with crest 3d white luxe toothpaste. only crest 3d white has whitelock technology. it removes stains within the microfine lines of your teeth... and locks out future stains. crest 3d white luxe toothpaste. life opens up with a whiter smile. one hour and counting. the cease-fire in gaza ready to expire. there's been a flurry of activity in a very short 12-hour window. what's expected to happen next in the conflict. a federal case. the justice department says it's keeping an eye on new york city's investigation into the death of a man being arrested by the police so where could that lead. heads down! heads down! >> dramatic and very real. this is the scene as a s.w.a.t. team storms a commercial airplane. the story behind what prompted this response. i know you're scared.

i'm scared too. sharks, they're scary. no one wants to get eaten. >> oh, yeah, just when you thought it was safe to turn on your television, "sharknado 2" hits the small screen in the next week and i will talk with the writer about its cult following. hello, everyone. it's high noon in the east. 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." new details on a dramatic move by the u.s. embassy earlier today to evacuate all personnel from the american embassy in tripoli, libya. secretary of state kerry spoke about it just a short time ago. >> so we are suspending our current diplomatic activities at the embassy, not closing, but suspending. we have moved people on ground to trunisia where they will

disperse to other places. >> i'm joined by nbc's kristen welker who's covering this from the white house. this is something we were all following with great trepidation, considering the history there. what do we know about the threats that are facing people? >> u.s. officials have confirmed that all 158 americans have evacua evacuated. this is because of an increase in militant violence aimed at the militant government. the officials also say 158 americans, including 80 heavily armed u.s. marines, left the embassy compound early today in a caravan of suvs and buses and headed to kntunisia. it was protected by unmanned drones which shadowed them on their drive. no word on where that airport is, by the way. our pentagon team reports this is not a military evacuation, a

very important point, but, rather, an orderly withdraw. they say there wasn't a direct or specific threat of an attack against the u.s. embassy, but, rather, general concern, given the rising violence which has prevented delivery of food and other key supplies to the embassy. secretary of state john kerry, who was holding diplomatic talks in paris, urged order, soon, to come to tripoli, alex. >> nbc's kristen welker at the white house. joining me is nbc's andrea mitchell. you're familiar with the situation which we've been watching closely here. as kristen was reporting. no appearance of a direct threat on the u.s. embassy there. why the caution? >> the caution is clearly because of the rebel militias who are very well armed and have been fighting all around the embassy in tripoli. they are a direct threat. the airport was in danger. there was no escape route through the airport because there was so much fighting there.

while intelligence is telling me there is no anti-american or anti-u.s. sect, it's clearly -- it could evolve into that, any time you have a situation that is volatile. what's behind this is the tragedy in 2012 at the consulate in benghazi. they're clearly exercising as much caution as they can. they took an overnight route with f-16 and marine ospreys overhead, from africa command, just to show you a real amount of force. this is exactly the opposite of bengha benghazi. the lead there was the u.s. ambassador, deborah jones who succeeded the late chris steven, who died so tragically in the attack on the consulate, so she and everyone else were taken out to tunis, to tunisia, now they'll be dispersed to other postings until it is safe enough to return, alex. >> i'm just curious about the whole -- the picture of all of this. because certainly this cannot

have gone unnoticed. you have these heavily armed suvs. 158 americans. that includes 80 heavily armed u.s. marines. the f-16 fighter jets overhead. what kind of message do you think the united states is sending there as well? >> i think it is, as you point out, it is the message of force that this embassy, this post, as other posts in the region, are not going to become inflamed. we're not going to have another benghazi. but it's also, some would say, a show of force in the absence of real on the ground diplomacy, as much as the embassy and others can try to do. now all of these years after gadhafi and the u.s. and nato led operations, we see that libya is a failed state, that 1,700 people, alex, died in syria, while the american media and the world media were so obviously preoccupied with what's happening in ukraine, the malaysia airliner, the horrible

war between, you know, gaza and israel. the region is in pretty bad shape. >> andrea mitchell, very true words being spoken there. thank you so much, as always. speaking of the gaza situation, let's go there, less than an hour left in the cease-fire between hamas and israel. the calm has held steady so far. secretary of state kerry is in paris. he's looking to negotiate a seven-day long cease-fire. the ministry says the death toll there has topped 1,000 and they're mostly civilians. israel says it's lost at least 37 soldiers. joining me from tel aviv is martin fletcher. i understand there's a breaking update right now. i'm getting this from my producer in my ear. so what is it? >> it appears that the israeli government is going to extend the cease-fire by another four hours. their meeting in a cabinet meeting which begins in 1 1/2 hours from now. then they're going to discuss

extending it for longer than that. maybe another 12 hours, maybe longer, we'll have to see. it appears the cease fire when it runs out in one hour, will, in fact, be extended another four hours. the israeli officials are saying that the -- while that is -- while that is their decision, they have to see whether hamas starts firing or not. clearly that would be -- an extend of the cease-fire would be a tremendous relief, in particular, for the people of gaza, who suffers much, much more obviously than the israelis who have been sheltered from those rockets. all those rockets fired into israel has done remarkably little damage. but of course israel's firepower directly against gaza has pushed the death toll up to almost 1,000. today, when the people of gaza were able to get out at 8:00 this morning when the cease-fire began, the streets suddenly began to crawl with people.

cars were driving in the center of town. people going -- stocking up on food, trying to get clean water to drink, getting money from the atms. and of course checking up on their loved ones to see who was alive, dead, homeless. in are plparticular, about 5,00 palestinians have been wounded. so family members would have gone there too, to see how their relatives are getting on. you can imagine what the scene was like in gaza, all day long, hive of activity. if the cease-fire is extended of course welcome news down there. >> activity tragically to include those people, some 80 bodies were pulled from rubble, people going and looking for loved ones who have been in harm's way. is there attribution for the extension of this cease-fire? can we say it's a result of what secretary kerry's doing right now or is there something else going on? >> the attribution that i had

before i came on camera was that an israeli cabinet had agreed to do that. i don't know if there's been an official israeli government decision. we've heard from our sources they had agreed to do that. that's all i can say right now. yes, there is pressure from secretary of state kerry in paris and all of the international foreign ministers he's meeting with. there is pressure to extend the cease-fire. and that is what all their talks were about, of course, is extending this cease-fire, and hoping that step by step, extending it bit by bit, israel and hamas will get used to not shooting at each other and will come closer, and will finally agree on the seven-day cease-fire that kerry is proposing with everybody else, and hoping from there a real agreement to stop the fighting can be reached, so there is progress. >> all right, martin fletcher in tel aviv, thank you very much for this developing news, appreciate it. other stories making news. jaw dropping pictures of what happened after a bomb threat was made on a flight from toronto to panama. a passenger captured this dramatic cell phone video of a

canadian s.w.a.t. team storming a sun wing flight at toronto's pierson international airport and removing a 25-year-old man. >> heads down! heads up! heads down! heads up! head heads down, hands up! >> they said the man made a direct flight against the aircraft. he was arrested on charges including mischief to property and endangering the safety of an aircraft. a reward of $100,000 is being offered in philadelphia for information leading to the arrest of two car jackers who slammed a stolen suv into three children and their mother. each of the children were killed. their mother's right now fighting for her life. the car jackers escaped. the family was selling fruit on the street corner to raise money for their church at the time of the crash. two years after the fact we are learning a bit more about a

solar storm that almost hit earth. that storm hit earth's orbit. the event was captured by a spacecraft. if the eruption had occurred only one week earlier, earth would have been in the line of this fire. there would have been widespread power outages across the globe. it was the most powerful one in 150 years since 1859. some would be thieves picked the wrong store to rob. his co-worker jumped in to save the day. it just so happens he is a semipro mixed martial arts fighter. >> he learned how to punch, how to kick, how to move. all that stuff you can use in the streets. >> two of the suspects drove off, leaving another suspect behind. police arrested him. controversy and fallout. new reaction to the punishment given a football player for a fight that left his then fiance out cold. the gop's rand paul making a pitch to the african-american community. why are some black leaders saying not so fast? in my next hour, i will talk

