shows is that disinformation is the number one concern, the number one type of attack that our respondents are concerned about. especially with a.i. tools that are out there for just about anyone with an internet connection to use. it can really supercharge these disinformation campaigns and make these videos, deep fake audio, articles, everything look very, very realistic. i do think there's an obligation for everyone, workers in state and local government and social media companies, everyone to ferret out disinformation and make sure we have reliable sources of information that people can go to as we lead up to the election and on election day to have good information and make good decisions. >> good to raise the awareness. thank you very much. that does it for us today. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage right now. ♪♪ good day.

it's noon eastern, 9:00 a.m. pacific. hunter biden makes a surprise appearance at one of two hearings considering whether to hold him in contempt of congress. we will talk to one of the lawmakers who was in the room when hunter biden walked in. new reporting on former president trump's plans to speak tomorrow at the closing arguments for his $250 million civil fraud trial. andrea mitchell will join us live from tel aviv where she sat down for an interview with secretary of state antony blinken. why he believes hostage negotiations with hamas could soon resume. we begin with breaking news from capitol hill. this morning hunter biden made a surprise appearance at a house oversight hearing on aa resolution to hold him in contempt of congress.

republicans slamming hunter biden for showing up. >> you are the epitome of white privilege, coming into the oversight committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed. what are you afraid of? you have no balls to come up here. i think that hunter biden should be arrested right here, right now, go straight to jail. our nation is founded on the rule of law. >> come on. >> the premise that the law applies equally to everyone. >> the younger biden was on capitol hill the day he was supposed to testify behind closed doors saying he would testify in public. house republicans are demanding he testify first behind closed doors. hunter biden's appearance came one day before he is scheduled to be arraigned in los angeles on federal tax charges. with us now to talk more about this, capitol hill correspondent ryan nobles, and brendan buck, former top aid to boehner and

ryan. he is an msnbc political analyst. ryan, talk to us about what happened this morning. it was the theater of politics or the politics of theater. >> reporter: maybe a little bit of both. i think what you saw play out here was a demonstration by hunter biden and his legal team that they are willing to testify to the house oversight and judiciary committees. they want to do it in a public setting. he has been very concerned from the beginning of the process that any closed door deposition could lead to any of his answers being taken out of context or released without the proper surrounding information that could potentially come from a lengthy hearing. they believe it would be more productive to answer those questions out in the public eye. listen to what his attorney said to reporters after they exited the hearing room. >> republican chairs today then are commandeering a resolution

to hold someone in contempt who has offered to publically answer all their proper questions. the question there is, what are they afraid of? thank you. >> if they called you to testify today, would you? >> yes. >> reporter: he said he would have answered questions. he did reply yes. this was a public relations spectacle. it is the committee that sets the rules of the subpoenas. the committee decides how their investigation moves forward and how they get the information under what context. it's not uncommon to start with the closed door deposition and move to a public hearing. that was the way the january 6 select committee handled their work. his lawyer defiant, willing to take on the possibility of a contempt of congress charge which seems likely.

>> brendan, today's appearance clearly was intended to make news and in a very real way to actually continue having the focus on hunter biden as someone who is willing to testify publically in these committees. how did you see this appearance today? >> i think there's two ways to look at it. one hand, it was a deft move to stick it to the committee. it's common to do these interviews behind closed doors. the committee has undermined its credibility by stretching truths and releasing half facts that ultimately painted a misleading picture. understanding why he is doing this. i can understand why a lot of democrats cheered him for sticking it to the committee. on the other hand, republicans are ecstatic right now. the fact hunter biden made another spectacle, he traded all this attention for himself.

