things become less conservative. they have undermined themselves every step of the way. they might be doing so in the biggest way here, taking away the tool to take out the speaker. it has hung around the neck of every speaker for a number of years on the republican side. if it gets defeated, maybe the dynamics will change in the house. and we don't have to worry about marjorie taylor greene so much. >> thank you so very much. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. see you tomorrow night. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," israel strikes iran. deliberately av avoids hitting targets. the u.s. calling for both sides to deescalate.

12 jurors are seated in the trump trial. opening statements could come as soon as monday. mike johnson pushing ahead with critical votes on aid to israel and ukraine. >> we look forward to the vote tomorrow. we look forward to every member voting their conscience and their desire. that's exactly how this process is supposed to work and how the house is supposed to operate. ♪♪ good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. u.s. officials are hoping israel's low-key retaliation against iran, in what is called a limited military strike, will end the cycle without further conflict. flashes in the sky could be seen from iran's air defenses over the city of isfahan in the central part of the country. israeli officials would neither confirm nor deny the strikes

being -- being responsible for the strikes, leading the u.s. to avoid confirming them as well. iranian officials are downplaying the strike today. iranian media reporting the target was a military base near a major nuclear site which officials say was not hit. were informed shortly ahead of time, just before the strike, secretary of state tony blinken emphasized at a g7 meeting that the u.s. had no part in it. >> i'm not going to speak to anything other than to say we were not involved in any offensive operations. >> last weekend's iranian strikes were in retaliation for an israeli strike on an iranian consular building in damascus, killing a general and several others, dismaying u.s. officials who feared it was an unnecessarily provocative move. joining us is raf sanchez in tel aviv and courtney kube. iran is minimizing the strike.

it's limited. what is israel saying? >> reporter: we are hearing nothing officially from the israeli government. their position is that they are neither confirming nor denying israel's involvement in the strike. we have heard nothing from prime minister benjamin netanyahu. the sun is about to go down. we are not expecting to hear anything from him. all of this appears carefully designed to give iran an off ramp to allow them to choose not to retaliate without losing face. the israelis are not crowing, they are not gloating. they are certainly not rubbing the iranian's face in this. iran is downplaying this. the iranian president spoke earlier. he said nothing about this. state media has been portraying life going on as normal. showing live footage from

isfahan. civilian air traffic is continuing as normal. in terms of the strike itself, happened around 4:00 a.m. local time. we believe the main target was a military base near the city of isfahan, a couple of hours south of tehran. a source familiar with the matter tells me the strike was limit limited. in the hours afterwards, israel was assessing the effectiveness of it. it's not clear whether it was carried out with surface to surface missiles, whether israeli aircraft were involved or whether there were drones. it's worth saying that at this point here in israel, the idf has not imposed any new restrictions on the civilian population. that appears to be an indication that at this stage, the israeli government is not bracing for retaliation. >> and it's almost passover. we know there was a virtual

conversation yesterday between top u.s. officials and the top israelis about rafah. there was communication as well. apparently about this. with passover about to start and the sabbath, as you point out, as you were right about there, and passover on monday, all indications we are getting is that anything in rafah is way off. blinken made that clear -- second blinken made that clear at the g7. he said the u.s. has not received a plan for what to do about 1.4 million people, and there's no plan how to move them and how to shelter them. so the u.s., he said, does not support any major operation in rah fa. raf? >> reporter: that's right. we are not expecting the israelis to initiate a ground offensive in rafah, at least in the next few days, while the passover holiday is underway. the feeling is at minimum israel

will allow reservists to spend the holiday at home, and then they may be called up in big numbers after that. but as you say, rafah is a major source of friction between the u.s. and israeli governments, even after you saw the u.s. playing that major role on saturday night, shooting down many of the incoming cruise missiles, drones, ballistic missiles. those disagreements remain in place over rafah. in the last hour or so, the u.s. has imposed sanctions on a far right israeli settler. i have met him in the occupied west bank. he is the head of an avowedly racist far right israeli organization. he is a political ally of israel's national security minister. a man who sits around the table -- a cabinet table with benjamin netanyahu.