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a new twist today in the case of a california man who shot and killed an unarmed woman who had broken into his house and was trying to run away. 80-year-old tom greer of long beach says he has no regrets. when he spoke to cnbc, here is her reaction. >> she said, don't shoot me, i'm pregnant, and i shot her anyway. >> now the coroner says the 26-year-old was not pregnant. her male accomplice ran from the scene and was arrested later. let me bring in faith jenkins to talk about this. thanks for joining me. so police say that the couple beat and threw the elderly man to the ground but he managed to

get his gun and chase the woman down, shooting her in the back. the d.a. is deciding whether he should face criminal charges. where is the d.a. going to do with this? >> this case falls into a gray area because under california law a homeowner has a right to use deadly force in someone breaks in to his or her home. but here these homeowners shot the intruders as they were fleeing and running away, so the d.a. has to look at this and decide, was that imminent threat still there. and if you look at what happened, this woman was shot in the back, that imminent threat probably subsided a few seconds before, but when you have someone who just had their home broken into, they've been injured, they've been assaulted, and they're making split second decisions, is the d.a. really going to break that down second by second and say that imminent danger ended right before he pulled his last shot so are we going to charge him or not. that's going to be the question. i don't know that they will in

this case. it may be a really close call. >> we see he has a sling in terms of his injury. he did get a broken collarbone, i'm told. talk about the -- what he's saying and the tenor in which he's saying that. might that work against him at all? because he says she was running away, yeah, and i shot her. >> well, it's clear this is someone who has no remorse in terms of what he did. is that going to play into the d.a.'s decision? well, this case isn't going to be based -- i was a prosecutor and we looked at cases like this in a number of situations. it is not about sympathy. he doesn't have to feel bad about what he did. he doesn't have to feel remor remorseful or sympathy. the question is, did he do the right thing under the law? it's going to be a really close call for the d.a. it's going to be the choice of someone who doesn't have a lot of contacts with the law. whereas these burglars, they had criminal records. these people were experienced at breaking into people's homes. homeowners, again, they have a right to protect themselves inside of their home. the question is, did that right carry on to when those intruders were running away and fleeing

the scene? >> let's go across country. there's another controversial case here. it's the death of -- rather, latest in the death of a staten island man after an apparent choke hold by a new york police officer. attorney general holder said the justice department officials had met with eric's mother and widow and federal officials are monitoring this case. what are the feds looking for here? >> they're looking for excessive force. and if excessive force led to the death of eric garner and they should be looking at this case. this is one of the most horrible videos we've seen, and it really shows how far we haven't come since rodney king in los angeles many years ago. because this is a situation, when you look at the police officers involved and the number of police officers involved in this arrest, their first option should have been to deescalate the situation. when you look at eric garner and talking to the officers, referring to them as officers. yes, he's agitated, yes, he's upset, but this is not someone

that's attacking the police. and any officer worth their salt knows that they could have deescalated that situation. but then you have officer number 99 jumping on his back, doing an illegal choke hold. all the other officers standing around, not doing anything. >> yeah, at one point, faith there are eight officers around this man. and in addition to him saying, trying to be defensive, he says, i can't breathe. he says that multiple times. how does that fit into legal considerations? >> oh, it absolutely fits in, because someone is telling you multiple times they can't breathe, you're obviously in control of the situation. if someone is resisting arrest, officers can use force, but that force has to be equal to the force that's being used against them. eric garner at that point is lying on the ground. his head -- that officer number 99 has his hands, smashing eric garber's face into the sidewalk. all of these other officers are around. why do you still have him in a choke hold? why is that still necessary?

that's an illegal -- the nypd banned the choke hold years ago. he's doing it. he has no problems doing it. the other officers aren't stopping him. that tells me that number 99 is -- that this is something that he's probably employed before. he feels very comfortable doing it in front of his supervisor and fellow officers. >> we have to see if that remains to be seen. that will come out, if this gets to a court. when it comes to the emts, is it their job to automatically start cpr? do they have to work always with police? whose side are they on? could they at all be culpable here? >> their job and duty is to render aid. at that point, when they got to the scene, i believe as it's been reported eric garner was already on the ground and unconscious. so their job is to render aid. doesn't matter if someone's under police custody. you render aid. your first priority is to help the individual that needs aid

and assistance. so the questions are, did they do their job? do they do the best that they could do in those circumstances and help someone who needed help? >> where do you see this one going? >> i see this investigation ongoing. i see that there could possibly be criminal charges in this case. and unfortunately, this is a situation where if there weren't video, i don't know that we with even be talking about this case today. i would not be surprised if there were criminal charges. this should not have happened. it did not have to happen. and the investigation will hopefully continue and will be resolved. >> according to the commissioner, it certainly will be continuing. >> faith jenkins, thank you so much. nbc's mark potter took a remarkable boat ride with the border patrol and it gave us a look at the smugglers trying to cross into the u.s. later, it's twice the fun or just twice the camp. i will talk with the writer of "sharknado 2" and why he's

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the video was shocking. footage obtained by tmz showing baltimore ravens running back ray rice dragging his fiance out of an elevator. some commentators and ex-players were even more shocked when the nfl announced on thursday that its punishment for rice was a mere two-game suspension as well as a half million there are fine. joining me now is maggie hendricks who covers the nfl for "usa today" and the host of speaking of sports on nbc sports radio, welcome to you both. does the nfl take domestic violence seriously? >> in this case, it's very clear that they did not. they could have given him at least a four-game suspension. they could have mandated more -- >> which is what they give for a

first offensive pot or -- they'll give a four-game suspension? >> that's for a second offense, but yes, for pot, for something that is legal in two states and legal for aed medicinal carrien many more states. >> they said in part, quote, despite the court's decision not to impose criminal punishment, the commissioner determined the conduct was incompatible with nfl policies. the nfl had the same access to the evidence as the prosecutors. the court system did not impose any punishment. the nfl came to a different conclusion and did impose punishment. do they have a point there? is the real issue here that rice was not prosecuted? >> i think that's part of the issue. but i think, you know, that quote referenced evidence they had access to.

