the economy, the border, those have been part of the broader discussion this election cycle. but republicans have tried to also push forward these impeachment probes against the biden administration. that's why we're talking about it today. congresswoman edwards, is hunter biden a useful proxy to attack the president? >> well, thus far, the public doesn't seem to buy it. there is no real connection, republicans have been able to demonstrate between hunter biden and his father and any interactions there. look, i think the governor's right. people want to hear about substance and policy and this is a congress that is completely bereft of any substance or policy, and so you get the theatrics. it was a little -- as a former member, i think it was a little embarrassing to watch this today because hunter biden seems to be

and his team seems to be continuing, you know, reinforcing the notion that he's in charge of his own defense and strategy, not in coordination with the white house, not in coordination with democrats, and he seems to one up republicans on capitol hill. they were caught off guard and unawares and i think that you could hear that from the language, which was very demeaning and i don't think it makes a difference at all to the american people who care about their pocketbooks, their homes, what is going to happen with themselves, their families and their children. and this is just all garbage and hog wash to them and i don't think it is going to make a blip when it comes to the election in november. >> barb, in more legal news surrounding hunter biden, tomorrow, he will be arraigned on nine tax-related charges, including three felony counts out of a federal court in los angeles. the charges were brought by the special counsel david weiss. just how serious are these

latest charges? >> these are very serious charges. in fact, that detailed indictment really does break down all of the allegations. i think it appears that they're based on documents and documents cases are very strong because it is very difficult to cross-examine documents for bias or for forgetfulness. they're serious, they bring significant prison time and they appear to be very well documented. >> all right, thank you, all, so much. barb, stand by. joining us now is a member of the oversight committee, congressman jared moskowitz, a democrat from florida. he was in the room with hunter biden this morning. congressman, we saw you, because our camera was taking it live, you pushed back directly on the republican lawmakers in that committee room. what was your take on what we all witnessed? >> well, thanks, ana, thank you for having me. look, i think it was pretty aggressive of hunter to come,

but also i think what he's doing is he's calling the chairman's bluff. the chairman, chairman comer invited hunter biden to come to the committee. he said you can choose between coming to a public hearing or a deposition. and then all of a sudden when hunter said, okay, i'll come to a public hearing so the american people can hear my side of the story, all of a sudden they started changing the narrative and saying, no, no, no, no special rules for hunter biden, he has to go to the basement of the building where we can take his deposition where no one will hear what he has to say and where we can spin exactly what we want to sell to the american people. and so, look, you saw me ask my colleagues across the aisle, hunter is here, let's take his deposition now while the american people are watching and not a single republican raised their hand. at the end of the day, i think what the republicans, my colleagues across the aisle showed the american people, this is not really about getting the evidence or getting the truth, it is about trying to go after the president, hurt his poll numbers with a lot of fake stories they want to tell. we're now over a year into this

investigation, into joe biden, and they still have no evidence on the president, even chairman comer admitted that when asked that today on fox news, he said i think we do, but they don't. and so, look, i'm hopeful we can get back to doing the business of the american people. there is a lot going on, keeping the government going on over in ukraine, things of that nature. today was a continued side show. >> did you know hunter biden would be coming this morning? was this coordinated? >> i didn't have advance knowledge, but seeing how he came and did the press conference last time, i mean, you know, that was a pretty aggressive strategy. my colleagues across the aisle should have expected something based on that previous move by hunter. that being said, i think it was pretty smart for him to come and show the american people that my colleagues across the aisle actually don't want the truth to get out. they just want to continue to spin. >> do you think the house will ultimately hold hunter biden in contempt? >> oh, yeah. this is -- this is, you know, the biggest secret in washington is that, oh, these things might

not -- these things might not happen. the committee will vote today to hold hunter biden in contempt because that's what donald trump told them to do. they'll do that for donald. >> they didn't hold jim jordan in contempt when he defied his own subpoena by the january 6th committee, right? why isn't there a same standard for all? >> well, again, i gave that invitation to my colleagues across the aisle. i said, look, there is an amendment to this subpoena resolution. add in jim jordan, scott perry and andy biggs who all defied subpoenas, they did not appear when they got a congressionally authorized subpoena, add them in under the amendments today to do that and then no one is above the law. they say hunter got special privilege. those congress folks got special privilege by defying a subpoena and never being held in contempt. if that amendment passes, i'll vote for it. we'll be showing the american people we'll handle both sides the same way. i guarantee you, i predict the

