and thank you for joining us on news night. laura coates live as always starts right now. hey, laura. >> i'm always live. i love that. >> as always. >> congratulations on a wonderful week. >> thank you. you too. a lot of news arriving for both of us, but i know you'll be covering it. >> good news tonight. thank you. we'll see you again on monday. >> that's right. well, two american hostages released by hamas. that's the good news. now, what will happen to the rest? tonight, on laura coates live. thankfully, a sigh of absolute

relief, at least for one family and this nation. an american mother and her daughter from chicago who were just visiting family in israel when they were taken by hamas pictured here after their release. the photo from the israeli government. president joe biden spoke with them and promised the full support of the united states government as they recover from their ordeal. the embassy in jerusalem releasing a photo tonight. none of them can contain the smile they have at what is really an extraordinary moment. as we wait for them to touch down and come back to the united states, there is that bittersweet feeling gnawing at all of us because there are more hostages. so why to they decide to only release these two? thankfully they did, but why them, and why now? a source tells cnn it was on, quote, unquote, humanitarian

grounds. but what exactly does that mean, and can their experience be kind of a road map to rescue the others? >> the urgency to free every single american, to free all other hostages continues as does our work to continue the safe passage out of gaza for the americans trapped there. >> meanwhile, back in the us of a, congress the still paralyzed. you did not miss somehow the news of a brand new speaker holding a brand new gavel there isn't a new speaker.ews. they didn't want mccarthy, they didn't want steve scalise. now they also don't want tim jordan. welcome to another edition of who wants to be the speaker of the house of representatives. >> the most popular republican in the united states congress was just knifed by a secret ballot in a private meeting in the basement of the capitol.

>> it's astonishing to me, and we are in a very bad position as a party. >> now, this isn't just someone waiting to see who gets a rose. this is the american people waiting to see them do their jobs, which really, they cannot do, according to the rules, without a speaker of the house. nothing, not aid for israel, not aid for ukraine, not funding for the federal government ahead of the deadline, remember, just 28 days away, none of that can get done. and the world is watching what america does as president biden calls all of this an inflection point, which i bet you're calling it a -- are you people serious point. so what will we do in fighting in the gop and two wars waiting to see if congress can move. here with me, two experts who can shed light on what's happening in the war zone. on the military zone, retired

criminal intelligence. and former assistant secretary of state. i want to begin with kaitlyn collins who is on the ground in tel aviv. good to see you. president biden spoke with the freed hostages tonight. what are you learning about how this release even came together? >> reporter: a big grin on the president's face in that photo released by the white house. of course, they are two americans that were here visiting family for ju digit's mother's 85th birthday for the end of the jewish holiday, and they were here when that attack happened. over these two weeks, their family had been desperately waiting to find out more about them. what we've learned about what happened behind the scenes, these were very quiet negotiations happening between

qatar and hamas. we were waiting to see why the white house had been so quiet about the american hostages while president biden was here on the dwrground, and the offics say they didn't want to say too much publicly about that. they have been released. they were brought to the border with gaza, and from there, they were taken to a military base in central israel. that is where they got to greet their family before those medical checkups, meeting with t staff of the u.s. embassy here, and we heard from natalie's dad tonight saying he hopes they'll be back in the united states by next week. >> i've been waiting for this moment for a long time, for two weeks. i haven't been sleeping for two weeks. tonight, i'm going to sleep good. i spoke with my daughter earlier today. she sounds very good. she looked very good. she was very happy.

and she's waiting to come home. i'm going to hug her and kiss her and it's going to be the best day of my life. >> reporter: of course, laura, i should note he also says natalie turns 18 next tuesday. so he's hoping she's home in time for her birthday. >> i can't even imagine what that has been like for him, let alone what it's like right now to hold out hope for all the other families who are hoping they too will have their loved ones back in their arms. are you hearing anything tonight about efforts to get the other american hostages out? >> you know, there was a moment tonight where president biden was asked by a reporter if israel should wait for that pending, that looming ground invasion that everyone's been waiting on, until other hostages are released. he seemed to say yes, but the white house later walked that back and said he was answering the generic question on getting other hostages released.

