there will be other celebrity guests that maybe have albums coming out or anything like that.

coming out or anything like that. a big celebration expected today. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. you can reach me on social media. you can watch clips online. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," the house on fire. republicans impeach homeland security secretary mayorkas on its second try by one vote over a policy dispute. no evidence of wrongdoing. the immigration issue driving democrats to a special election victory in new york, flipping a seat in long island held by george santos. craig melvin's one on one with

nikki haley, hitting back at donald trump. >> the problem now is, he is not the same person he was in 2016. he is unhinged. he is more diminished. richard engel in ukraine as president biden slams donald trump for pressuring the house to block critical funding for the war. >> no other president in our history has ever bowed down to a russian dictator. let me say this as clearly as i can. i never will. ♪♪ good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. white house national security advisor jack sullivan is expected to speak any moment after the president slammed donald trump in unusually tough language for throwing his weight against emergency funding for ukraine, causing house republicans to fall into line against the senate-passed

foreign aid bill. democrats won a house seat that george santos won in 2022. one of five new york turnovers that helped the gop take control of the house. with republicans now holding a two-vote majority, they still rule the house and so were able to impeach homeland security secretary mayorkas last night on a party line vote. an unprecedented impeachment of a sitting cabinet member. >> desperate times call for desperate measures. we had to do that. he has breached the public trust. he disregarded laws congress passed. >> house republicans voted to impeach mayorkas they say for causing the border crisis by failing to enforce immigration laws. a policy dispute that fails to prove high crimes and misdemeanors. the same three republicans who voted against the first attempt last week were no votes again last night. the impeachment goes to the senate for a trial. where democratic leaders say they will vote to end what they are calling a political stunt.

mayorkas is the first sitting member of a president's cabinet ever to be impeached. the history is this. in 1976 the secretary of war resigned minutes before the house voted to impeach him. no impeachment took place. we start with nbc news capitol hill correspondent ryan nobles and political analyst brendan buck, former president secretary to speakers boehner and ryan. the senate is out until february 26. no movement until then. once a trial starts, no other senate business can take place. that's a big gamble by the house. how do you see the timing? then there's what we have been talking about offline, which is the spending bills, the possibility of a government shutdown, everything coming to a head. >> reporter: yeah. there's no doubt that the deadline for both sides of congress to come up with an agreement on a budget is looming. it's the second week in march when both the house and senate will be returning here to

washington after the president's day recess. they basically will have a short number of legislative business days in order to get this done. this potential senate trial to deal with the impeachment of mayorkas is going to fall in the middle of that calendar. the senate does have a lot of options here. they are required to hold a trial on some level. but it is certainly not the pomp and circumstance we saw in the previous impeachment trials of presidents like former president trump and former president clinton. there's the likelihood democrats will move as quickly as they can to try to dismiss these charges, get them off the board and move on to more important things in their estimation. i don't anticipate that it's going to play a huge role in the budget process. but it is such a short period of time to get this massive package complete. any little bit of time taken away from the legislative calendar complicates that process. there's no doubt that members of

the senate are going to have a lot to wrestle with whn they return. >> how they -- we can see how they don't get things done. how long it takes anything to get done. brendan, the other big story in the house is a push towards possibly a discharge petition that would require 218 signatures to force a vote on the senate foreign aid deal that includes $60 billion for ukraine. speaker johnson is refusing to bring it up, or any supplemental aid deal until he gets now he says a one on one meeting with the president. how do you see this playing out? are there other means to get the bill to the floor other than a discharge petition? >> there are a couple of means to get the bill to the floor. most obvious is the speaker could put it on the floor. everybody recognizes that the votes are probably there to pass what the senate did. the real issue is whether the speaker is willing to bring it up, whether his conference would allow that to come up.

the house is -- 218 motivated members can do just about anything. a discharge petition where 218 republicans and democrats come together to force a bill to the floor is a possibility. there are also other ways where -- i don't want to get too technical. you could defeat something the house is doing on a bipartisan basis and that would trigger an amendment vote that they could bring that up and potentially pass it. we call it defeating the previous question. everybody can go home and research that. there are ways to do it. the issue is, will republicans defy the president, defy the speaker? will they put their own political stake at risk by working with democrats? we have not seen that be something willing to do. even those that believe that we must send aid to ukraine and israel. they probably aren't willing to do what is bad politics for them within their conference.