future, not a single one of my republican colleagues will vote for that amendment. in fact, they will probably call a procedural rule and not even allow the vote on that amendment. >> so what comes next in all of this? and what is your message to your colleagues across the aisle? >> well, my message to my colleagues across the aisle is if you want to hear from hunter, and you have all sorts of questions for hunter, let him come and do that at a public hearing in front of the american people. what are they afraid of? why are they so afraid to keep the american people out of this conversation? the chairman invited him to do that. he accepted the chairman's invitation. that's not special privilege. if the chairman -- you know, wants to take back his invitation, if he regrets sending it, i would love to hear the chairman admit that. right now the chairman didn't do that. i gave him that opportunity also in the hearing to say do you regret saying that, do you retract your invitation and he pretended like it never happened. but the problem is we have video. >> all right,

moskowitz, thank you for offering your perspective. iowa is the destination for former president trump and his top rivals today. we'll take you there live. also, deadly storms, freezing temperatures, blizzard conditions, power outages, even tornadoes, we'll bring you the forecast for millions across the country. and andrea mitchell's conversation with secretary of state antony blinken. [deep exhale] [trumpet music plays] 579 breaths to show 'em your stuff. every breath matters. don't let rsv take your breath away. protect yourself from rsv... ...with abrysvo, pfizer's rsv vaccine. abrysvo is a vaccine for the prevention of lower respiratory disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. rsv can be serious if you are 60 or older. having asthma, copd, diabetes, or heart disease puts you at even higher risk. abrysvo is not for everyone

and may not protect all who receive the vaccine. don't get abrysvo if you've had a severe allergic reaction to its ingredients. people with a weakened immune system may have a decreased response to abrysvo. the most common side effects are tiredness, headache, pain at the injection site, and muscle pain. ask your pharmacist or doctor about pfizer's rsv vaccine, abrysvo. visit these retailers or find other retailers near you at abrysvo.com. [deep breath] we're just hours away now from the fifth republican primary debate with just five days to go to the iowa caucuses. and yet again, the presumptive front-runner won't be on the debate stage. former president trump is gearing up for a town hall, his first appearance back in iowa since spending tuesday morning in a d.c. courtroom, trying to get his federal election interference case tossed out. his argument, presidential immunity. you heard it right here live with those three federal appeals court judges raising serious

doubt about the validity of that claim. meantime, in a snow-covered iowa, nikki haley and ron desantis will debate one on one tonight. the two battling for second place in iowa, hoping for momentum moving forward with new hampshire right around the corner where at least one poll shows haley closing in on the former president. and desantis who has gone all in on iowa is just about to kick off his first rally of the day in des moines. nbc news correspondent dasha burns is following that campaign. joining us live. dasha, the stakes cannot be higher heading into tonight's debate. >> reporter: yeah, that's exactly right. these two have been neck and neck in the polls here in iowa, vying for that second place finish here. and what happens in iowa as you said, that momentum will carry through to new hampshire, and then on to south carolina and into those super tuesday states. so this is absolutely critical and haley and desantis have been ramping up their attacks on each other here, both on the airwaves

and to the press. i know in my interviews with the two of them, they really sharpened their attacks on one another. florida governor ron desantis starting to criticize haley, getting personal, calling her phony, saying she doesn't have a core in terms of her republican and conservative positions. haley really pushing back on all of that, and this is going to be the first time that the two of them are face to face on a debate stage in person since they have gotten a lot more sharp with their attacks on one another. and no other competitors made that stage, it is just going to be the two of them trying to duke it out for that second place finish, ana. >> dasha burns will be watching closely twists and turns that could happen in the next five days. thank you. looking ahead to tomorrow, when donald trump will be back in court for a closing arguments in his new york civil fraud trial, nbc news confirms trump plans to deliver part of the closing arguments himself. and the judge is considering it