they say they're still working, on it in a statement tonight confirmed ju digit and natalie had been released. as you know, there are about 200 hostages still in custody, been captured by hamas and are still in gaza tonight. those families, it's a bittersweet moment for them. they're happy to see those two hostages come out and go home, but they wish it was their loved ones. >> we're waiting to hear more news about everyone else as well. kaitlyn collins, thank you so much. here with me now, colonel cedrick layton. this has been a moment to rejoice in what has been very difficult circumstances. i want to go deeper into the why now and why the reason they've given. they have said it's for humanitarian grounds because of the mother's health. what does that say to you about this decision to release them?

>> well, hostages from hamas' standpoint, are valuable as long as they're alive in good health, and can be bargained for something of interest to hamas. prisoners, conditions on the ground, et cetera. so it was not in hamas' interest to see an american hostage die in captivity. this demonstrates that they are able to deal, but now i think the negotiations will become more difficult and probably more lengthy as we go through this. >> let's tap more into that. why do you think this indicates a way to negotiate now? >> well, i think this is a signal of good faith. and obviously, they are very effective in this intermediary role. they have the able to engage with a wide array of actors in the region. so that conversation will continue, but now i think hamas will put some conditions on the

next release, perhaps some boundaries around what israel will do militarily or the delivery of more assistance to the people of gaza. so -- but there will always be strings attached the further along we get in this process. >> strings attached i think is what people are looking at to see, but also maybe bread crumbs about what these hostages might know. >> when you think about this from the standpoint of an intelligence offer who's going to be debriefing these hostages. you're going look at what they experienced, what do they remember. you have to also keep in mind, these are civilians, they're not diplomats, not intelligent agents. >> they haven't been trained to observe their surroundings at all times. >> exactly. and that's going to be a problem. in a criminal court case, if the witness doesn't remember things,

there are going to be gaps in the trial testimony, gaps in what the prosecution can present if it's a prosecution witness. there are going to be all kinds they things they won't know. in some cases, it may lead the intelligence analysts astray. but it's still worth while because they will have had firsthand experience. they might give a clue about a location. they might be able to say, hey, when we passed a certain point, i don't know where it was, but i heard this particular sound, and that then can be correlated to perhaps a landmark or some other situation where they can say, okay, this is here, this is where these people were, and they may still be there. they may not. but it's still something very valuable from an intelligence standpoint. >> and also who had them, if they can remember any clues like that, and were they part of a larger group, or were they separate. ult

ultimately, to get these people back, intelligence is going to be crucial. >> i'm thinking about all the senses. what did you see, what did you smell, were there a lot of people there, how were you treated is also part of the conversation. you heard the father suggest earlier this evening that his father suggested she was treated well and nicely. just a phrase he used. this tells me something about what they're trying to signal to the world. first you had a release of a hostage video of a french israeli citizen. now you have the release of two americans. >> this is a complex crisis. there are ultimately military dimensions to this, political, public opinion is going to be critical, not just in terms as who's perceived as the villain, who's perceived as the hero. the conflict, as we continue to see it unfold, what happens on

the other side when the conflict's over, what are you left with on the ground to try to build some sort of process, peace process, out of this. >> and in a more immediate sense, laura, the other thing is this, i think what they're signaling is we don't want to fight the united states or europe right now. french hostage, video. american hostages, released. at least those two. so there's a signal there that they're saying, our fight is with the israelis, not with you at the moment. >> and of course, even when you think about the language that can be used, trying to get good will, a gesture, et cetera. treated nicely. these are hostages who were taken violently, and for doing nothing other than being where they were, and part of a plan from hamas that they can do something about it. it's counterintuitive to people thinking about any good will or gesture that could work.

