advanced cancers, correct? >> yes. the majority of our young patients who are diagnosed unfortunately are diagnosed with either stage three or four colorectal cancer. >> reporter: she says screening is crucial, especially with a family history of colorectal cancer. if not colonoscopies begin at 45. be aware of symptoms, including blood in the stool, abdominal pain and unintentional weight loss. now healthy, sierra is not wasting a minute, traveling and thinking about a family. her eggs preserved before her treatment. >> now, yes it would have to be surrogacy, it would be a completely different way to become a parent. >> reporter: finding the right pieces in the puzzle of life together. anne thompson, nbc news, boston. that does it for us today. thanks for joining. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage right now. ning jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage right now good morning, it is 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart.

just in the last hour, a major report from the justice department details what they call critical failures by law enforcement in response to the massacre at robb elementary school. we'll take you live to uvalde, where attorney general merrick garland will give remarks next hour. happening right now, former president trump's defamation trial is back under way in new york after yesterday's chaotic day. plus, new attacks in yemen overnight, adding to concerns of a greater conflict in the middle east. and in texas, a standoff between the biden administration and the state over access to the border. we'll break down what could happen next. we begin this morning with breaking news. the justice department has released its findings of nearly year long investigation into the mass shooting at robb elementy took law enforcement 77 minutes, an hour 17 to take the

gunman down. right now texas state senator rowland gutierrez is sharing live remarks about the report. nbc justice and intelligence correspondent ken dilanian joins us now from uvalde. what does the report say? there are so many things in it that bring back such horrible, horrible memories. >> reporter: it really is heart breaking and outrage inducing. the report chronicles what it calls cascading failures of leadership, policy, tactics and training that led up to these fateful decisions that left that gunman in a room with those children for 77 minutes. and the profound failure is one we were already well aware of, the officers who first arrived on the scene should -- sorry -- can you hear me? sorry. so the officers who first

arrived on the scene should have approached, rushed, engaged and taken down the shooter. but met with gunfire, they were treated and then they never re-engaged. that was the first and most profound failure. and then they made a misjudgment, they decided that this was a barricaded subject situation, and that caused them to reassess, pull back, and not go in. but what this report makes clear is that after that, they had tons of evidence that there were wounded children in that classroom, the report says there were 45 rounds fired by that gunman after the police had arrived. so they knew and yet they still didn't act and wasn't just the initial officers on scene, it was the cascade of officers that showed up later from the texas department of public safety, from federal agencies, from other local agencies, nearly 400 law enforcement officers, many of whom were milling about in the hallways, none of them took the initiative, there was no leadership, and they didn't engage that shooter until it was far too late and that decision

this report suggests may have cost lives, they can't say for sure, but it resulted in delayed medical attention. now, that we knew, jose. there is a few new tidbits in this report that really struck my eye. one of which says that the process of notifying parents about the fate of their children was so botched that some parents whose children survived were told their children were dead and vice versa. it took in some cases 12 hours for parents to learn the fate of their loved ones. and then the medical response was also problematic in the sense that some people who were grievously wounded did not get the medical attention they needed right away because of the failure of triage and because it was such a chaotic situation. it is a 600 page report, there is a lot to chew on in here, and some families are going to question whether it delivers the right measure of accountability because some of these families, they want criminal charges against some of these people, and the local district attorney

has a criminal investigation that is ongoing. >> ken, thank you very much. and, of course, we'll continue our conversation going forward. i want to bring in kimberly rubio, her daughter lexi was killed in the uvalde massacre. thank you so much for being with us on this very difficult day. i know every single day since that horrible day has been difficult. i'm just wondering what are your thoughts on this report? >> i'm thankful the doj took the time to do a thorough review of the robb elementary school shooting. there is nothing in there that we didn't already know. we knew the law enforcement response was a failure. but now the world gets to know this as well. >> do you think, hope, that anything could come out of this report? i mean, what do you want to see?

what is the accountability for you? >> accountability for me is each of these agencies or municipalities looking at this review, realizing there were failures, that officers did not follow protocol and taking the appropriate actions to terminate them. >> kimberly, you were so kind to me, you let me into your home, just a few months after what happened, and how does, kimberly, how do days pass? i remember, i see you're still wearing that necklace with lexi's thumb print on it. and i know your husband has that same necklace with her fingerprint on it. it means so much, but how do the days go forward for you?

