escalating on the border. late tonight, an fc spokesperson john kirby said the trip will also include a stop in jordan. president biden will meet with king abdullah ii, as well as -- palestinian authority president ibis. that does it for me tonight. the rachel maddow show starts right now, and clearly, she has a lot of news to cover, and i know she'll be covering all of it. hi, rachel. >> hi, john. i do indeed. thank you so much my friend. thank you home for joining us this hour. there really is a lot going on. we will be talking a lot tonight about the latest news from the israel-hamas war. but not only about, story we have had a bunch of important news breaking today internationally, and in the united states. there's just one of those days, there's a ton to get to. on israel-hamas, this is huge breaking news within the past hour, that president biden himself will travel to israel the day after tomorrow on wednesday.

secretary of state antony blinken making that big announcement from israel. he announced that president biden is coming to israel on wednesday. he said this which itself could be a very big deal. >> the united states and israel have agreed to develop a plan that will enable aid from multilateral organizations to reach civilians in gaza and them alone, including the possibility of creating areas to help keep civilians out of harm's way. >> to have the u.s. president heading there himself and then to have what secretary blinken just announced. the u.s. government announcing they have a plan with israel to get aid into gaza. these are very big developments. we'll be talking going what this could mean for the course of this war.

for israel, for hamas, for civilians in gaza who have been put in such an impossible situation. we'll be talking about the potential riskiness of the president's mission abroad and what his mission might be able to change. might be able to shake loose in terms of diplomatic progress. there's a lot to talk about that tonight. i'll tell that you tonight we heard from the family of one of the hostages who was being held by hamas. this is the mother of a young man who has been held hostage since last saturday. we stayed in touch with her and her family over the last week since her son was taken. really interesting. we heard from her that her family and other families of hostages have been contacted by representatives from the red cross seeking information about their families members being held. in her case, her son is asthmatic. he needs his asthma medications every day. the red cross according to her was seeking specific information

on that. she told us she and her family are heartened by that outreach from the red cross because they're hopeful that means there's some kind of substantive effort underway to make contact to try to establish some kind of connection with the hostages. some kind of care for those who need medical attention. this is her son. her son is ron sherman. a young man. he has been held hostage since last weekend with nearly 200 other israelis who were taken by hamas. that number, nearly 200, according to the israeli government. in ron's case, as he dual citizen of israel and argentina. and that dual citizenship factor may be important. right after we heard from the family of this young man, nbc's richard engel broke in live to our coverage here on msnbc to report on an interesting new development. a statement from hamas specifically about the hostages.

watch. >> the chief spokesman just issued a statement on camera in which the group is offering to release foreign hostages unconditionally. and i think this could significantly change the way things develop over the next several hours. change the course of this conflict so far. it is on the same channel that hamas releases its normal videos. we listened to it in arabic. they confirmed among the hostages, there are a group of foreigners. he didn't say how many. he said they've confirmed they are foreign nationals. they are not party to the conflict. they are being treated as quote, guests. and hamas will release them, quote, when field conditions are right. this is, i think, it is coming from hamas so it is healthy and appropriate to treat it with a great deal of skepticism.

i know from diplomatic sources i've been talking to all day that there has been a lot of effort to try to convince hamas to release some hostages. i know a lot of work has gone into this because i've been speaking with arab negotiators all day. it could very well be hamas' attempt to push back a ground invasion or it could be an attempt by hamas to not pick a fight with the united states. to say that its fight is with israel and israel alone so that it doesn't have delta forces and navy s.e.a.l.s landing in the gaza strip and looking for these people. >> that report, breaking news today from richard engel. you can hear what sounded like explosions in the background behind him as he reported live in that clip from israel. we'll be speaking with richard engel live tonight from israel in what is the first potential sign of progress. at least movement on these roughly 200 people. 200 israelis kidnapped in israel and are being held as hostages by hamas in gaza.