so i think the easiest path is for the speaker to put this up for a vote. he wants the house to work its will. that's what that would look like. >> ryan, the other big story, of course, is this special election. the republican margin in the house is slimmer now that democrat tom suozzi flipped the seat held by george santos. it makes speaker johnson's job more difficult. what else are you reading into this special election victory? the democrats seem encouraged. are they reading too much into it? >> reporter: i think it's a very good rule of thumb to always assume that people are reading too much into a special election. that happens almost every single time one of these takes place. it's a little bit naive to ignore the results of what took place on long island last night. in particular, the role that immigration played in this campaign.

republicans went all in on immigration in an area where it is becoming an increasingly big issue. the migrant crisis is something new york city is dealing with in a big way that's bleeding out into the suburbs, where this race took place. it was a top of mind issue. the argument that tom suozzi made is that he wants to fix the problem and republicans turned away a possible fix to that problem. that did seem to resonate with voters. the house speaker mike johnson views it differently. this is how he responded to the results last night during his press conference this morning. >> the result last night is not something in my view that democrats should celebrate too much. that is in no way a bellwether of what's going to happen this fall. we are convinced. >> reporter: so one of the reasons that speaker johnson doesn't think we should read too much into it, the weather, there was a snowstorm there, he cited the fact that in the past, democrats have done very well there. of course, president biden won by eight points.

he also pointed to the fact that tom suozzi is a former incumbent. held the seat for three terms. their candidate was a relative newcomer. those were the factors that led to the result, not so much policy issues. you can read a little bit on both sides of this. there's no doubt that what we saw play out here is going to resonate in races around the country. democrats are out encouraging their members that are in swing districts to not ignore the immigration issue but instead to lean into it as a way to blunt criticism from republicans. >> brendan, do you see that working for other democrats this year, leaning into immigration when republicans are just hammering the white house over it? >> yeah. it's a key point. the race was largely focused on immigration and democrats won. but that doesn't mean that democrats are in a safe space. i think the dynamic that we saw in this race, tox suozzi was critical of his party on immigration.

he presented himself as very strong on the border. republicans have given democrats some ammunition. their rejection of a bipartisan deal tom suozzi brought up a lot. there are things democrats can work with. i think it's just important to note that he ran a campaign that was strong on border security, that acknowledged that there's a huge problem here. i will be interested to see if a lot of house democrats are willing to say that same thing and be critical of the biden administration's handling of the situation. >> ryan, we just learned that house intelligence committee chair said they were briefed on something that they are calling a -- that turner is calling a serious national security threat. he is requesting the white house declassify all information so they can discuss a response. we don't know the details. they are classified. do you know what this could be about? this is the very important chairman of house intelligence

who is not an alarmist, in my experience. >> reporter: i don't think there's any doubt that this must be a grave situation for the chair of the intelligence committee to make such a bold statement like this to try to pressure the white house to release this information. we don't know the details of it specifically quite yet. we do know and we have seen members of the house of representatives come in and out of a secure briefing location where they are receiving this information. we do know every member of congress has been given access to this information if they seek it. everyone that we have talked to so far has been very tight-lipped about the contents of this information because it is still classified. it appears jake sullivan is about to brief at the white house. perhaps it comes up. this is something that mike turner specifically thinks needs to get out there and something he believes the public needs to know about as it relates to a national security threat, which is why he took this bold move of presenting it as such and putting that public pressure on the white house. >> ryan, let me clarify the time

frame here. you have been seeing members today going into that secure room? >> reporter: yep. in fact, our producer is down by that secure location right now seeing people come in and out. members leaving are just offering us no comment. saying they can't talk about what they learned in this particular briefing. there was a sense that whatever they were briefed on was a serious situation. >> we should explain to our viewers that there is always a briefing for the gang of eight, the leadership and the intel chairs of the house and senate, both parties. then there's a briefing for the intelligence committees, the larger committees in both houses. for all members to be brought in and briefed, it sounds like something that is a serious -- a big deal. >> reporter: yeah. very unique that every single member would be looped in in this fashion, especially in such rapid succession, that they would bring this all together to

give members access to this. that is an uncommon development. it's certainly something that they are going to be asking serious questions about. >> let me read what this says. according to a democratic source familiar with the threat. this is a serious issue that could lead to a destabilizing situation and a national security threat. the source described it as a potential foreign threat but would not identify where it's coming from. we are, of course, at nbc staking out the house and senate members as they get briefed. we are waiting also at the white house. the press secretary is briefing. she's supposed to bring jake sullivan into the briefing room. we are standing by for that. let me just also read to you that something else has been happening in d.c. which is that we are following breaking news here in d.c. about a police shooting that took place today. there's police officers were shot this morning. the suspected gunman remains barricaded inside a home.

there is a large police presence around the scene in southeast d.c. you have a satellite view. the officers were attempting to serve an arrest warrant when -- the warrant was for animal cruelty. it was 7:30 a.m., four police officers are hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. three suffered gunshot wounds, three of the four. the fourth suffered minor injuries not from gunshots. we will get an update within this hour. all this comes as the nation confronts a spike in violent crime. we will talk to tim kaine about the future for aid to ukraine and israel and the fur -- future of nato. that's in 60 seconds. following all of the breaking news right here on msnbc. or college, since you like to get schooled. that's a pretty good burn, right? ♪ on your period, sudden gushes happen.