>> just stay busy. every day is a day closer to seeing her. i'm sorry. lots of reporters calling. >> yeah. yeah, i thank you for this time. i want to ask you about lexi and how very vivid and real she still is for you on a daily basis and for your husband and for your children. i know that beautiful mural that you actually jog by every single day. how is her presence still very much real in your heart, and in your household? >> we take lexi with us everywhere we go and everything we do. she's there. we talk about her. we visit with her. she's not gone if we take her with us. >> absolutely.

and i know that you actually moved to be closer to the schools for your children that went back to school. how are they doing? >> they miss their sister. we're all struggling in our own way, but trying to be there for each other. >> what, i remember one of the very, you know, difficult, they're all difficult, right, every single minute is difficult, moments was when felix and you told me back then, six months after the horrible incident that there were questions you still had about what happened and i'm just wondering if this report or any

report could help you answer the questions that you have about that day. what do you still question about that day? >> i think the more and more reports that come out make it clear that the answers i will never receive. i want to know what happened in her final moments. i want to know if it was fast, or if she waited and was scared. those aren't answers i'll ever receive. >> yeah. and, you know, i keep thinking about that last picture you took with her and that day of celebration and of joy, that morning, right? and i'm just wondering, kimberly, is there anything we could do, people that don't know you, but feel so close to you and your family because of what you went through and continue to go through is there anything you

think we could do to help support and lift you and your husband and your family and the many families that suffered the most horrendous injury one could have? >> absolutely. don't forget lexi. don't forget the other victims. stay involved. don't just wait for it to reach headlines. we as americans have to come together to end this. we do not have to live like this. >> you have made it a point of your life to make a difference. and to speak out for your daughter and so many others. what is it that you feel needs to happen, kimberly? >> absolutely there is something in this report that isn't listed as a failure, and that is how did a 19-year-old have access to an ar-15.

how did he gain access? how is it so easy to purchase these weapons and why do the average citizens need them? they don't. that's one of the failures that is not addressed in this report. >> kimberly, just, again, thank you for your time. i want to just ask you again about some of the things that lexi meant to you and that should and definitely do mean for us. >> lexi is our world. she is a sweetheart. she is a good person. she received a good citizen award and i aspire to be like her and i hope more people hear her story and are encouraged to be like her. >> so many should aspire, including myself, to be more like her. thank you. thank you, kimberly, for being with us. i so appreciate your time. i know this is a very difficult day, like every day is and i

send you our love and our solidarity. >> thank you. want to go back now to nbc's ken dilanian. also with us is nbc's morgan chesky in uvalde as well, and frank figliuzzi, fbi assistant director and nbc national security analyst. what stood out to you in this report, which is so detailed and as ken was telling us, there aren't a lot of things in the report that we didn't know, but if you look at it, in case after case, incident after incident, for an hour and 16 minutes, 77 minutes, what is it that sticks out to you? >> first, jose, in 25 years of working at fbi and doj, in fact, for a period overseeing all shooting incident reviews at the fbi, i don't believe i ever have seen a more scathing doj report than this. the language is emphatic. it is definitive. at times they actually bold face

or etal size words for greater emphasis. one of those words that jumped out at me is the word never. the context is law enforcement should never treat an active shooter with continuing access to victims as a barricaded subject, which is exactly how they treated this shooter. they didn't see it as active, they saw it as a barricade. and, of course, you know, you just cringe when you hear the details of a child calling 911 and explaining that there is still people alive and they're shooting, there is shots ringing out in the hallway that police officers can hear. one officer says i see a room full of victims, and yet the chief of the school police has no radio, he tossed it when he ran into the building haphazardly initially. so, this is required reading as far as i'm concerned at every police academy, and should be taught at every police management school. >> frank, how -- just using your

experience and just -- just general human existence, how does something like this happen? i'm thinking there were hundreds, hundreds of law enforcement officers, of different municipalities and feds and state, and for over an hour and 15 minutes, and then just in some of this, frarng, i'm quoting from the report, for the span of more than an hour there were at least ten stimulus events, which means ten events, including at least six separate instances of gunfire, 45 rounds with law enforcement officers present and yet they didn't do anything. how do you explain that? >> yeah, there is a really troubling line in there, and i applaud doj for being so emphatic about it. they say the officers put their own safety over the safety and lives of the child victims.

