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>> a very good day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters in new york. welcome, everyone, to "alex witt reports." we will start with breaking news out of the middle east. tensions are escalating between israeli forces and palestinian militants. this new video just today. look what it shows. an implosion after an israeli air strike hit that building and there were several media outlets. let's go to raf sanchez joining us from beirut. what are you learning about the latest strike and is there confirmation because of lives lost or injuries because of this attack today, or in summary, for the entire week? >> reporter: yeah, alex, this strike on a building containing the gaza bureaus of the associated press, al jazeera and other media outlets, the israeli military saying that building also contains hamas military

assets and not being very specific about what those assets were. this strike is causing outcry around the world. the associated press condemning it, a shocking, horrifying. the white house has raised concerns with the israelis about keeping journalists safe, but this strike is just one of a number we have seen by israel in gaza over the last 24 hours. israel last night struck a refugee camp, killing ten people including eight children. israel said it was targeting a senior hamas leader in that strike and we now have nearly 40 kids dead in gaza. nearly 140 people killed in total and nine people are dead on the israeli side including a man killed earlier today by a rocket fired into the suburb. we are in the sixth day of this conflict and there really is no

end in sight. there is a strange choreography that brings them it an end and israel or hamas speak to each other and they both speak to egypt and they bring about a cease-fire. we are not seeing that kind of brokered talk going on right now. we are in the sixth day of this conflict, but i'll remind you the 2014 gaza war lasted 51 days. so this could go on for a long time. what is different about this conflict is this awful intercommunal violence we are seeing, spilling out on to the streets of israeli cities. jewish gangs attacking arabs and arab gangs attacking jews. last night two palestinian kids injured in a firebomb attack in the city of jaffa. a number of synagogues have been set on fire. israel's president has called this a civil war, and alex, there will sooner or later be a

cease-fire between israeli military and hamas, but these wounds caused by this intercommunal violence, neighbor attacking neighbor may take much longer to heal. >> i want to talk to you about the camp one of which the ten fatalities, eight were children, are they aware of the entire template, and they had to be aware of civilians as they were targeting this leader. >> israel says it goes to every length to avoid civilian casualties, and they called the owner of the building to get everybody out.

as far as we know nobody was injured in that strike, but alex, these refugee camps in gaza, i have been to them. they are some of the most densely populated places on earth. you have families of ten, 12, living in small houses, all right next to each other and so if you drop a high-ordnance bomb from a state-of-the-art israeli warplane into an area like that even with the best intelligence in the world the chances are high that civilians are going to be killed. i have asked the israeli military about the kids killed in this strike and they say they're looking into it. they were targeting a senior hamas leader and they say they're doing everything they can to avoid civilian casualties and human rights groups will tell you what they're seeing is a disproportionate level of force. >> did they confirm that the two adults killed in the strike, was that one of the senior hamas

leader. can they confirm that? >> we don't know at this point. it still remains a confused picture inside the refugee camp. they say the strike was targeted at a senior hamas leader and these hamas leaders live among the civilian population to make it difficult to target them and they hide assets in civilian assets to deter israeli strikes. >> they sure do. thank you very much, raf sanchez for that from beirut. let's go from there, everyone, to nbc's monica alba standing by at the white house. welcome to you. there are breaking developments there about a phone call involving the president. what do you know? >> an administration official telling me that president biden spoke with benjamin netanyahu late this morning. we had told you last hour. there was activity in the west wing and we do understand the president had been in and out of the oval office in meetings and

calls over the last couple of hours. during that timeframe he spoke with prime minister netanyahu and we don't have a full readout from the u.s. side of things, just what the israelis have mentioned, which is, of course, their version of events and how this call went. we are waiting from american officials to understand what the president's message was and a lot of this diplomacy is happening behind the scenes in calls like this and that's something that the president has deputized with his secretary of state antony blinken and jake sullivan to handle with their own counterparts. a lot of this has not been done in public and that's according to white house officials. we know the president is expected to depart later this afternoon and evening in wilmington delaware. we do know he continues to monitor the violence in gaza, but we also got one public preview of how the white house is at least responding from the press secretary jen psaki who did tweet after those reports