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security advisor, talking about the aid bill. here is jake sullivan talking about the bill that is stalled in the house. >> that includes millions of ukrainians who have been displaced by russia's brutal invasion. it includes conflicts in sudan. this support also includes dealing with the urgent needs of the more than 2 million innocent palestinian civilians in gaza, the vast majority of whom have nothing to do with hamas. we are engaged every day directly and at the highest levels in getting more aid into gaza and once in gaza getting it to the people who need it. in his calls and conversations with regional leaders, the president has worked through these challenges of humanitarian assistance at a concrete level to help overcome obstacles and

facilitate a sustained, increased flow of human humanit assistance. we are working around the clock to find a way forward to bring peace, security and dignity. the national security supplemental agreement continues our important investment in the u.s. defense industrial base, supporting jobs across the country. we have ramped up production lines in 40 states over the past two years, expanding factories and hiring american workers to make the weapons ukrainians are using on the front line in their fight for freedom. thanks to previous funding that congress provided. the investments this bill puts forward will allow us to strength our own domestic manufacturing capacity, revitalize our submarine industrial base and improve our military readiness. it increases support to allies

and partners in the asia pacific and sends a message that even as we are dealing with immediate crises and challenges in europe and the middle east, we are keeping our eye on the ball on the long-term strategic position of the united states of america in the critical asia pacific region. you heard the president yesterday thank the broad bipartisan coalition of senators who came together to advance this agreement. he urged speaker johnson to quickly bring this bill to the floor of the house of representatives for a vote, because we know if that vote comes to the floor of the house of representatives, it will pass on an overwhelming bipartisan basis as it did in the senate. as the president said, we cannot afford to wait any longer. every day comes at a cost to the people of ukraine and to the national security interests of the united states of america. the stakes are getting higher. the costs of inaction are getting higher every day, especially in ukraine. we have been increasingly

getting reports of ukrainian troops rationing or running out of ammunition on the front lines as russian forces continue to attack both on the ground and from the air trying to wear down the ukrainian air defenses that we have worked so extensively to build up over the past two years. our allies are watching this closely. our adversaries are watching this closely. there are those who say u.s. leadership and our alliances and partnerships with countries around the world don't matter or should be torn up or walked away from. we know from history that when we don't stand up to dictators, they keep going. the consequences of that would be severe for u.s. national security, for our nato allies, for others around the world. so president biden is determined to get this done on a bipartisan basis to get this aid out the door so that we are helping our friends and partners and we are helping ourselves. with that, i would be happy to take questions. >> thanks, jake.

shortly before you came out, mike turner issued a statement saying that president biden should declassify intelligence related to a, quote, serious national security threat. what can you say about the threat and what the administration plans to do? >> i reached out earlier this week to the gang of eight to offer myself for a personal briefing to the gang of eight. in fact, we scheduled a briefing for the four house members of the gang of eight tomorrow. that's been on the books. i am a bit surprised congressman turner came out today in advance of a meeting on the books for me to sit with him alongside our intelligence and defense professionals tomorrow. that's his choice. all i can tell you is i'm focused on going to see him, sit with him as well as the other house members of the gang of eight tomorrow. i'm not in a position to say anything further other than to make the broad point that this administration has gone further

and in more creative, more strategic ways dealt with the declassification of intelligence in the national interest of the united states than any administration in history. you are not going to find an unwillingness to do that when it's in our national security interest to do so. we, of course, have to prioritize and focus on the issue of sources and methods. we will do that. these are decisions for the president to make. in the meantime, the most important thing is we have the opportunity to sit in a classified setting and have the kind of conversation with the house intelligence leadership that i had scheduled before congressman turner went out today. >> just to be clear, turner calls this an urgent matter with regard to a destabilizing foreign military capability. >> i will just say that i personally reached out to the gang of eight. it's highly unusual for the national security advisor to do