diplomatically, this means more. >> all of this is counterintuitive. hamas is baiting israel to overreact. it has succeeded in taking the palestinian issue, which had been on the sidelines for years, and now bringing it back to the center. obviously as we have all noted, it was also done to short circuit the ongoing negotiation among israel, the united states, and asaudi arabia. the hostages are part of that. they have signalled that we are willing to give back foreign hostages, but obviously, that -- those deals will be something that we'll try to see what are the conditions, what are the terms, what do they want, what will either side give in the process, and that's where cutter is at the center of this. >> let's go back two weeks.

we remember there was a moment they would talk about there had to be a warning, otherwise, they would execute hostages, they would harm hostages, warnings about whether there were going to be attacks or ground invasions. where do those stand now given the haostages? >> the israelis have issued warnings. tonight, we heard about a hospital in gaza saying they received warnings from israelis. they said there's nowhere for them to go, and they don't have the ability to honor the israeli message to them to evacuate. in essence, we have a bit of a problem here to say the least. could be a very tragic situation because right now, the israelis are following, in essence, the rules of war by saying we're going to bomb.

the reason we're doing it is because we believe hamas is using that facility above ground or below ground for their purposes. in their minds, it becomes a legitimate target to tell the civilians to get out of there and do what they can to minimize the damage. >> even americans are getting warned about going overseas. the state department advised all americans overseas to exercise increased caution. when you look at that, what strikes you? >> it's very prudent. two things. one is we've got demonstrations in every major city in the region against israel, against the united states, to have an american citizen walk into the middle of that is dangerous. and we do have the risk of escalation. we've seen during the course of the week these droenes coming from yemen, attacks of u.s. military forces in the region. while we hope to contain the crisis through the parameters we now have, there's no guarantee

that will happen. >> you know, clarissa ward was actually at the crossing. it's important when you talk about the u.n. secretary-general. it got intense, and the risk that is are involved in all of this, i want you to listen, though, to what she had to say as a part of her report. listen to this. >> u.n. secretary-general antonio gutierrez hoped to be here for a much-needed diplomatic win. instead, he found himself in the midst of a protest, his remarks drowned out by the crowd. people are chanting over and over again, with our blood, with our souls, we will defend palestine. there's a huge amount of anger, a huge amount of emotion. much of it directed at the west. >> we need justice. we need justice. >> how long can this go on?

>> well, if we're talking about the conflict, it can go on for weeks or months. if we're talking about hostages, it can go on for weeks, months, or years. israeli soldiers have been captured before, and it took years to negotiate a prisoner exchange. so, you know, there's no scoreboard clock. this will unfold and the decisions that hamas makes, the palestinian people make, israel makes, the region makes, the united states makes will all factor into that. >> the key thing is this. this has been going on really since israel started as a nation in 1948, and this is just another chapter in that battle and in that whole story. and until the palestinian issue is solved, until everything is done so that there is at least some degree of political

responsibility for everybody, it's not going to go away. >> just to add to that, we're focused on the military dimension, but this challenge is largely a political challenge, and coming out the other side, we need to have something that we can build on to try to find a way to process at least to a negotiation between the israelis and palestinians something that hasn't happened in more than a decade. >> and a humanitarian crisis spiraling out of control. thank you so much to both of you. well, as war rages between israel and hamas, the united states congress is powerless to do anything while republicans time after time have failed to elect a speaker. next, we'll ask one republican congressman what happens now as his party seems to be in complete chaos. >> the amount of damage they have done to this party and this

country is instrumental. i've never seen this amount of damage done to just a few people for their own personalities.