as long as trump's attorneys meet certain conditions. he's already been found liable of fraud, so the court will really be deciding how big of a penalty, he, his family, his company will face. back with us now is former u.s. attorney barbara mcquade. trump's attorneys have to meet certain conditions on the scope and the timing and what is considered permissible for the closing argument. just how unusual and controversial is this idea of trump delivering at least part of his own closing? >> it is an incredibly bad idea. i think in most cases people would consider this tantamount to legal malpractice to allow their client untrained in the law to get up during closing argument. there is a time and place for witness to testify, and that's -- trump can deliver his own remarks from the courthouse steps afterwards. but in closing argument, there are relevance considerations to talk about. there are things within the parameters of the law to talk about. and there is a risk that anything you say in court can be

used against you. and if you say things that are clearly false, you can be charged criminally with -- so for all of those reasons i would be surprised if donald trump follows through with this. of course, it is a great opportunity for him to grandstand. i have described all the ordinary circumstances. when a person is a candidate for political office, the presidency, under these turbulent times, perhaps donald trump makes this into a spectacle. and in that situation, all rules are off. >> he was in court yesterday as well. he didn't have to be there. but he made a point to show up. we're awaiting the ruling from that federal appeals court following the hearing on trump's presidential immunity claims. this is the federal election interference case. the trial is essentially on hold in this case until the appeals court makes a ruling. how quickly do you expect that decision and what was the biggest tell when you listen to

those arguments yesterday? >> i think they're going to decide this case quickly. before a court of appeals goes into oral argumente that, there are clerks that prepared for them very detailed bench memos that can be converted into a written opinion when they wanted to. my guess is based on the questions and the tells, all three of them seem to be very skeptical of this defense and so my guess is they will make the decision and probably sometime this week. i think the biggest tell was the hypothetical question asking, you mean to tell me if a president ordered seal team 6 to assassinate his rival and then resign fromffice before he could be impeached, that means he could not be charged with a crime ever? i mean, you know, they tried to dodge that question as best they could, but the court concluded so the answer you're saying is yes. >> that was a common sense moment for sure. looking ahead to tuesday, it will be the start of the e. jean

carroll civil damages trial. this is the second trial in a defamation case against trump. the judge just today issued some rules of what the attorneys can and cannot do. walk us through what we learned. >> yes, so, essentially the judge made it clear that what we're talking about here is damages. so donald trump is not to again defame e. jean carroll, not to again deny that he engaged in sexual assault, he's not to bring in her own sexual or dating history. all of that is out of bounds because the focus here is all about money damages. so, without all of those things to talk about, i think things will be very focused. louis kaplan is the judge who presided over the last trial. he has a good sense of the need to put a tight leash on the lawyers for donald trump and it appears to me that's exactly what he's doing. >> barbara mcquade, thank you for offering us your expertise. good to see you here. her book, by the way, "attack

from within: how disinformation is sabotaging america" out next month. hundreds of thousands of people across the u.s. are still without power right now, following massive storms slamming much of the country, from the midwest to the east coast, bringing heavy rain, snow, powerful winds and tornadoes that have left at least five people dead. nbc news correspondent maggie vespa is in des moines, iowa, for us, it was hit hard with the wintry mix there. what is the latest, maggie? >> reporter: right. yeah, so ana, we basically got close to a foot of snow, 11 inches of snow in the des moines area here, over 24 hours, a lot of it hitting yesterday. it is the same system that slammed the northeast with rain and hit the south with that rare january tornado outbreak. here in des moines, at least it seems like we're thankfully in a bit of a lull. the snow has stopped for now. you can hear people driving around, the roads have been treated, which is good news. but make no mistake, it is