as well as rafah, it's possible you will see more friction over the american decision to impose sanctions on this individual. >> yeah. some of the coalition members of the war cabinet wanted israel to strike the nuclear plant right there in natanz. they deliberately did not do that. there were calls from inside the war cabinet and also reportedly from john bolton in the u.s. to do exactly that. it's notable that israel did not. courtney, the u.s. got some advance notice. you heard secretary blanken say the u.s. was not involved in the offensive. the president warned netanyahu a week ago saturday in that 9:00 meeting, we will not help you in any offensive action against iran. they're are saying they will help israel defensively if iran were to counterstrike. >> reporter: that's the language that we have been hearing is that the u.s. was not involved in any offensive actions last

night. that's about the maximum of what we have been hearing out here at the pentagon about what occurred last night. as raf was saying, we have confirmed -- we did late last night that israel carries out an operation in iran. that's about all the u.s. is saying right now. even that is difficult to get. the u.s. was not involved in this. officials are saying that they believe that this was a precise operation and that the intent here is to deescalate the situation. that's been the big concern all along. looking at what we have heard from both iranian state media and on social media, it stands to reason that israel would have been able to take this action from inside another country. in other words, israeli aircraft, whether man or unmanned, would not have crossed in iranian airspace to carry out the strikes that occurred in isfahan. that's one piece that we do

know. the israelis have a pretty strong arsenal of what are called standoff weapons. things that they can fire from a long distance to carry out a strike. what we have not been able to get any fidelity on is whether the israelis carried out strikes in other locations, including iraq and syria. you will remember after the strikes that iran carried out against israel last weekend, the israelis briefed the u.s. on possible response options. they sort of ran the gamut, everything from no response to some massive strikes inside of iran. what we saw last night would meet the sort of more limited response options, according to u.s. officials familiar with the israeli responses. again, we are not hearing that officially here from the pentagon. i don't expect to hear anything really on the record or on

camera from u.s. officials. >> not from israeli officials, which we have been reaching out to. thanks for that report. terrific reporting. raf, one quick question. how is the u.s. decision to vote against a palestinian state -- the u.s. position is, they support a two-state solution. they support the palestinian state. that has been the goal at the end of the road, withdrawal of israel from gaza, a new reformed palestinian authority leading gaza, all of that. that said, they voted against a palestinian state in the u.n. yesterday. there's a lot of anger about that. i'm wondering what the response is, what you are hearing in gaza and israel and the arab countries. blinken defended that saying with the g7 statement, that you can wave a piece of paper around and it's not going to create it. you have to do the hard work of

diplomacy and get there. israel refused any consideration of the two-state solution, which has been the main thing blocking that. >> reporter: yeah, andrea. the palestinian authority, the palestinian semi-government in the occupied west bank, they are angry, they are frustrated by this u.s. veto. they are not necessarily surprised. it was unfair, unethical and unjustified. the palestinians are taking some comfort in the fact that they did get 12 votes at the u.n. security council. there was the u.s. veto and then the uk and switzerland abstained. they are saying, there's a strong majority at the highest body of the united nations for the palestinians to be recognized as a full state. the american position is that that is premature. a state of palestine needs to come about through mutual negotiations with israel. it's worth saying that under

american law, if the united nations does admit the palestinians as a full member state, the u.s. is obligated to cut off funding, which secretary blinken says would be counterproductive for people in gaza. >> thanks so much, raf. that's important reporting. we appreciate that. joining us now is former cia director john brennan. director brennan, thanks for being with us. the president was clear in urging the prime minister to take the win for having overwhelmed all of the iranian missiles incoming, the 300 missiles and drones, and take the win with the help, of course, of the u.s., the french, the jordanians, and not retaliate. netanyahu, obviously, didn't want to do that. they did feel they had to retaliate. they did in a very low-key way. what's your bottom line as to where we come out in all of this