came out this morning. we have communicated directly to the israelis that ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is of paramount responsibility. we are awaiting that full readout from the u.s. side of things to read more of what the president conveyed to the israelis in terms of what the press secretary indicates there and also to learn whether there have been other calls with other leaders, and we don't have that confirmed yet by nbc news and given that the president has spent all of his time this morning working out of the west wing that there will be more to announce this as the violence continues to unfold and escalate. >> thank you so much. let's go now to more developing stories this hour. the cdc says fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear a face mask or stay six feet away from others in most settings. that is for both indoors and outdoors. today both celebration and some confusion as americans are trying to navigate through what

this means for their daily lives. democratic congressman kim schweyer, also a pediatrician reacting to the new guidance right here last hour. >> i know all of us feel a little bit funny about that. it feels weird to go out without a mask, so i think everybody will kind of use their own sense of safety and security, but this was a science-based decision. i am hoping just like the cdc is that this carrot of freedom, right? you can take off your mask once you've been vaccinated and will encourage people to get vaccinate happened. >> congress is now a step closer to forming a commission to investigate the january 6th attack on the capitol. the top democrat and the house homeland security committee coming to a deal on legislation that would form a ten-person bipartisan commission. that commission would study the facts and circumstances surrounding the attack and would have the power to issue

subpoenas. democratic congressman krishnamoorthi is giving his thoughts on whether this can actually be passed through congress. >> at this point, we are going to have to see how kevin mccarthy and mitch mcconnell react. if he fails to do so he does so at his peril because the vast majority of the american people want this type of commission to be composed and to study and prevent this attack on the capitol. and colonial pipeline has returned its entire system to normal operations following that cyber attack, but many gas stations today are still facing shortages. the company is now delivering millions of gallons of fuel each hour after last friday's ransomware attack forced that company to shut down, approximately 5500 miles of pipeline to bring widespread fuel shortages in the southeast. >> on capitol hill, tensions

between democrats and republicans with a fever pitch after a confrontation between congresswoman marjorie taylor-greene and alexandra ocasio-cortez, chasing alexandra berating her that she supports terrorists and that underscores the growing rift between the two parties and politico is calling a cold war in the house. joining me now one of the journalists who wrote that article, sarah, the reporter for politico. what do we been this confrontation between aoc and marjorie taylor-greene this week? what exactly happened? >> in fact, the georgia congresswoman marjorie taylor-greene has been repeating and defending her and not claiming that this didn't happen. she said alexandra ocasio-cortez owes her answers and she wants to know more about the green new deal and she was defending herself saying i, of course,

want to know more answers from what the new york democrat is saying. so it's not that they're pretending that this happened and it's a remarkable example and as we were writing in this piece, i have not seen relationships this sour, even january 6th. i was in the chamber that day. a lot of the capitol is living like it is january 7th because the tensions are so high and exacerbated by the republicans who were claiming that this was actually not a spat and that the media is overplaying it, some of it comparing it to a normal tourist visit and this is inflaming tensions that lawmakers, particularly democrats, who have been in the chamber that day have been trying to move past and this is bringing it all back up to the surface. >> maybe marjorie taylor-greene needs to go about asking for answers in a different way because we'll show a bit of a clip from 2019 before

taylor-greene had been elected to congress, and standing outside alexandra ocasio-cortez and she was literally opening up the mail slot and yelling through it trying to speak to her and used some unsavory phrasing when doing so. the fact that this even happened before she became a congress member, i mean, was there a head's up that there were going to be problems? >> think i knew this behavior would continue for a republican who has just no shame about going after democrats in this aggressive way and ocasio cortez is not the first democrat that this has the happened to. marjorie taylor-greene has gone after ilhan omar tlaib and used that to fund raise and continued to build her own base and this is what marjorie taylor-greene

wants and thrives on. alexandra ocasio-cortes has talked about not to talk about this incident and this is a strategic decision for her. she's not trying to engage and she knows that it will make it worse and that's what democrats are encouraging each other and there was actually a flare-up on friday just before they were leaving for the weekend and congressman eric swalwell was confronted by a press secretary for marjorie taylor-greene saying something about a mask saying you don't need to wear a mask anymore and the congressman said something that i won't repeat on air to the press secretary and it's just an example of how tense things are and democrats say that we don't want to give her attention and sometimes they can't help it and they're going after each other and these are in the hallways of congress. >> yeah. i'm somewhat speechless of what we're seeing there. i can't imagine that you're given in the halls of congress every single day. thank you so much for coming to talk us to. more on the coronavirus