there are things we have not seen that we have not heard relating to this case. there's video out there that has been reported by my colleague among others of what happened in that elevator before you see ray rice pulling his fiance out of the elevator, and roger goodell did have access to that video. also, he had a meeting, a private meeting, with jenet palmer, ray rice's fiance, and ray rice, at which reportedly jenet said she apologized for her role in this. there's been controversy around why someone who was clearly a victim of that case of domestic violence would apologize. whatever was said in that meeting apparently influenced roger goodell to potentially lower this punishment. so there's a lot that we don't know about here. i'm not saying that means this was an appropriate punishment or the right punishment for ray rice, but we actually don't have all the facts as we sit here

talking about this. >> i would say on my earlier broadcast, we had a sports writer come on and talk about how, i believe what was seen in that video was something akin to she was slapping him and spit at him and that prompted his response. does anyone, though, rob, buy the response by this guy, a pro nfl player? come on. the force with which he went after her, regardless of what she did to incite him. >> i don't think anyone believes that it is acceptable for someone like a ray rice, as big, as strong a man as he is, to hit and obviously knock out a woman based on whatever the provocation was. but when she talks about her quote/unquote role in this situation, well, that's what she's talking about, is whatever was said and done in that elevator that clearly, you know, created a situation that ended with this. there's no excuse for it. the nfl has clearly come down and said there's no excuse, but i think what we're talking about

here is a lot of people feel there is some incongruity in the punishments the nfl is handing out for marijuana violations on one hand or other violations of league policy and violations of domestic violence policy. i think that's something the nfl probably needs to take a larger look at. how are they treating domestic violence globally, and do they need to take another look at how they're punishing incidents, because there's a lot of them. >> bigger picture to you, maggie, the question is, how does the nfl stack up against other professional sports leagues in dealing with personal conduct? >> the nfl can be a little bit -- capricious isn't the right word, arbitrary, is the right word, because everything is at the discretion of roger goodell. but there's really no league that does a good job of dealing with domestic violence. nobody does a fantastic job handling it. and to me that's more a sign of

the fact that society has a problem with domestic violence and all of these leagues end up just being a microcosm of society. since we don't know how to deal with it in society, that definitely comes across in all our different sports leagues. >> thank you so much for speaking with me. i appreciate it. at the bottom of the hour now, we're going to give you a live picture of gaza city. that is where we were supposed to be 30 minutes away from the end of an eight-hour cease-fire. word is that cease-fire will be extended for another four hours. really... so our business can be on at&t's network for $175 dollars a month? yup. all five of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line anytime for 15 bucks a month. low dues... great terms... let's close. introducing at&t mobile share value plans...

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yeah. i heard about progressive's "name your price" tool? i guess you can tell them how much you want to pay and it gives you a range of options to choose from. huh? i'm looking at it right now. oh, yeah? yeah. what's the... guest room situation? the "name your price" tool, making the world a little more progressive. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." the immigration crisis along the mexican border has pitted agents against smugglers with tens of thousands of undocumented children caught in the middle. we got an inside look at the border war with nbc's mark

potter. mark joins me now from the banks of the rio grande river in mission, texas. while the immigration debate seems to be going nowhere back in washington, how about the situation on the ground, what's it like? >> what we can tell you, we can see while the flow of migrants remains steady, the volume is down considerably. it's not just migrants crossing the border now, and that is what concerns the texas state officials. as we found out along with the ride along with them. >> there's scouts in the trees. >> our search for the many smuggling routes along the rio grande begins by air with the captain of the texas department of public safety who sees no letup in drug and gang related trafficking from mexico to the u.s. >> the transnational gains are the biggest threat, in my opinion, in the united states. >> our search next put us right on the river. in a heavily armed texas gun

boat, which officers use to deter cartel smugglers. it doesn't take long to find what appears to be the end of the successful smuggling run from mexico to a landing site on the u.s. side and back again. >> we observed a ramp that was making its way back to the mexico side of the bank. as we got closer, you see, they start paddling faster and started climbing off of the raft. they probably already delivered their load of passengers and/or contra band. >> as for the wave of unaccompanied children, illegally entering south texas, u.s. officials say the numbers have gone down in recent weeks from a daily average of 283 a month ago to 120 now. still a big number, the equivalent of nearly 43,000 a year. this area along the river is known infamously as the devil's corner. agents say right now it's the busiest spot in the country for smuggling people from mexico

over there into the united states. authorities say traffickers actually use the migrants to divert the attention of agents away from their drug loads. it's one more reason texas officials are beefing up their presen presence, hoping to seal more of the border and help ease the strain on officers working day and night around the rio grande. now, one of the state officials we met said he wanted to make the point clearly that most of the migrants, the drugs, the gang members crossing into texas don't actually stay here. over time, they go elsewhere throughout the country. meaning this is not just a texas problem, but, as he puts it, america's problem. back to you, alex. >> okay, mark, here's something, this really jumped out at me. when you're on the boat, the smugglers, his targets, they are right there on the mexican side of the river, within shouting distance, 50 yards away. are the smugglers in the clear the moment they cross that invisible line between the two countries in the middle of the

river? >> technically, yes. the international border is the deep water point in the river which typically gives the geography is down the middle of the river. the closer they are to the mexican side, the safer they are. if it gets to be a fight, it could be an argument as to how close they are in the middle, but that is the rule. they use that all the five we saw that time and again. they come across. they drop their load. and they go back. to cross the river sometimes can take just eight seconds. 8 to 30 seconds maximum to cross the river and then they're back. that's how quick it is. and why it's so hard to catch the smugglers. it's a very difficult thing to get them. the migrants sur renn direction most of them. but the smugglers, they're in and out as quick as that. it's hard. and they're throwing rocks at the agents and doing all kinds of stuff from very nearby. >> that's gotinfuriating. mark potter, thank you. major developing news in the crisis in gaza.

israel has reportedly agreed to extend the 12-hour cease-fire an additional four hours, ending now at 5:00 p.m. eastern time. in the brief respite so far the death toll has climbed. 150 bodies were removed from the rubble in gaza. the dead there now topping 1,000. joining me now, democratic congressman john yarmuth. good to see you, sir. >> good to see you. >> do you think this is the beginning of a larger deal? >> i certainly hope it is. what we're seeing here is a tragedy of enormous proportions. what bothers me the most is everybody's trying to play the blame game and talking about moral equivalents and so forth. meanwhile, just hundreds and hundreds of innocent people are dying. and yes some are dying on the israeli side. far more on the gaza side. and this is a human tragedy. one of the things that bugs me is when we talk about innocent people being shot in cross fire, this is no cross fire here, this

is an assault. innocent people are being killed needlessly and tragically. so i hope it's part of a bigger deal, because i fail to see what continued israeli incursion into gaza, how that's going to solve the long-term problem. gaza is, itself, a problem. and the palestinians are essentially quarantined there. that's a polite word. we've got to figure out, the israelis and the neighbors in that part of the world, have to figure out how to give some kind of quality standard of living to the palestinians in gaza. >> we have the secretary of state making deals as best he can in paris right now trying to negotiate something, but shot obama administration be taking a different approach? >> i think the administration is taking the right approach. i actually met with a number of jewish members with secretary kerry a week and a half ago, and he went through his entire strategy. some positive things are happening in the region. i think he's on the right path. i think he needs more