democrats need to be careful not to be cheering for hunter biden. this is a person who now twice indicted but has very serious ethical challenges. they may not be illegal. they may not rise to impeachment for his father. but this is an ethically challenged person. any time he is in the news, republicans are feeling good about it. they are happy with what happened today. >> is there no political risk to republicans for acting and reacting this way? >> certainly. at a committee level, i think they have -- anything that devolves into a partisan food fight, as this has, is good for him at the committee level. no doubt. people will tune it out. this is not serious. some of the language you saw in there was clearly unserious. i think at some point, hunter biden will end up testifying in public at that committee hearing. this ultimately comes down to ego. as ryan said, the committee wants to say we call the shots. you can't tell us how to do things. i think they will decide it's worth having him there in public

if that's what it takes to get him to do it. again, they would be happy to have him spending hours in front of the camera talking about his relationship with his father, what they did and didn't do. i think that's coming to us before too long. >> ryan and brendan, thank you both very much. with us to continue our conversation is robert garcia who sits on the committee. he was there during this incident this morning. congressman, thank you for your time. what was it like in that room today? >> it's just another republican clown show. the truth is that, republicans for months and months have been asking hunter biden to testify publically. it's something house democrats support. hunter wants to testify publically. the chairman keeps blocking it. i'm not sure what there is to hide. we know obviously that mr. biden is under some legal issues that he has to resolve. there are serious allegations

against him. he is going through a process through the legal system. he want to publically testify and make clear, as we know, that there is zero evidence that links any of hunter biden's business dealings with the president. we want the information out there. republicans continue to stonewall. what we have today was the republican house playing a huge theater, creating spectacle for no reason. we could have actually had hunter biden actually testifying, which is what we all want. >> republicans were clearly surprised by this. did you or anybody in the democratic side know that he was going to be showing up this morning? >> i wasn't aware. i'm not sure if our ranking member may have known or not. at the end of the day, what's really important is that we remind everyone that president biden is trying to lead this country and get things done. all the republicans care about is creating clown shows and spectacles. there is zero evidence the president has any dealings with

hunter biden. hunter wants to publically testify. you have folks like marjorie taylor greene showing revenge porn and crazy things. let's allow the legal process to play out. let's get to the business we have in front of the country, like funding the government, like foreign aid to places like ukraine. republicans are not interested in that. they are interested in spectacle. they are interested in hurting the american people. they have all -- they care about this revenge fantasy. they want to get donald trump elected and do everything they can to help donald trump. >> you also sit on the homeland security committee, starting impeachment hearings again secretary mayorkas. have republicans made the case for impeaching him? >> this is also completely insanity. we are having that hearing all

day today. the truth is, republicans want to impeach everyone. this is an effort, again that's been led by marjorie taylor greene, who is the most extreme maga member, of course, on their side. the truth is, there's no reason to impeach the secretary. we all know there are real challenges along the border and around immigration. there hasn't been immigration reform done in this country in 30 years. let's not forget that president biden and the secretary have proposed numerous solutions and funding for border agents, for technology, for getting the support they need. house republicans have blocked every single one of those. they don't want additional funding or support to help solve the issues we have along the border, to help asylum seekers, to get the process done better in the courts. they don't have any solutions. it is all political stunts. today on one hand, we have stunts around hunter and with mayorkas. it shows you there is no agenda

on that side of the aisle. we want to focus on helping the american people. >> congressman robert garcia, a pleasure to see you. thank you for your time. >> thank you. up next, former president donald trump expected to take an unusual step tomorrow. our reporting on what he is planning to do. we are back in 60 seconds. you are watching msnbc. dry skin is sensitive skin, too. and it's natural. treat it that way. aveeno® daily moisture with prebiotic oat is proven to moisturize dry skin all day. you'll love our formula for face, too. aveeno®