frigid here. we got up this morning to start our live shots for the day, about 15 degrees with the windchill in the single digits. people here, keep in mind, we're in iowa, they're used to intense winter weather and even for them, this is a lot. listen to what we have been hearing on the streets here. >> i live in pittsburgh, i drove out here over the weekend, luna and i came together, we're here for a couple of weeks, and, yeah, knew it was going to be a crazy week with all that is going on in the city, but the blizzard just adds to it. so -- >> that woman i felt so bad for her, she's an east coaster, she came here after the blizzard over the weekend on the east coast hoping to escape the winter weather and she got slammed with it here in des moines. she talks about what is going on here. we're talking about the caucus. we saw yesterday presidential candidates had to cancel events. vif eke ramaswamy, nikki haley, both canceling events in the last 48 hours. by the time we get to caucus day on monday, we're expecting the temperatures, the highs

potentially to get possibly around if not below zero. everybody here preparing that, including the candidates, their political operatives, our crews are going to be here covering it. we know there is so much kind of frigid winter weather yet to come. but for now, the city is thawing a little bit, driving around and everybody has this awakening after yesterday's crazy blizzard conditions. >> i hope everybody has their hand warmers ready for that coverage. maggie vespa, thank you for bearing the cold an all the conditions for us. there is another storm we're tracking, so let's go to nbc news meteorologist bill karins. what are the biggest concerns? >> severe weather again and blizzard conditions and people getting stranded on the roads. this is deja vu, just like the storm we just got finished covering yesterday. if you got a lot of heavy snow and gusty winds, you'll likely do it again, same with the possibility of severe weather and the northeast, rain again. here is the storm now. over the top of boise, bringing

snow to the mountains of idaho, areas of northern wasatch range will get some of that snow. we take this storm into tomorrow, it will start to push down to the plains. tomorrow is our break day, not a lot of bad dangerous weather out there. as we get through tomorrow evening, storm begins to intensify. thursday night into friday morning, the first severe thunderstorms will start popping up in east texas. we'll have our friends from texarkana to shreveport, back down here to central louisiana at risk. then we'll take the system on friday. friday is the peak day for this storm. that's when it is going to be the strongest with the high winds, the blizzard conditions possible back here through the midwest, and then the severe weather throughout areas of the south and maybe even tornadoes once again. it is kind of the same spots unfortunately we saw yesterday. maybe not the panhandle region, we'll give you a break, the panama city area. central alabama, montgomery here to macon, augusta, central portions of south carolina, you got hit hard yesterday too. that's going to be about 28 million people at risk of severe weather friday.

as far as the other problems with the storm go, winter weather, everyone wants to know has the best chance of getting that heavy snow and the blizzard conditions, it looks like from about chicago to about green bay and milwaukee included in this, you could be digging out from a big snowstorm. des moines once again has a chance of a plowable snow, same for omaha. areas to the south of that, looks like a little too warm. and you'll notice once again, it misses the i-95 corridor. looks like a rain friday night and rain early saturday morning in the northeast. just a -- the last storm we finished was pretty rare. maybe one of those once a winter. we'll get two of these in four days. >> wow, that means we all need to be prepared. up next on "ana cabrera reports," thank you, bill, by the way, one on one, andrea mitchell is going to join us coming up from tel aviv with more of her exclusive interview with secretary blinken. and we'll have new details on how the white house is responding to defense secretary austin's cancer diagnosis. and the conditioning scrutiny

over his lack of disclosure. e c over his lack of disclosure.

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secretary of state antony blinken has just left bahrain this morning after visiting the u.s. ally and meeting with bahrain's king as part of an intensive diplomatic push in the region. this comes on the heels of an earlier meeting today with palestinian authority president mahmoud abbas in ramallah and the state department says the two discussed ongoing efforts to

minimize civilian harm in gaza. secretary blinken will be back in tel aviv later today. andrea mitchell sat down for an exclusive interview with blinken and is joining us with more now. andrea, the committee to protect journalists calculates 79 media workers have been killed so far in this israel-gaza war, making it the deadliest conflict for journalists in decades. i know you brought that up and addressed this issue with the secretary. has that factored into his diplomatic efforts? >> reporter: absolutely. he has been trying throughout this region, he's been on the road now for almost a week, going to all of these arab states, talking to leaders now in -- on his way back to israel. he left israel this morning for bahrain and also for ramallah in the west bank. and at every stop he's talking about reducing the number of palestinian deaths, civilian deaths, including journalists. he made that point very

emphatically, just yesterday, last night, in -- in our interview. when i asked him about the incredible tragedy of the death of the al jazeera gaza bureau chief's son, daughter, wife, grandchild, and now just most recently adult son, his entire family wiped out. and this is what he had to say. you heard from the al jazeera jerusalem bureau chief about his colleague in gaza, the tragedy this bureau chief, a veteran correspondent, has lost now his wife, his son, a daughter, an infant grandchild, and now an elder son. did you raise that with the government here in israel? because there is -- there are many who believe this was a targeted -- these were targeted killings of this bureau chief's children and wife, the entire family. >> first, andrea, as i said, i

don't think any of us can possibly imagine what this man has been through. i'm a parent. a father. that he had this worst possible -- not once, but twice, as well as his wife, i can't begin to imagine. and my heart goes out to him, it goes out to the many, the far too many innocent people who have lost their lives in this conflict. and when it comes to palestinian men, women and children, for that matter, when it comes to journalists. >> 79 journalists according to the committee to protect journalists since this war began. >> yes. and that's one of the reasons that we have consistently and including today urged, pressed,

the israelis to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties to make sure that people are protected, to take every possible measure that they can. i talked about this a little bit earlier, it is an incredible challenge when you have an enemy, hamas, that intentionally embeds itself with civilians, and that not only hides behind them, but even fires from mosques, from schools, from hospitals. >> reporter: israel has told him in meetings that they're beginning to wind down in the north, but that there will be intensive offensive actions in the south of gaza. and that is not what the u.s. wants to hear. they want to hear that the entire war could be over in a matter of weeks, not months. >> unfortunately this entire region seems to be a tinder box right now.

we're keeping an eye on what is happening in the red sea, houthi rubbles conducted what may be their biggest attack on a commercial ship so far just yesterday. how are leaders in the region and the u.s. responding to these ongoing attacks? and what is the threat of a wider regional conflict at this point? >> reporter: well, in fact, within the hour, secretary blinken spoke to that exact point. he was leaving bahrain where he went after being in ramallah this morning and in leaving bahrain, asked by reporters about the latest attacks and he said he repeated what he's been saying at every stop when asked that there will be consequences. on january 3rd, the state department, in fact, put out a statement saying that they had a dozen countries willing to respond and that there would be consequences if there was another attack now. as you pointed out, this was the largest attack, uavs and missiles according to blinken just now and that if the largest attack yet in the red sea, he repeated there will be consequences, he was asked about

iran's rule to back the houthis, he said the houthis are doing this with iranian intelligence and arms and he said we have continuously told iran that that support for the houthis, these are rebels in yemen, has to stop. so, he certainly is signaling a lot, but he says he will not telegraph anything more about specifically what might happen in the coming days or hours. >> andrea, after his stop in saudi arabia, secretary blinken talked about possible diplomatic recognition of israel by the saudis. what would it take to get there? >> reporter: a lot of hard work, he says. and a lot of decisions, hard decisions by all of the leaders involved. israel, the arab leaders, the palestinians, but he's holding out this prospect because at every stop he's gone to all of the arab countries now, he's going to cairo tomorrow, that will be the last of the countries, but he's been in jordan and uae and qatar and saudi arabia and when i specifically asked him, because he had been saying all the ash

leaders see this future, which is something that donald trump started with the abraham accords, and the trump administration, that the saudi piece is the last part of all of this, that israel, the saudis, and the u.s. were hoing could be realized is very much on the table at the u.n. in september. then the gaza war happened. i asked specifically, is it now dead? what did the crown prince in saudi arabia say? and he said, he said that that is still a goal, could still be possible if there is an end it the war and a palestinian state, palestinian rights. >> andrea mitchell, thank you for all of your reporting. and you can see andrea's full exclusive interview with secretary blinken in the next hour here on msnbc. meantime, pressure points, lawmakers on capitol hill pressing for more answers from the pentagon after revelations of defense secretary austin's cancer diagnosis. you're watching "ana cabrera reports." stay right there. re watching "aa