that. i did that to set up a meeting. the senate is not here. the four house members have agreed to that meeting. this is well before congressman turner came out today. we will have that conversation tomorrow. i'm not going to say anything further. >> do you believe this is about the same thing? when you set up that meeting to reach out, were you intending to discuss this matter? >> again, i will leave it to you to draw whatever connections you want. all i can say is, i reached out to turner. turner has gone out publically. will see turner tomorrow. >> without this funding, how long can ukraine hold off the russians? do you have other ways to get them weaponry such as through nato allies? >> first, our nato allies have stepped up in a significant way when it comes to burden sharing in the provision of military assistance to ukraine. take a country like germany, which offered up $8 billion over the course of this year for ukraine and many of our other

allies have brought forward a significant number of capabilities. they will continue to do that. the united states has provided a significant share of that. that hole cannot be fully filled by other allies and partners. we need to stare that square in the face. when it comes to some of the capabilities that the united states has that other countries don't have, we need the authority and resources to go with it so we can replenish stocks so we can give things that we have that others don't have. when you put it all together, there just is no substitute for the united states coming forward with this funding. as far as how long ukraine can hold on, i mean, you are talking about a brave, resilient, courageous, determined people who are defending their homeland. they will keep fighting. they will fight from a less strong position if they do not get the replenishment of ammunition, air defense

intercepters and other capabilities that they need to be able both to withstand russian advances and to take territory back the russians are occupying. all i can say is that each passing day and week, the cost of inaction from the united states is rising. that's why we so urgently need to pass this bill. >> i have a question on the middle east. a quick follow-up on what congressman turner said. is there anything you can say to characterize what the threat is or what country it involved? should the public be alarmed? >> i'm not in a position to say anything further today. i look forward to the discussion with him. from there, we will determine how to proceed. standing here at the podium today, i can't share anything further. >> my question on the situation in the middle east, as you were pushing for this humanitarian pause and the hostages release, does the u.s. expect that israel

would pick up its military operation once that temporary pause in fighting is over? is the expectation or maybe even the hope that that temporary pause would turn into a permanent pause and an end in the war. >> what the president said is we are looking for a temporary pause as part of the hostage deal and then to build on that into something more enduring. what that looks like on what parameters, where hamas fits into that, the other pieces, that's things we have to work through with our partners in israel and with others. the goal would be to start with the temporary pause and see what we can build from there. >> not have the fighting resume after that temporary pause, is that right? that is the goal? >> the idea is that you have multiple phases as part of the hostage deal. you try to move from one to the next so an initial period of pause can be extended as more

hostages come out, more commitments are made and so forth. where that goes exactly, i can't predict today. what we would like to see, what the president said in his remarks is hamas is defeated, peace and security come to gaza and to israel, and that we then work towards the longer term ins related to a two-state solution with israel's security guaranteed. it begins by trying to get that pause in hostilities for a certain period of time. that opens the potential options for where things can go from there without prejudging anything, because this is a dynamic situation. we will have to stay in close consultation with the israelis to ensure that their interests, their security is continuing to be protected in all of this. >> thanks, jake. >> jake sullivan in the briefing room. declining to say what is this national security threat that chairman michael turner has

identified as an issue and saying it should be declassified. saying that he was preparing and had scheduled a briefing with chairman turner and three of his colleagues. the senate is no longer in town. he was surprised that this public announcement was made but not sharing what is this threat that has been at least said in an unusual statement by the house intelligence chair. joining me now is democratic senator tim kaine of virginia, who serves on the armed services and foreign relations committees. senator, have you heard what this threat is that the house is identifying, that the house intel chair is saying should be declassified and is a serious national security threat? >> as you know, as a member of the armed services and foreign relations committees, i'm getting briefed on national security challenges all around the globe, including in classified settings. i don't know what mike turner is referring to.

he hasn't indicated what he is referring to. it might be something i'm aware of. it might be something he knows and i don't. his comments are so cryptic, i don't know what he is referring to. my sense is that jake was reaching out to these house members because they had been on recess while the senate was in session. the senate went on recess yesterday. the house is coming back into session. it might be him updating these key house leaders, intel, armed services, foreign relations, appropriations, on matters that have happened while they have been on recess and the snas has been in session. but i have no way of telling if his cryptic comment what he is referring to. >> jake sullivan was talking about getting the foreign aid bill stuck in the house -- you saw the president's strong comments yesterday. putting it at the feet of donald trump. the switch in the senate to

oppose this bill came -- it came even with senator graham after calls from donald trump and certainly in the house it was clearly them rejecting a bill because donald trump is against it. you fought to pass a bill that would bar any president from unilaterally pulling out of nato. let's talk about that at the top. one of the things that donald trump said were controversial comments saying that any nato ally that does not pay up, he would say that he once did say to a nato ally that russia should -- he said, i would encourage russia to do what the hell they want with them. you later passed a bill, your sponsorship, that could not withdraw from nato. there are a lot of things a new president trump could do to nato. he could withhold money or cancel exercises.