11 past the hour. tonight in des moines, two of the republican presidential hopefuls, haley and desantis will face off at a debate. former president trump will appear at a separate town hall nearby as counterprogramming. yesterday, trump was in d.c. for

his federalleion interference case. tomorrow, he is expected to be in new york for his civil fraud trial. a source confirming to nbc news the former president himself wants to deliver part of the closing arguments tomorrow. joining us now, nbc news correspondent garrett haake in iowa this morning, and legal analyst danny saval. >> reporter: he is expected to speak, according to a source familiar with the plan. he will have to stay within guardrails laid out by the judge in that case to keep his comments kind of on topic and on the record about the civil fraud case that he is there to take part in. this is entirely voluntarily. donald trump has chosen to leave the campaign trail to speak at this trial, just like he chose to go to his court appearance yesterday in d.c. it is part of his campaign strategy. the idea they want to make an argument he is being unfairly

targeted, whether by prosecutors in new york or federal prosecutors. that's core to his campaign message. he can deliver that just as well in a courtroom in new york city as he can in snowy iowa. that's what we will expect to see from the former president tomorrow before he returns to the campaign trail again here this weekend. >> danny, as a defense attorney, how common is it for a client to speak in the closing statements of a trial for that client? also, what are the possible benefits for trump? >> you talk about benefits. probably more the risks are what would concern me if i were counsel. here is the thing. in a pro se, you would expect the actual client to make the closing statement. normally, the rule of thumb is that if you have an attorney,

that is the person who speaks on your behalf. if you are proceeding pro se, then you can speak. judges typically don't like a blended situation where someone is the attorney and passes off to their own attorney. there is discretion to allow this. i have to wonder if it isn't just curiosity on the judge's part that he wants to see exactly what trump will say. of course, the risk for the court is that trump will not adhere to whatever guardrails are put in place and that you might have to hold trump in contempt if he doesn't sit down when told to do so. make no mistake, this is incredibly uncommon. it would be something that as an attorney you would recommend to the client whether he is trump or anyone else not to do. at this point, many years in, a decade in of covering trump's legal cases, once you sign on at this point to be trump's attorney, you know this is a

client that's going to do what the client wants to do. the best you can do is offer advice and probably put it in writing. >> if as the former president says he feels the trial is a fait accompli as far as being found guilty on everything, the judge may say that there's going to be guardrails, certain conditions on the scope and what is considered permissible or not for a closing argument. how do we know those conditions will be met? what are some of those conditions? >> the normal way that these conditions are enforced is by a court officer standing close by and the threat of contempt. you don't have that option with trump. everybody likes to say that no one is above the law and trump is the same as anybody else. but anybody else isn't flanked by secret service details. that would create an issue if you try to physically stop donald trump from speaking. is he going to get more leeway,

a little more liberty to speak? yes. since he is not legally trained and since he has an agenda, you can expect that it's going to be like many of his other speeches. he may not stay on point about this particular issue. he may end up ranting about other stuff. it's going to be totally up to the justice when and what moment he decides trump has gone too far. i can almost guarantee that at that moment, once the trump -- the judge orders it to stop, trump will get maybe one or two more lines in. there is risk not only for the client but for the court allowing someone like trump to have an open forum. he could have said, look, this is really just for the attorneys. you hired your attorneys. you rely on them. that's who gets to speak. >> garrett and danny, thank you so very much for being with us. up next, andrea mitchell joins us live from tel aviv, fresh off he interview with

secretary blinken. what the secretary reveals is happening to free the hostages still held by hamas. her exclusive coming up in just a minute.

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22 past the hour. crary of state antony blinken is in israel after trips to the west bank and bahrain today, the latest stops in his trip through the middle east. in ramallah, he spoke about

efforts to protect civilians in gaza. later, secretary of state visited bahrain, and spoke about regional cooperation to curtail attacks by houthi rebels in the red sea. the latest stops in his trip through the middle east occur as the situation, of course, continues to be very volatile. andrea mitchell, nbc news chief foreign affairs correspondent and anchor of this hour, has been traveling with the secretary. she joins us live from tel aviv where she spoke exclusively with secretary of state blinken. it's great to see you. >> thanks so much for having me. it's great to talk to you. i've been traveling, as you point out, with the secretary of state as he visited all of the key allies all week across the region. this shuttle diplomacy, his fourth to the region, is aimed

at avoiding an expansion of the war beyond gaza and getting arab leaders to commit to help rebuild gaza after the war, the u.s. hopes under new palestinian leadership, not hamas, but a combined palestinian leadership, the most urgent goal to reduce the death toll in gaza and get israel to wind down and do more to feed and help innocent civilians. thank you for being with us today. >> good to be with you. >> this is the fourth time you have been in israel since october 7th. you have said from the beginning that that massacre had to be responded to, israel had to invade. now it has been 100 days. it is 23,000 palestinian civilian lives, according to reports. the hostages, 134, six americans included, have been there for all this time.