in. >> i think prime minister and netanyahu did heed the counsel the biden administration was offering, to make sure this was not going to escalate into a major regional conflict. the strike was limited in scope and impact. which is what was wanted by the biden administration, not to do something that's going to trigger the iranians to carry out retaliatory strikes. we have had several strikes leading up to last night's events. i think both sides thought that they -- the other passed a red line. iranians believed israelis passed a red line when they struck a facility in dadamascus killing a significant number of senior iranian revolutionary guard commanders. israel thought that iran had tripped a red line by assaulting israel with over 300 missiles and drones. those two red lines, i think,

prompted what we are at today. what israel clearly wanted to do was to be able to respond to iran, send a signal that israel has the capability to get into the heartland of iran. but to target infrastructure facilities that we're not going to lead iran to say they need to retaliate. this is an off ramp. hopefully they will take it. in terms of things the iranians said publically, they are seeking to downplay this and get into the normal course of working through proxies to try to put pressure on israel in light of what happened in gaza. >> cia director bill burns spoke yesterday in texas before the israeli attack. of course, with this in mind. here is what he had to say about iran's attack on israel last weekend. >> the iranians fired off something like 330 drones and

missiles combined. turned out to be a spectacular failure for them, thanks to integrated air defense, good intelligence, the israelis themselves, but supported by the united states, some regional partners, some international partners as well. of those 330 missiles, only four or five actually impacted in israel. none of them did any significant damage. it's a reminder of the quality of the israeli military. it's a reminder of the fact that the israelis have friends, starting with the united states. but others as well. >> is that a warning to iran to bolster israel's recovered deterrent, partly accomplished i guess they would think about the damascus hit, but certainly this as well, the way they withstood the iranian reaction, because of the humiliation to military and the disaster of the massacre? is it partly a strong warning to

iran, israel has friends, defensively, if you counterattack, we will be at their side, and there were other allies as well, so striking that jordan was? is that part of the message? >> yes. it's clear israeli air defenses are second to none in terms of what they were able to do. with the assistance of the united states as well as with other friends and partners, including in the region. i'm sure iran was surprised that not more of their missiles and drones got through. about 1% or so, which was just an amazing performance on the part of israel in conjunction with partners and friends. i do think that bill is saying that clearly iran has to take account of its failure to penetrate israeli air defenses. therefore, i think that's why we are going to see iran is not going to respond in any escalatory way at this point,

because israeli military capabilities are far, far superior to iranian capabilities. although, iran does have military capabilities. the israelis are well able to defend themselves as well as to take offensive actions. the biden administration made very clear that while the united states stands ready and will help israel defend itself, we will not engage in offensive operations that the israelis might decide to undertake. >> they have been in a shadow war, of course, for years and years. as you know so well. being in that region and a station chief there in the region. do you expect now some hezbollah response from the north, opening a second front at a time when israeli reservists are hope celebrating the passover holiday and heavily invested in gaza and what they claim that they can do against hamas there? israel would be vulnerable to a

major attack from the north from the iranian proxy hezbollah. >> hezbollah does have great capability to do damage in the north of israel. i expect hezbollah to rain down rockets. i don't expect them to do anything that will trigger a bigger war. iran doesn't want a war. hezbollah doesn't want its capabilities and forces to be decimated by the israelis. i don't think israel wants to engage in a major conflict with hezbollah or iran. therefore, i think we are going to return to the status quo prior to the earlier strikes over the past two weeks. we will see strikes from the houthis as well as hezbollah and other surrogates in syria. but i do not believe, absence new developments, there's going to be a major eruption of violence that is going to again engulf the region.

>> john brennan, it's great to have your expertise. thank you, former cia director. appreciate it. >> thanks. trials and tribulations. we will head to the manhattan courtroom for an update on the trump criminal trial, where jury selection stands and when we can expect opening statements. that's next. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." we will be back in 60 seconds right here on msnbc. with no odor and no mess. they work continuously, so you don't have to. zevo. people-friendly. bug-deadly. there's nothing better than a subway series footlong. except when you add a new footlong sidekick. like the ultimate bmt with the new footlong pretzel. nothing like a sidekick that steps up in crunch time. [laughing] not cool man. every epic footlong deserves the perfect sidekick.