pandemic. more than 120 million americans could go maskless today. the cdc says people who are vaccinated will not catch the virus and transmit it to others and they're working against the variants. connecticut, illinois, kentucky, nevada and chair changing rules to follow the new guidelines and there are officials in some big cities like new york and los angeles who say they are reviewing the data before make anything changes there. some big businesses will now allow vaccinated people to shop without a mask, that includes costco, trader joe's, walmart and then there are others like apple, target and walgreen's who say you've got to keep your mask on now and that's for all customers and let's hear what people are saying about the new mask guidelines and let's go to cor kaufman. what are you hearing there? >> this is one of those stories,

thou do people feel? how do new yorkers feel in this is a very compliant city. definitely more people taking off their masks outdoors. i would say the split is about 75% of people maskless, 25% with masks. definitely more people with masks as they gather in groups like behind me near the vendor, but there is a sense of relief, but some cautious optimism, as well. i talked to people on both sides of the fence. listen here. >> i feel like things will be back to normal and we'll take off our masks and i'm trying to keep my mask on. >> a sigh of relief, honestly. where science can take us where everyone really believes in it. we've been vaccinated for a few months from it at this point. to see it widespread, new york city, it's really great. >> reporter: and alex, i want to point out something about that family they talked to there. they also noted that things are

different here in the state of new york, and a few other states versus the cdc guidance. for example, in new york we haven't lifted the mask mandate same yet, same for new jersey, california, hawaii and those states, as well and the dad said there they're building and there's still confusion there because people still want to take off the masks and the building requires it. that's the difference between the differences and buildings that are allowing it and not allowing it as well as these local governments and 35% of the adult population is fully vaccinated, but travel is going to be the big thing here, as well, alex. the faa says when it comes to public travel you will still have to wear a mask until september. that includes planes and busses. a lot of gray area and questions still to be asked. >> exactly to your point, and i thank you for making it for me, cori coffin. for all of you do these new cdc

mask guidelines have any of you confused? a panel of experts will join me next hour and we'll answer your questions and explore the implications for the new recommendations for you. as far-right republicans try to re-write the history of the capitol riot. the house is moving ahead with a january 6th commission, but will an investigation actually accomplish. ♪ it's grilled cheese time. ♪ ♪ yeah, it's time for grilled cheese. ♪ ♪ after we make grilled cheese, ♪ ♪ then we're eating grilled cheese. ♪ ♪ because it's time. ♪

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♪♪ ♪♪ so, the january 6th insurrection will be accurately described as a mob of misfits. >> to call it an insurrection is a bold faced lie. if you didn't know the footage of january 6th, you would think it was a normal tourist visit. >> nope! in a week which saw multiple republicans try to re-write history on what happened january 6th, there is now a deal on legislation to form a bipartisan commission to investigate the

attack. the bill which may be considered in the house next week would establish a ten-person bipartisan panel and they would be tasked with the tanks and influencing factors that provoked it. they will be able to issue subpoenas. joining me now is illinois congressman mike quigley, a democratic member of the house and oversight committees. welcome. i don't even know how you react when you hear those kinds of things that you played for your republican colleagues. there has been disagreement that's been made to form a commission. are you concerned that no matter what that commission find is not going to be accepted on a bipartisan basis. >> the notion of i'll believe it when i see it. what you saw this week is i'll see it when i believe it, and that's pretty scary. at the very least, they owe an apology to over 100 police

officers who were injured, who lost five officers since the beginning of the year, and there were injuries with the district of columbia police, as well, but i'd like to think that the american people would have greater faith in a bipartisan commission of officials, like 9/11. i don't know what they would have thought after pearl harbor, that those were tourist, after 9/11 that that was a hoax. it's pretty scary when your nation's capitol is attacked and you can't come to common ground as to whether it actually took place. >> it's absolutely stunning. let's play part of an exchange that you had with former defense chris miller in responding to the capitol attack. let's all take a look together. >> if this is a victory, if this is success, what do you -- how would you have classified a