things have changed. doesn't israel now have to wind this down? isn't that what you want? >> we all want to see this conflict end as quickly as possible. we all want to see the suffering, people who are caught in the middle, end as quickly as possible. it's vital israel be able to do everything possible to ensure october 7th never happens again. it has made good progress toward that objective. >> you say they made significant progress. yet, an important minister said they are about to attack khan yunis in the south strongly. there are people there who haven't even been moved back to the north. >> we have seen now a phase down of the operations in the north. that's important. we have seen the withdrawal of a significant number of israeli forces in gaza, particularly in the north where they have

achieved a lot. as i said, we want to see this conflict come to an end as quickly as possible consistent with israel's objective of making sure that october 7th doesn't happen again. as they are completing that effort, we want to do everything we possibly can to increase protections for civilians, to make sure humanitarian assistance is getting in and getting to people who need it, and that's what we are working on relentlessly every day. of course, the hostages. i had an opportunity to meet with families again. i met with many of them -- almost all of them before on several occasions, including with president biden. for them, these three months have been aneternity. every day, every hour, every minute feels like an eternity. welessly focused on bringing them home. >> they are angry. you know that. they are angry that america is

the world's greatest superpower. where is the big stick, they said? why can't you save our six children? how do you answer that? >> first, no one can put themselves fully in the shoes of the families of the hostages. if i were in their shoes, i would probably feel exactly the same way. we were successful a couple months ago in getting more than 100 hostages out. we are very determined to continue that. we are intensely engaged exactly in that effort now to renew the pauses and the release of hostages. this is from the president on down of singular importance to us. that's what i shared with the families. look, the hard part is, the enemy gets a vote, hamas. we are doing everything we can,

working, of course, with the israelis and with qatar, egypt, countries that have relationships with hamas, to put this back on track, to continue getting hostages home. that's really my number one priority, number one responsibility in this job. >> can that happen with israel -- with other people taking out a hamas leader and hezbollah leader with two assassinations? will that expand the war? will that make it more difficult to even get negotiations going again? >> first, we are determined that the war not expand, that we don't see new fronts opening, we don't see escalation. that was something that i heard from every country i visited on this trip so far. we were in turkey, greece, we were in jordan, qatar and the uae and saudi arabia before coming to israel. everyone has a strongly shared interest, including israel, in not seeing escalation and

expansion. for lebanon, for example, it's clear to me that israel does not want escalation. they believe as we do that pursuing a diplomatic path to try to make sure that the conditions exist so that people in israel who have been forced from their homes in northern israel, 80,000, because of insecurity, because of the threat coming from hezbollah, feel secure so that they can come home. equally, we want to see people in southern lebanon be able to return to their homes. we're on a diplomatic path to try to get that to happen. >> have you been given any optimism or hope that hamas will negotiate for hostage releases despite the assassinations? >> in short, yes. as you know, we succeeded before in the midst of this conflict in getting more than 100 hostages out. it's my belief that they can and will engage on this and that

is something we are focused on. >> you heard from the jerusalem bureau chief about his colleague. the tragedy, a veteran correspondent has lost his wife, his son, a daughter, an infant grandchild. did you raise that with the government in israel? there are many who believe that this was a targeted -- these are targeted killings of this bureau chief's children and wife, the entire family. >> as i said, i don't think any of us can possibly imagine what this man has been through. i'm a parent, a father. he had this -- the worst possible loss, not once but twice as well as his wife.