so we'll be talking with richard about that. obviously the families of the hostages being held are hanging on every single word on any potential progress. it has been way too long since these people have been held and the families are on absolutely tenterhooks to get any word of any progress. this is major news from the u.s. administration just this past hour. in the midst of this war president biden himself will be going to israel the day after tomorrow on wednesday. a remarkable decision by the president in these circumstances. and it joins what is already a large u.s. response in terms of the overall u.s. government response to this crisis. we already know the u.s. is sending a second aircraft carrier to the region. that itself, a remarkable decision. the u.s. military is also sending advisers from jsoc to advise on potential hostage

rescue operations against some americans are believed to be among those people being held by hamas. secretary of state antony blinken was himself personally back in israel today working among other things, on trying to open the rafah border crossing, the one in the southern tip of the gaza strip, between gaza and egypt. they're trying to arrange an opening of the rafah border to let aid in and civilians out. secretary blinken announcing what appears to be progress on that front tonight. saying, again, this is just breaking news tonight. the u.s. and israel have agreed on some sort of new plan to protect civilians and to get aid into gaza. we are eagerly looking forward to more details on what that might mean. we'll be talking about that ahead in the next hour. for what it's worth though, i thought this was fascinating. there is fascinating new polling just out from reuters that shows a big majority of the united states, a big majority of the american population views israel

favorably. and also, look at this, by huge margins. both democrats and republicans. by huge margins, americans want u.s. diplomats to, quote, actively work on a plan to allow civilians fleeing, fighting in gaza, to move to a safe country. so you've got americans broadly favorable toward israel and very strongly in favor of the u.s. working to make sure civilians in gaza are safe. we've got richard live from israel. we've got veteran reporter ayman moi mohyeldin here. that's all to come. lots to get to. now, because of the intense

focus on the israel-gaza war in american news, over the weekend and in today's news, you might have seen, might not have seen some big news in politics in europe. a country that had been flirting with the prospect of maybe giving up their democracy, maybe heading toward a more authoritarian form of government, something more like hungary or even russia, has decided not to go that way. in poland this weekend, the polish people turned out in huge, huge numbers. over 74% voter turnout in poland. that's a bigger turnout than what was previously their most election ever when they voted out the communist party in 1989. the polish people turned out this weekend in unprecedentedly gigantic numbers, and they voted out the hard-right party that had been the governing party there. the so-called law and justice party. and so it's just, whether or not you care about poland itself and its future, it's an important thing for europe. it's an important thing for particularly, say, the european

union's support of ukraine in russia's war on ukraine. but it also helps us get our arms around this larger international project that even we in our country are subject to right now. we have seen authoritarian antidemocratic movements and leaders rise all over the world in recent years, including here at home. but there has been electoral pushback. some notable electoral pushback in important countries. we have seen, for example, donald trump voted out of office in this country. resoundingly in the united states. 2020. we saw jayir bolsanaro in brazil, voted out of power resoundingly in 2022. earlier this year in spain, we saw the hard-right party there

rejected unexpectedly by voters. now this weekend we have just seen poland's very hard right law and justice party voted out. and it doesn't mean there isn't still rising authoritarianism around the world but it does mean in instances like these, in big important countries with mature democracies, we are seeing big voter pushback against trump-type or victor orban-type leaders. would be authoritarians don't generally take well to elections voting them out of office. that's why they try to undermine democracy, full stop. in the case of jump and jair bolsonaro, we saw their supporters storming the capitol to try to keep them in power after they lost election. so eyes are on poland now for any kind of potential eventuality like that, or rule by force shenanigans to try to undo the polish election result from this weekend. that is an important result in europe.

it looks like another win for small "d" democrats against the admittedly still rising authoritarian tide. here in our national capitol, the leader of the far right and the de facto leader of the republican party is, of course, on trial for his alleged role in trying to overturn the election in which he was voted out. it's only one of four cases in which donald trump is currently facing multiple felony charges. but today, there was big news. in his federal case in washington. the judge overseeing trump's federal criminal case in d.c., the one about him trying to overthrow the lawfully elected government of the united states, that federal judge in washington today instituted a limited version of what is generally called a gag order that bans him by court order from disparaging the prosecutors or potential witnesses in his case, or any personnel who work for the court

in which he is being tried. now, in terms of the exact contours of this court order, we are still expecting the judge's written order, but she did rule verbally from the bench today, and we got the transcript of it which is amazing. it was just all day long, rock them, sock they will, rollicking hearing today. at the very end of it, this was the judge giving part of verbal version of the gag order which donald trump will now be bound by. she said this. quote, i cannot imagine any other criminal case in which a defendant is permitted to call a prosecutor deranged or a thug. and i will not permit it here simply because the defendant is running a political campaign. his presidential candidacy does not give him carte blanche to vilify and implicitly encourage violence against public servants who are simply doing their job.