failure? >> i want to highlight it's not the correct role for the department of defense and our armed forces to be involved in civilian law enforcement matters except as an absolutely last resort. >> the last resort -- you came in after the fact. i was in the room -- i remember hearing colleagues saying when is the f-ing cavalry get here? if you are the f-ing cavalry, you never showed up, you never got there on time and we were exposed because of this. >> did he ever answer to you what would define a last resort? >> no, and i think what's more distressing is in law enforcement and in the military i've always respected the fact that they take victories and defeats as a team effort. the first emergency call came in at 1:49. the cavalry, as it was described in the balcony that day, that's

where i got that line, when does the f-ing cavalry get here, using the other term, they got there at 5:20 and it was largely over and a lot of the damage was already done. again, i would just respect him a lot more, you can't begin to repair the problems and try to solve them if you don't acknowledge that you made mistakes in the first place. >> yeah. from one really challenging issue to another, i know you were briefed regularly on the nation's cybersecurity what kind of weakness this week expose on cyber defenses? >> it was the most striking major attack on the energy infrastructure, but as you know, it's certainly not the first ransomware attack or cyber attack. obviously, the ones on microsoft and solar winds. solar winds may have a longer term impact on our economy and our nation's security, and there have been others, as well.

so i think it shows just how vulnerable we are. the president's executive order is welcome to begin to enhance the government's cybersecurity protections, but let's face it, 80% of our critical infrastructure like this pipeline is owned and operated by the private sector. i think we have to do a lot more including minimum standards of security mandated by the federal government. this is our nation's economy and security at stake. we're going to have to work in tandem, but they'll have to obviously up their game. >> here's something that's upsetting for some people and they're asking the question, colonial pipeline paid $5 million, should they have paid that ransom and what's that going to say to any nefarious group or character and let's put something out there and get paid for it. >> i'm on the committee and i have to be honest, the only way

that that may or may not be true is what i read in the newspapers, so obviously, we still have a lot to learn. i think there is a different aspect to this that i need to add to the mix. if this was a kinetic attack on the pipeline, it's hard to imagine we wouldn't have responded in kind, right? i think we have to have the offensive capabilities to take down the tax like this so they're not possible. that's why we have a military. someone described this as an act of war. frankly, it was more a robbery by a criminal element, but those potential acts of war are out there, and i think they've already begun as solar winds demonstrate, so we need to up our defensive posture and i think for defensive reasons we need to up our offensive capabilities, as well. >> there's another alleged attack i want to talk with you about and this one is what politico is reporting that u.s.

officials suspect a notorious russian spy agency may be behind the directed energy attacks and they're causing mysterious health issues with government personnel. they report symptoms that report headaches and loss of balance, ringing and pressure in their ears and even sometimes long-term brain damage. what do you know, congressman, about this? is this a crime with no fingerprints, and if so, how do we pinpoint whether or not russia's indeed behind it? >> it is an absolutely great question and paramount to answer and this is real and it is a real threat to our government and to our diplomatic and intelligence community. it is an attack on our ability to defend ourselves and to operate around the world. we are working and i will tell you very diligently to attribute this, to prevent this and to right now, as important as all

of that, at least is to take those who are suffering the neurological disorders that you're talking about. this is a bold attack and we must address it equally boldly. >> illinois congressman mike quigley, come see me soon. thank you so much. a new attack in gaza, it reaches a boiling point and why it feels different this time. ♪ the things, you say ♪ ♪ your purple prose just gives you away ♪ ♪ the things, you say ♪

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so the fighting in the middle east is taking quite a new violent turn as it destroyed a block that united states hose media outlets. look at that coming down there. these attacks are just the

latest escalation after a week of worsening conflict between israeli forces and hamas. joining me now on the phone is a producer with al jazeera international. safwat, welcome to you in these terrifying times. i know you were in the building earlier today. what happened? >> well, what happened is one of the residents of the building in which we have our office, he came to our office and he said that he received a phone call from the israeli army and they gave him a deadline of one hour to evacuate the building and to tell everybody to leave the building. he informed the bureau chief of our office, mr. awal, and our bosses and they immediately asked everybody to evacuate based on this warning that they