>> right. >> how do you protect nato from these kinds of threats? >> andrea, first, i want to point out that donald trump's influence on the republicans does have limits. he was able to sink the border security provision of our national supplemental bill negotiated in a bipartisan way and had support of the border patrol agents union. his efforts to sink the supplemental providing assistance to our allies, both nato allies and other allies, he failed. we got a 70-29 vote, strong republican support for aid to ukraine, aid to israel, humanitarian aid to gaza, aid to taiwan, aid to the indo-pacific. you are right, the comments of president trump about nato are infuriating but not surprising. to the extent there's one position he has been consistent about, it is an anti-ally

position. he has long not agreed upon the notion of alliances. he kind of feels like he -- he likes to go adversaries. he often looks at an adversary like russia and pretends they are not. all of that means is he hasn't spent much time in classified rooms getting intelligence. what we know is, the thing that our adversaries fear is our network of alliances. nato,indo-pacific, the work to bring together the leadership of japan and korea, the quad arrangement in the indo-pacific. what the u.s. has built over decades is a layered network of alliances that china doesn't have, russia doesn't have, iran doesn't have, north korea doesn't have. president trump would tear that up. the bill that we passed on a

bipartisan basis that block a president from withdrawing from nato demonstrates that in both houses, both parties, congress recognizes the value of alliances. president biden signed the bill. he recognizes the value of alliances. we put up a guardrail against bad presidential behavior. not a guarantee. that is particularly important given the irresponsible statements that president trump made over the weekend. >> on the middle east, on israel, prime minister netanyahu has rebuffed blinken and biden and is continuing to threat to do a ground invasion in rafah, which has been a red line for people, both the u.s. as well as for arab neighbors. do you think that president biden has to take stronger steps against israel, condition aid or withhold military aid, withhold

weapons from israel, with the prime minister now threatening to take a step that would be devastating to 1.5 million people in rafah and would completely upend the gaza war as far as egypt and other neighbors are concerned? >> andrea, israel has rights to defend itself that violates the previous cease-fire on october 7 by attacking israeli civilians. but the right to defend against hamas is not a green light to wage war against palestinians or gazans. the biden administration and in congress, i've been focused on this. we have been doing all we can to urge israel to confine its defense to against are a maas. the biden administration announced a new national security policy that would require recipients of u.s. aid, either under the supplemental

bill or any appropriations bill, to clarify that they will only use aid in accord with international law. they will not interfere with u.s. humanitarian aid assistance. that was after prime minister netanyahu's conduct of the military operations. the white house is a announcing steps they are taking to try to ensure that the aid that the u.s. is providing is used in accord with international law and this new u.s. policy. i think the key to this whole situation right now is finding a hostage deal that would, in exchange for the release of hostages, that should be the focus from a humanitarian standpoint. that can get us into a truce, a pause, a cease-fire, a cessation of hostilities. call it what you want. it can get us into a

deescalation of the war. once we in that, we can discuss whether it can be extended. what we noticed surrounding the week-long pause a couple months back is other regional actors, hezbollah, houthis, they deescalated their activity when the war in gaza was deescalating. in the interest of israeli security, in the interest of suffering palestinians who are not connected to hamas, but also in the interest of regional deescalation, the u.s. focus right now should be on conditions that can get us to a hostage release deal and then deescalating gaza. >> senator tim kaine, thank you very much. >> absolutely. there's new video released by israel's military showing what the idf says is notorious leader sinwar.

raf sanchez takes us inside the hunt for the alleged mastermind of the october 7 attacks since he went into hiding. >> reporter: four months into this war, israel claims to have killed, captured or wounded around half of hamas' 30,000 fighters in gaza. >> we have shattered 18 out of 24 hamas battalions. we are mopping up the remaining terrorists. >> israel's number one target remains at large. sinwar is the leader of hamas in gaza. according to israeli officials, the man who masterminded the october 7 massacre. he has been in hiding since then. this video shows him fleeing in a tunnel with list fam his fami days after the attack. to former intelligence officers confirms it shows him. despite a $400,000 bounty on his head and an air and ground assault in gaza that's killed thousands of palestinian civilians, he stayed one step