by review of past statements by mr. trump in particular as well as the evidence that they have led to harassment and threats for the people he has targeted persuades me without this restriction, there is a real risk that witnesses may be intimidated or unduly influenced, and that other potential witnesses may be reluctant to come forward, lest they be subjected to the same intimidation and harassment. she said this. quote, now, let me be clear. mr. trump may still vigorously seek public support as a presidential candidate, debate policies and people related to that candidacy. they may. . he may assert his belief that this prosecution is politically motivated. but those critical first amendment freedoms do not allow him to launch a smear campaign against the prosecutors and potential witnesses. no other defendant would be allowed to do so and i am not going to allow it in this case. she them concludes with this. the reasons discussed during this hearing, therefore i find these measures are consistent

with the rights secured by the first, fifth, and sixth amendments and they are both necessary and narrowly tailored to safeguard the integrity of these proceedings, as well as to protect the safety of the people assisting with them. if any party or counsel, meaning any lawyer -- any party or counsel violates these restrictions or the other laws by which they are bound, i will either upon receipt of a motion, or on my own as the judge, i will consider sanctions as may be necessary. thank you. we're adjourned. bang. the gavel falls. accountability. judge tanya chutkan ruling from the bench today in washington. we await the written version of this order. trump already says he's going to appeal it. as of now, he is bound by it. meanwhile, republicans appear poised to elevate donald trump's closest major ally in congress to be speaker of the house which

would put congressman jim jordan, among other things, third in the line of succession after the president and the vice president. jim jordan played a key role in trump's efforts to use congress to try to overturn the election result in 2020. if he does become speaker, i gotta say, it feels like it become an open question as to whether a house of representatives under jim jordan's leadership would ever certify the election results of an election in which donald trump ran but lost. we'll talk about this a little later on in this hour. right now we do not know if congressman jim jordan has the votes to become speaker. a couple days ago, that seemed inconceivable. he's at least got a real shot at it. the momentum seemed, at least earlier today, to be with him. we don't know. the vote is scheduled for noon

eastern time tomorrow. now, just one other thing to give you a heads-up today and then one other thing i want to say. this week among all the other things going on in the news, this week jury selection is about to start for the first of the criminal cases in fulton county, georgia. that's where former president trump and 17 other defendants are going to face trial in state court for their efforts to overturn election results in georgia specifically. you see one of the original defendants has like a little label on the top of his head. he's pled guilty which means he's no longer a party to the ongoing cases. now we're down to 18 people total including trump who are charged in this big felony racketeering case. the reason i'm putting this on your radar right now, with everything else going on, while that fulton county effort is going to get started in court this week, don't sleep on this dynamic as well.

in the legislature in that state in georgia where republicans are in control of the legislature, they are trying already to use a new state law that they just passed to go after the prosecutor who was leading that investigation and who has brought that case in court. this is a new process that georgia republicans just newly wrote into law. and while they were debating it in the legislature, they said they definitely wouldn't use it just for this case. it had nothing to do with fani willis and the trump case. they weren't doing it just to get trump off the hook. sure enough, as soon as they've passed this law, georgia senate republicans have, surprise, already used it to file a formal complaint against fulton county district attorney fani willis who is the prosecutor leading the racketeering investigation and the racketeering prosecution against trump and his

