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and the breaking news is a key former trump campaign attorney has plead guilty of the subversion case. >> jenna ellis is one of four defendants to plea guilty in fulton county, georgia. this is a third attorney for donald trump to plead guilty in

less than a week. now, let's go to nick valencia who was in the courtroom, and paula reid. nick, how did this guilty plea come about? >> well, john and kate, we had heard discussions were going on between the fulton county district attorney's office and jenna ellis's attorneys as early as last week, and this morning we saw a stakeout of the defense attorney nathan wade walk into court with ellis, and then all of this came in and schedule some impromptu hearings and this is a bombshell to the defense, and for every plea deal that is cut, the walls of the defense is going to be crumbling in on him, and we were the only correspondent team inside of the courtroom to see jenna ellis' tearful apology in the courtroom to address this in open court.

>> in the frenetic pace to address challenges in other states including georgia, i failed to do my due diligence. i respect election integrity, and if i knew then what i know now, i would have refused to represent donald trump. i look back on this experience with deep remorse. with those failures, your honor, i have taken response before the colorado bar who censured me, and i take responsibility before this court and i apologize to the people of georgia. >> reporter: she appeared to implicate rudy giuliani, and appeared to help him when he lied to georgia legislators, when he appeared three times in 2020, and ellis and others who cut similar deals will have probation, and she won't see the inside of the jail cell and she will have to do 100 hours of community service and pay a

fine, and like other deals, she is going to have to testify in front of other co-defendants and other trial proceedings. kate and john? >> standby, because with us is our chief judicial affairs, paula reid, jenna ellis seemed to point the finger at other people involved here saying that she relied on information from senior attorneys of what they told her, and the implication is rudy giuliani in the hearing and that she was providing sensitive information and talk to me how this plea deal, and now the four plea deals fits into the fani willis deal in fulton county. >> and she has charged 19 defendants in this sprawling rico case, and it is significant that she now has four of them, and three of the individuals have worked closely to help

former president trump and the legal challenges to overturn the 2020 election. now, all of the individuals as nick said have agreed as part of the deals that are particularly generous as the ones handed out over the past several weeks, you have to help them to build their case against the other defendant, and of the three individuals who were working on the trump legal team, only ken chesebro mentioned president trump in plea deal hearing, but we expect more deals, and that is how the cases work. you start with 19 people, and then try to thin the herd, and try to focus the eventual case on the key players and this is former president trump, and likely rudy giuliani, and mark meadows and a few others. the trump team has tried to suggest that the plea deals indicate that the case in fulton county is weak. now, let's unpack that based on

the reporting, and anybody who watched hearings, because they are all televised could see that perhaps the prosecutors were not ready the bring a four months' long trial quickly against the two defendants, and they were likely under some pressure to hand out the plea deals, and the fact that they have gotten cooperation with the expectation of more is a sign of weakness, and the question is when could president trump and the associates go to trial. this is a case that is expected to take over four months to put on, and if you are looking at the 2024 calendar with the other trials and the election event, it is impossible to see where it could fit on the calendar, and so it is something that could not happen in well over a year. >> the plea deals could continue the happen, and certainly more people who could enter the pleas if they choose to do so, and so at this point, you have to pay attention to what is going on there, and get new developments every day. nick valencia, the only correspondent in the courtroom,

and i am looking at the excellent reporting by the team, and thank you. >> and now, former federal prosecutor jessica roff and u.s what do you make of this today? >> well, aim glad to be with all of you, and it is significant any time you have co-defendants aggreeing to testify against their other co-defendants, it is a big deal and not something that trump and other people want to hear. i was interested in a couple of things. one, that, you know, the sentence itself, the plea itself, it is in line with what we have seen, probation, and first offender, and in fact, the state has agreed it is not a crime of moral turpitude, and not affecting law license and things like that, and it is interesting to see that, but i was also interested to see how far away they stayed from talking about donald trump. they talked about the trump campaign, and they talked about other lawyers giving advice, but as an individual, as a person,

you didn't hear much information about specifically the president because ms. ellis's is going to have impact on john eastman and rudy giuliani when she said that i wish i had not paid attention to other lawyers who are more senior than me, and they have more to fear at this point. >> and if she knew then what she knows now, she wouldn't have worked for the trump campaign, and i can guarantee you that this is something that trump who is headed to another new york courtroom did not want to hear. >> and now, with this jenna ellis plea deal, it has to do with the aiding and the abetting of the false brwriting and it h to do specifically with the georgia legislative subcommittee

where rudy giuliani is there, and i did false stuff, but how threatening is that to rudy giuliani? >> i think it is very effective and she relied on him, and saying that there were multiple lawyers who had greater expert experience and expertise on them, and she wished she hadn't, and so it is pointing finger squarely at giuliani and increases pressure on him, and not clear to any circumstances that giuliani would cooperate, and perhaps he would enter a guilty plea at some point, and this is increasing pressure on him to do so, and she could be an effective witness on the point that she was making that there had not been fraud of the voting in georgia and the things that she plead guilty to aiding and abetting falts statement faf the people she had reported on

as fraud, and saying it is false, and acknowledging it is false, and the testimony even in a case against trump and others of how she has come to understand how that is false allegations can be powerful in the legal case against them in respect to knowingly engaging in conduct of overturning an election, and publicly acknowledging that those were false allegations of fraud. >> i was in the middle of it, and i was the one pushing this, and saying this many false ballots and this, and knowingly, and now know that those are false statements and saying to a judge in a courtroom that as part of the plea deal. >> michael, do you think that from what we have seen so far, that cutting the plea deals, and three of them being former trump attorneys what does this, and is this wrong to assume that this could be a domino effect then of this will lead to more people looking to get plea deals?

>> well, i mean, the plea deals have been offered basically of a first-year lawyer would advice a client to take this deal, and no jail time and no record, and you can have first offender, and this is going to be sealed after a period of time, and these are easy decisions to be made if you are going there, and if you are looking for the domino effect, and with these particular defendants, we are not at the top of the line, and starting at the middle and below and if you don't see necessarily if you think about it, pushing the domino at the top, or push it in the direction of the top, and this is pushing it towards the middle, and i will point out, too, you know, even as she talked about the other lawyers and the advice she got, remember, that is exactly what donald trump is going to say. that is, i relied on people to tell me what to do, and i relied on lawyers and i relied on the political consultants and people close to my campaign, and this is her excuse, and you count on that is the excuse that you hear from the people higher up the chain.

and so, it is going to be laying out the case, but it is going to be somebody pleading guilty in the indicted case to admit things, but i don't know if we are necessarily on the top, and maybe it is putting the pressure on giuliani and eastman and other people, and they may need to feel additional pressure if they want to feel pressure going up the line of the dominos, but it is significant any time somebody pleads guilty in a case and agrees to testify the prosecution feels like it is a good day. >> and still a long way from over which is very true for sure. great to see you both. thank you very much. >> all right. that is in a fulton county courtroom, and dramatic events taking place in a new york courtroom where donald trump's former fixer, michael cohen is

face-to-face with donald trump for the first time in five years. five years, right? >> yep. >> and he is set to take the stand in a civil fraud trial, and this is the case where donald trump has already been found liable for committing fraud, and trump by the way, he has been found guilty, not guilty, but found liable, and fined for violating a gag order ahead of the testimony, and cohen says he is looking forward to being in the same room as trump. >> my credibility should not be in question, and yes, i plead guilty to a 1001 violation of lying to congress, but i requested that people continue to sentence, and the sentence is that i did it at the direction of in concert with and for the benefit of donald j. trump. >> that is michael cohen before heading to court, and brynn

gingras is there. >> yes, we are expecting some drama there before they get to court, but the drama is that before court started four members of the general attorney's team, and one member of the trump team tested positive for covid, and the trump's attorney asked the judge to basically put a halt to the proceedings saying it is irresponsible to proceed forward and the judge said that is exactly what they are going to do. so someone has been on the stand today, and we expect michael cohen to be up next, and when he t does enter the courtroom, it is going to be five years since the two men have been in a courtroom together. and that going to be dramatic, and what the testimony is going to entail is when they were in the room together working together, and when michael cohen was trump's personal attorney, and when he talks about his net worth and they would fudge the

financial statements and get better deals on loans and to work in the attorney general's office and that is the pivotal moment in the case of this civil trial. we will see when this that happens, and we will continue the give you those updates from the courtroom, guys. >> keep us posted there, brynn, and a lot going on there. kate? >> and the field is shrinking fast. the republicans are narrowing down to field to be the house speaker. they started with eight candidates and now down to five. with such a slim majority in the house which is how they got into this mess, will they need the democrats to help get this over the finish line in the end, and get the house working? democratic congressman steny hoyer is going to join us. plus, we are watching overseas, the united states, qatar, and egypt in negotiations trying to get more hostages freed. what hamas is saying, and what

hamas is willing to do, and we have new reporting of the complications behind the scenes to try to free these innocent civilians. violence has erupted in the occupied west bank, and dozens of palestinian have been killed or arrested by the israeli security forces. ahead, sara sidner is going to take us inside of a jewish settlement. we take a closer look.

breaking news from capitol hill, and they have completed another round for house speaker. dan meuser dropped out, and gary palmer dropped out, and then the second round jack bergman was out, and now we have learned that pete sessions was out, and now jack scott is the low vote getter of the last round so four candidates left as they go into the fourth round of voting, and we were told that tom emmer is the leading vote getter. we were told that he has 100 votes at the moment, and we need to get to 110 or 111 depending on how many are voting to secure the republican nomination as it were for house speaker. so that is what is going on in the republican world right now behind closed doors. we will bring you the update when we get new information on the fourth round of voting. in the meantime with me is

democratic congressman and former house majority leader steny hoyer, and congressman, how close are the republicans getting to figuring this all out? >> well, when you are mentioning that tom emmer has 100, of course, they need 217. so they have some ways to go, and of course, this has happened before, but we need to have a bipartisan path forward. and republicans need to keep that in mind, and the house has now been shutdown for three weeks, the world is on fire, and ukraine is still being assaulted criminally by putin. israel is at war, and we need to help them, and we need humanitarian aid and we need to be concerned about the indoe chinese security so that there is a lot to be done, and shutting down the house for three weeks because the party, the republican party is so deeply divided, divisive and dysfunctional is bad for the american people, and bad for

global security so that i am hopeful that the republicans will decide to come to a consensus and a bipartisan agreement with the democrats so that the house can work on behalf of the american people, and on behalf of the international security. >> all right. we did get confirmation that tom emmer got 100 votes to get the republican nomination, and to go to the house floor, he will need a majority of the republican votes there, and it has been suggested by some democrats, including dean phillips from minnesota, along with tom emmer, and he said he might vote present on the house floor which would lower the threshold if tom emmer is the pick, and would lower the threshold for the total number of votes that he is needing to get the gavel. would you vote present to help tom emmer to get the gavel? >> oh, it won't speculate on who is nominee or what they will have within their own party

agreement. and again, 217 is the magic number, and they have been unable to get to that for scores of votes to this point in time. and what you will see is a democratic party united and the leader has said ready, able and ready to move forward the republicans with a bipartisan path forward to do the work for the american people, and that is where we are, and where we'll be. >> you said 217, and fewer than 217 if people voted present, but be that as it may, if you were to work with the republicans in any way, and you are call for a bipartisan plan, and what specifically, congressman, would you want for a promise from a republican who wants to be speaker? >> first of the all, let me point out that we have had a number of bipartisan votes already in the congress which have allowed us to move forward,

and to keep government open, and that is a bipartisan vote of over 300 people to fund ukraine and over 300 people and over seven votes on that issue, and we have voted to make a deal in effect, and spending levels for this coming fiscal year, and this is a big bipartisan vote. we have voted to make sure that the united states did not default on its debts, also over 300 votes. so we have a bipartisan majority, but we need to have them move forward now, and be willing to work together to do the things that the american people need that our government needs and frankly that the international community needs. they count on america, and whether they like us or dislike us, and they need to know that america is the indispensable nation to bring the security and stability in the international arena, and therefore it is

essential that this bipartisan majority that already exists being allowed to work its will, and of course, that means that the republican party has to allow bills to be put on the floor which can pass with a bipartisan majority. if they don't do that, and if they are standing in the way of progress, dysfunction that they have displayed will result in harm and it is resulting in harm to the country, and to the american people. >> you have to have a speaker to get the bills on the house floor at all. representative steny hoyer, thank you for joining us. >> thank you, john. and there is new reporting coming in about talks under way to get hamas to free a large number is how it is described of the more than 200 hostages who were kidnapped in that terror attack on october 7th. sources are warning that there are obstacle, very clearly.

we will bring you the new reporting coming up.

so, this morning we have learned that the united states and several other countries are in talks to secure the release of a large number is what they are saying a large number of the more than 200 possible hostages being held by hamas and gaza, and the 18th day in captivity,

and so far, four people have been released, two american and two israeli, and the sources say that the negotiations are complicated and obviously complicated by a number of factors, but they are ongoing. with us now, retired general wesley clark, and former nato supreme allied commander. general, israel from moment it happened said they will destroy hamas, and the goal is to destroy hamas, and make sure they are not going to operate again, but from the military perspective of the achievable goals, what are the military goals within gaza, if there is a ground operation? >> we don't know what the goals are yet. they would be classified in the israeli operation. but what we can imagine what they are going to be, and the strategic goals of destroying hamas, to make sure they cannot reconstitute and provide israel for instance, and the specific

tactical missions with the objectives and those are not known yet, and you can speculate what they might be. >> what is the universe of things that they might be? >> so, when they went in 2014, they penetrated in various areas designed to wreck the tunnel access for the tunnels that led out of gaza into israel. this has to be a different operation. so, if they are really going to go after hamas, they are probably going to the have to compartmentalize gaza, and go after key locations in north like the utilities, the other plants to completely secure an area, and wall it off and protect the population there, and identify the population, and you go underground and do it step by step going through this. it is a complicated piece of ground, and it can soak up your manpower instantly. so it is not a matter of wizzing

in, because they will come up behind you and underneath, and so the population is not on your side. so there is a whispering campaign and even if you knocked out all of the telephones and the israelis are here and there and doing this, and you are at an intelligence disadvantage. so, you have to be very specific, very directed in this. >> we talked about the tunnels here, and this a look at what the tunnels were like in 2021, and that i have certainly mostly changed or shifted. so how hard is it to destroy a tunnel or fight against an organization that is using a tunnel network? >> it is going to be very difficult, because it is not just a matter of closing off the tunnel. you don't know where the interconnections are, and you don't know where the hose tajs a -- hostages are, and so you can't blow it up as if by magic. if you could pump up the gas and blow it up, you could kill the

hostages and the civilians -- >> general, excuse me. we are hearing that antony blinken is speaking. >> unlawful and whether they are carried out by eye circumstances and boca haran or by hamas. they are unlawful and unjustifiable, and whether the victims are targeted for the faith, the ethnicity and nationality or any other reason. in this coukcouncil, they have responsibility to denounce the member states that arm, fund and train hamas or any other terrorist group that carries out such horrific acts. let's not forget that among the more than 1,400 people that hamas killed on october 7th, we are citizens from more than 30 u.n.-member states, and including members from this very table. the victim included at least 33 american citizens. every one of us has a stake.

every one of us has a responsibility in defeating terrorism. second, we all agree on the vital need to protect civilians. president biden has made clear from the outset of this crisis, while israel has the right and indeed the obligation to defend itself, the way it does so matters. we know that hamas does not represent the palestinian people, and palestinian civilians are not to be blamed for the carnage committed by hamas, and palestinian civilians must be protected and that means that hamas must cease using them as human shields, and it is hard to think of an act of greater cynicism, and israel must take greater precautions which means food, medicine and water and other assistance must be flown into gaza and to the areas where people need them, and civilians must be able to get out of

harm's way, and humanitarian pauses must be considered for these purposes. the united states has worked relentlessly to make real these principles, and we continue to work closely with egypt, israel and partners across the region as well as the united nations to make sure that humanitarian assistance flows to the people of gaza without going to hamas or any other terrorist groups. president biden appointed david satterfield to lead the humanitarian assistance on the ground which he is doing. and we have pledged to bring the total aid to the palestinian people over the last 2 1/2 years to more than $1.6 billion and that is making the united states the largest single country donor by far to the palestinian people. we call on all countries and particularly those with the

greatest capacity to give to join the u.n.'s appeal to help in the humanitarian aid in gaza. for this conflict and every conflict for that matter, it is our core belief that every civilian life is equally valuable. there is no hierarchy when it is coming to protecting civilian lives. civilian is a civilian is a civilian. no matter his or her nationality, ethnicity, age, gender, faith. that is why america mourns the loss of every single innocent life in this crisis including israeli, palestinian, muslim, jews and christians and people of all nationalities and faiths and including at least 35 u.n. staff members. that is why it is imperative that we work to protect all of the civilians in the conflict. to prevent more deaths atop the many that have already occurred.

the value that we place on civilian life is the driving force behind our efforts to secure the release of hostages taken by hamas and other terrorist groups in gaza. i as others have, i have had the occasion to meet with the families and suspected to be in the hands of hamas on my recent trip, and several, as you know, are in the room today, and none of us, none of us can imagine the nightmare that they are living, something no family should have to endure. their loved ones must be released immediately, unconditionally and every member of this council, indeed every member of this body should insist on that, insist on that, insist on that. we are grateful to qatar, to egypt, to the icrc for helping to secure the release of four of hamas' hostages, but at least

200 more, and again, from many of our nations are still in the grip of hamas. so, again, i implore every member here, use your voice, use your influence, use your leverage to secure the unconditional and immediate release. third, we are all determined to prevent this conflict from spreading. this goes to the principle responsibility of the security council maintaining international peace and security. a broader conflict would be devastating not only for palestinians and israelis, but for people across the region, and indeed around the world. to that end, we call on all member states to send a firm united message to any state or non-state actor who is insisting is on opening up israel's

partners including united states, don't, don't throw fuel on the fire. members of this council, and permanent members in particular have a responsibility to prevent this conflict from spreading. i look forward to continuing to work with my counterpart from the people's republic of china when he visits washington this week. it is no secret to anyone in this room or to this council that iran has supported hamas, and the people who have been supportive of wiping israel off of the map. and they have continued to support those who have had a mission of allowing isis to renew its rampage, and let me

say this before this council and what we have consistently said to iranian officials and through other channels, the united states does not seek conflict with iran. we do not want this war to widen, but if iran or its proxies attack u.s. personnel anywhere, make no mistake, we will defend our people, we will defend our security swiftly and decisively. to all of the members of this council, if you like the united states want to prevent this conflict from spreading, tell iran, tell the proxies in public, in private through every means, do not open another front against israel in the conflict. do not attack israel's partners. and we urge the members to go a step further. make clear that if iran or its proxies is widen this conflict and put more civilians at risk,

you, you, you will hold them accountable. act as if the security and stability of the entire region and beyond is on the line, because it is. fourth and finally, even as we address this immediate crisis, we all agree that we must redouble our collective efforts to build an enduring political solution to the conflict between israelis and palestinians. the only road to lasting peace in the region, the only way to break out of this horrific cycle of violence is through two states for two peoples. president biden's underscore from day one, palestinians deserve equal measures of freedom, justice and opportunity and of dignity and the palestinian have a right to self-determination and a status of their own. now, we have no illusions of how hard it is to achieve a two-state solution, but as president biden has said, we cannot give up on peace. indeed, it is precisely in the

darkest moments like this one that we have to fight the hardest to present an alternative path to show people making it real and improving their lives in tangible ways, it is possible, indeed, it is necessary. we have heard many countries express support in many weeks for a durable political solution. our message today is this, help us to build that solution. help us to prevent the spread of war that will make two states and broaden the security and peace in the region even harder to achieve. members of this council, we stand at a crossroads. two paths lie before us. the difference between them could not be more stark. one is the path offered by hamas. we know where it leads. -- death, destruction,

suffering, darkness. the other is the path towards greater peace, greater stability, greater opportunity, greater normalization and integration, and a path toward people in the region being able to live, to work, to worship, to learn side by side, and path toward palestinians realizing their legitimate right to self-determination and a state of their own. nothing would be a greater victory for hamas than allowing its brutality to send us down the path of terrorism and an nihilism, and we must not let it. hamas does not get to choose for us. the united states is standing ready to work with anyone ready to forge a more peaceful and more secure region, and a peace that the people yearn for and so deserve. thank you, mr. president. >> i thank his excellency mr. blinken for his statement.

all right. we have been listening to u.s. secretary of state tony blinken speaking before the u.n. security council and saying clearly all of us, every member that is sitting around that table right now has a stake in making this conflict end, calling on the unconditional release of hostages by hamas, and calling out hamas as a terrorist group, and making clear that we have heard it a few times talking about the importance of every civilian life saying that every civilian life is equally valuable in the conflict. >> talking about the responsibility of israel to protect civilians as it continues its operation, but making clear that the united states feels that hamas is responsible for the civilians inside of gaza, and the actions are what has caused the recent conflagration as well. >> and calling out iran by name saying it is no secret that iran has supported hamas, izhezbolla

and the houthis and sadly, another update that blinken provided here that 33 americans have died as a result of the october 7th hamas attack. that death toll is higher than what the state department had said friday. also, he noted that in the room as the council was meeting today were some of the families of the hostages taken by hamas with them sitting there today, and traveling over from israel many of them to be at the u.n. security council. >> 220 people potentially still being held hostage inside of gaza. >> so we will continue to follow that. we are also following and keeping an eye on capitol hill, and there are only four men now in contention to be the next house speaker, and the fourth round of voting is happening now. we blinked, and so maybe the fourth round is over, and we will get a check and go back to capitol hill where things are moving fast.

capitol hill. house republicans behind closed doors sentering a fifth round o balloting and down to two candidates left for house speaker. let's get over to manu raju with the very latest. what are you hearing? >> reporter: there are two candidates left, so we can see the republican nominee for speaker potentially on the next ballot. now with a final two tom emmer, the house republican whip and mike johnson, the louisiana republican on are the final two who are going to the final round of balloting. byron donalds of right lane florida is out of this race.

now the magic number is expected to be about 109 votes to be nominated as speaker. that's going to be far short of the 217 ewe need to be elected speaker in the full house. that's going to be the challenge for one of these two members. we expect a vote in this conference meeting to decide to see if whether or not any of these members gets a nominee or whether or not those can get the 217 votes. that will be tested separately after the fifth ballot vote, which will happen here in a matter of moments. but in talking to some members, what's clear is there's a clear frustration both of the process and how this has gone down in the last few weeks and some members are concerned about tom emmer himself and his record on spending. listen. >> everybody is frustrated. that's a general consensus around the country. us included. republican members of the house. >> they want it over with. they want us to clean up the mess. >> would you be comfortable with tom emmer as the nominee? >> i'm concerned about that.

>> that's going to be a challenge for emmer. if he's the front runner f he gets the nomination, can he limit the defections to four republican ares on the house floor. you heard scott perry, a leader of the conservative house freedom caucus, saying he's concerned about emmer's record on spending. one said he would vote against him for codifying same-sex marriage. that could potentially mean it's close for emmer to get the votes on the house floor. so we'll see if emmer does get the nomination here as a front runner, whether he runs for the same situation that befell jim jordan and steve scalise. both of them winning the republican nomination, but una i believe to get the votes on the house floor. so so many questions here about whether the republicans can finally move out of the state of of pals and infighting that's completely stalled all legislative action on the house floor for the past three weeks in the aftermath of the ouster of kevin mccarthy. >> about 20 seconds left.

are republicans 100% going to take this to the full house floor, if tom emmer emerges with 109 votes in the next few minutes? >> reporter: that's unclear. they had committed privately that they would must show that they can get 217 votes first before going to the floor. so woolsey. that process could take some time to police out. >> okay. high drama here. tom emmer with 107 et votes right now, he's really just secured two more. >> sure, but not. so alfred was on earlier, and he said that commitment to doing a role call vote inside, which would see the names of the people inside the room if they are going to get to 217, standby. >> a lot still to happen. thank you so much for being with us. this has been "cnn news central." a lot of breaking news on "inside politics," right after this.

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