that's a scathing conclusion there. and the other thing, the way this happens, jose, you're asking, not only total absence of leadership, because actually it was worse than an absence of leadership. you an absence of leadership, some officers step up and become leaders, right? no. leadership was present and failed to act correctly or lead at all and that was the primary contributor here. >> and then just that -- the thing that you mentioned, frank, i just -- i read it and i'm, like, it says survivors recalled hearing someone say help if you need help, in one of the classrooms and when a child cried out, the shooter entered room 12, from 111, and shot him. the record raises the possibility that four additional shots that rang out after the first barrage were the result of

that comment. i mean, there was no doubt that this was an active shooter. there is no question about it. the report is emphatic that there were people injured here and this practice, god help us, to never happen again of asking kids to shout out if you need help, that's identifying another victim for the shooter. so, again, teaching material, but one last thought take away from me here, this needs to now be put in the hands of the uvalde county prosecutor, and this does need to get prosecuted. there are texas laws regarding abandonment of a child in danger, someone who has responsibility for a child, knowingly neglecting them and leading them at high risk, i think this should be charged criminally. >> i just can't, you know, just thinking of kimberly and all of the other families, and, morgan, just thinking about, you know

what they think and what they feel when they hear that officials called in to that room and said, say help if you need help, and a child, a child said i need help, and that child was shot. and then other shots rang out too, and it didn't change anything. and, morgan, how is the community reacting? >> reporter: jose, you have this more than 600 page report come out, and yet for the community members i've spoken with here in uvalde, they say that they had seen everything they needed to when the body cam was released. seeing those officers standing, waiting, minute by precious minute in that robb elementary hallway before moving in, that showed them everything they needed to see. what this report has done is just reaffirm their worst fears and that is at every stage of

this shooting tragedy, from the weeks before, with potential training lapses to the response in the heat of the moment, to the aftermath and weeks after, there has been failures every step of the way. as for whether or not accountability will actually happen here, that depends on who you ask. i know that loved ones of the victims have shared that they're still waiting for charges to be brought against some of those who were inside, charged with saving these children's lives. i say in light of this report, do you believe that this will actually happen now? and they have told me repeatedly they want to believe it will, but they also believe nothing may change because that's been the reality for them now for 18 months since this has taken place. there are some here in uvalde that every day is may 24th. there are other people that are trying to figure out how to redefine this town, without it being known as the place of this horrific tragedy.

you have a small texas community, incredibly tight knit, almost at a painful crossroads of sorts in trying to figure out how to move forward at least for those who even feel that's possible. >> yeah. 17, 16,000 people and we look at these images of the murals that have gone up in downtown uvalde, there is also one in another corner there with lexi on it, where her mother actually jogs by there every single day. and it is never going to be the same and i'm just wondering, you know, can we talk about accountability? and, you know, kimberly was saying that she hopes something comes out of this, but now with this report, what does the doj do next or do they do anything going forward? >> yeah, that's the thing, jose, as far as the doj is concerned this is what they have done. this was not a criminal

investigation, there are no criminal charges coming out of this report. they undertook this report to understand what happened here so it can serve as a lesson for other communities, so that this horrific situation never happens again. as i said, there is a local district attorney criminal investigation happening, but, look, history tells us it is really difficult to prosecute police officers for failing in their duty for cowardice, essentially. and i want to go back to something, a fantastic interview with kimberly, one thing she mentioned, one thing is not mentioned in this report is the ease with which an 18-year-old was able to legally purchase an ar-15, a weapon of war. we shouldn't lose sight of that. the ar-15 was a big factor in some offailures. it was very clear from the interviews that the officers were terrified, initially, when they approached the shooter and he fired at them and some of them were grazed and they

thought they were in a killing funnel and it was a suicide mission to go into that room, and that created a sense of paralysis that bled out from that moment, and continued to characterize what happened that day. it started with the fact that they were outgunned. eventually, officers with rifles and ballistic shields showed up and there is no excuse for why they didn't act sooner because ultimately when they did act, they were able to get in that room and take the shooter out without injury to officers. but the fact of the ar-15, the fact of that firepower had a big influence on how this situation unfolded. >> i'm glad you mentioned that, ken. i'll read a quick paragraph. the first officers on the scene, there were 11 members of law enforcement first on the scene. the most senior officer first on the scene had 28 years of experience. the 11 members of law enforcement first on the scene had handguns, two rifles, body