cooperation out of hamas and out of the israeli governor as well. >> back state side, white house senior adviser dan pfeiffer said yesterday the administration is taking very seriously the threats from republicans like sarah palin to impeach president obama. her claims were taken as pretty laughable to most people in washington. what is the white house's play here? >> i'm not exactly sure. i do know there are republicans in the house who feel very strongly they need to have an impeachment resolution. i heard one member say, republican member say, if i don't -- if i'm not able to vote for impeachment, i can't win this fall. i think that's probably an exaggeraex a exaggerati exaggeration, but there's that sentiment in the house. i can't imagine that the administration is really trying to kind of taunt them and dare them to impeach them, hoping it will happen. clearly, it would be i think a disaster politically for republicans, but, you know, i really don't have any idea what

the white house is doing there. >> okay. i want to talk about what happened this weekend when we saw the case of a prolonged execution of a death row inmate. i'm talking about the convicted double murderer. executed by the state of arizona. took 1:57 for him to die. using the drugs that were the same drugs used by ohio in its prolonged execution a bit earlier this year. at what point do states need to consider alternative methods, if not an outright ban? >> well, i would like to see allstates consider an outright ban. this latest controversy is just another in the long and growing list of reasons to abolish the death penalty. we know -- at least most experts agree it's not a deterrent. it's far costlier to the cost payers than life without parole. it is -- it takes a lot longer to actually execute someone. so there's really -- are you waiting for resolution for the families and so forth for a far

longer period of time. and we know we have executed many innocent people. we know -- i think more than 125 have been found to be innocent -- death row before they were executed over last 40 years. so there's just very little reason now i think both practically, economically and morally for maintaining the death penalty. i think you're going to see more and more efforts across the entire country to abolish it. >> another topic quickly here. a new congress after the midterms. i know you were one of the leads in drafting that. talk about the priorities. >> what we know for a fact is while the economy overall is recovering somewhat, the one segment of the economy hasn't experienced any recovery is the middle class so what we're committing to in the first 100 days of the democratic majority in 2015, we will pass an economic agenda that creates

jobs in america that tries to equalize salaries for women. that works on education to make education more affordable. deals with things like affordable child care for women and their families. and finally, create some incentives for companies and entrepreneurs to make it in america. and also to invest in our infrastructure. these are concrete steps. we're committing to an act within the first 100 days to really jump start an opportunity for the middle class. >> representative, always a pleasure, thank you so much. the new pitch from senator rand paul to anational urban league audience. why are some saying don't be fooled by his message? and "sharknado 2," why is the writer trying to keep parts of the film a secret? did you know, your eyes can lose vital nutrients as you age?

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dumped man-eating sharks all over los angeles. this typime, it's happening to w york city. >> let's go kill some sharks! it's happening again. >> you think there's going to be one of those shark storms here? >> yes. >> i'm not crazy. people have to know the truth before it happens again. welcome to new york. >> it's like he knew who i was. >> this is the big apple. something bites us, we bite back. >> joining me now is thunder loven, the writer and director for "sharknado 2," the second one. >> i'm not the director, i'm just the screenwriter. >> oh, well, not just, believe me, screenwriter, awesome as it is. >> that's what i keep saying. >> i can't help but crack up when i look at this. it's ridiculously funny in some ways. you look at the absurdity of all it. but you don't care, do you, because you've made this huge industry out of this. >> well, first of all, i don't

understand why people are laughing at our documentary about global warming. this is very serious business. >> okay. right. >> we're very pleased with the way people have taken to it. it's -- i mean, it's just ridiculous fun. the audience seems to have embraced that. >> what's different with this one otheren that t ethan the se new york? >> everything is bigger and tougher in new york, including the "sharknados." >> just one after the other. basically, the reviews for this first one were it's so bad that it's good. it generated nearly 5,000 tweets a minute. explain why you think that is. what is the cult status about this film? >> you know, it's really hard to explain why this one exploded like that. i think it's because it's the first one of these b-movies with

the crazy mash-up titles that delivered on the sense of fun. a lot of times you hear the ridiculous titles and the movie takes itself too seriously or there's hamming it up and winking at the camera. we walked a very narrow line. the actors never stop and deliver jokes. but at the same time, the audience is in on the joke and they know we're all just having fun with it. i think that's what's really connected. >> you've said this first "sharknado" was not as easy and as random as it may have looked. you've encompared it to a meryl streep movie. >> that was an interview i gave where i was trying to point out all the dramatic rules of screen writing still apply. you still need character development. you still need to build tension and excitement. you still need an arc. but what we get to do is in a meryl streep film, you would reach a point where if you went

any further, it would simply become unbelievable. and we have the advantage of not having to stop there. we just keep on going. >> okay. well, there is the ultimate -- by most everyone's account in the first one, we see the character fin, he grabs the chain saw, he leaps up into the shark's belly saving himself and his friend who had been swallowed. give me a hint about the big moment we can expect from the new film. >> i don't want to give too much away because i'd like everybody to come fresh to it on wednesday night. >> they're going to watch it, what are you worried about? >> i can certainly tell you we will be involving the great new york city landmarks. the empire state building will play a rather prominent role. the statue of liberty is going to make a rather surprising cameo appearance. >> i'm just curious how you get the sharks on the subway. >> we had specially trained subway sharks for that. they were used to the noise and everything. they had to be acclimated to it. >> all right. i'm going to actually lose all

credibility if i continue this conversation much longer. thunder loven, it was good to meet you though. and enjoy. we'll all be watching on wednesday. >> wednesday night, 9:00, on sci-fi. >> you just took the words out of my mouth. he just promoted it. all right, the nypd is going to great lengths to figure out who climbed to the top of the brooklyn bridge and put up white flags. ♪ [ male announcer ] if you want to hear how their day went, serve manwich. and wait til they come up for air. [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] hold on. it's manwich. car insurance companies say they'll save you by switching, you'd have, like, a ton of dollars. but how are they saving you those dollars? a lot of companies might answer "um" or "no comment." then there's esurance. born online, raised by technology and majors in efficiency. so whatever they save, you save. hassle, time, paperwork,