ahead of israeli forces. we join some of the troops as they push into gaza. arriving in the remains of khan yunis. >> my soldiers fought to take this ground. >> reporter: we followed them underground into tunnels where they believe sinwar was sheltering. they offered no firm evidence but said these beds suggest senior leaders were here. inside this cage, troops say they discovered the dna of three young hostages, all released during the temporary cease-fire deal in november. somewhere in this vast tunnel complex, the israeli military believes sinwar is hiding. it's not clear if he is still able to give commands to his troops, how much he can communicate with the outside world. every day that he is alive, is a day he is defying israel. the hunt continues. you have been chasing sinwar for four months. why is it you haven't caught him

yet? >> we will get him. he doesn't care about his people. he is putting his people between him and us. >> reporter: israel now hunting sinwar while at the same time negotiating with him over the fate of the hostages and few believe his death will mean the defeat of hamas. >> israel has assassinated so many of hamas leaders in the past. didn't do anything to the organization. make it stronger, more determined. >> reporter: for israel, killing sinwar would be a battlefield victory and some small measure of justice. >> raf sanchez joins us from tel aviv. that was extraordinary reporting. tell us more about the hunt for sinwar but also tell me what you know if we know anything about the hostage release talks. i'm told that the prime minister

has suspended engagement in those talks now, the talks taking place in cairo? >> reporter: yeah. just the last little bit, we have a statement from the israeli prime minister's office. they are saying that no new proposal was presented by hamas at those talks attended by the cia director. the prime minister indicating at this point he doesn't feel there's any point continuing. we don't know for certain whether the israeli delegation is planning to stay in cairo. it's not encouraging signs coming from the office of prime minister benjamin netanyahu who you will remember, when secretary of state antony blinken was here in the region, dismissed hamas' demands as delusional. sinwar is not at the negotiating table in cairo. he very much looms over these talks. it is this ironic situation that israel is indirectly negotiating with this man at the same time

that it is trying to track him down and to kill him. israel did capture sinwar in 1988. he was supposed to spend the rest of his life in an israeli prison. he was released in 2011 as part of this massive prisoner exchange. more than 1,000 palestinians released in exchange for a single israeli soldier. he really internalized from that the value of hostages as human bargaining chips. israeli officials tell us they believe that he is keeping some of the hostages close to him in the tunnels, in southern gaza. they say that he will not surrender and he will not allow himself to be taken alive. >> raf, what we have confirmed, our colleague confirmed was in that counteroffer from hamas was a demand for 1,500 palestinian prisoners, including some known convicted killers, in the first

phase in exchange for the hostages, which israel and actually u.s. officials as well say is not a reasonable demand. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. you will remember during the last brief cease-fire deal, the ratio of palestinian prisoners released in exchange for every israeli hostage was three to one. every hostage that came out, three palestinian prisoners would be released. hamas in this new demand is saying they want on top of that another 1,500 palestinian prisoners released, including some 500 who are serving very long sentences for terrorism, for murder. netanyahu, who is under real pressure from the far right of his government not to make concessions to hamas, is indicating that that is a non-starter. every day that goes by without a deal is a day of agony for the families of the hostages here, the families of the six surviving american hostages, and, of course, it is agony for

the 2 million palestinian civilians in gaza who are living under daily bombardment, hoping that there will be a cease-fire sometime soon. >> raf, thank you so much. really appreciate it. joining us now is the ambassador, former advisor to prime ministers. welcome to d.c. we have talked before long distance. this is a significant breakdown. it could be temporary. clearly, israel -- with u.s. backing -- is saying this is a bridge too far. 1,500 on top of the three to one ratio. the hope was with a pause, it could be extended and extended. there's an urgency to this. experts and certainly arab leaders and others are saying -- and the u.s. is telling me as well, ramadan approaching in march, a month from now, is a

real urgent deadline. especially if rafah is hit with a ground offensive. >> that's absolutely right. the urgency is more american than israeli. yeah, 1,500 is a huge number. particularly -- you alluded to it, some of those guys are mass murderers. they don't deserve to see the light of day. a deal is a deal. this is how you negotiate these kind of things. the urgency that mr. netanyahu does not share with the biden administration is the cease-fire component of this. you can call it cessation of hostilities. you can call it a lull. you can call it a pause, an extended humanitarian pause. call it what you want. it's a cease-fire. it would end the war the way we know it. certainly if it's 45 days. this is something that mr. netanyahu does not want because that would do two things. it would invite pressure on the

so-called post-war gaza and how you link that to the west bank and the so-called biden plan or biden doctrine as tom freedman called it in a recent column. it would create unbearable political pressure for him at home. he is facing mass demonstrations and a possible, likely even, resignation of the chief of staff of the military, of the head of the security service, of the head of military intelligence, of the commander of the southern command. these people have indicated already that they intend to be accountable for october 7th. that would create huge pressure on him. he is in no hurry to concludeag sounds. >> they are going to the hague today to say there are war crimes against their relatives being held.