co-defendants. they're doing it. georgia republican governor brian kemp has said he's not in favor of them doing this. at least not yet. and the fact that the power to go after a prosecutor like this is something brand new, republicans just passed a new law to get themselves this power for the first time this year, that means nobody knows how this process will work or how long it will take or what counts as normal for that process. so there is a lot of uncertainty as to how this will play out. but i maintain this is a sleeper issue with national significance. keep your eye on this. keep your eye on this both because this is the first big multiple felony criminal case going to trial. again, jury selection starting this week. this is a case he cannot get out of with a pardon because it's not a federal case. but keep your eye on this also because i think it is an

under-appreciated factor in criminal prosecutions that sometimes inappropriately, deeply wrong, deeply unamerican pressure is brought to bear on the prosecution. the reason i say that is because i keep writing books about it. i didn't mean to set off to be like the nation's expert on this. but i'm telling you. it keeps coming around. last week we just hit 50 years exactly from the time that nixon's vice president shocked the country by resigning suddenly from office. he left the vice presidency because these brave young federal prosecutors confronted nixon's vice president with an indictment for more than 3 dozen felony charges for corruption. bribery, extortion, vice president spiro agnew was literally taking envelopes stuffed with cash and shoving them into a drawer in his office while he was service ever serving as vice president. part of why i describe these editors as brave, the nixon white house and the nixon era

republican party brought all sorts of inappropriate pressure to bear against those prosecutors to try to force them to drop that case against nixon's vice president. the u.s. attorney who was overseeing the prosecutors, republican nixon-appointed u.s. attorney george bell, his brother was a republican u.s. senator. his father had been a republican u.s. senator. george beall was put in office as a u.s. attorney by rich nixon. nevertheless, emerges as the total hero here. he's the one who resisted intense pressure put on him by the nixon white house and the nixon era republican party to drop that case. and george beall protected his line prosecutors.

protected them from that pressure. destroyed his own career in the process. but he allowed those line prosecutors to bring that case and it forced a sitting vice president of the united states out of office under threat of 40 felony charges. 50 years ago this month. and it took incredible bravery and incredible fortitude for them to do it because of the inappropriate political pressure that prosecution was subjected to because spiro agnew was a powerful politician. and i kid you not. it is weird how i'm becoming a specialist in this stuff. but tomorrow, i have a new book coming out. it is called "prequel, an american fight against fascism" it comes out tomorrow. this book is on those who sided with the nazis. americans who helped the nazi cause. in some cases, tried to bring about an american form of nazism

here. the fact that there was a big, very radical, unnervingly well connected fascist movement in this country in the lead-up to world war ii has been a mostly forgotten story in u.s. history, but the details of it, i find absolutely nuts, including, you know, violent ultra right paramilitary groups that got put on trail for sedition. and members of congress working with a nazi agent. it is a story that has mostly been lost to history. "prequel" is that story. and it is the story of who fought against those forces. who exposed them, who fought them and infiltrated their groups and prosecuted them in court. that is the thing that i'm most excited about in this new book. i think it gives us lessons. it gives us an instruction book on how to effectively stand up to fascism when you are confronted with it today. but i swear, i kid you not,

embedded in that story is the fact that not once but twice, members of congress implicated in this plot with a nazi agent, who were themselves implicated in this case that put all the paramilitary groups and pro-nazi groups on trial for sedition it prompted them to fire the prosecutor leading that case. and twice, in that era, the u.s. justice department did it. they did it. they succumbed to that political pressure and they fired the prosecutor who was leading the investigation and leading the case. it happens twice in this story in my new book, "prequel and the fight to stop american fascists." and the lead up to world war ii. republicans also tried to in a previous book i wrote about the superhero agnew story. now i am telling you, they are

trying it in the state of georgia where republicans are trying to get prosecutor fani willis ousted somehow to remove her as prosecutor as she brings former president trump to trial on felony racketeering charges. anyway, i've been working on this for a long time. the book comes out tomorrow. i am really proud of it. so if you read it, i hope you like it. i hope you get something out of it. this story gives me a lot of hope and ideas about how to stand up to what we are up against today. anyway, there's tons going on right now. lots of news to get to. we've got richard engel join us live in just a moment. stay with us. l join us live in just a moment. stay with us econds. give golo a try. this plan works.