that grimy film on your teeth? dr. g? (♪♪) it's actually the buildup of plaque bacteria which can cause cavities. most toothpastes quit working in minutes. but crest pro-health's antibacterial fluoride protects all day. it stops cavities before they start... crest. jury selection in donald trump's first criminal trial could finish today. that would put opening statements in the trial on hush money and election interference on track for monday morning. 12 jurors and 1 alternate have been selected. five additional alternates need to be selected. mr. trump could learn the details of the scope of the prosecution's cross examination. should he take the stand to testify, of course. that's the sandoval hearing we

have been talking about. vaughn hillyard is at his post outside the courthouse for us. joining us is former manhattan district attorney catherine christian. vaughn, there's 17 perspective jurors being questioned. there are five slots left. i understand that one of the perspective jurors actually broke down in tears and was dismissed for cause. is that correct? >> reporter: that's right. the big question here over the next however -- before the lunch break is, are they able to find five alternates out of the batch of 17 who are remaining? five have been dismissed from the batch of 22 who are facing this more intense line of questioning. you noted that there was a potential juror who broke down crying in the courtroom saying that she was anxious and nervous because her father is a longtime friend of governor chris christie. when she had answered and

testified to that earlier today, that brought the attention of donald trump directly eye to eye with her. now they began asking her further questions, she said she did not think that she would be able to withstand the pressure and be impartial knowing of the relationship and the intensity with which donald trump would be aware of that relationship. after sidebar conversation between that juror that included the judge, the judge excused her. we are down to 17 individuals. there's a lot more other potential jurors in the courtroom. if we were to go beyond those 17 to that other allotment, we are looking at a longer afternoon. are they able, before lunch, to get those five alternates? that's what we are checking on as they go through the voir dire process in asking a more straight line of questions to the jurors from the defense team right now. >> in terms of the sequence, catherine, i know we have to have -- they have to have the hearing where they would explain

what the prosecution is planning to do in terms of the questions that they might ask, if he does -- donald trump does take the stand, what kind of cross examination they would raise, issues including some of the past cases against him. does that have to happen before the jury is seated? >> it's called a sandoval hearing. >> does that -- >> before opening statements? >> exactly. >> yes. definitely. quite frankly, it should have happened before jury selection. judge merchan did it differently. it has to happen. the defense needs to know whether or not they will, in their opening statements say, my client might testify. you might hear x, y, z. they don't have to do that. some defense attorneys want to be able to prepare the jurors for what they may hear. yes, that definitely has to happen before opening statements. this is going to be a long day,

as vaughn said, if they don't pick the five alternates before lunch. it's going to go into the afternoon. judge merchan is determined to do opening statements monday. if he has to stay overtime today, i think he will. even though it's a friday. >> he has the passover holiday coming monday night. potentially tuesday. there have been some objections to that. vaughn, let's talk about what's happening right now in the courtroom. >> reporter: as we are having a conversation about the pressures the potential jurors say they are facing, we had two individuals say they felt they could not be impartial because of the pressures they are facing out of the first crop of 22. literally, as we were just talking here over the last three minute, another juror asked to approach the bench to have a side conversation with judge merchan saying she felt like this was getting anxiety and

self-doubt. after that conversation with judge merchan, he announced she was excused. we are down to 16 individuals on this current crop with the need to find five alternates. >> we will ask you to standby. we are getting -- we have our team inside working on a google doc. we are hearing word for word what's happening in the courtroom. there are no cameras and phones. we will bring you the latest throughout this hour with the two great experts we have there. thank you. the speaker spotlight. the house of representatives moving closer to voting on the major foreign aid packages for ukraine and israel that have been stuck waiting for six months. will this lead to a loss for speaker johnson, a loss of his

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a third republican, congressman paul gosar of arizona, has joined the effort to oust mike johnson after the house voted to move forward with u.s. aid to ukraine and israel. the rules committee vote -- excuse me, the vote was 316-94, with more democrats than republicans voting to move forward. democrats also helped get the measure out of the rules committee last night. a bipartisan action that is infuriating the speaker's maga republican critics. a final vote is expected tomorrow. the speaker was asked before the vote whether he was worried about keeping his job. >> is it time to call the bluff and put the motion to vacate on the floor? >> we will see what happens. i'm going to do my job. i'm not deterred by threats. we will do the right thing.