armor, and radios. that's a fact. they decided what they did because of what happened. ken dilanian, morgan chesky, frank figliuzzi, thank you very much. can i ask my extraordinary team in new york, if we could put up the graphic of the faces the children and the two teachers that lost their life. look a that. 10 years old, 11 years ol just look at them. and look athe names. these are children, you ow lexi, that morning, had gotten an award in her school, in her class, and so her parents went early in the morning to celebrate with her. and there is that pture of her holding that recogni wh her parents. it was getting close to the end

of the school year, kids were celeating, watching movies, they were huggingnd staying close to each other because they were celebrating the end of the schor and some were receiving recognitions and the parents were there. and, you know, m of them kissed their kid good-bye saying i'll see you at the end of the school day, but congratulations, and the teachers that lost their lives there as well. and the teacher who was married to one of thetims who died shortly after too. that's something we should never forget. those images, don't forget them. look at t names. celebrate them. because there is a lot we all need to learn from the extraordinary life and teachings of little kids who lost their

lives in uvalde. we'll be right back. r lives in uvalde. we'll be right back. here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need... ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost. the right age for neutrogena® retinol? that's whenever you want it to be. it has derm-proven retinol that targets vital cell turnover, evens skin tone, and smooths fine lines. with visible results in just one week. neutrogena® retinol

i think he's having a midlife crisis i'm not. you got us t-mobile home internet lite. after a week of streaming they knocked us down... ...to dial up speeds. like from the 90s. great times. all i can do say is that my life is pre-- i like watching the puddles gather rain. -hey, your mom and i procreated to that song. oh, ew! i think you've said enough. why don't we just switch to xfinity like everyone else? then you would know what year it was. i know what year it is. 28 past the hour. testimony has resumed in morning in the second defamation case brought against former president donald trump by writer e. jean carroll. she's back on the witness stand for cross examination by trump's attorney. this time the former president will not be in the courtroom because he's attending his mother-in-law's funeral in

florida. this comes one day after the judge threatened to bar trump from the courtroom for his behavior during carol's testimony. trump responded, quote, i would love it. the judge responded by saying, quote, i know you would because you just can't control yourself in this circumstance. with us now, nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard and rebecca roife, a professor at the new york law school. what has been happening in court so far today? >> i've been following along the notes of our great producer adam reese who is inside of that courtroom as we speak. they just returned from their morning break. this morning, alina habba cross-examined e. jean carroll on the stand and was going through past statements of e. jean carroll back in 2019 and the timeline of events, suggesting that the attacks that were directed her way from people specifically online, the threats and intimidation, were taking place irrespective of donald trump's statements about

her. now her own attorney, roberta kaplan, is back asking questions of e. jean carroll and the redirect examination here. so this is, for the third day of this trial here at this point, as you said, donald trump is not actually inside of the courtroom today, he's in florida attending the funeral of his mother-in-law, jose. >> so, rebecca, taking you back to what happened yesterday where the judge and trump went at it with trump saying i would love it if you throw me out and the judge saying i know you would, you can't control yourself in this circumstance. what is the bar for throwing a defendant out of a trial? i know this is not a regular trial, certainly not a regular defendant, but what kind of bars are there for the people to go back and forth like that? >> the bar is much lower than if this were a criminal case where a defendant has a right to be there. and so, the discretion is really in the hands of the judge to make this call. if he finds that the former

president is just too disruptive or creating problems or skirting orders that he has issued, then he might order -- he might issue that order. >> so, what would an order like that look like? it would be like literally asking, you know, officials to come and get out? what would that look like? >> well, i assume he would go voluntarily and wouldn't, you know, sit there and make the marshals come and get him, but what you point to is this is a kind of showdown between the judge and the litigant. and that's not a position that the judge wants to be in as he sort of articulated in that moment. in part, because it is allowing the former president to essentially argue that these proceedings are not legitimate and he knows that that works in the former president's favor. maybe not in these legal proceedings, but the broader public eye. the judge is trying to avoid that. we'll see how this all plays out. >> vaughn what do you think former president was thinking