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as i mentioned at the top of the hour, there have been some significant developments in the israel-hamas war. this past hour we learned that president biden will personally travel to tel aviv the day after tomorrow on wednesday. he's expected to meet with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and other israeli officials. the president will also go to the neighboring nation of jordan to amman. jordan is, of course, a key ally for the u.s. in the region. there's also news tonight first broken on our air by richard engel that hamas is now stating that it has between 200 and 250 hostages in gaza. hamas also releasing a statement that they are looking to release

some of the people who they took hostage. people they describe as foreign nationals who they say are being held not as hostages but as their guests. they say they are looking to release them when field conditions permit their release. this is an important advance for the 200 to 250 people being held by hamas. richard engel is reporting near the israel-gaza border. richard, i'm happy to lay eyes on you. thanks for staying up to join us. what do you make of the statement by hamas, why they're doing it? what do you think it means? >> reporter: i think it's very significant, rachel. i think it means that there is movement on this issue after hearing nothing from hamas. hamas said that it is holding 200 hostages. it said that other groups, however, in the gaza strip are holding more hostages.

they're talking about hamas with 200. the military wing of hamas. and then another 50 or more according to the spokesman of hamas inside the gaza strip total. and among those 200 that hamas says it is holding, it says there are an unspecified number of foreign nationals and that it is willing to hand them over. it wants to hand them over. it doesn't believe they are party to this conflict and that it has no issue with them, and that it will hand them over when the conditions are right. as you said, what does it mean when the conditions are right? but also, a few hours ago, just slightly before hamas issued that statement, iran's foreign minister said that hamas is expressing willingness to release hostages when israel or if israel stops its air strikes into gaza. so we're hearing similar messages from iran and from hamas about releasing hostages.

talking about field conditions at the same time. so there is movement on this issue. the issue is, however, they're only talking about those hostages who are dual nationals or foreigners. and they said that any people who were taken, any hostages that were taken that were fighting, even if they are americans or french, they didn't mention nationalities, but foreign nationals but were serving in the israeli military, or serving in a fighting capacity, they wouldn't be considered for this arrangement. they would be considered combatants and they will be treated like israelis. so it seems what hamas is trying to do is create a division, create a wedge to say its fight is with israel and israel alone and within the united states or the rest of the world. this come amid a lot of international diplomacy. a lot of efforts by the united states and other countries and its allies to try to get

movement on this issue. to try to get those hostages out, hopefully as a start. >> and richard, i don't want to get too far ahead of the story or to imagine too much nitty-gritty here that we can't get at it, but it seems to me even if they are trying to establish some divide between different types of hostages, the release of any hostages is both good for those people who could potentially then be saved but also strategically important for getting all or more or potentially all the hostages out because presumably the people released could help in terms of finding the rest of them, couldn't they? >> reporter: 100%. you take the -- yes. if hamas is willing to give up hostages and not asking for any specific thing in return except for potentially, just a

temporary halt in the bombings, we don't know exactly what hamas is asking for. we're not party to those conversations between hamas and different negotiators. but what they're publicly asking, what iran is also suggesting is, they're talking about a stop of the airstrikes. then yes, get those people out and see what they know. see where they were taken. what was the mentality? how were they treated? what do they know about the other hostages? absolutely they could lead to more intelligence, more leads, and provide tremendous relief to the hostages themselves who may be injured. absolutely terrified, and their families. i was a hostage myself in the middle east, not by hamas but another group and i can tell you the amount of stress that it puts on the people who are taken and their families. absolutely. it would be good for them and potentially good for the rest. >> i was interested to hear you say that you were in touch with

people involved in a number of arab countries who have been working on trying to negotiate something. trying to make some contact, some progress on the hostage issue. we heard from a hostage's family member about having been contacted by people in touch with the red cross and other nonprofit ngo groups trying to work on this issue. do you sense that, from what you're hearing from israeli officials and american officials and others in the region. do you think this is a live thing being worked on now? is this something, it's not just individual forays and statements but actual person to person negotiation happening here and that we might get movement soon? >> reporter: yes. there is motion on this and there are contacts happening and they're happening in real-time. that is certainly the case. there is a lot of effort focused on this. there is effort focused on this around the world. i don't believe this statement was issued in isolation.

that it was something happening just threw out there. this is a concerted international effort and i believe it is the result of some diplomacy. what will happen with it, will it come true, there's so much that can go wrong here. this is still an active war zone. you can hear where i am now. there's the loud buzzing of israeli drones overhead. we have been hearing some continued strikes into gaza. there is an opening. there's movement here. but there is no guarantee of success at this stage. but to go back to your original question, was this the result of some concerted international effort, i believe it was. >> richard engel, chief foreign correspondent for nbc news. richard, you are never allowed to be taken hostage again. stay safe. all of us aged many decades over those days that you were gone, my friend. thank you for joining us. all right, we've got much more ahead tonight.

ayman mohyeldin is going to join us tonight, a senior member of the intelligence committee joining us. lots to get to. stay with us. ing us lots to get to stay with us

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so there's been some important breaking news tonight on the ongoing war between israel and hamas. first of all, as we've been talking about for the last hour or so, president biden will visit israel. he will visit tel aviv on wednesday. and announcing that tonight though, secretary of state antony blinken also said this. he said that the united states

and israel, quote, have agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian aid to reach civilians in gaza. he also talked about this plan involving some plans for keeping civilians safe inside gaza. this, of course, is front of mind for many, many, many observers of this conflict. and it seem like an intractable problem which there has been no progress in recent days. joining me now, my friend ayman mohyeldin. it is great to see you. >> thank you for having me. >> the devil is in the details here. is there anything else more that we can say? do we know anything else about this plan that secretary blinken alluded to in. >> i think we have a little more clarity on what is happening behind the scenes on the diplomatic front. i think it's safe to say and i've been speaking to a lot of sources across the region today.

there are two tracks that are emerging simultaneously on the diplomatic front. one has to deal with the hostages. that is being coordinated mostly out of doha. a qatar, u.s., israeli negotiation with hamas. not directly but through all the parties. the second one is the humanitarian one. that involves the gulf countries, saudi arabia and the united arab emirates and egypt with the united states and israel on how to get those supplies. so those are happening simultaneously. there are serious obstacles to the humanitarian effort about why egypt is not yet able to go ahead and deliver the aid. as we know a lot of aid is being diverted right now to the sinai peninsula, the airport there. but it is not yet able to get inside gaza for security and logistical challenges. >> let's talk about that. the gaza strip geographically, it is about 25 miles long and averages about five miles wide. there is a northern crossing

that is closed. a southern crossing into egypt that is a question. it would seem from a 30,000 foot perspective, it is up to egypt whether or not there is flow either direction through that crossing. but you've said that you feel essentially, that just a minute is constrained. egypt feels constrained as to what it can do. not just what it wants to do. >> exactly. even with the discussion around humanitarian relief, there are two components. one, letting palestinians out of the gaza strip. even within that one, are you talking about the dual citizens? the dual nationals? or the hundreds of thousands of palestinians? in each subcategory egypt has a different position how to do it. in terms of getting aid into gaza, the immediate concern of the egyptian government and the international community because electricity is out. water is out.

food is out. medicine is out. food is running low. they're trying to get that in. there was an israeli strike on the palestinian side of the border that complicates things. egypt has asked for security m israel to allow the delivery of aid into gaza. israel maintaining operational tempo and saying we're in control of the battlefield has not given, as i understand it from sources i've spoken to, has not given a clear assurance that anything going into gaza would slow their operations down. >> is that the piece of it that the u.s. may have had a breakthrough on from secretary blinken saying the u.s. and israel have agreed to a plan to allow humanitarian aid in? if israel is the party that needs to say yes there, then if the u.s. has been able to achieve that then -- >> i can't speculate on that right now. we'll have to see what the announcement is from the israelis and the americans when that does get announced. i know from what the egyptian officials and the arab officials i've spoken to, it depends on conditions on the ground. and we heard from richard about the possible release of any foreign hostages, hamas has said that depends on the field

conditions. the conditions of the battlefield remain very challenging for palestinians leading from the north to the south and even trying to get out. as we said, crossing with hundreds of american citizens on the palestinian side as well as other dual nationals. this was according to the egyptian ministry of health. >> wow! and of course, with president biden himself planning to travel to israel in two days, that opens up all sorts of questions as to whether or not that may shake some things loose. ayman mohyeldin with lots of experience in the region and also my dear friend. good to have you here. more to come. stay with us. more to come stay with us