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dramatic developments within the hour in israel and gaza. israel will reportedly extend the cease-fire for another four hours. which means the relative quiet is expected to last until 5:00 p.m. eastern time. joining me in studio, our managing editor, an associated press correspondent in both jerusalem and tell ascream and has firsthand perspective on the situation there. i just spoke with congressman john yarmuth. he was rather adamant about the extent of israeli incursion and

called the situation a human tragedy. are you surprised by his stance? >> i don't think so. i think what's been happening here over so many days, the news i think that israel is willing to hold off another four hour, you juxtapose that to yesterday when it sounds like the defense ministry was talking about a deeper ground game, i think, you know, holding back every moment that somebody can get the israelis and hamas to hold back here, i think, you know, is a good thing. >> i should say the united nations has made a request to extend the cease-fire for a full 24 hours and that would take it to 8:00 p.m. local time. there's no word on whether that will happen at this point, but the real stance that the obama administration has on this is what, do you think the white house is putting pressure on israel? >> i think so. i think kerry being there and president obama being on the phone with benjamin netanyahu repeatedly i think is an indication that's the case. i think the president's come

out, he's said several times we support israel's right to defend itself. we understand why it wants to put an end to rocket attacks inside israel proper. but at the same time, there isn't a moment that goes by where u.s. officials, including the president, don't then immediately pivot to the casualties on the ground. you know, talked exstebsively about 1 in 3 victims in gaza being a child. this is not even among the wounded but among the dead. i think that pressure is significant to basically put an end to the civilian death toll there. >> do you think there is a point at which israel will look at exactly what you're saying and say there are diminishing returning to what we're trying to do here? >> i think so. i mean, i think perhaps they're at that point now. i understand you know the larger goal. i've heard israeli officials come on msnbc repeatedly and say we need to put an end to the tunnels, the rockets, the incursions, i understand that,

but the toll is tremendous on a civilian population. i see, you know, israel is quite attune to the fact there's all these articles and people are looking at it and even netanyahu himself, was clearly aggravated by this idea they're using the media war. and i think, you know, is that a proxy for, you know, are they just losing because the toll is just so high. >> i don't to say in our broadcast, "all in with chris hayes," the official came on and says it has to result in a two-state solution. there are officials who say the time is running out for that. your opinion? >> yeah. i was amazed that aierakat said that. he still holds out hope. i think we're in a very, very dark period right now for israel and the palestinians and very with been for a number of years.

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welcome to "weekends with alex witt." we have this developing news from the middle east. reports of a 12-hour humanitarian cease-fire between israel and hamas is now being extended for at least another four hours. we're showing you live pictures from gaza. it is just after 8:00 p.m. those streets are clear. we showed you a live picture maybe 20, 25 minutes ago, there were plenty of cars on the street. we should also add this extension of the cease-fire just came down within the last hour. it is clear that people who were out and about trying to get provisions for their home, food, water, to look at the homes they used to occupy and see what condition they're in after the shelling there by israeli forces. word has not trickled out to so many people that the cease-fire has been extended four more hours. lots of horns, the traffic was really unbelievable earlier in the day as people were trying to get out and do their business.

and just get the supplies they needed to sustain however long until the next cease-fire. secretary of state john kerry and other diplomats there right now in paris, they're working towards what they hope will be a more comprehensive peace deal between the two sides. they're working on a possible seven-day agreement. the ministry saying some 150 bodies have been pulled from rubble. that brings the death toll to more than 1,000. i want to bring in nbc's martin fletcher. martin joins me from tel aviv. what are you hearing about the cease-fire being extended? >> as you said, alex, the israeli cabinet decided to extent it by four hours. they're going to be meeting in about another hour and a half. in the part of the discussion in that meeting will be whether to extend it longer, another 12 hours overnight to the morning. we'll see what john kerry is able to organize from both sides. will he be able to extend it further? i got to emphasize one thing.

we have heard israel has, extended it by four hours. we don't know whether hamas will suddenly fire rockets yet. hamas has said they're not on board yet. if rockets are not fired from gaza into israel, it does appear this extension of the cease-fire will go into effect. right now, here, it's just after 8:00. this is when the cease-fire ended. obviously, there's great relief in gaza. in particular, that the cease-fire has been extended. it's not clear thatter knows that yet. it's just breaking news. here in israel, they know about it. people are continuing to go about their business. it's such a different lopsided story. israel protected by iron dome, palestinians with no such defense. >> i have to wonder about the logistics of getting the information to the leaders of hamas, wherever they may be, that this extension has happened so that they may consider respecting it. i mean, logistically, is that at

all a challenge? >> i think lodge jestically, it mutt be horrendous. you have the hamas leadership, military leadership under ground in gaza. you have the hamas political leadership under ground in gaza. we don't know if they're together in the same places. there's the hamas leadership outside. so they will want to be involved in all of this. another impressive fact, certainly the israeli soldiers, throughout the fighting, you know, respect -- they use the word respect. they're looking at what hamas is achieving, continuing to fire rockets at gaza, well organized, good communications. they're saying hamas is well trained, well equipped and a strong enemy, surprisingly strong enemy. what i want to say is this, despite israel's massive bombing of targets in gaza, which are aimed, they say, specifically at

hamas control and command centers and hamas tunnels and hamas fighters all over gaza, isn't it amazing that the hamas can, nevertheless, still communicate to all its fighters in gaza, saying don't fire, there's a cease-fire? i mean, logistically, how do you do that, under that kind of pressure? if that is the message they're giving. >> let's say the message does not get to everyone who needs to be informed, and someone does take off and on their own launch some sort of a rogue rocket, history would suggest that's it, end of cease-fire, right? >> i think there's going to be some tolerance for that here because israel understands that, the difficulty of hamas communicating amongst its various rocket launchers in that network. when there was a cease-fire earlier, earlier, last week, there was a 12-hour cease-fire, hamas continued to fire rockets. israel didn't respond for six hours hoping that somehow this was just last gasp efforts.

so israel did give them some tolerance, some breathing space in the last cease-fire. bear one thing in mind, this cease-fire has two clear victors in one sense. palestinian civilians who of course will welcome the reprieve, but israel's cease-fire for the israeli side, they say we only will have a cease-fire if we can continue looking for tunnels inside gaza. so during the cease-fire, israeli soldiers still operating, looking for those tunnels. they're doing that without the threat of being attacked by hamas. when israel -- when israelis send in their combat engineers to look for those tunnels, their a very static target so if there's a cease-fire it makes it easier for them. >> good to talk to you, mart in fletcher. new details on a dramatic move by the u.s. earlier today to evacuate all personnel from the american embassy in tripoli libya. joined by nbc's kristen welker.

let's talk about any threats facing the embassy. do we know of anything specific or was it a general regional threat? >> no specific threat, alex. the concern was an uptick in violence in the region. here's the latest information that we have. u.s. officials do confirm to nbc news that all 158 americans have evacuated the u.s. embassy in tripoli. this is because of, as i say, alex, an increase in militant violence aimed at the government. the officials also say 158 americans, including 80 heavily armed u.s. marines, left the embassy compound earlier today in a caravan of suvs and buses and headed to true niunisia. it was protected by fighter jets and drones which shadowed them on their drive. it is expected the american personnel boarded airliners out of a civilian airport. our pentagon team reports this is not a military evacuation but an orderly withdraw.

they say there wasn't a specific threat but rather just concern about that rising militant violence which has prevented actually delivery of food and other key supplies from reaching the embassy. secretary of state john kerry who is holding diplomatic talks in paris talked about the need to evacuate today. take a listen. >> suspending our current diplomatic activities at the embassy, not closing the embassy, but suspending the activities and we have moved people on ground to tunisia, where they will then disperse to other places where we will continue our diplomatic activities in libya. >> now, benghazi has been of course of particular concern to the u.s. ever since ambassador chris stevens and three other americans were killed in an attack against the u.s. consulate there in 2012. alex. >> okay, kristen welker, thank you very much for the latest from the white house. new york city police have

launched an all-out search to catch the people who placed white bleached american flags atop the brooklyn bridge. they are running license plates and scouring social media for any clues. the suspects climbed that bridge early tuesday and removed two existing u.s. flags and replaced them with the seemingly white flags of surrender. joining me now, nbc law enforcement analyst and retired atf special agent in charge jim cavanaugh. first up to you, any idea how they got away with climbing one of the most iconic and supposedly guarded bridges in the world, switching these flags and still managing to elude authorities for four days? >> yeah, careful planning, alex, for sure. you know, even the time that they picked, 3:10, even though new york never sleeps, the time when it's probably the most sparse is about 3:10, you know, right between the late shifts off and the morning rush to come on. so they were very careful.