when he said, go ahead, i would love it. >> look, donald trump is trying to undercut e. jean carroll every step of the way. they're determining -- the jury will determine what damages he owes to e. jean carroll, potentially upwards of $10 million. and yet donald trump has not stopped saying the things about e. jean carroll that led to this defamation case against him here. just in the last days, even yesterday, continuing to attack her. so, inside of that courtroom there say jury sitting near yards away from him and every time he is muttering under his breath or loudly enough even potentially for the jury to hear, you know, and our reporting team inside of the courtroom said that oftentimes the jury would look at donald trump, he's trying to call into question the -- e. jean carroll and trying to be flippant about her testimony while she was taking the stand there. if donald trump were to be thrown out of the courtroom,

this would hit at the heart of his complaints against the judges who are overseeing his case. not only this case, but also the civil fraud trial and, of course, also the likes of judge chutkan and the federal election interference case, and especially, so this for donald trump would just be for him an opportunity to walk outside of the courtroom and say, yet again, they're not allowing him to speak this is the justice system attempting to strike him down, but donald trump typically is in control, whether on his campaign or it is within the trump organization, and the courtroom, the same rules do not apply. donald trump is not allowed to -- at his own free will here, and what you've seen from him is an attempt to cloud the wider american public's view of how the u.s. court system, criminal justice system operates, when in fact he's being treated as any other defendant would in this case. >> and, rebecca, that's how trump is acting, and been acting, but one of trump's

attorneys, alina habba, has been combative with the judge. could that play a factor with the jury? >> sure. absolutely. i mean, what she's trying to do is obviously -- you know, attorneys do this all the time, give her client, what her client wants. that is not always the most effective strategy with a jury and i think the jury is likely watching and seeing how disrespectful she can be toward the judge and we'll see how that plays, but normally juries who have taken the time out of their busy days to come and do this civil service are not so happy to have this, you know, constant droning sense of this is illegitimate, this is unfair, the judge is unfair, the juries have been unfair, my guess is that's not going to work from a legal perspective all that well. >> vaughn and rebecca, thank you so very much for being with us this morning. i want to go right now to capitol hill, where congress is set to vote today on a bill that

will keep the government funded through early march. nbc necessary ryan nobles joins us from capitol hill. ryan, what is the latest? >> reporter: well, it seems pretty clear that congress is ready to take that step to avoid a government shutdown by passing a short-term spending plan that would push off these big decisions, larger appropriations packages, to early march. the senate is set to start voting on this package sometime this afternoon, probably around 12:30 eastern time. there will be a couple of amendments sprinkled in there, none of them are likely to pass. and then the bill will move to the house and then the big development that we just found out in the last few minutes is that the house speaker mike johnson and whip tom emert have said they will vote on the package this afternoon. it is very likely that this bill could be on the president's desk by friday. with plenty of time to avoid the potential of the government shutdown on friday. part of the reason for the accelerated calendar is because there is a storm system that is expected to move into washington, d.c. overnight into friday morning.

and congressional leaders do not want to run the risk of any of their members unable to get here to the capitol on friday to vote for this package and further risk the possibility of a government shutdown. now, this is essentially just kicking the can down the road as we often say up here on capitol hill, jose. they still have huge negotiations that need to take place toward a long-term spending bill, these 12 different appropriations packages, they have agreed on that top line number. it is filling out the details underneath those top line numbers that still needs to be resolved and there is still plenty of push and pull between republicans and democrats on the finer points. but both the house speaker and the senate majority leader chuck schumer have said that they need this additional time to bring all that together, to get that long-term spending package passed. but the good news is there is the very likelihood that there will be no government shutdown as they look to pass this in both the senate and the house later today. jose? >> so, the storm is helping in some ways, right?

>> reporter: for once, yes. >> who knew? ryan nobles on capitol hill, thanks so much. appreciate it. up next, we're five days away from the new hampshire primary. we're going to break down what is at stake there. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. e. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. have you ever wondered what an icon,... ...a legend,... ...a legacy,... ...a pop star,... ...and a tight end all have in common? they all got this season's updated covid-19 shot to help better protect them against recent variants. got it? ( ♪♪ ) got yours? when migraine strikes you're faced with a choice. ride it out with the tradeoffs of treating? or push through the pain and symptoms? with ubrelvy, there's another option. one dose works fast to eliminate migraine pain treat it anytime, anywhere.