received from the neighborhoods. immediately, everybody started to collect as much as they could from cameras, laptops and these are special things that any journalist would need for reporting and for the daily covering that we have been doing in the last six days. frankly, i wasn't panicking a lot because on the way out by the building, lots of children, women, people living in the same building, our neighbors, as we called them, they were panicking also and they were afraid to use the stairs to go down and leave the office because it's not time to think or recall the elevator or think of a more practical thing, and the stairs are to go out. after that, after we were

outside the building, all of the teams and all of the neighbors, was there another phone call from the israeli army according to what i understood, it was from the israeli security, bombardiers and israeli intelligence and they asked, together with our bureau chief they asked for a few minutes in order to go back to the office and try to pick up some of the equipment that we really need in our daily coverage in reporting and also the gentleman, the neighbor who was receiving the phone call, he asked the israeli security to give them more time because they have -- every family has its own important elements like documents like passport, like i.d.s, maybe

money, maybe jewelry, you know, every house has its own -- >> of course. >> personal stuff. but the intelligence officer told them you don't have any minutes, if anyone goes back inside the building we will hit the building immediately. so the intelligence officer rejected the demand, the last demand from our boss and our neighbor to go back and gathering things from the house. >> safwat, how long did you have from the first call until the strike? you said it was panicked. we can understand you were trying to get computers, do you means and anything to continue your job just like the residents there were trying to gather up anything important that they could take with them, literally on their backs. how long did you have to get out of the building?

>> oh, really, i need to go back, you know, it's still -- the teams and everybody literally more or less 20 minutes to 25, some others 30 and you also have at the same time. >> yeah. >> some of our colleagues they immediately rushed out of the building because some of the colleagues have nothing to do with cameras and with editing machines so they were getting some other facilities helping each other, but like the camera man and anything -- the first thing they were looking for or started to think of is how to collect their own equipment and with some other 25 minutes and so on. it's not like everybody moves

outside of the building in one time. >> safwat, do you know if anybody was still inside that building? has it been confirmed that everybody, every journalist and every resident got out in time? >> according to our follow up, no one was injured and no one was killed, but the whole building was totally destroyed. apart from that, there is no -- there are no losers and human beings. >> safwat, while we've been talking i could hear you flinch just for a moment because you heard another rocket go off. how difficult is this for you to just lead a normal life? >> look, my friend, gaza is a

very small place. it is like 60 kilometers squared which could be a small city in the united states on or canada. there are more than 2 million people living in this very small and overcrowded area. and you have eight refugee towns, and in the other places, they are are seriously crowded and the high population. so now where i'm sitting now, in fwaza city, in the extreme north, and it could com bard the rd boerline and by the way, a hundred of families evacuate their homes until at least the end of this escalation.

. are. middle populated and, the pitches are small. a very smallier. you would have to be listening and your children and others and you will be listening and following most of the explosions happening in places in gaza. my children are scared all the time because although sometimes you know, the bombing is not next to your home, but still gaza is a very small place, an open-air place where we don't have mountain, we don't have beaches and we don't have forests and it is flat and flat like the coastline of the mediterranean. so everything is exploding and everything in action carries out

during this escalation and the civilians are the beens who pay the bill around or during every bombardment or during every escalation. >> safwat, i know this is difficult for you. i know that office was your home for your last 11 years and my journalistic colleague, thank you so much and thank you for taking the time for giving us a bird's-eye view of what's happening right now. >> joining me is former allied commander and msnbc contributor. what goes through your mind when you see this and what can the u.s., what is the u.s. doing about this diplomatically? >> the first thing that comes to my mind is the other side of the story here. over the last week we've seen