let the chips fall where they may. >> joining me now is nbc news capitol hill correspondent ryan nobles. the speaker has transformed in the last 48 hours. he is brushing off the challenges. congressman gosar joining marjorie taylor greene to try to oust the speaker. what does that mean? is the world going to see u.s. aid to ukraine? >> reporter: to answer your first question, i do think there is a real threat to house speaker mike johnson's job. that's because this motion to vacate that we have talked about that allowed a handful of conservative republicans to rise up and call a motion to vacate, which would lead to a vote to topple the speaker of the house. there's a scenario -- democrats have said they are open to it. maybe a handful of democrats offset the handful of republicans to allow mike johnson to hold on to his speakership.

as was demonstrated on the house floor today, the fact that it required democrats to get a rules bill -- the rule on this bill passed and to taking it to the next stage, that's a problem. it shows that the republican conference doesn't have thefull backing of their speaker. it would make him weaker. that doesn't mean it can't happen. it's the reality of the situation we need to recognize. regardless, the decision that the speaker has made to put his job on the line, to push through the foreign aid package is significant. it likely means that ukraine aid, at one point we thought was dead on arrarrival, has a possibility of passing. conservatives are unhappy. democrats are glad it's going to happen. i should point out, a majority of republicans are also happy it's going to happen. this is what happened during the rules committee meeting last night. >> americans are dying, not just ukrainians.

at the hands of wide open borders. we are under a rule to give another $100 billion to fund war. unpaid for, with zero border security. >> wow, mr. speaker, i guess the gentleman from texas is unaware of the fact that there was a bipartisan border security deal that was agreed to, that unfortunately house republicans and trump decided to kill. >> reporter: let me clarify, that was the debate on the rule this morning, not last night. the point is the same. conservative republicans angry that there wasn't a border package, an american border package attached to this situation. democrats argue they had an opportunity to pass bipartisan border package and chose not to. the foreign aid bills look like they are in a very good position to pass. the aid could be going to ukraine as soon as next week. >> ryan nobles, thank you so much for that valuable update. joining us now, charlie

sykes. and david jolly, former republican congressman from florida. david, can speaker johnson survive with republican congressmen gosar joining the effort? it strikes me from the republicans, as well as the democrats i interviewed, that he is going to get democratic support. he can limp along with that, because it seems like there were a number of republicans whom i have spoken to, conservative ones, who say they don't want to go through another six weeks where they don't have a speaker and can't pass anything this late in the session and it's a bad look for the republican party going into an election. >> andrea, i have thought mike johnson survives until january. he is no longer speaker come next january. because we might have a speaker, hakeem jeffries with democrats likely to take control. even if republicans keep control of the house, i don't think the votes will be there for speaker mike johnson. mike johnson very well might know that.

i do expect democrats to step in and help support mike johnson, really because this is -- these are critical matters that need to get passed. also, there's very little legislation of consequence between now and the end of the year. i think what hakeem jeffries and democrats largely know is, you can bail him out now. that doesn't mean you have to be in a relationship forever. this can be a short-term relationship until democrats take back the house or until republicans topple mike johnson next january. >> i guess it's speed dating or something on the house floor. charlie sykes, the ukraine aid likely to pass. it could almost be too late given how many losses they have suffered. a lot of people have died in the last six months while, frankly, these people have been screwing around. >> they have been dithering. let's not pass over what an extraordinary this is. you have a temporary break in

congressional dysfunction. what you saw on the house floor today was basically a bipartisan coalition government. the other extraordinary thing is whatever happened with mike johnson, who did drag his feet and lead to so many deaths in ukraine. somehow did find religion on ukraine. this is a really remarkable moment that you have this very, very strong bipartisan vote for israel and for ukraine, more than 300 votes, in defiance of donald trump's opposition to this bill. somehow they have managed to muddle through. i don't know mike johnson well enough to say what's really going on. he apparently is willing to risk his job to do the right thing. this may be a parentheses. all the caveats are in order here.

mike johnson is -- was in mar-a-lago kissing the ring. these republicans have all fallen into line behind donald trump. they will continue to do so. at least for today, we have a glimmer of what a congress that is willing to be functional -- a congress willing to do the right thing, to step up at a key moment. i have to say that i was completely surprised by mike johnson's reversal on this and his almost churchilian declaration when this was the moment we needed to step up and defend the world against vladimir putin. >> this is the way it always used to be done when i covered the hill. these votes were always bipartisan. it has become weaponized by a small group of republicans in the past year. charlie sykes, david jolly, thank you very much. next, my conversation with

alexander vindman back from ukraine. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnc. i love my swiffer wetjet. it's a quick and easy way to get my floors clean. wetjet absorbs and locks grime deep inside. look at that! swiffer wetjet. (vo) if you have graves' disease... ...gritty eyes could be more than a rough patch.! people with graves' could also get thyroid eye disease, or t-e-d, which may need a different doctor. find a t-e-d eye specialist at isitted.com. (vo) verizon small business days are coming. april 22nd to the 28th. get a free tech check. and special offers and deals. don't miss out. partner with our experts today. not flossing well? then add the whoa! of listerine to your routine. new science shows listerine is 5x more effective than floss at reducing plaque above the gumline. for a cleaner, healthier mouth. ahhhhh.

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congress is expected to vote on that long stalled $61 billion aid package for ukraine tomorrow. bill burns warning about the consequences if it does not make it through congress. >> there's a very real risk that the ukrainians could lose on the battlefield by the end of 2024, or at least put putin in a position where he could essentially dictate the terms of a political settlement. >> joining me is rtired commander vindman. tell me about the situation.

what we are hearing from ukraine is -- i heard this when i was covering zelenskyy in munich in march at the forum. they are out of ammunition. they need american ammunition. contrary to what president trump -- former president trump has been saying, the europeans have outpaced us in spending this year. while we have had that senate package sitting and not voted on in the house, they need air defenses. they need atacms. russia has long-range missiles from north korea. >> thanks for having me on. i think i have had multiple trips to ukraine. i've come back generally optimistic about the ukrainians' prospects. this one was by far the most disturbing trip. the main challenges arise from what amounts to a complete shutdown of support from the u.s. for the past six months. it's resulted in major short

shortfalls in ammunition. the russians are outshooting the ukrainians ten rounds to one. the russians have honed in on a new tactic where they drop massive, enormously destructive bombs that they fire from 70 kilometers away. because we haven't been providing intercepters, the ukrainians aren't able to shoot those planes down that are launching the bombs. in general, the russians are producing more drones. they are producing more than the ukrainians. they are losing territory and personnel. the package that's likely to be approved is going to be critical. it's going to be too late. we missed an opportunity. the republicans, under speaker johnson's leadership, delayed. the best case scenario, aid is coming through maybe in the next two months or so in a meaningful way. that's when the russians will be launching a major surge

operation in late may, june, july. it's a race who gets there first. does our support get there in time? do the russians achieve major tactical -- >> that's alarming. the prime minister from ukraine was here yesterday. he said, we need air defense. can the patriots -- do we have enough to supply them? our supplies are low. can we get them meaningful numbers of patriots in time in that two-month window? >> the answer is we can afford to supply them. we are not facing a challenge. the u.s. is not in a state of war. nato, as an alliance, is not in a state of war. we are on the cusp. the determination of whether we do go to war is success in ukraine. we should -- ukraine is fighting. we need to make sure ukraine has all the resources so nato

doesn't get dragged into a larger conflict. they need to come with long-range missiles to knock down the drones that the russians are launching, cruises myle -- missiles. artillery needs to come in. they just passed a law. they need to build for an offensive next year. that's important. the u.s. has more to do. this is just the leading edge. the $60 billion is just the leading edge. atacms, making sure ukraine has resources to take all of that massive equipment that was provided, that is broken down, just normal wear and tear, needs to be fixed. training the ukrainians to do all these complex things, defend against russia and then conduct

offensive operations. a lot to do. >> when i was in munich, it was the weekend that retreats in areas now we see in the north, terrible bombing overnight in major airs in kherson and other major cities. how is morale? >> morale is slipping. i think this is one of the critical reasons why mobilization needed to be passed. more people need to be rotated in to allow people a little bit of respite. the u.s. coming through with aid is going to be critical. that is going to be a big boost to morale and depress russia's morale, and putin's morale. my organization has been heavily involved. we put in masses of resources, $800,000, to ensure that congress did the right thing. finally, we hear speaker johnson issue a very powerful statement

that he is going to support this -- the ukraine aid. that's critically important. we don't want to see our troops fighting on the ground in ukraine. unless ukraine is successful, unless russia learns its lesson that military aggression is not going to work, we will see a situation in which russia is emboldened and the chance of u.s. troops in ukraine becomes higher. we are going all in on this and making sure ukraine has what it needs. that's the first step. now we need to make sure ukraine has the resources to succeed over the course of the next year. >> alexander vindman, thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you. stuck in court. next we will go back to manhattan for new developments from inside the courtroom in the trump criminal trial. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. this is terry's look of total relaxation.

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alternates in the trial. the pool is now down to 16. they have been questioned. judge merchan wants to see five more alternates today. opening statements can come on monday. if those spots are not filled from this pool, another group of 96 will be brought in. the process restarts. vaughn hillyard is outside the courthouse. back with us is former u.s. attorney and former deputy assistant u.s. attorney general harry litman and catherine christian. the lawyers are considering who they want to strike from the 16 who have been interviewed. >> reporter: right. inside the courtroom, judge merchan announced there's a delay of taking a lunch break. instead, the defense team and the prosecuors are going to go through the striking the challenging process here.

we could very well know who the five alternates are here within the next half hour, within the next hour even we could have the full jury box full here within a short period of time. they have honed in now on 16 individuals who have gone through a series of questions. let's be very clear. some of the 16 -- one individual who when asked about donald trump suggested he is, quote, usually awesome. there's another juror who calls the january 6 attack an insurrection. of course, we could expect some challenges to those two particular individuals to come here in the minutes ahead. there was another juror that -- to take you inside the courtroom, when asked about donald trump, referred to his rhetoric at times causing people to feel enabled. i want to read you a further quote. saying, there were homophobic comments or different comments made. when this potential jury was

asked whether they felt like donald trump was the reason that other individuals had these feelings, that juror said they could not be sure. they did not have a strong opinion about donald trump. these are kind of the types of personalities and responses that both sides are having to determine whether they feel comfortable having being potential jurors. one other one i wanted to mention was a female juror who suggested that she had a prior sexual assault encounter herself. in conversation with the judge directly answering, an attorney for donald trump's questioning about whether she could set aside her own experience when t have had a nonconsensual relationship with donald trump, and that juror said that she would be able to. again, this is a complicated process here. we're down to 16 individuals. the judge of course hoping to find five alternates to round out the full jury box here

within a matter of minutes, within the matter of the next hour, andrea. >> and catherine, they get two preemptory challenges per alternate, so they still have some options there. but how concerned do you think any -- others might be that there's some stealth juror, someone who is hiding a bias, these people seem to have very complex feelings about donald trump. >> you always, quite frankly, more as a prosecutor, are concerned about that, and we -- or we had one that we found out about yesterday who, you know, neglected to reveal important information. so you always are concerned about that. now, what typically happens when the alternates are selected, which i don't think will happen here, but we'll see, the judge will tell both sides, you know, the two of you, the two sides get along so we can find these last bit of alternates, i don't know if that's going to happen in this case, but you have to

pick for this case six because the max is allowed by law in new york, by the way. it's very important that they get six alternates because people get sick, the regular jurors. someone might on monday suddenly decide they too realize they can't be fair and impartial. it's very important to get those six. >> and harry, people are so vulnerable, they go home, they talk to friends and, you know, inevitaby this is going to come up. this is dominating conversations, especially in new york. >> 100%. they are all being put in a caldron. we've had several comments by potential jurors to the effect of i didn't realize how stressful it was going to be, and the evidence hasn't even started yet. combine that with trump's propensity for pulling stunts or making trouble. for starters, the alternates here are going to be as important as the regulars.

i think it's likely that one, two, three, alternates will be called on to serve because of different pressure situations, and each side now when you get to the end has had to accept certain jurors that they're not sure about. they'll spend trial kind of looking out of the side of their eyes for how they're responding to the evidence and the like, and as carol said, especially for the prosecutors who are always worried about a lone holdout giving rise to a mistrial. >> harry litman, vaughn hillyard, catherine christian, thanks to all of you. and the waiting game, israel watching to see how iran is now going to respond as both countries are trying to down play israel's latest counterattack. that's next, you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. msnbc.

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iran's leaders and the state media are down playing israel's limited military strike.

iran has resumed all flights. israel is not confirming or denying its actions and so far is not expecting a retaliation. joining us now, the former chief of staff of the cia and the pentagon during the obama administration. israel did not hit one of iran's most important nuclear sites. despite urging from the far right members of the war cabinet to strike a major blow at iran's nuclear program with this opportunity, so it seems to me the message is we can penetrate your country. we didn't take out your nuclear plant this time. hit us again and we will. . >> i think this showed that president biden had a real influence on israel's decision-making here. as you know, the united states was counseling that israel's retaliation should be calibrated carefully so as not to trigger an additional round of retaliation from iran, and that's exactly what israel appears to have done. it appears to have been fired

missiles and not acknowledged it publicly, so kind of maintained this covert nature of this attack or this operation, i should say, and fired missiles at radar installations that protect the nuclear facility, and the message is unmistakable, which is we can take down your defenses if you take us, our next operation will be against your nuclear facility. now, i think it's important to note that the international community does not assess that iran is building a nuclear weapon, but they are spinning centrifuges at na tans creating a nuclear fuel that could then be further enriched to create bomb fuel for a nuclear weapon. and israel has long been concerned about this and has long been discussing with the united states and other allies how to disable them. israel is signaling we can do them if we want. >> in fact, i've been told that they could be a week away from having enough fuel.

they don't have the missile, delivery system or the bomb but they could have the fuel within a week. it would have been a year if the iran nuclear deal had still been in place. both iran and israel are staying quiet so far. no one in israel is bragging, they're not claiming credit for this. what does that say about their intention at least to avoid a wider war? >> really a tale of two aerial barrages. i mean, iran's was public. it was highly telegraphed. it was 320 munitions. it was designed to inflict damage, not just against military targets but potentially against israel's population. it overflew jerusalem in a very highly and public way, and iran was went 0 for 320, i mean, a completely and utterly fail with zero military effects. israel's operation, on the other hand, was small. it was limited. it was highly calibrated. it wasn't publicly acknowledged, so it maintained this air of

covertness, and it was designed to go after military targets only without causing any civilian casualties or without triggering any other retaliation. so i think these are kind of the two sides of the coin, and again, i think it's clear the biden administration and israeli government are working very closely to deal with security issues in the region. >> prime minister netanyahu clearly ignored president biden, though, urging him to, quote, take the win, although he did take the least aggressive action considering what was being recommended by the war cabinet. last weekend, yesterday's strike, just tell you something more about netanyahu's relationship with the president. >> yeah, you and i might disagree about this, andrea. i don't think he ignored president biden. i actually think he heeded the counsel of president biden, and i think it was because there were elements inside israel that were saying, hey, let's not

waste this crisis. let's use this opportunity now that we've been attacked with 320 munitions to really go after and disable a significant portion of iran's military and war making capability but i think inside the israeli war cabinet with the focus being on hamas, finishing off the hamas leadership, with sinwar still at large with more than 100 hostages still being held, including importantly five american hostages we believe still to be alive in hamas's hands potentially in those tunnels with other bodies of americans who are killed not being returned to israel, and with hezbollah, a very capable terrorist military on israel's northern border, with that as an iranian proxy, i think the netanyahu government said let's focus on our own borders, on our own security, and let's leave the reckoning with iran for another day. >> indeed. thank you so much, jeremy, and a quick update from the courthouse. we just learned a second alternate juror has just been seated in the trump criminal