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41 past the hour. with the next republican primary just five days away, the gop presidential candidates are making their final pitches to

new hampshire voters this morning in the newest poll of likely republican primary voters, former president trump leads nikki haley by 14 points. joining us now, susan page, washington bureau chief for usa today, and with us is former republican congresswoman barbara comstock of virginia. nikki haley has some momentum in new hampshire and she has been stepping up attacks on trump, but there are some reports that some of her supporters were concerned she is not being aggressive enough. how does she take advantage of this moment and what is at stake for her in new hampshire? >> you know, this is make or break for nikki haley. this is a reasonably friendly electorate for her. independents can vote in the republican primary. that is helpful to her, that's where she's shown some significant appeal. 14 points is not nothing. on the other hand, it was 16 points in the tracking poll the day before. so she seems to be moving narrowly in the right direction.

and here's the question for nikki haley. if she does get within striking distance of trump, either beats him in new hampshire, keeps it within single digits, that gives her real momentum going forward. it is hard to see where she cashes in on that momentum. the next state up, south carolina, her home state, one that is so far has been solidly for trump, jose. >> yeah, and congresswoman, just your thoughts on this, because trump escalated his attacks on haley focusing on the fact she's the daughter of immigrants, portraying her as an other, you know, the same kind of attacks he's unleashed throughout his political career, on all kinds of adversaries. this could this be any more effective attack from trump than it has in the past? >> it is a bad attack, these are the kind of attacks that will come back to haunt him in a general election because the people that he needs to win over in the swing states, and swing

voters, these are the kind of things that will hurt him. he has a woman problem. and, you know with other voters in swing states. so, you know, it is not a good strategy. but this is the strategy that he tends to fall back on. but, you know, nikki haley is the person who does post the best against joe biden when you show the general election, and i would point out that new hampshire is a state that donald trump, while he's won it in the primary, he lost it twice in the general election and the maga candidates who were nominated for senate and house in 2022 went down in flames in 2022 while a candidate like chris sununu sailed to re-election and he is endorsed nikki haley. when republicans get back to having, you know, the chris sununus, the nikki haleys, these are the kind of candidates who can win general elections, win swing states, but maga has been

underperforming and as nikki haley pointed out lost the senate, the house and the white house since maga has dominated. >> susan, an nbc news exclusive, we learn that trump is considering congresswoman elise stefanik for vice president. what do you think is behind that thinking? >> she's been campaigning for this job. she's going to be campaigning actually for trump on saturday in new hampshire. she was on his defense team when he was impeached. she has defended him at every turn. and in some ways she makes sense. i think most of the candidates, contenders that trump seems to be considering for vice president are female. that makes some sense given that he's got a -- he's had some problem with attracting women voters. and she clearly wants it. she has demonstrated fealty to him. she is not the only one and there is also some speculation, whether nikki haley is not attacking trump quite as

frontally as she might because maybe she would end up on the ticket. there is some history of candidates who do pretty well but finish second end up on the ticket as the vice presidential nominee. i think this is not subtle, but elise stefanik, if you're thinking about front-runners to be trump's running mate, she might be the person you think, jose. >> what do you make of this reporting? >> i hope nikki haley wouldn't take the number two position because of all the problems that i think donald trump has, number one, he could very well be convicted and we know 58% of americans then would want to be voting for him. but, certainly, she has the kind of strong profile that normally, in normal elections you pick, governor, foreign policy experience with having been in the u.n., and obviously a national profile, she's been the best debater throughout this process, where as elise stefanik has not had that nothingal profile and has not been out in the national stage debating and

kind of already showing her bona fides that way. trump goes for somebody who shows that kind of fealty. but that's the concern that all trump wants is somebody who will be loyal and that's one of the many concerns that people have. instead of having kind of a broad ability to govern that is just that personal loyalty. so i think that's a bigger problem when you're considering people that you want somebody who has the ability to govern, not just a personal loyalty brand. >> susan page and former congresswoman barbara comstock, thank you very much. good to see you. up next, we'll take you live to the middle east, where new attacks inside iran are triggering fears of even a wider global conflict. a wider obglal conflict. (ella) fashion moves fast. (jen) so we partner with verizon to take our operations to the next level. (marquis) with a custom private 5g network. (ella) we get more control of production, efficiencies, and greater agility. (jen) that's enterprise intelligence.

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exchange for more food and aid for palestinian civilians there. joining us now is richard engoal and also retired lieutenant ben hodges. richard, it is clear that this conflict is at least growing. >> reporter: well, since october, since hamas carried out its attack in israel and israel responded with the definite investigation stating war inside gaza which is caused so much destruction, cost so many lives gaza which is caused so much destruction, cost so many lives. we've seen conflicts spreading across the middle east and now spreading into the wider islamic world. a region in southern pakistan is largely lawless. many militant groups operate there. al qaeda had a base there in

the past. and iran which is projecting power through hamas, through the houthis and projecting power directly,ared out an attack inside that region. pakistan responded by attacking iran. you know things are bad when even the taliban are calling for calm in the region. and that is what happened. taliban and afghanistan say that the pakistanis and iran notices must go to the negotiating table. we're seeing fires spread in the form of conflicts big and small that are now moving east to west from here in jerusalem to the red sea, to the edge of afghanistan. >> and what is the latest on the hostages and this medicine being allowed for the first time to get to them? >> reporter: this is part of

ongoing negotiations to get relief to the hostages. the government believes at least 100 of them are still alive. and to get relief to the palestinian people. and it is part of an ongoing process to reach some sort of deal to have a ceasefire which could see israeli troops either pull out or scale back their operations. but those ceasefire efforts are still on going and proven to be difficult. but at least some progress with the medicine deal. israelis gave a list of medicines to the key negotiators on this. so medicines were supplied by

france and israel delivered them in with the agreement that for every box of medicine that went to the hostages, another 1,000 doses would be given to the palestinian people. it is helpful, but compared to the level of suffering in gaza, it is truly a drop in the bucket. >> richard engel, thank you so very much. and lieutenant general, i was struck by what richard said by you know things are bad when the taliban is calling for calm. what is that -- what is going on? pakistan, iran, houthis. it seems like it is getting more and more difficult. >> richard's report as usual very good. the common denominator in everything that you talked about is iran. either the iranians themselves or through their proxies are

causing conflict or initiating conflict. they are creating unrest in the region. and i think part of this of course is to project their own power because they see that the west, we're not organized yet to deal strategically with the entire -- with all the different challenges that we're facing around the world. who is iran's closest ally? russia. who is russia's closest ly? iran. russia benefits the most from iran's support of has and destruction in the red sea, all of this directly and indirecly benefits russia. and so we have to look at it as a larger hold. >> and houthis are supplied by iran. >> right.

yeah, so that is what i mean. the proxies, whether the houthi, hezbollah, hamas, they can only do what at the do because of enablement, whether it is money, ammunition and frankly approval and guidance from the regime in tehran. so if we're going to kin contain wars from escalatings the focus has to be on iran. and of course if you can isolate iran, diplomatically and economically, that also isolates russia from a key source of drones. >> okay. thank you so much. appreciate it. turning now to the southern border where texas is facing off with the federal government over border being assess. the state refusing to comply with a cease and desist letter from the biden administration. texas has blocked border patrol

agents from reaching a part of the border. julia ainsley is with us this morning. great seeing you. so is this a confrontation between state and federal? >> it is heating up. we knew have heard from the attorney general from texas saying that texas will not com apply with the cease and desist order to allow border patrol access to shelby park. this is a place where they have processed thousands of migrants. just last week a mother and her two young children drowned there. and cdp said it would not have happen had had they had access. and so it looks like it might being headed to court because the biden administration told abbott administration if they did not comply and allow them access, they would then go to the justice department. the justice department right now declining to comment. but this is probably another confrontation between federal and state here over immigration

in texas. but this issue is unprecedented. the idea that state law enforcement agency would block federal agents from accessing the u.s. border is something we've never seen before. and paxton in the letter said that the reason is they aren't doing their job to secure the border so they need to fall to texas hands. >> julia, thank you so much. that wraps up the hour. and you can always reach me on social media and watch clips from the show on youtube. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks it up right now. and right now a andrea mitchell reports, the scathing justice department report on epic law enforcement failures in response to the mass shooting in texas that left 19 children and