2,000 rockets fired from gaza by hamas, indiscriminately, no warnings, against israelis. as always, there are two sides to every story, and we need to keep that in perspective. i was in the pentagon on 9/11 and no one gave me a terrorist strike that it was coming in. so i get the pain in the journalist's voice there, but again, there are two sides to this which brings us to the salient point, alex, what should the u.s. be doing here? and here's the bad news, our tools are pretty limited at this point because the incentives are running in the wrong direction both ways, and netanyahu is under indictment in israel, and this is a distraction from his judicial process, his inability to form a government, so he's not going to be pulling back any time soon, and hamas is dealing

with internal palestinian politics. this makes them look strong, launching missiles and standing up to israel. so unfortunately, i think this will go on for a while. the administration is doing what they can. they've sent an envoy totry and mediate here and this is one that the israelis and the palestinians will have to solve. is there a ticking point, sir, at which you think this will escalate into all-out war? >> we are right at that point now, and let's face it, the israelis have three brigades of ground troops masked on the border of gaza and there are some senior israelis who are pushing to go ahead and enter and do more than they call mow the grass which is these kinds of strikes which are quite punitive to begin with. let's hope it doesn't tip that

way. i'll say this, alex, i've spent four years as the nato commander and one of my jobs was to manage the u.s.-israeli military connection, so i know all of these actors, minister of defense, benny gantz was general benny gantz, the head of the israeli defense force and i will tell you, the israelis even as we show the immense destruction of this building and they do everything to minimize collateral damage and that's why they do call, they do give head's up, but there are no winners on either side of this one, and so we've got to hope for real effort at mediation from both sides. >> i'm curious, given your vast experience and perspective on all of this, the presidents r have had good luke to ease these frustrations, how much do you think a u.s. president can even

do to help resolve this con flekt? >> this has been the crimea for decades and welcoming both sides to camp david to sign off. we've had flickers of that with jimmy carter. bill clinton made some progress. i think those days are over. the u.s. is focused on moving on to stand in the pacific to try to contain iran and that is working with israel and the arab states and a lot of what you're seeing, alex, is just understandable frustration from the palestinians who have been pushed off center stage. so i would say rather than thinking about this as a shot with the middle east peace process with the u.s. president guiding it, we ought to take a much more bipartisan, work with our allies, try and combine together with the europeans in

particular to troo i and appeal to both sides to walk away from this extreme violence. as you say and you are correct, we are at the tipping point. >> your sage expertise and advice much appreciated my friend, admiral james, thanks. >> much confusion over the cdc mask guidelines and it appears they'll sort it out for you. we'll get to it after a break. tide pods child-guard pack helps keep your laundry pacs in a safe place and your child safer. to close, twist until it clicks. tide pods child-guard packaging. seeing blood when you brush or floss can be a sign of early gum damage. new parodontax active gum repair kills plaque bacteria at the gum line to help keep the gum seal tight. new parodontax active gum repair toothpaste.

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that's why we are at trader joe's and they were one of the firsts to say that masks were optional for fully vaccinated people, but it's complicated. it was messy getting into the whole masking thing a year ago and it's a little messy getting out of it. trader joe's was out right away saying we encourage customers to follow the guidance of health officials including as appropriate, cdc guidelines that advise customers who are fully vaccinated and not required to wear masks while shopping. here we've seen nobody wut a mask because there is still an indoor mask mandate here in california. so running through some of the retailers and what they're saying, that's a mixed picture, as well. trader joe's, walmart, costco and publix and starbucks says as of monday, masks are optional if fully vaccinated, but some are still requiring masks, among them, cvs, kroger, target and home depot. again, there are still, in many

state, california included there are still mask rules and mask mandates for all people indoors whether vaccinated or not. governor gavin newsom said they are still sorting all of that out. it is not so simple to just get rid of her mask mandates, and they're trying to figure out what makes sense and they promised yesterday afternoon that never came and so here we are with sort of the status quo in california, anyway, where there is a mask mandate indoors for everybody, but if you're fully vaccinated outdoors you can go without. there's also some other confusion out there and some disagreement in the medical profession, the nation's largest nursing union, the national nurses united just out with a statement blasting the cdc guidance saying it is not based in science. alex? >> so, scott, i'll admit that i shop at trader joe's here locally and they have done a great job of making you feel

safe. they were limiting people and we were standing in line just to get if the door and you can't even bag your own groceries. you're stepping into the area and you have to stand within that area while the check-out person bags your groceries for you. it's been great. so you have to wonder the see we've not heard of anyone that is going to require any proof of vaccination at least for customers. some are requiring proof for their employees. but again, this is all still rapidly evolving. for now i guess if you're in doubt wear your mask.