all right. for those of you counting out there, which is everyone, we've gone 17 days without a house speaker, and 13 days since hamas attacked israel. there have been three rounds of voting just this week alone. it's the longest the house has been without a speaker in american history. you think you're frustrated at what's going on on the hill, listen to how a few member of congress are feeling. >> think this looks good? >> i mean, look, having the american people being able to see how we are wrestling with the tough decisions, i think it makes congress look as a whole very bad. >> i think americans are sick of it. >> it is time for big boys and big girls to stop with the nonsense and get back to work. >> joining me now is congressman cory mills of florida. congressman, thank you for being here. you are frustrated by what's

been happening right now, so many people are, voters, members of congress. it looks awful that the government is paralyzed by not being able to have a speaker. >> well, look, we've gone through three speakers. we've gone through kevin mccarthy, steve scalise, congressman jim jordan, who is the second most popular conservative member in congress. we have to acknowledge the fact that this is an example of what congress is, the brokenness. its actual approval rating is being generous. i think it's a step above what it should be. we were elected in congress to be statesmen, not to play games and statesmanship, but the get legislation across and help the american people, secure our borders, protect our children, put more money in our pocket. these are the things that we're elected to do, and we need to actually have someone who can

yu unify us, and i truly do think that person in my personal opinion, the person i would stand behind the congressman byron bonds. >> a fellow congressman from florida as well. do you think he would have the votes to be able to get there? because so far, we have not seen from scalise to jordan, does donalds have it? >> think he does. a lot of people have been in congress for 10, 15, and 20 years. over time, they've built bad blood. maybe there's some animosity there. maybe there's some disconnect between the various individual families. byron hasn't been there long enough to develop all this bad blood. he also represents that not only is he' true strong financer, he's been a state legislatiure,

but he also represents our country. he was raised bay single mother. he grew up in rough parts of new york, who understands the importance of a safe and stable community. not trying to look at all the criminality going on. this is a man who has been a mediator in many ways, and i've seen him personally, whether it was hr 2 or hr 1, come between these five families within the republican conference and really try to unite and bring them together. >> i remember his name being raised the first time when kevin mccarthy was introduced as trying to get the gavel. he did not secure a number of votes. he's not even nine or ten months away from when he didn't get them back in january. some could argue, for the reasons you say, not being long enough in congress. why would it not be? >> i think nine or ten months ago, we were a totally different

conference. if you look at what we have achieved during that ten months, we passed hr 1, hr 2, hr 5, limit save, and also fra. there's a lot of things that people say couldn't be achieved that were achieved that he was a very instrumental piece of. i think there was animosity that had taken do you happen the speaker and allowed us to be in a position we're in right now. i also think there were promises made that weren't kept. byron has not made any promises, any back room deals. he's here to get us forward. >> i don't want to cut you off, but on your point about that, he has not been in the position to try to secure the gavel to make whatever deals would be necessary. there's eight people, right, who voted down mccarthy. they're also in congress right now. there's still a motion to vacate. is he able to withstand that

level of skucrutiny? >> the best part about byron, he doesn't want this job. that's exactly what we need. we need someone who doesn't want this job. this is a thankless job that's going to come under tremendous pressure. we have bills coming through to make sure we get the reforms and revisions to improve our economy. this is the person who can do that. you have a person who wants to unite and try to keep the government funded responsibly. this is a person who has an actual plan. a lot of people want to have it. this is a guy who actually wants to try and govern, because that's what the american people want. what we see now is chaos. what we need, we seed serenity now. that's the key is for us to come together to unify, to lead, and i personally stand behind him, and i endorse him, and i think he's the right person to lead this conference. >> we'll see what a difference ten months can make since we're all looking back to january. before you go, i want to say it must be very personally

frustrating for you because this means congress can't get done. you are a veteran. you have recently gone to israel to try to return americans home. none of that's getting done because people are being put forth that cannot get the vote. so far, is this personal to you in that way to secure the right person to make sure that can get done? >> it's very personal. i conducted ground evacuations that got over 96,000 americans that need to go. still many more our country understands we're at turmoil both at home and abroad. we need to have a strong and unified house and come together and demonstrate we have the right to govern. >> thank you so much for joining me today. >> thank you. well, another pro-trump lawyer flipping in the georgia election case. pleading guilty. how will this acffect the forme president and others who were named today in the plea?

we'll dive right in next.

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well, tonight there's more from former president trump. a one-time member of his former circle has now flipped against him pleading guilty. chesebro -- that's not him. but somebody else who pled guilty earlier. he took a deal today in the georgia election subversion case. as part of that deal, chesebro -- there he is -- admitted he conspired to put forward fake gop electors in georgia with trump and giuliani

and john eastman. giuliani and eastman have already pleaded not guilty, and they face the prospect of chesebro taking the witness stand against them. i want to dive in now to the former counsel to president george w. bush. attorney brad moss. we've already had one plea, two threes, now three pleas. there are still at least 15 more people on the docket. when you saw this, did you think it would be a felony, and he would actually name trump, giuliani, and eastman in the discussion? i wasn't surprised because think of what we saw just yesterday with powell. powell got it pled down to misdemeanors. the early fish gets the worm. as we get closer and closer to the bigger trial, which will be the one that will have donald trump and any of the remaining

defendants, any plea deals will be more punishment compared to what these people got. ken chesebro, he pleaded to a particular criminal act that implicated donald trump, the fake elector scheme, the documents themselves. the dominos are starting to fall, how many is yet to see. >> people may have missed it when you said the law silence. the attorney said, i want to be a -- and every lawyer was like, oh, because you want to keep your license. the moral turpitude. that was sort of the inside lawyer baseball there. but when you think about this, are there going to be other pleas you think soon from eastman or giuliani or others who are hoping to preview all of this trial testimony and figure out whether they had enough against them? >> look, i think this is how it works. they can certainly see more people going down. eastman -- giuliani is harder to pin down. >> really? is he, you say? interesting how you mentioned

that. he's harder to pin down. >> you know, america's mayor. he's changed a lot over the years. and he's gone down a road that's challenging. tos it's going to be hard to see him plea. this is classic rico move. you start working down the lower level folks, give them plea deals. it gets harder and harder as you go along. you want to get to the big fish, donald trump, they're working their way up and doing it. >> what struck me is that chesebro has testified in other cases. also talking about potentially jack smith's case, because i think he was the coconspirator number five, unnamed, of course, so that could actually be a deal or interesting for that case, right? >> as is paul, within of those other coconspirators. these very same people coming up in the georgia case will make an

appearance in the federal case if they've made these plea deals, they're going to start trying to talk to jack smith's team saying, let's figure this out, we'll cooperate. what can we do here. as these various cases start to overlap and start to intersect and more people start cutting deals, it's going to get more and more pressure on the former president. it's going to make it more difficult for him to hold the line he's kept thus far. >> you say cooperator, some are already using the word snitch. you talk about a rat in a suit. but the attorney for chesebro is already saying, no, you got this all wrong. he's not snitching. he's just trying to be accountable for what he has done. listen. >> he didn't snitch against anyone. he went in there, he accepted responsibility for what i would view as one of the minor kind of tag-on charges in the indictment. and that was that.

i mean, i could absolutely tell you, again, if he's called, he'll go testify and answer their questions. but i would disagree. i don't think mr. chesebro snitched against anyone. i think he simply decided it was time for him to put this behind him and go on with his life. >> why do you think he's saying that in that way? >> you know the old phrase, snitches get stitches. he doesn't want donald trump coming out saying this guy is coming after me. he's doing it anyway. it's happening. the reality is ken chesebro is going to have to testify against donald trump, certainly in georgia, maybe in the federal case. this is not going to go well for donald trump. trump world has got to be freaking out seeing powell and chesebro go down. powell knows a lot about what happened on the inside. while she didn't plead to the kind of charge chesebro did, both the felony involving that georgia plot. she pled to the stuff that happened in that one county. nonetheless, the fact that she

knows all that stuff, and if she doesn't testify to stheir satisfaction, they can bring these dials back. all the rico charges, and yet, this is a vindcation of her strategies. >> if i can't get it from anyone else, which you're right about trump world, they're already on notice about what he can and cannot say. he's already violated a gag order. a judge in new york is fining him 5,000 bucks because he keeps doing it. we'll see if that is a warning for others as well. do you see him violating other -- it was rhetorical. or keep doing it. we'll see what happens in the other trial. nice to see you. and up next, very seriously,

i mean, we talk a lot about what's happening in the war in the middle east, and we talk about all the diplomatic and military figures who are important in the discussion. but what about the children, the truly innocent ones in all of this? it's taking its toll. we'll tell you how next.

conditions on the ground in gaza are deteriorating, as early strikes continue, and aid agencies are warning that humanitarian supplies are desperately needed. the most tragic victims in all of this, the children. according to palestinian ministry of health, the death

toll in gaza has climbed to 4,127. and do you know that 1,661 of them are children. cnn reports on how the war is impacting children who make up nearly half of gaza's population. and i want to warn you, what you're about to see is graphic and disturbing. >> reporter: why, why have you dpo gone, my son, he whails. every day of this war has brought pain, pain no parent wants to ever live through. every 15 minutes in gaza, a

child is killed, and groups say more than 1,500 children killed so far in a war that's only just beginning, a war they didn't choose, one for which they are paying the heaviest price. those who live haunted by what they've survived, the lucky ones still have parents to hold their hands. this 10-year-old still doesn't know the strike that left him injured took away his mom, dad, three sisters, his aunt the only one left to try to comfort hum. he wakes up, he cries. he give him painkillers, and he goes back to sleep, she says. i'm worried about him, the shock when he wakes up and finds out his father and mother are gone. he's the youngest. he was so attached to his parents. families here say they all heeded the israeli military's

warning and headed south thinking it would be safe, but it wasn't. she lost her mother and siblings in an air strike. a girl in the third grade, what did she do, he aunt asks, did they shoot israelis. she didn't, we're peaceful people in our homes. we didn't launch any rockets or shoot. we didn't do anything. this 9-year-old was out playing when his family home was hit. he's in the hospital with head and leg injuries. we were playing in the garden, and suddenly, a missile landed on us, he says. trees fell on me. my mother, my father, my grandfather and brother are injured. my grandfather brought me unconscious to the hospital. most of the injured in gaza, doctors say, are women and children. with no power and medical supplies running out, the health care they need is on the verge of collapse. around half of gaza's population is children.

most have mostly only known life under blockade war. desperate for any promise of safety, many have flooded hospital grounds. the constant buzz of military drones overhead has become part of existence in gaza. some find a little escape from this living nightmare no child should ever endure. james and julia say their neighborhood was flattened by air strikes. we've been living in so much fear, fan panic, and anxiety, she says. whenever i hear air strikes, i don't know what to do, i hold my hom. this 7-year-old says she holds her mom too and hides. i get upset when i see injureds here in the hospital. when i grow up, i want to become a doctor so i can treat them.

it's a war on thamas, but it's the youngest who bear the brunt. trapped in this race against death. cnn, london. >> these are children. children. just human beings. and what, what are they to do? it really breaks my heart, it breaks all of our hearts to see how these little children are suffering. the little girl with the glasses talking about what she wants to be when she grows up and thinking about what's happening on a daily basis. losing their loved ones, losing their lives. and others taken hostage, all wondering what the future will be like. in tel aviv, the moving sight of a dinner table with 200 empty

chairs. for the 200 hostages who are being held by had mass and gaza. mothers, fathers, grand parents, uncles, aunts, sons, daughters, human beings. the table for hostages also set up in rome. so many of us are watching what is happening in the world right now, and it is impossible to feel like we're anything but helpss at times. up next, we'll tell you how you can help, as we're all bearing witness.

you know, the news that's

coming out of the middle east can leave a lot of us feeling helpless. but there are things that you can do. for more information about how you can help humanitarian efforts in israel and also in gaza, go to cnn.com/impact or text relief to 707070. that's 707070 to relief to donate. thank you so much for watching. our live coverage continues after this short break.