certainly, there's plenty of evidence. >> creating tremendous pressure in the hague. the icc, neither of which can force a cease-fire. the pressure that is more important is the pressure that they are creating inside israel, to the point that netanyahu is asking his political allies to counter that pressure and to -- he was just quoted last week saying to his ministers, why are you not more vocally opposing the hostage deal? which led to some speculation that at some point -- i wasn't in the room. i can't verify this. secretary of state blinken said, this is unfathomable that i seem to be more concerned about the hostages that you are, mr. prime minister. >> in fact, secretary blinken tried to meet with the chief of staff one on one. we understand that the prime minister barged into that meeting. it was not a private meeting.

there's a lot of tension there. there is -- there are other ways, barring an election, which in the middle of a war would be unlikely. but there are other ways in the parliament with four votes to try to have a vote of confidence and have a substitute, who is another minister. >> yeah. like you said, quickly, not to confuse our viewers. there are two votes of -- motions of no confidence. one is a simple motion of no confidence. if it succeeds, 61 out of 120 members, that dissolves the parliament and there's a new election within 90 days. there's another form. that's the sexier, so to speak. that's called a constructive motion of no confidence. that means that if 61 members of the parliament vote no confidence but offer constructively an alternative person to serve as prime minister, then that happens, the

prime minister is replaced. can you find five defectors? the coalition consists of 64. you have to find five people who will defect and agree to that. that's asking a lot from these people. >> thank you. i love the fact you called it the sexier version. only here would we consider israeli politics sexy. >> i retract that. more appealing. >> that's okay. good to see you here. we'll be back with more on "andrea mitchell reports." stay with us. "andrea mitchell r" stay with us you'll love our formula for face, too. aveeno® ♪ you were always so dedicated... ♪ we worked hard to build up the shop, save for college and our retirement. but we got there, thanks to our advisor and vanguard. now i see who all that hard work was for... it was always for you.

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beyond compelling. through survivors coming forward, witnesses, video footage and independent analysis, we know that hamas' use of sexual violence, including rape and brutality was not an anomaly. it was a premeditated part of their strategy to purposefully use sexual violence as a weapon against innocent civilians. >> democratic congresswoman debby wasserman schultz joins me now. you said some were not believed and not enough was done to help them. not enough was done by who? >> we held a closed-door briefing and were briefed by israeli police officials and wh had israeli officials as well as leaders in gender and sexual-based violence from around the world join us because

there has been since october 7th with the atrocities and gender-based and sexual violence perpetrated against israelis on that day that continue to this day, denial, disbelief, distortion, and dismissal as if somehow there is an asterisk or an exception when it comes to sexual and gender-based violence against israelis and jews. there cannot be, and it is unacceptable, and we will not allow it. we came together to not only be informed but to push back. >> what i'm trying to understand is was this sexual violence against victims who were hostages and they are not being believed by israeli police? i mean, who -- >> this is gender-based and sexual violence, rape, genital mutilation that occurred as a weapon of war that was intentional and preplanned on october 7th and that there is gender and sexual-based violence, rape continuing on the

hostages while they're in captivity, and that is -- we know that because other hostages who have come out have talked about it and testified to it, and we know from others who witnessed the rape and torture and mutilation of other victims while they were hiding as hamas was perpetrating their atrocities on october 7th. >> and is it the israeli authorities once these hostages are released who have not been sympathetic or -- >> oh, no, no, no, this is -- >> you're talking about what's happening while they're still in captivity. >> let me be more clear. the israeli government has certainly been very on top of documenting the sexual violence, making sure that it is well publicized. we had a briefing today with video and photographs of the evidence of sexual-based violence in that closed-door briefing, but it is --

organizations like u.n. women who in every other instance of gender and sexual-based violence has rallied against the use of that violence as a weapon and tool of war but has been silent, essentially silent since october 7th. it took two months to issue even a paltry statement about it. women's organizations that typically combat and condemn gender and sexual-based violence have had deafening silence, and i wanted to use our platform and the united states capitol and was joined by the second gentleman, doug emhoff today as well as ambassador lipstadt to make sure that from the highest levels of power that we shine a white hot spotlight on this violence, that we say it's unacceptable, and that we will make sure we combat it and that the perpetrators will be brought to justice in any way possible. >> thanks for clarifying that.