if you are fully vaccinated you may be able to ease up a bit. >> thank you so much. a big picture look at the congresswoman who is now the third highest ranking republican the woman explains how she has changed and how she stayed the same. changed and how she stayed the same okay, imagine this... your mover, rob, he's on the scene and needs a plan with a mobile hotspot. we cut to downtown, your sales rep lisa has to send some files, asap! so basically i can pick the right plan for each employee... yeah i should've just led with that... with at&t business... you can pick the best plan for each employee and only pay for the features they need. age is just a number. and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health. versus 16 grams in ensure high protein. boost® high protein also has key nutrients for immune support. boost® high protein.

sure, about this? experience capability, crafted by lexus. we're good. the remarkable gx and lx. get 0.9% apr financing on the 2021 gx 460. experience amazing, at your lexus dealer. now the third highest ranking republican after taking over that seat held by congresswoman liz cheney house republicans voted wednesday to oust cheney for publicly criticizing donald trump on multiple occasions and voting to impeach him for his role in the january 6th insurrection. joining me now is the president of back roads political action committee, also a democratic candidate who ran against stefanik in 2018. with a welcome to you i want to share that i listened to the daily podcast from the "new york times" this week and their very in depth look at elise stefanik

starting with her bipartisan campaign and acceptance speech in 2014. she ran a considerably different campaign when you ran against her. what did you witness and what do you think is behind her remarkable rise through the ranks? >> i think she is clear and consistent about one thing and that is she puts one priority or she has one priority and that is elise stefanik. she will do and say anything to gain power and position. >> let's look at her record. according to 538 liz cheney voted with trump #92% of the time compared to stefanik who voted in line 77% of the time. why do you think republicans chose her? >> it's about who will support the big lie. not about leadership but following. elise stefanik is willing to follow a failed president, follow a failed agenda, that led

to a violent insurrection on the capitol, and it is about following and supporting a big lie and elise stefanik is willing to do that. >> i'm curious. how much do you think donald trump changed elise stefanik since taking office? i listened to her 2014 acceptance speech and she talked about working across the aisle, with green party members, libertarians. that is not the elise stefanik of today. >> again, it is not an evolution. this is who elise stefanik is at every level. it is about power. it is about her own rise. she is willing to do whatever it takes to gain power and prestige. and i think we've seen it in this district and we are seeing it, the country is seeing it right now. >> i'm curious what you tweeted. we'll read it in full. elise stefanik is the cos play congresswoman so it should come as no surprise this week that in her lust for more political

power she has continued to embrace a number of lies dividing the country. is that something you stand by? it's pretty much what you are saying here >> i absolutely stand by it. liz cheney and i probably wouldn't agree on anything other than that donald trump lost the last election and joe biden is the president of the united states. and she's not willing to lie. elise stefanik is not only willing to lie but is going to continue to press forward for her own political gain. >> tell me how popular stefanik is in your district. would you say this upstate new york district is mostly trump republicans or are there more moderates? how do you describe it? >> well, i'd say this is a tough district. like many other rural districts. and, honestly that's why i started back roads pac so that every person, every democrat running in a tough, rural race or district like this one has the support that they need.

listen, there are lots of elise stefaniks out there and i want to be sure every democrat challenging them gets the support they need. we'll do that through back roads pac. if people want to help us we're looking for allies and that is back roads pac.com. >> duly said. tedra cobb, thank you for joining me. so the day you dreamed of is here but you probably shouldn't throw away your mask yet. your questions and concerns about going maskless answered in the coming hour. ♪ the things, you say ♪ ♪ your purple prose just gives you away ♪ ♪ the things, you say ♪ ♪ you're unbelievable ♪ ♪ ♪ applebee's irresist-a-bowls are back. dig in for just $8.99.

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a very good day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters here in new york. welcome everyone to alex witt reports. here's what's happening. we're starting off this hour with breaking news out of the middle east. fighting taking a new, violent turn as israel destroys this tower block you're seeing here. it housed several media outlets and residences. the attacks are the latest escalation after a week of worsening conflict between israeli forces and hamas. let's go to nbc's reporter in beirut. give me the details of what you are learning about this latest strike. in the last hour we heard a first-hand account of what happened from a gaza journalist. what do you know about this as well? >> reporter: alex, this was a pretty extraordinary scene in gaza city, the