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his diagnosis. joining us with more on all this, nbc news white house correspondent monica alba. monica, what more are we learning about the secretary's condition and his ability to serve? >> reporter: well, ana, we understand from his own doctors who released a statement yesterday, they say his prognosis is excellent. he continues to recover in the hospital, where he is still working and engaged in many of his duties, but it is really unclear when he might return to the pentagon, how long this process will take. but the white house was very clear yesterday in that they only learned about the cancer diagnosis yesterday. this wasn't something, for instance, revealed in the days or weeks after the initial news came back, which was actually in early december, through some routine prostate testing that secretary austin learned abo this. that's what led to the initial procedure and later the hospitalization. >> again, looking at that time line as we fill in some of the gaps, he had surgeryor his

prostate cancer in december. and the president didn't even find out he had cancer until yesterday? what is the response from the white house regarding that secrecy? >> reporter: that's correct. the white house continues to insist the president has full confidence in the defense secretary. on december 22nd, we are only learning now, that the secretary was under general anesthesia for that procedure. that is why the chief of staff in the white house has sent this memo to all cabinet secretaries asking them to review the policies and procedures they have in place for notifying the white house when something like that happens. they want to be sure nothing like this is repeated in terms of the lack of transparency and the real communications breakdown. >> monica alba at the white house, thank you. up next, a deep dive into election security and the fight against disinformation in 2024.

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welcome back. the first big test of the 2024 election is just five days away now in iowa. we are less than nine months from the general election. cybersecurity officials are already expressing concerns. i want to bring in adam maray, the chief information security officer at arctic wolf and a former special agent at the fbi. your company just conducted a survey with election workers at

the state and local level about the 2024 race. how prepare ready they? what did they say are their biggest concerns? >> thank you for having me on. it's my pleasure to be here. the unique thing is we are asking the election workers about their beliefs and attitudes towards their preparedness from a cybersecurity aspect for elections. one finding that we got is about half of the respondents said they are not prepared or only somewhat prepared to deal with cybersecurity incidents, to detect and respond to them, leading up to the election. this is not totally surprising given that in my work with state and local governments, they are often overburdened and overwhelmed, underfunded. it's something that gives us indication that there's significant room for improvement as we move toward the general election. >> you found that more than a third of local officials say their cybersecurity budget is inadequate to address their own concerns.

what does that mean about where the blind spots are, potential vulnerabilities are? >> that's right. about half of the respondents said that they had not received election specific cybersecurity awareness training. there's a lot of work to do here. the good news is, there are many things that these the state and local governments can do that don't cost a lot of money to get all of their workers, all of the employees, all of the dedicated people prepared for the election and to resist the types of attacks that may come their way. it does indicate that we have work to do to get these folks ready, to get them the right budget, and to make sure all these hard working i.t. and cybersecurity folks have what they need to protect our elections. >> you asked, which region are you most conceed about as a source of eleio interference? the election workers listed china first, but the u.s. was second ahead of russia. what do you make of that? >> these results are -- can be

seen as positive in many ways. first the fact that we have china, russia and iran in the top four are very good. people understand the threat landscape we face. the fact the united states came in as two, i see it as a positive. attacks can come from anywhere. irregardless where they come from, we need to protect against these attacks. we should not have blindspots, especially blind spots of something that could be coming from or appear to come from within the united states. the fact that this is listed i see as a good thing. it means our cybersecurity and i.t. folks and election system are getting ready to repel any kind of attack, to detect any attack, no matter where it comes from. >> we have 30 seconds. when it comes to this issue of disinformation, because that's a part of election interference, are social media companies doing anything to tackle it differently this year compared to elections past?

>> one thing that the survey shows is that disinformation is the number one concern, the number one type of attack that our respondents are concerned about. especially with a.i. tools that are out there for just about anyone with an internet connection to use. it can really supercharge these disinformation campaigns and make these videos, deep fake audio, articles, everything look very, very realistic. i do think there's an obligation for everyone, workers in state and local government and social media companies, everyone to ferret out disinformation and make sure we have reliable sources of information that people can go to as we lead up to the election and on election day to have good information and make good decisions. >> good to raise the awareness. thank you very much. that does it for us today. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage right now. ♪♪

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