i've been talking to israeli officials, i went to the embassy, saw that horrible video, and i've been talking about this since october. it was on october 30th that i viewed it. i'm well aware of that. i didn't know that you're talking about some of the u.n. agencies, the ngos and others. >> u.n., international organizations, both official and ngos. i mean, i remember when the girls were kidnapped from boko haram, and you had worldwide condemnation, attention, and that has not happened since october 7th, there has been silence from american organizations that lead the way and typically stand up and get in the fight and are public in their condemnation that have just been completely silent. and social media has been rampant with accusations of this being made up and that this never happened and so we had to

use the official levers of government through doug emhoff's participation and my colleagues this congress and leading israeli voices and the police themselves who have documented the evidence that we are clear shows this perpetration of violence. we're not going to let it continue. >> thank you for shedding a spotlight. just a quick question, mike turner, the house intel chair has said that there's a serious threat to national security and that he wants it to be declassified. jake sullivan said there's going to be a briefing for the gang of eight tomorrow, the house members who are in town. do you know anything about this? >> we've been asked as each individual member to go to the intel suite and review the briefing and i plan to do that. i'm not familiar with the details, but i plan to, you know, go through the process of taking -- reading that brief so i can understand what the risk is.

>> thank you so much, congresswoman, we appreciate it. >> thanks, andrea, thanks for shining a spotlight on this. >> thank you. there's a verdict in donald trump's civil fraud trial in new york city that's expected to be handed down on friday, two days from now with $370 million on the line for the former president. this as his only primary opponent, nikki haley sat down for an exclusive interview with craig melvin on the "today" program. the former governor insisting she can defeat donald trump despite not wooichk a primary contest yet and trailing mr. trump in her home state of south carolina. >> don't discount that i defeated a dozenfellas. don't discount i ended up with 20% in iowa, don't discount that i got 43% in new hampshire and don't discount me now. >> joining me now, tim miller. as much as she's doubling down, is there any realistic path to the nomination?

>> no. she's won two counties so far in the first two states, in new hampshire her number, 43%, which is right is pretty good but it was bolstered a lot by undeclared voters and democrats who crossed over to support her. that can also happen in south carolina, which i think -- i encourage democrats and independent voters to do. i think that she's far less dangerous than donald trump, but that is not the path to the nomination having democrats cross over to prop you up. donald trump has slaughtered her among republican voters in both contests so far. never before on the republican side has somebody won the first two contests. he's in poll position, i think there's -- i'm happy that she's finally taking trump on, but it's really hard to see a path forward. >> and craig melvin also pressed haley about backing donald trump if he ends up as the nominee.

>> there is no way that the american people are going to vote for a convicted criminal. they're not. >> but you said you would. >> they're not. >> but you said you would. >> no, that is not the question. every republican nominee signed a pledge before they could even get on the debate stage that said if we were not the nominee, would we support the nominee, and i said yes, and i stand by that, that i would support the republican nominee. >> so tim, she and others are likely going to fall in line and back donald trump, that's clear, if he's the nominee, but he still has all of these legal cases. we're going to be discussing a lot of it tomorrow in a special three-hour broadcast because you're going to have more developments from alvin bragg. you're going to have the hearing in georgia involving fani willis and her controversies. does a civil fraud verdict if

that were to come on the immunity question have any impact on republican support? >> well, look, past performance is best indicator of future results, andrea, and all these guys in the past and women have fallen in line, right? and so i don't think -- you know, no sense getting your hopes up that they won't do it this time but there is still time for nikki haley to do the right thing. that question by craig melvin shows this logic puzzle she's in. this guy is unqualified. this guy is a felon, he should not be president, and yet, i'm going to support him? like that doesn't make any sense. so hopefully she comes around and does the right thing, and i think that if she does, it would have a real impact on her voters. that's been the one most encouraging thing from joe biden is that the nikki haley voters don't like donald trump. if we can nudge them away from trump towards biden before the general election, that would be crucial for biden and nikki haley could play a role in doing that. it's just, you know, she hasn't demonstrate that had she's willing to stand up to him to

that degree yet. >> tim miller, thank you so much. and our thanks to craig melvin for that terrific interview with nikki haley. and i just want to give you a little bit more of a reporting to all of you from our hill reporters, correspondents, because they have talked to several people on the record here. it turns out that senate intel chair mark warner and vice chair marco rubio, both of them were briefed about this on the national security threat that mike turner on the house side has identified. or not identified but flagged and that it is not something immediate apparently according to jim himes of connecticut who's on the intel committee, a house member. it's not that martians are going to land right now in the u.s., but it is something of concern, and it is apparently related to the supplemental and to the issues that the supplemental raised so you'll hear more from our hill correspondents from ryan nobles in the next hour.

that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitch