of territory. the tunnels, they zigzag and crisscross the gaza strip in such a way that they are actually very long. i cannot confirm or deny hamas's estimates of 500 kilometers of tunnels. the problem with tunnels is that you never really know how much of them there are. they are invisible, difficult to detect, awful to fight in. therefore, really this is one of the most complex operations that israel is going to face, because it's not just urban and subterranean, which are two difficult layers, but then you have the hostages on top of it as well. >> yeah. really complicated. admiral stavridis and daphne richmond, thank you for being with us. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea

mitchell reports," more drama on the house floor this hour. louisiana republican mike johnson, an lection denier who helped craft the objections on january 6, he is next in line, chosen last night by the republicans in a private meeting when a more experienced lawmaker, tom emmer, failed just because of donald trump's opposition. in the israel/hamas war, back channel negotiations continue for the terror group to free more of the 200 hostages still being held. international pressure is growing on israel for humanitarian cease-fire to stop air strikes. jordan's foreign minister from a speech at the u.n. will join me as well as israel's government advisor. president biden hosting a state visitor. the prime minister of australia, a major u.s. military and

intelligence ally, with a red carpet welcome on the south lawn and a news conference this afternoon. >> we are starting with israel against hamas terrorism. we are standing with ukraine against putin's tyranny. democracy can deliver. ♪♪ good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington where the house is back in session. again. we have a fourth frontrunner, trying to fill the void after kevin mccarthy's ouster three weeks ago. potential successors repeatedly fell by the wayside. today the spotlight son mike johnson who never held a major leadership post. he emerged as the latest standard bearer and has momentum after donald trump torpedoed tom

emmer. joining me, garrett haake and steve kornacki. garrett, to you. give us background on mike johnson and his chances of getting 217 votes today. >> reporter: here we go again. mike johnson coming to the vote for -- excuse me. the first republican to reach -- >> there we go. we got you. >> reporter: thank goodness. mike johnson is going for the 217 vote threshold today. his first attempt. the fourth attempt since kevin mccarthy was ousted from the speakership 22 days ago. johnson would become the least experienced speaker in modern history if he were to win. he won election in 2016. he served here since 2017. he is a low-ranking member of the house leadership, the number five house republican leader. he is on some of the more relevant committees. he has been active on judiciary committee where people have seen

him. he has never been a committee chairman. he may hit what's turned out to be or may turn out to be the sweet spot in the republican conference. been here long enough, well-known enough to be well liked but not so long as to have some of the deep-seeded enemies or rivalries or people dug in against him. that might be what's necessary here to not have the foes who have taken down some of the candidates who have longer resumes. the other thing to know about mike johnson, he is very conservative on basically every major issue from abortion to transgender rights and issues to trying to overturn the 2020 election. he was a very loud supporter of donald trump in that area. as best we can tell, remains so today. he has not taken direct questions on it of late. >> steve kornacki, we see behind us they are doing the prayer. they will do the pledge. we see different groups opposing

kevin mccarthy, steve scalise, jim jordan. who are you focusing on today? who might be the magic number of opponents? >> yeah. a couple ways to look at this. the frame of reference for if there's going to be any opposition, i think that is the key word, if there's going to be any opposition to johnson on the floor, i think basically the group you are looking to is anyone who voted against jim jordan at any point. as garrett was saying, jordan and johnson sort of similar, very, very conservative profile on a lot of issues, similar in terms of who many of their allies are. what we have got here -- we will track as this vote plays out -- is everyone who voted against jordan at any point in those three ballots last week. we added to the list, there are nine other republicans who come from blue districts, districts that voted for joe biden, that backed jim jordan, but they do come from democratic districts, so they are worth keeping an eye on. there were three republicans who

last night when they nominated johnson, there were three republicans who actually ended up voting present. they all seem to be indicating this morning that they are on board with johnson. they are on this list. again, to underscore what garrett is saying, some of the surprises, ken buck, who is probably -- is very conservative and one of the biggest opponents of jim jordan, and said a key criteria is accepting the 2020 election is saying he is on board with johnson. a lot of folks who were against jordan are sending different signals with johnson. to tell you, the math on this, there's one republican from wisconsin who is over in israel. if every other republican is present, they would have 220 members in the chamber for this vote. we are getting indications that all of the democrats will be present. that's 212. if it's 220 republicans, 212

democrats, that would mean 50% plus one, the magic number to be elected speaker on this vote is 217. if the democrats vote for hakeem jeffries, then you can do the math. johnson can afford three republican defections and still win. three defections, he would still have 217 votes. we will see. a lot of the names here have indicated -- we will see how they vote. have indicated that they will vote for johnson. we want to check and see. again, that is a very low number that could still scotch this for him. >> garrett, last night when they were in the private conference, there were three, i believe, who voted present and 22 who were not there. we don't know where the 22 are. we don't know why they voted present. >> reporter: we know some of that. for example, thomas massey voted

present. he tweeted that he didn't know enough. he had conversations with mike johnson and he will be a yes vote today. as for the absences, they were varied. late night in the capitol with no votes scheduled and a lot of people fed up with this closed door process that's been going on for several weeks now. frankly, i think a lot of folks went out to dinner or to get drinks and decided to skip this and see where the chips fell. that's the more interesting element of this to me than the present votes. for johnson and his team, knowing who your opposition is makes it a little easier to address their concerns. not knowing the views of some of the other folks who just didn't show up could be more complicated. for example, some of them that were not there, tom emmer was not present last night, i have a hard time imagine he will vote against the nominee of the party despite fact this time yesterday he was the nominee of the party. >> how much is exhaustion and embarrassment a factor, that they know enough? kevin mccarthy was on "meet the

press" and said, this is embarrassing for the party. they know there's been political fallout from this. >> reporter: it's absolutely a factor. ask most of the republicans and they will tell you that they are embarrassed by how this has gone. they think it made their party and this body look unserious in serious times. there's a war going on. they would like to address that more directly. they have been unable to do so because of the infighting. a lot will blame the original eight who voted against mccarthy or blame democrats for that. that may have a certain amount of truth into how we got into this original situation. for the 21 days in between that day and this, republicans have only themselves to blame for it. i think they are very eager to get back to looking like they know how to govern. i think that's been part of johnson's appeal. he sent several letters to the conference suggesting the calendar he would follow, the priorities he would follow, how he wants to handle the next year in this congress. i think that's reassuring to people who want something that looks like what passes for

normal in congress in 2023. >> i think one of the letters that i saw, he didn't mention the supplemental, he didn't mention israel and ukraine aid, the biggest military challenges, appropriation challenges facing them. >> at the time the letter you are referring to was sent, i don't know that the supplemental had been released yesterday. it's possible they didn't have the details. make no mistake, that's a heavy lift in this house. basically, the list of people who feel as strongly about passing additional aid for ukraine and israel in the house on the republican side is fairly short. kevin mccarthy was arguably one of them who was more likely to do so. getting it done now i think will be more challenging. here is someone who might be worth asking. >> i think we will come back. >> reporter: are you worried mike johnson might not move the supplemental you want to see passed on ukraine and israel?

couldn't catch the answer. we are working in real time here. >> that was congressman mccall who is, of course, very concerned about the foreign issues. i was going to say, it seems to me if you look at his record, it's deeply conservative on a lot of issues, cultural as well as some of the military issues that are really front burner now. he is not a bomb thrower. he is not jim jordan. >> reporter: exactly. that's right. on the issues he and jordan are difficult to separate. stylistically, they could not be more different. johnson is soft spoken and not somebody you see on tv throwing a lot of shots, at least not at his fellow republicans. he is not calling people rhinos. that's part of how he got here. jim banks, the republican from indiana just told one of my colleagues that the thing about johnson is that people trust him. that's been what's lacking going back to mccarthy.

there's too many people with too many broken promises. johnson, either by who he is personally or the fact he hasn't been here long enough to make promises to break, doesn't have that history. >> a lot more to come. garrett haake, steve car knack i can -- kornacki, stay with us. hospitals in gaza struggling. that's next. this is "andrea mitchell reports." we will be back in 60 seconds. stay with us. you are watching msnbc.

through the right steps to be successful. and that's what bank of america was for me. the hamas-run health ministry in gaza says the health care system is in complete collapse. the few remaining hospitals out of fuel as of tonight. it's nighttime there. doctors say the situation is the worst they have seen. israel has been blocking fuel from the humanitarian supplies

that egypt has now been permitting into gaza for the last few days. israel is saying it fears the fuel would be confiscated by hamas and used for weapons. the u.s. is pushing for small tactical pauses in air strikes, but not a full cease-fire. as well as calling for a humanitarian corridor. americans are wait agent the crossing but not able to get out along with international aid workers trying to leave. ellison barber is reporting on the state of a hospital. thesounds, the screams, it's disturbing. this is the reality of life inside gaza. >> reporter: if the walls of gaza's hospital could talk, they would tell a story of perpetual hell. if children crying out in agony,

bloodied, fighting for their lives after israeli air strikes. >> 40% of all of the wounded are children. this is a 9-year-old boy with a huge blast on his back. >> reporter: they would tell you how the hospital has no room. how medical teams have been forced to treat patients in the hallway. the walls of the hospital cannot speak, but the dedicated doctors working here can. >> over the last 24 hours, we have received 600 dead. three times the number of wounded. this is putting even more pressure on the system that's falling apart. >> raf sanchez joins us from ashdod. you have been to this hospital on different occasions during previous conflicts. why is this so different than

what the doctors have been dealing with in the past? >> reporter: i have been to the hospital many times. it's the main medical facility in gaza. i have been there during mass casualty events when there were protests, riots on the border. many, many people shot by israeli marksmen. i have never seen it in the condition as you saw in ellison's report. the hamas-run health ministry in gaza says 6,500 people have been killed. they say 17,000 have been injured. what you are seeing in the hospitals is medical staff just completely overwhelmed by this wave of human carnage. there are surgeons operating in the dark using the light only of their cellphones. there are reports having run out of antiseptic. they are using vinegar. one of the key issues here is

fuel. the palestinians are saying, we cannot keep the lights on at the hospitals without fuel. the u.n. is saying, they are about to run out of fuel for their humanitarian operations later tonight and they will be forced to start scaling back those aid operations. the israelis say, any fuel that goes into gaza will end up in the hands of hamas and used for the war effort. they are saying hamas has large amounts of fuel stockpiled which they could share with the hospitals. that's not something nbc news has independently verified. the u.n. is warning, the next 24 hours are going to be absolutely critical on the fuel front. >> on the side of the border where you are right now, the israeli military allowed you and other foreign journalists to screen 46 minutes of what they describe as raw, unsensored footage from the massacre of october 7, the hamas terror attack. i have heard you talking about it earlier today on one of our calls. it sounds horrific.

>> reporter: it was horrific. it was very, very difficult to watch. one of the most difficult thing things i have seen. i watched i.s.i.s. beheading videos. they were horrible. this was 46 minutes long. the israeli military is not releasing the footage. they are allowing us to describe what we saw. i will tell you one scene. an israeli father, his young sons, they run into a bomb shelter. a terrorist follows them, throws a hand grenade in. the blast kills the father, the two little boys are wounded but still alive. they run back into the house. there is cctv in the house which picks up the sound. one boy tells his little brother, this isn't a joke, this isn't a prank, dad is dead. then he screams. he is howling. why am i alive? he is trying to tend to the injuries of his sibling. there's a hamas terrorist

standing over them looking on kind of impassively. he opens up the fridge and takes out a bottle of coke and drinks as the little boys are bleeding in front of him. later in the footage, you see their mother arriving at the scene. she see her husband's body on the floor. you can see her world collapsing in real time. she physically collapses into the arms of the israeli security guards with her. you can see her life collapsing. that was just two minutes out of 46. a very, very difficult thing to watch. the israeli military says they want the world to know what happened. >> raf sanchez, it's just beyond comprehension, all of it. thank you very much. joining us now is jordan's deputy prime minister and foreign minister. minister, thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you. >> there's death on both sides.

aside from egypt and camp david, jordan -- i was there. it's the most important ally, the second ally. let me ask you about your powerful speech yesterday. first of all, the king in cairo was very strong in describing what he described as collective punishment against the people of gaza. it was held up by hamas and egypt. it was a three-way complicated process. you had a powerful speech yesterday. the queen also spoke out about collective punishment. unusual for her to speak out very strongly in an interview on cnn. i want to ask, from your perspective, what needs to be done? >> thank you so much. i do speeches because of the reality with which we are all

faced. there's a lot of frustration out there. we are a country that's invested so much for peace. we know that only peace would not allow those horrific images we just saw from haunting the lives of everybody in the region. it's a call that enough is enough. we have to accept once and for all that violence and war will not secure israelis, will not secure palestinians. only peace will do so. we are living that day in and day out. ultimately, unless we all acknowledge the humanity of the other, unless we acknowledge that the pain that you just put on your screen is a real pain that -- unless we see the pain of the other, both sides, then we're going to be falling deeper into this abyss. >> how can israel not respond?

the president of the united states as well as secretary blinken have said that israel has an obligation, a duty to respond to what happened to israel. >> i think the pictures you played would speak more eloquently than any of us. is this self-defense, killing 6,500 people self-defense, denying people their right to water and medicine self-defense? is destroying over 170,000 homes defense? the wasteland that israel is reducing gaza to is not going to produce the protection that israel and palestinians need. there needs to be self-restraint. war has rules. the sad reality is, the more death you see from both sides, the more hatred there is, more difficult our job to bring about peace, more palestinians and israelis deserve. nobody in their right mind, no human being would not but condemn those horrific images of death on both sides, israeli and

palestinian. i think there is rage. there's anger. do we allow rage to determine the future of the region? do we allow rage to add to the cycle of violence that have haunted this region for so long? do we say, let's all bite the pain and let's all focus on making sure it does not happen ever again? the only way it will not happen again, if we reach peace on two-state solution so that between the river and the sea, you have peace and you have two states. >> hamas' charter is against a two-state solution. they don't recognize israel's right to exist. how can israel remove hamas as the government, get rid of its leaders and try to save the lives of as many people as they can? how can they have an exit strategy, some way to live next door to hamas-led enclave? >> i'm going to be quite frank

here. the seriousness and the horrific scenes that we are seeing and the pain we are seeing demands all of us speak the truth. we have to put things in context. why did we get to where we are now? how many times have we warned that the absence of any chances political chances is going to drive us into the abyss? it did. we are in the space we worked so long and so hard not to be in. to answer your question, i think offer an alternative. offer people hope. by the end of the day, whether you are palestinian or israeli, mother or father, you want to live peacefully and put food on the table for your kids. offer a different alternative. palestinians would say, we want to live in peace. we don't want violence. that's what needs to be done. we have to put things in con context. nobody would justify what happened. but we have to learn from the past so that we make sure the future is not just another --

>> is france's -- he is proposing a coalition of the anti-i.s.i.s. coalition, the coalition of fighters that are in iraq and syria, which includes americans and a muehl -- multi-national coalition. is that an option? >> it's not. send delegations. >> can that be done with the netanyahu government? >> i think we are hoping with the tragedy that has befallen the palestinian and israelis, that people will speak up and say, we don't have our lives hostage to political ambitions and political aspirations. think instead of sending weapons, send peace delegations. support israel, but you are not supporting israel by supporting this war. i'm not saying you. i'm talking to those who are

supporting -- support israel by making sure we have a path to peace. that's how we protect israelis who want to live in peace. that's how we protect palestinians who want to live in peace. >> how do you stop this from widening from hezbollah? >> we are working hard on that. we know if that happens, it's doomsday for a lot of us in the region. we should not allow that to happen. if this war continues, more horrific images come, we play into the space we have been pushed, if we don't create our own space for peace, the risk of this war expanding are real. who will pay the price? the people who are paying the price now, the civilians, innocent, children. >> mr. minister, i appreciate you being here. >> thank you so much. >> it's an honor to have you here. >> thank you for having me. president biden on the israel/hamas war. he is expected to speak alongside the prime minister of australia in the rose golden. we expect the president will be asked about the violence. i will be joined by the top

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israel is calling on the u.n. secretary-general to resign over comments he made at the security council on tuesday. >> nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians or the launching of rockets against civilian targets. it's important to also recognize the effects by hamas did not happen in a vacuum. the palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. >> back with us today is the current advisor to prime minister netanyahu, a former israeli ambassador to the uk. thank you very much for being with us. the secretary-general responded saying he is shocked. he said it was false to accuse

him of justifying hamas attacks. how do you avoid this escalation? what is your response to him? >> two separate questions. i will deal with the secretary-general, with your permission, first. >> sure. >> you have been covering diplomacy for quite a while. you know the two previous secretary-generals of the u.n. spoke out publically about institutional bias against israel. it's not the israeli government. it's not the u.s. government. the u.n. at its highest level has admitted that there's institutional bias against israel. i'm concerned that the current secretary-general, instead of taking on that institutional bias in his organization, embraces it. allows the u.n.'s bias to run rampant. his remarks -- when he said this doesn't happen in a vacuum and he talks about there being a failure of a political process, but who has been the biggest

enemy of any political process, who has opposed any palestinian concessions, who says any arab who negotiates is a traitor? that's hamas. hamas is the most violent and extreme enemy of peace. hamas wants to destroy the peace process. hamas wants to say, well, people are excusing hamas for launching the violence by saying there's no peace process. no. everyone who wants peace in the middle east should be supporting israel as we try to destroy and defeat hamas. >> let me ask you about something that just was announced, i believe, that the prime minister is shortly going to give an address to the nation. >> i'm not aware of that. >> okay. my colleague, raf sanchez, in ashdod, was among the foreign journalists who screened raw footage from the attacks. we received two clips from the idf. we need to warn viewers. i want to play some of it.

i think israel wants this out. we as journalists believe it's important to show as much as we can. these are graphic. we wanted to show hamas fighters firing a machine gun from the back of a pickup truck. the idf says they were killing festival goers trying to get away. is israel going to release more video? >> obviously, it's very difficult. some of the scenes are graphic. most people won't show it. the journalists who saw this told us straight out -- we understood -- we are not showing it israeli media. the pictures are terrible. it's not by accident that people have said that hamas attacks on israel were worse than i.s.i.s. the german chancellor said this is like the nazis. it really is. what's interesting about hamas -- i think deserves comment -- is that in the past when the nazis committed their terrible crimes, they hid it.

there was an attempt as the red army was coming into eastern europe to dismantle the camps so wouldn't be evidence. it was the same in russia. here you have a group that not only does these terrible, terrible crimes against humanity, but is proud of it. the videos that we are showing are primarily, if not all of them, are hamas videos that they took of taking pride, taking glee, celebrating the massacre of the innocent. if that's not perverted, i don't know what is. >> is there any progress at all on the hostages? we know that there negotiations going on with qatar. do you see the possibility of more hostages getting out? >> that's our demand. they should all be released immediately and unconditionally. pending that, the red cross should be able to visit them. hamas refused. we believe hamas is not going to release anyone for humanitarian reasons. it's a blood-thirsty extremist

organization that has no kwau q about hurting the innocent. that pressure is coming from israel, we are hitting them hard. they are paying a price. there's diplomatic pressure on their allies. as we keep that pressure up, i think that's the best path to get people out. >> what about the fuel? letting fuel in. israel has said it fears that hamas will use the fuel. the fuel is desperate. the hospitals have no fuel for generators. >> our information -- it's good information -- is that you have hundreds of thousands of liters of fuel inside the gaza strip in hamas storage facilities. the demand should be sfor them -- for them to release the fuel. they use it for their military machine, their tunnel network of terror tunnels.

they need their air conditioning -- not air conditioning, the flow of fresh air and the electronic for lights. they need it for their rockets to shoot at israel. we have not interest in seeing hamas hold more petrol for its military machine. they should be giving it to the people of gaza who need it. president biden alluded to this publically. president biden said that if we see that hamas is hijacking, is stealing aid that's earmarked for the civilian population, that brings the aid program into question. we want the aid program to work. with just hamas having more fuel, that doesn't help the people of gaza. >> secretary blinken called for a pause. they would consider a pause. would you pause the air strikes to let more humanitarian aid get in? >> i don't want to rule anything out. i know that who wants a pause more than anyone else is hamas.

the question is, if we talk about that sort of thing, we have to balance the military side with the humanitarian side. at the moment, the israeli policy is that we pursue hamas relentlessly, continue to strike its military machine, and at the same time create this safety zone in the south where we will have the people who are dislocated, that they can receive support and humanitarian assistance they need. we are hoping as we get the different parties getting their act together, we can see a larger amount of support coming in through the rafah crossing to help to meet the needs of the people who have relocated from the north. >> thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. let's go back to capitol hill for the latest on the speaker vote. they were in a quorum call. as soon as the call is over, they might call the roll. garrett haake is on capitol hill.

joining us also -- sorry, former republican congressman fred uptop and "atlantic" staff writer. garrett, to you. mike johnson was shaking hands, being greeted by republicans and some democrats on the floor just moments ago. what are you hearing? >> reporter: pretty unscientific. the vibe is totally different on the floor today than it has been for jim jordan before him or kind of generally in the republican conference in the last three weeks, as you said. jordan was taking selfies. he was getting greetings from democratic members. i have talked to some republicans who do think that johnson, despite how conservative he is on policy positions, is a bit of a fresh air in leadership. he has a good relationship with democrats. he is somebody they feel like they can work with. not necessarily that he is somebody they will agree with on

anything. he is someone they can trust. i think that appears to be the operative word. it has won over nancy mace, who disagrees with johnson on abortion, but thinks he is someone she can deal with. if you have somebody like that in the group of eight that voted to oust mccarthy saying the same thing as democrats, which is, look, different positions than us, but somebody we can work with, that's how you start to put a coalition together that can get to 217. i don't think there will be democratic votes for mike johnson. there will be democrats who are content with the fact it's him and not some of the other options, which would have been worse. >> some democrats were taking selfies with him, looking at the floor, he went up to the speaker's podium. i think he shook hands with kevin mccarthy. he does seem like he has been anointed somehow as they begin -- they haven't started the roll. fred upton, former congressman,

do you think the fourth time is the charm? >> i think the nightmare is finally over, from the calls and texts that i have seen today. i don't expect any republican to vote no. i expect all the democrats to vote yes. one is missing. he can only lose -- johnson can only lose three votes. i don't think he will lose any. this will come to an end. we will have a speaker. now you have a pretty big agenda to deal with with israel, with ukraine, a continuing resolution that expires november 17th. next week, originally, the house was out of session. they were going to be back home. that's not going to be the case. they will move some legislation, i think, right away, because he has the gavel. they should. hopefully, we will see some bipartisan support knowing that everything still has to get 60 votes in the senate.

>> you only have 23 days, i think, until november 17th. you have incredible access to senator romney's journals for your new book. the speaker chaos is an example of why mitt romney is leaving congress. >> that's right. one of the things he told me when we were working on this book is that when he first got to the senate, one of his colleagues said, something you have to understand about this place is that 20 senators do all the work and the other 80 are just along for the ride. they are here to make noise, get on tv, they are here to enjoy the spoils of their position. they don't actually want to get anything done. i think the proportions are worse in the house of representatives. i think that what we have seen in congress right now is just an example of the last 15 years of the republican establishment allowing the kind of more extreme forces to take over by

indulge them and flirting with them and appeasing them. eventually, those forces took control. they are in charge now. what we see is this dysfunction. mitt romney's decision to retire was rooted in his belief that there just aren't enough people left in his party who actually want to legislate and solve problems. he doesn't want to sit around and get nothing done, in his own words. >> the speaker nominee, mike johnson, he was an architect of the efforts to overturn the election by stopping the count. he had a plan there. what would senator romney say about that, after he actually ran for his life after a capitol policeman turned hill around. he was heading down a corridor right into the insurrectionists. >> that's right. mitt romney is not going to get behind anybody who was in favor

of, let alone working actively toward overturning the presidential election. january 6th was a breaking point for mitt romney. i started working with him a few months after what happened there. he told me that that experience for him underscored how fragile the american project is, american democracy is. he wanted to offer a warning on his way out of political service to the country saying, the things i have seen in the senate behind closed doors in the caucus lunches, they reveal a depth of hypocrisy and cynicism that should startle the average american. i think that's what this book is. it's a warning that what we are seeing on the house floor today in the last few weeks is just a symptom of a deeply rotten political system. we all as americans need to figure out how to turn it around. >> you wrote that he had the idea that he could steer the party back to its sensible

recent past. clearly, not the case. by the way, i misspoke. mike johnson is up there talking to patrick mchenry, the speaker pro tem. garrett -- well, fred, let me ask you. then i will go to garrett. fred, the idea of an election denier becoming the speaker of the house after this whole process is really extraordinary. how did they end up here? >> it is. trump is the big winner here. tom emmer -- i know all these folk. tom emmer had it. trump seemed like he was going to be neutral. after he got the majority vote yesterday, trump came out swinging, took him down. mike johnson was a leader and a denier. he signed on to the texas lawsuit. he voted against pennsylvania

and georgia votes we had on the house floor. major denier. he is now going to be the speaker of the house. i don't know how things are going to work with all these big issues. he is there. trump is very happy, let me tell you. that's the way that it is. tom emmer was one of those, few republicans, that voted to say, the election was sound. of course, as we see with the trials and likely outcome, emmer was on the proper side as it relates to the facts in the case. >> as we look at the so-called quorum call where they are assembling, right now you have all the republicans there except for one over in the middle east, and you have got -- you are missing three democrats who are not there. garrett, they are waiting to make sure everyone is there.

there are 212 democrats. we thought they were all in washington. >> reporter: yeah, i got conflicting information on that this morning. there was some conversation with different democratic members about what their attendance would be. i had one tell me he thought there might be one or two absent. i see three on the board. it may be a matter of getting folks here. one republican absent is the push. i'm not the math guy. i don't think this will change the threshold that has to be reached today. it may not matter for mike johnson, who has been suggesting he thinks he is going to have the un unanimity around him. frank thorpe caught up with mitt romney. he described it as unfortunate that he is an election denier and how johnson would square that.

he said he never spoke to johnson. i think we were discussing this last week when we were doing jim jordan's speaker votes. the last speaker of the house, kevin mccarthy, did not endorse donald trump. he was someone who tried to have it both ways on trump. i said at the time, and i believe it, the next speaker of the house, and more we might have between now and 2024, is probably going to be someone who endorses donald trump and supports him as as far as he or she thinks they can go. that's the direction that this party is headed. i think johnson can read the writing on the wall to some degree. i think that's what we will continue to see among republicans in the house certainly. >> since neither you nor i can carry the one or subtract, steve kornacki, you are at the big board. is the number three? >> it's sitting at three. there's been some reporting of potential democratic defections. if that holds, that would give johnson more of a pad. there would be 220 republicans

present. if we end up with 209 democrats president, if they all vote, 429 voting, you need 50% plus one. it would be 215 in that scenario. in that scenario, johnson could afford -- he could afford five defections. if those three democrats remain not voting, they are doing a favor to johnson. that's one thing to keep in mind as you watch this vote. you need 50% plus one of all of the people who vote for somebody by name. the other thing to keep in mind as you watch this vote, you are hearing from fred upton that maybe this is unanimous on the republican side and everything i'm saying is moot. if there are republicans who vote present, as opposed to calling out the name of someone else -- when you are called on, you can vote for anybody. you could vote present. if you vote present, your vote

does not count towards that 50% plus one threshold. if there's a present vote, it's not good news for johnson, but mathematically, it's not as damaging to him as a republican member actually voting for somebody else by name. if those democratic absences hold, he could afford five defections here. if you get folks voting present on the republican side, he would have more of a pad than if they vote for folks by name. two things to keep in mind as the vote comes in. >> that's why we love steve kornacki. we need him. stay with us. we will watch this roll call. you are watching msnbc. we will squeeze in a quick break and be right back. a quick break and be right back. me run the sh. so, we switched to verizon business internet. they have business grade internet, nationwide. (vo) make the switch. it's your business. it's your verizon. [♪♪] did you know, there's a way to cut your dishwashing time by 50%?

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kornacki. author of the reckoning, this extraordinary new book on mitt romney, how do you see the republican party going forward on a lot of the issues that were not addressed by mike johnson, the speaker nominee in his various letters. he hasn't talked about ukraine. he hasn't talked about -- hang on one second, let's listen to mchenry, the speaker pro tem. >> speaker, the tellers will please come forward to take their seats once again. they will proceed to nominating speeches. we assume there will be a nominating speech perhaps from elise stefanik, she's been doing this in the leadership. garrett will hear from maybe pete aguilar on the other side.