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told you it was a busy night tonight. joining us live here in studio is congressman jim himes, congressman from connecticut. days like this, it is crazy important. nice to see you. >> good to see you. >> do you think that president biden address personal plans to visit israel the day after tomorrow are indicative that there has been some sort of major breakthrough that he wants to be there to take credit for it? or is it something that will hopefully shake loose the diplomatic advance that's we haven't yet seen in. >> i don't think there's anything to celebrate over the contacts i've had over the last week or so at the white house

and state department and elsewhere. i think what this is about is indicating his personal and the united states' commitment to keeping this war from getting regional, from getting bigger. two carrier strike groups in the region. the movement of a couple of air wings and the president of the united states visiting not just israel -- if you saw his statement, visiting israel to support israel as we do burks also saying there is a huge difference between palestinians, especially innocent palestinians, and hamas, but also going to jordan and egypt. that says to the terrorists in the west bank, don't do it. >> absence that full-court press, political, diplomatic, military from the united states, do you think that we would be at risk of a full-blown conflict? >> very much so. very much so. and it's not even a done deal yet. for the israelis and the laws for armed conflict, apart from the moral reasons, hezbollah faces politics, too. if the images coming out of gaza of a military operation were as

brutal as hamas would like them to be, hezbollah might feel they have no choice but to jump in. and today if that happened, it would be very, very bad. had that happened a week ago when israel was caught off their feet, it could be could have been a true crisis. >> what about our allies? jordan like the president is visiting, the leverage of the diplomatic skill for nations like qatar. the thorny questions that i was discussing about egypt and its own interests. the crossing of the gaza. what it feels like it can do. what do you make of our diplomatic effort? and what else can be done that hasn't already happened? >> apart from what we were talking about, trying to keep the conflict from happening. egypt, saudi arabia, these are rulers who very much worry about their own heads. and right now they're thinking, our street, and this is true of the king of jordan, in egypt where they have massive problems to deal with.

saudi arabia is a different case. they're worried about their own survival. they, too, have an interest in this conflict not widening. this is why the statements that were uncomfortably pro palestinian. blem being pro-palestinian but pro-hamas is a whole other world. they really worry about their survival. >> in terms of what the u.s. response can be, we expect there'll be an emergency aid request for israel. of course nothing goes through the united states house when there is no united states house. do you think the republicans are going to eject jim jordan -- jim jordan to be the speaker of the house tomorrow? >> it's been for many reasons a difficult day. i just never imagined we would be where we would be talking about a speaker jim jordan.

nobody did more to justify and back and paper over not just trump's misbehavior, not a good idea to tell zelenskyy you're not sending military aid unless he gives you dirt on the bidens, but after january 6th. he refused a congressional subpoena of a commission that was trying to figure out how big the plan was to stop the peaceful transfer of power. the white house is going to submit a package to the congress that will involve both ukraine aid and aid for israel. that will make a lot of republicans pretty angry. you know my party and the senate, both sides of the aisle, care a lot with doing both. so i think you will see that from the white house to the senate. if we happen to stumble upon a speaker of the house, maybe we take that up, too. >> wow! i can't believe there is the hand we have to play at this exact moment. it had to be now, right? congressman jim himes a democratic of connecticut, the

ranking member, top democratic. we'll be right back. stay with us. stay with us

all right, that does it for us tonight. my new book "prequel" goes on salep at midnight tonight. both the print version and the audio version, which i recorded. i'm very nervous about that, but it's happening whether or not i'm nervous. "way too early" with jonathan lemire is up next.