they brought those la sonja plates to put over the lights. they have these climbing skills. rock climbing, mountain climbing, bridge climbing skills. they were determined, they planned and, you know, the reports by "the new york times" for example that they brought a prebleached flags, these are huge flags, alex, 12 feet by 18 feet. those are huge. if they were purchased, nypd's going to find out about that. one of the interesting facts is i think the uk mail reported in 2012, two of the flag, atop the bridge were stole en. now two flags reappear that are bleached. whoever stole them in 2012 could scale the bridge and whoever stole them in 2012 would have two large flags like that. >> but jim, i've got to think there's a ton of surveillance video from cameras that face the bridge. we're showing some, granted, they're long defendantance and maybe not going to help in trying to catch the perpetrators of this.

have authorities had any luck? >> i don't think they're having luck so far with the video but maybe from subways or hotels at the foot of the brooklyn bridge or a place where they might have made egress here. remember, they had a pack of five people. they would have had to have backpacks to carry everything up there. these are probably five people with backpacks and they maybe are picked up on surveillance or a cab driver may remember them. or they may get a tip. also, when they get on the top of the bridge, you can look at that cable, you're going to be sweating profusely. it's going to be dripping off your forehead, on your hands. there can be dna all over the stuff they left. >> they say they've got the dna evidence there. okay, jim cavanaugh, thank you so much, appreciate that. >> thanks, alex. rand paul's recent comments about combating poverty are drawing a skeptical response. is paul someone who will really help the poor? ♪

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the poverty problem, it's not new. it's not going away easily. black unemployment, still twice white unemployment. i don't accuse the president of not caring. i think he does care. that's why we have to talk about policy. i think there are people in both parties would care. frankly, we have to come up with a policy that does better. >> that was rand paul making his new pitch about jobs and poverty but not everyone is on board. the mayor of baltimore, stephanie rollins blake, wrote an op-ed titled blacks shouldn't be fooled by rand paul. >> the facts of the matter is, he doesn't support minimum wage increase, he's soft on income

wage equality, he wants to roll back obamacare which is providing quality health care for african-american families. he has to acknowledge the breadth of his stances and not just pick and choose the ones he thinks are going to play in certain audiences. he can't run away from his track record. >> that was the baltimore mayor. joining me now is the president and ceo of the urban league. good to see you as always. >> thank you, always good to be here. >> do you think he's being genuine? >> let me tell you what was important from an urban league perspective, it was to have this exchange of ideas. we are a nonpartisan organization so on one hand, we were proud that vice president biden and dnc chair debby wasserman shuttles were with us. we also had rand paul and rnc chair priebus.

this was an important debate. it's healthy to be skeptical about what rand paul said what stuck with me was his thinking and his support for reform of sentencing in this country and his comments relative to criminal justice reform. because to get some of these things done in a meaningful way, we're going to need the broadest coalition possible. the urban league doesn't endorse. people should not be confused because someone speaks at our conference that it means anything other than we are trying to provide a forum for people to come and address the difficult and challenging issues our communities face. >> duly noted. let's talk about what else happened on friday. paul also outlined his proposal for economic zones. to cut taxes to revive certain urban areas around the nation. do you think this is a viable option for cities? >> let me say this. i think many of us -- and my perspective is, that's not a new

idea. itsrael the clinton empowerment zone program cut in half because the clinton empowerment program had cash incent is and cash money combined. it's the jack kemp enterprise zone program of the 1980s and 1990s where jack kemp and a number of politicians including charlie rangel and with a new twist on it. while it's important there's an idea, i think the idea would need substantial modifications to be effective to offer a tax holiday in total in only one community. i can see many communities because there are currently ten communities across the nation, ten urban communities across the nation, where the black unemployment rate exceeds 20%. so detroit has a significant set of challenges, but detroit is not alone. >> yeah. you mentioned the criminal justice system. rand paul has teamed up with new

jersey senator booker. that would create reforms to help nonviolent offenders in the criminal justice system. how crucial is this law for civil rights? >> i think it's critically important. i think what we've done is created an incarceration system which has subjected people who are guilty of nonviolence offenses to long periods of incarceration. then we subject them to longer periods of what i call incarceration outside of jail, the inability to get a job, the inability to qualify for a scholarship or a student loan. the inability to get an occupational license to be things like barbers or cosmetologists. this is important. it's good to see cory booker and rand paul teamed up on this, because it means there's bipartisan interest. in something that's civil rights and civil libertarians. many of us have championed for a long time. so the legislation is certainly a step.

there's a lot more that needs to be done. and of course the attorney general, eric holder, i think has been a catalyst in some of the guidances he's offered to united states attorneys across the nation in terms of how they approach nonviolent offenses. we've got to fix this system of incarceration for nonviolent offenders has simply gotten out of hand. the sentences are too long. the benefits of incarcerating people for long periods of time is questionable at best so we've got to try to reform this, get it right, offer more discretion to judges. criminal justice reform i think is an issue whose time is now here. >> mark, do you understand why the african-american community as a whole might be skeptical of rand paul? i know the national urban league is nonpartisan. but do you think he could bring more african-americans into the gop? >> it's going to take a lot of work in order to be able to do that. but what's important is that there are gop voices on issues

that are of concern and on some of the pressing and difficult domestic issues that face the nation. i can't say whether it's going to yield votes or political support. one speech, one appearance. all it means is perhaps there's the beginning of a dialogue. what i hope is that it's the beginning of a longer term dialogue. because the partisanship and the division and the inability to even has a sane discussion about these issues is damaging. so let's put it in the context that it's a step and it's going to have to be tremendous more efforts. ways fascinating to me on one level is because he certainly made statements, vis-a-vis poverty. you had people like marco rubio and paul ryan offer some perspectives on poverty. i can't comment on the merits of it. i know paul ryan had an awful budget proposal several months ago which would have emasculated

human services programs. what is so important today is we have to build many of our greatest successes. the civil rights act of '64. the voting right act of 1965. the reauthorization of voting rights act in 2006. all came because we were able to put together some bipartisan coalitions. we've got to work in that effort. i do not think that voters are easily, easily swayed against a back drop of long history. but it's important we try to break the ice in terms of having a dialogue in this country. we take the possessiition we ha permanent friends, no permanent enemies, only permanent interests. >> permanent friend with me, mark, thank you so much. a new global poll shows who likes america and who doesn't. that's next. and i see that it includes my fico® credit score. yup, you get it free each month to help you avoid surprises with your credit.