>> that's my expectation, andrea. pete aguilar has done -- i'm trying to think now, 16 of 17 of the necessary nominating speeches for hakeem jeffries. i know he enjoys it a great deal, and democrats have enjoyed it up to this point the opportunity to present the far more unified face to the country in these speakership elections and kind of use these speeches ostensibly nominating jeffries but also to find whoever the opponent is, in this case mike johnson. i'll be curious to see if aguilar takes the opportunity to attack or undermine johnson today in the same way that he did with jim jordan last week. >> and just briefly, steve kornacki the magic number is now five. >> so the one thing is you saw they took the quorum call down, there were still three democrats missing. that one republican is over in israel. that's 220 republicans, and that would be 209 democrats, 429 and

you need 50% plus one, so if that is the number who end up voting here, the imagine irk number would be 215 and the number of defections that johnson could afford is five. the one asterisk here is sometimes -- sometimes they'll show up after not -- >> stefanik is up to nominate. >> to nominate the gentleman from louisiana, mike johnson as speaker of the people's house. [ applause ]

we convene this esteemed body today at a time of great crisis across america, a time of unprecedented challenges in this hallowed chamber, and a time when our most precious ally, israel's very existence is under attack from forces of evil. yesterday our dear colleague, our former conference chair, kathy mcmorris rogers nominated mike johnson in our conference, and she put it best -- and i want to quote her today -- she said, quote, trust has been broken and we have come to a standstill. how do we restore trust between members, leadership, and ultimately between congress and we the people. kathy went on to say there's a sense that it cannot be business as usual. she went on to note above the

speaker's chair in the house chamber is our nation's motto, in god we trust. [ applause ] ms. mcmorris rogers went on to say the times in which we are living demand boldness, unity, and transformational leadership that begins with trust in god and each other. trust is when the magic happens. in the story of king david, we are reminded that man looks at the outward appearance but the lord looks at the heart, end quote. today is the day that house republicans will humbly look in our hearts and elect mike johnson as speaker of the

people's house. [ applause ] a man of deep fate, mike epitomizes what it means to be a servant leader, a deeply respected constitutional lawyer, mike has dedicated his life to preserving america's great principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. mike is a titan on the judiciary committee and a dedicated member of the house armed services committee, and as vice chair of our conference, he has united all of our members to speak clearly and boldly on behalf of the american people. a friend to all and an enemy to none, mike is strong, tough, and fair, and above all, mike is

kind. and at this very moment, this republican conference knows that we live in perilous times and the american people are hurting. families are struggling under the pain of inflation caused by reckless far left spending, unable to afford groceries, heat, or gas. we have an inhumane open border with millions illegally smuggled and trafficked and tens of thousands of children lost in the chasm of the incompetence and negligence of the biden administration. terrorists committing atrocities are israelis suffering the bloodiest days in modern memory. crime is skyrocketing on our streets while there are vicious calls from the left to defund our great men and women in blue. american energy production.

american energy production has been crushed by joe biden's radical failed far left democrat policies causing seniors, farmers, and families to pay more at the pump and americans fundamentally understand that the federal government has been illegally weaponized against we the people. shredding the constitution, targeting conservatives, parents -- [ applause ] >> yes, i'll say it again. the federal government has been illegally weaponized against we the people, shredding the constitution, targeting conservatives, parents, and even joe biden's top political opponent. the people are looking to this great chamber to save america and save america we will.

[ applause ] >> and as we embark on the path ahead, i am reminded of galation 6: 9 and let us not grow weary of doing good because in due season we will reap if we do not give up. house republicans and speaker mike johnson will never give up. today is the day we get this done, may god bless our next speaker mike johnson, may god bless the united states of america, and i yield back. [ applause ] >> mike johnson has been nominated by elise stefanik. it appears he has a lot of support. he now would need five plus one. he can lose five. he needs 215. there is a democrat missing,

congressman boyar from pennsylvania who is trying to get back in time, but right now he would need 215 and here is the chair for pete aguilar. >> i notice a little bit more of a smile on your face today than we have in the past. [ applause ] >> mr. speaker, i rise today at the direction of the democratic caucus to place into nomination for the position of speaker of the house of representatives, the honorable ha keep jeffries from new york. [ cheers and applause ]