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who loves america and who doesn't? a new poll holds some answers to that very question. there are some surprises in this survey. citizens of one of our closest allies don't think too much of it. the one country you would think looks down at america likes us. joining me now, the director of the global economic attitudes at the pew research center. glad to have you on to talk about this. talk to me about the bad stuff first. the top five countries where people dislike the u.s. the most. all in the middle east. not a surprise there. right? >> no, it's not. actually anti-americanism in the middle east has been with us for some time ever since the iraq war. even slightly before that. while there have been a bump up in support for the u.s., an obama bounce really in 2009, in many parts of the world, we never got an obama bounce in the middle east. opinion of the u.s. went down around the time of the iraq war. it has stayed down in many of those countries. right now, only 10% of egyptians have a positive view of the u.s.

only about 12% of the jordanians. it's -- we've never regained any ground in the middle east. >> okay. how about the warm feelings that remain for us in europe? at the top of the list there, the italians, followed by the french and the polish. only the germans seem to like us less. what happened there? >> there's been a tailing off in support for the u.s. in germany. only about half of the germans now have a favorable view of the u.s. i think it's a combination of factors. we know that germany was one of the two countries that seemed to be most offended by the revelations of the nsa spying. strong opposition to drones in germany. and i think there's just a general frustration with the united states on a range of issues. we seem to be deverging on views of what to do about ukraine, for example. so for a variety of reasons, the germans -- not the least of which, the germans i think feel

good about themselves. they've managed their economy well and maybe they feel more independent. >> can you explain the enthusiasm in france? that's country i referred to that usually looks down its nose at us. >> given the fact in the u.s. if you want to damn something, you call it french. >> uh-huh. >> the idea that somehow the french are in love with us. about three quarters of the french have a positive view of the u.s. and that's very, very high. it may -- in fact, it's gone up in the last year. we're not quite sure why that is. it may be just the french look admirably at us, admiringly at us because they feel so bad about their own economy and society. >> also a bit of a reflection there, as an aside, we have americans having a very favorable view of that country. up from '03 after france opposed the iraq war.

what do you think is behind that? >> in terms of the u.s. view of france, we don't have good data on that so i wouldn't want to comment on the gallup data but i think you're right, there is a bit of an interesting development there. we know in past elections if you wanted to attack health care reform, you say, that's french, and that supposedly was a negative view. in terms of why the french have such a love affair with america, we know that they have a love affair with barack obama. they dramatically improved their appreciation of the u.s. president with his election. even though it's tailed off a bit, it still remains remarkably high. the president is at about 75%. satisfaction and favorability in france, the u.s. president -- the french president's at 15%. so the -- the french i think see barack obama as a president that they could never elect, and i think it fulfilled their view of

america as a kind of diverse society we have, the idealistic society we have. >> it's a great amount of research you've put together and a great conversation, thank you so much. >> thank you. police in new york estimates 3,000 people jammed into times square last night to protest the conflict in gaza. also called for an end to u.s. aid to israel. what will the u.s. do to stop the bloodshed? that's next. at humana, we believe if healthcare changes, if frustration and paperwork decrease... the gap begins to close. so let's simplify things. let's close the gap between people and care.

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there's good more... honey, look at all these smart rewards points verizon just gave me. ooh, you got a buddy. i'm like a statue. i just signed up and, boom, all these points. ...and there's not-so-good more. you're a big guy... oh no. get the good more with verizon smart rewards and rack up points to use towards the things you really want. now get 50% off all new smartphones. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt" at 34 past the hour. more on the developing situation in gaza. israel has agreed to extend its humanitarian cease-fire by four hours. also today, the gaza health ministry says around 150 bodies were discovered under the rubble in the gaza strip which brings the death toll to the palestinians to over 1,000 since the start of the operation, with more than 6,000 palestinians wounded. israelis say at least 35 soldiers have died in the recent

conflict. joining me now is khaled al gheni at the brookings institution. we have another 3 1/2 hours or so to go until the end of this temporary extension. how confident are you that because of things happening in france right now with secretary kerry and others on the ground that this may go further than 5:00 our local time here? >> that's certainly the hope. but we, as you know, have been disappointed in the past. we had a humanitarian pause. and then the fighting actually -- the violence intensified. so the last pause, we saw the start of israel's ground operation, which has resulted in far more casualties. so we could actually see it's not impossible to envision we could see an escalation after the pause has expired. >> uh-huh. what do we know, sir, about hamas leadership? have hamas leaders changed their

tone at all, given the loss of palestinian life? >> well, i don't think so. i think hamas feels that they have actually captured hearts and minds of palestinians certainly, both inside the gaza strip and the west bank, as well as palestinian citizens of israel, but more broadly, there is a fair amount of outrage with the overwhelming disproportionality of the death and destruction on the palestinian side, and that has hurt israel, so think they see themselves as gaining at least or having not much incentive to change their position. >> i'm curious because last night on "all in," the official projected the ultimate goal and the ultimate reality will be a

two-state solution. there are many who say time is running out for that. how do you feel about that? what's the general pervasive feeling? >> well, i agree that time is definitely running out. if it hasn't already run out. the problem, i think this cuts into one of the issues with why we keep, you know, gaza, these operations, this is about the seventh operation in about nine years. israel refers to these as mowing the grass. so that gives us an idea of the israeli approach to this. to keep gaza separate from the west bank, mow the grass in the gaza strip. every couple of years go in and kind of put palestinians in their place without having to resolve the underlying issues. and gaza, it's the closure of its borders. the siege on gaza that has made it essentially the world's largest open-air prison and in the west bank you have the

continued colonization and fragmentation of palestinian land there. yes, the ideal way to go, but we have to start to lack at gaza and the west bank as a single conflict, which, in fact, they are. instead of treating this as a conflict between hamas and israel or gaza and israel, this is part of an israeli palestinian conflict that the united states has been trying to mediate and has repeatedly failed. >> khaled, in part, might this be why? let's talk about palestinian president mahmoud abbas. does he have the power to effectively negotiate for hamas at this point? certainly, that's part of the breakdown of the government. does he speak with authority for hamas? >> well, he hasn't for the last seven years. that's been the problem, is the united states and israel have been content to talk to mahmoud

abbas and his people in the west bank, making peace with one side of palestinians, while making war with another side of palestinians. and the united states and most of the international community has bought into this very perverse logic. it's either you make peace with all palestinians or you don't. and so i think the palestinians themselves are now coming to this conclusion that their division has been completely counterproductive and we see that hamas' demands have been adopted by the plo leadership in ramallah and they are trying to address that. it's time that the united states and israel also come to terms with the reality that you need to deal with one single palestinian political address. otherwise, we are going to see more of these types of conflicts and blood shed. >> okay. khaled al ghindi, thank you. trying to make sense of the

ongoing conflict and when and how it will end. former ambassador bill richardson next. now it's quicker and easier for you to start your business, protect your family, and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. it's progressive pain. first that feeling of numbness. then hot pins. almost like lightning bolts, hot strikes into my feet. so my doctor prescribed lyrica. the pain has been reduced and i feel better than i did before. [ male announcer ] it's known that diabetes damages nerves. lyrica is fda-approved to treat diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is not for everyone. it may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or, swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, changes in eyesight, including blurry vision, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling or skin sores from diabetes. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain

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secretary of energy and ambassador to the united nations. i'll address you as ambassador considering our topic. let's listen to what the representative said in the last hour to me. >> everybody's trying to play the blame game and talk about -- talking about moral equivalence and so forth. meanwhile, just hundreds and hundreds of innocent people are dying. yes, some are dying on the israeli side. and this is a human tragedy. one of the things that bugs me is when we talk about innocent people being shot in cross fires, there's no cross fire here. this is an assault. and innocent people are being killed needlessly and tragically. >> frank talk about israel from a sitting congressman. do you think the u.s. needs to start pressing forcefully on both sides for a real cease-fire? >> well, alex, i think secretary kerry, the administration's, doing everything they can.

the secretary's out there pushing for a cease-fire. i think what is happening, and i'm not as pessimistic as most. i think even if it's a short cease-fire, that could extend for a few more days. that means they're making progress and narrowing the differences. what i think is happening is israel has an objective that it hasn't achieved, which is to destroy the tunnels that store all those weapons on the hamas side. they've destroyed about half of them. so they feel they need more time. and hamas is gaining domestic support with the palestinians on the west bank. they are not unified within palestinian. they have been sort of the more militant faction. so that's a political objective they're trying to get. they're trying to round up more weapons from some of their friends like qatar and other countries. so i think this is going to extend a little more. i agree with the congressman. this is a tragedy. but, again, i think very short

small progress is being made. and we should persist, we should continue. the u.n.'s in there. egypt has played a new very constructive role, in pushing for the cease-fires. the qataris could help because they put money in hamas' pockets. >> you've got to be negotiating with the right people. i've gotten pretty uniform answers so i'm curious if you'll fall in like here. is abbas, president of the plo, does he have the power to speak on behalf of hamas leaders? despite them being part of his government, is he the right person? >> well, he's the right person. because he's moderate. he's democratically elected. the problem is hamas is very strong fraction that is militant, more militant than he is. he has not been able to bring

them together into a cease-fire. his power over them appears to be limited. nonetheless, we need to deal with him because he's the most viable moderate palestinian leader. >> but do you think that hamas -- they hear the phrase they want to see it at the table. do you think if hamas was given a seat at the table directly, if you will, that that might help with negotiations, or is it just because of u.s. policy, terrorism groups? we will not negotiate? i mean, you understand the dilemma here? >> i understand that. i don't thing you give them a seat at the table formally. i think of other actors, the qataris, the u.n., play a role in moderating them and bringing them to the table, that's a constructive one. but you don't give them that legitimacy that because of their militants, this is a terrible

tragedy. when you negotiate, you have to bolster those who want a solution. that's a bust. >> how do we come up with a two-state solution when hamas doesn't recognize israel's right to exist? >> this is something the palestinians have to sort out. if there is an effort and israel, i think, has said they're committed to a two-step solution, but i think more steps have to be taken on both sides. this is what secretary kerry tried to do in this negotiation with the israelis and palestinians. i don't think the region, because of the hamases, because of the intensive efforts to isolate israel by a lot of arab countries, syria, many others that are now militant, this is why i think egypt playing a role as a moderate, as a cease-fire proponent, is good. so there's a lot of bad movement there. no question.

but, alex, i think you have to deal with the cards you have and that's abbas. let's strengthen him so he can move hamas into more moderate tones. >> doesn't it feel to you, six we've been doing the same things for years and nothing's happened? >> well, look, the middle east is exploding. it's exploding everywhere. it's now exploding in libya where we moved people out. it's exploding in syria and iraq. look, this is constantly changing explosive region. and you have to find friends that at times are friends and at other times are enemies, but you have to deal with all of them, but you don't give the hamas the legitimacy that they crave but they don't deserve yet.

let them come to the peace talks. let them move towards a cease-fire. i know this is not something that makes right now lot of pos think that's what has to happen, alex. >> ambassador bill richardson. sage words. thank you for sharing them with us. i appreciate it. >> thank you. president obama meets with central american leaders about the border crisis, but what did that accomplish? that is next. luxe toothpaste. only crest 3d white has whitelock technology. it removes stains within the microfine lines of your teeth... and locks out future stains. crest 3d white luxe toothpaste. life opens up with a whiter smile. [ blows whistle ] then spend your time chasing your point "b"... ...the war of 1812. [ bell rings ] you get to point "b", and sometimes things change. but your journey is not done. capella university is the most direct path to what's next, because our competency-based curriculum

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the white house is tipping its hachnd at a potential executive order from president obama, but how far would it go? the president met with the leaders of guatemala, honduras and el salvador, the three countries from which the vast majority of undocumented immigrants are fleeing. >> in a vision of being a nation of immigrants, we're also a nation of laws, and if you have a disorderly and dangerous process of migration, that not only puts the children themselves at risk, but it also

calls to question the legal immigration process of those who are properly applying and trying to enter into our country. >> joining me now, the professor and fellow at the university of texas's center for politics and government. with a welcome back to you. as you well know, earlier this month, the president sent congress a request for $3.7 billion in supplemental funding for the immigration crisis. in his statement yesterday, he called on congress to pass at least some sort of supplemental before the august recess. so what are the chances of that happening? >> i don't think it's going to happen, alex. i'm going to come out and just say it. we have just a couple days left. if history is any indication, we know that this congress has been infamously stalemated. that being said, i did see some glimmers of hope yesterday from the meeting of the president of the united states with the leaders of central american countries. mainly, that perhaps there might be some refugee status granted

to honduran children in particular. the problem is in these country. it's how do we address the push factors that move these children onwards. we've seen, what are the magnets, what are the poll factors? that's not relevant to the humanitarian crisis that we're facing. >> to continue that, it was a little under $300 million for the department of state partly to help the central american countries address the underlying causes of the exodus and that is mainly crime. look at honduras. it has the highest murder rate in the world. el salvador and guatemala, the fourth and fifth highest respectively. can money solve that? >> it's going to be money. i think that is at the core of it. but also a working relationship. the united states can't just

give money and walk away. it has to engage the leaders of these countries and this is where diplomacy comes in. this is where the state department needs to engage its central american counterparts and also mexican counterparts and say what are the problems and how are we going to address them? everyone has to put their part into it. >> white house senior adviser dan pfeiffer said yet the president is going to launch a big expansion of immigrant rights by the end of the summer. first, do you know what that might look like? >> well, there's been talk about extending the current program of daca. in terms of details, i've heard a lot of rumors, so i don't want to necessarily speculate, but i do think what we're going to see is the anchor of daca and people affiliate with daca a couple more years might get coverage under this program. >> okay. any political mistake in ruling that out by a midterm election? >> you know, i think in this case, it will help to mobilize the latino population.

the latino population is feeling very frustrated and they need something, they need a boost of energy. >> okay. victoria defrancesco soto, always good to talk with you. thanks so much. >> thanks, alex. >> that's a wrap of "weekends with alex witt." i'll see you right back here tomorrow at noon eastern. up next, craig melvin. have a good one. new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does.

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