again, i can't begin to imagine. my heart goes out to him. it goes out to the many -- far too many innocent people who have lost their lives in this conflict. whether it comes to palestinian men, women and children, or when it comes to journalists -- >> 79 journalists since the war began. >> yes. that's one of the reasons that we have consistently and including today urged, pressed the israelis to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties, to make sure that people are protected, to take every possible measure that they can. i talked about this a little bit earlier. it is an incredible challenge when you have an enemy, hamas, that intentionally embeds itself

in civilians and fires from mosques, from schools, from hospitals. nonetheless, as we said from day one, israel has an obligation to do everything possible not to have innocents harmed, hurt. that's something that we are very focused on. >> this may be the first war that i can recall where journalists do not have permission to cover it. they protested today against israel for not letting them cover it without being escorted, to have free entry. i want to ask you about the united nations. you said israel has an obligation to work with the united nations. you validated the new coordinator with whom -- >> yes. >> there are many criticisms that israel is not working with the united nations. you saw the canned goods that were being delivered. it's a third of the truckloads that were before the war. people, 95% you said, have food

insecurity. it can have consequences for children. does israel have to work with the united nations with whom it has had decades of an adversarial relationship because of u.n. resolutions and hostile criticism and the u.s. has supported israel on almost all of this, isn't it critical for this stuff to get in? >> yes, it is. it's imperative that israel work with the united nations. it's imperative this assistance get in, that more of it get in and once it's in, it get effectively to the people who need it. the united nations is the only game in town. they are the ones on the ground incredibly courageously given they are in the middle of a war, trying to get assistance to people who need it. they have done extraordinary things. it requires cooperation. there's no alternative. there's no choice. no one else is going to do it. if the u.n. wasn't doing it, it

would be israel's responsibility to do it. this is something again that we have talked about extensively. look, we have made real progress over the last couple of months in opening up new entry points. >> there are still bottlenecks. >> we are working through all of them. we are getting i think more entry points open. we are going to get -- one of the things we need to see is better deconfliction. they want to be safe in doing this. all of this was on the agenda today and something we are focused on. >> secretary blinken talks about what arab leaders, the saudi leaders have promised to do. we have more of my interview coming up next. stay with us. my frequent heartburn had me taking antacid after antacid all day long but with prilosec otc just one pill a day blocks heartburn for a full 24 hours.

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katie porter. never taken corporate pac money - never will. leading the fight to ban congressional stock trading. and the only democrat who opposed wasteful “earmarks” that fund politicians' pet projects. katie porter. focused on your challenges - from lowering housing costs to fighting climate change. shake up the senate - with democrat katie porter. i'm katie porter and i approve this message. welcome back. i'm andrea mitchell reporting from tel aviv where i've been traveling with secretary of state blinken, he told me what arab leaders are willing to do to help gaza once the war is over. i have to ask you about the day after. you have been through all these arab countries. you said that there is agreement that they will work to reconstruct gaza, they will work to help secure gaza if there is

a palestinian state, if the west bank and gaza palestinians can work together and be unified and have the goal, aspiration of a state which prime minister netanyahu says he opposes. do you have any prospects from the talks in israel that they will agree to that and give the palestinians some hope for the future now that the arabs have agreed on a plan? >> you are right that this is what i heard in country after country, a willingness to engage, to help, to support the day after in gaza. but on the condition that there be a clear pathway to the realization of palestinian political rights, to a palestinian state. the reason for that i think is clear. the view of most of these countries -- it's our view as well -- that absent that, the cycle of violence will never end. what we have seen in gaza will

in some form or fashion just repeat itself at some point in the future. the only way to really get durable peace, durable security for israel as well as for everyone else is -- has to include the realization of palestinian political rights. there's something that's very powerful and that's changed in the last few years in the region. this is why i think despite the incredible challenge of this moment, despite the horrific suffering that we are seeing, there actually is an opportunity that we haven't seen in the past. the change is this. all of these countries now want a region more integrated. they want a region that includes israel. they are prepared to do things, to make commitments, to give assurances for israel's security. but that also has to include the palestinian piece. if you put that together, there's an incredibly positive and powerful future for most of the country, including israel, in a way that gives palestinians

the rights that they deserve with the necessary assurances for israel's security. then you have an integrated region, a peaceful region, a secure region with some outliers. they are willing to work with israel to deal with that. there's a choice for the future. that requires hard decisions by leaders everywhere. we can't make those decisions for people. we can give our best advice, our best counsel. the united states can give assurances, make commitments to support that process, that effort. you can see the possibilities that are there, even in this incredibly dark moment. our goal, our responsibility is to try to drive in that direction. >> you are saying that the crown prince told you normalization is not dead because of october 7th? >> that's correct. >> it's still -- >> that's correct.

he and virtually every other leader i talked to supports moving forward with integration, normalization, whatever you want to call it. but, of course, the conflict in gaza needs to end and there has to be a pathway for palestinian rights. >> thank you, mr. secretary. >> thanks, andrea. good to be with you. >> joining me now for more, nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel and the ambassador and former advisor to israel's prime minister. richard, to you. secretary blinken was just in bahrain. that's the base for the fifth fleet. he was asked about what is happening right now in the middle east, particularly the focus on the red sea attacks, the latest -- the largest from the houthi rebels. he talked about that. i want to play that for you and

get your reaction. >> we also had some 20 countries come together to make clear that if these attacks continue as they did yesterday, there will be consequences. again, this represents a clear threat to the interests of counties around the world. it's important the international community come together and respond to them. >> he repeated that several times, there will be consequences. they said that last wednesday when we were at the state department for a briefing just before leaving for this trip. what do you anticipate might be going on? they are critics saying the u.s. is not doing enough to deter the iran-backed houthi rebels. >> reporter: we are in a difficult crossroads. under normal circumstances, we would have seen a u.s. military response to something as flagrant as cutting off shipping

in the red sea or cutting off a large part of the shipping in the critical waterway. 15% of the world's cargo transits through. right now, everyone is on a hair's trigger. there's a concern that if you start a wider conflict in one part of the region, you could easily see it spread to another. if the u.s. carries out a military action against the houthis in yemen, trying to take out some of their naval capabilities, because it has been the houthis who have been attacking ships in the red sea, then we could see actions from iranian-backed militias in iraq or in syria or even an action by hezbollah in lebanon. that is already simmering increasingly hot level. everything is linked. i spoke not long ago with one of the most senior officials in the houthi movement.

i asked him, are you concerned about a war from the united states? are you worried you are picking a fight that you can't win? this is not just the united states. it's the united states and an international coalition. at the end of the day, you are a small militia group that controls part of yemen, including the capital and many of the military capabilities. he said that they were not concerned, that they believe much of the world is behind them. they believe that they are on the side of justice, that they have god on their side. he said the equation is simple. if israel stops its aggression against the gaza strip and stops its blockade on gaza, then immediately and automatically they will stop attacking the commercial ships in the red sea that are bound for israel or assisting israel. it's not as simple as it might seem, that pirate-like activity is going on and the u.s. would

take an action to eliminate that threat and then the issue is over and resolved. >> it's a really complex situation. the u.s. and allies are saying that these attacks are not against israeli-flagged ships or ships going to and from israel. they are on international movement, having nothing to do with israel. he also said today that iran is arming, as we know -- he said providing intelligence for the attacks. he said the attacks were the biggest yet and they involved uaes and missiles. that raises the question of, what is going to happen next? ambassador, i don't know if you want to weigh in on that. the meetings in israel, no readout from the israelis. you saw the video was not shot by our network pool as it had been throughout this trip. there was no presence, no

reporters present. they are not saying very much on whether israel agreed. apparently did not agree to give the palestinians their tax revenues, which caused a lot of concern. it was pointed out there were some tough words in ramallah today from the palestinian leaders when they asked why the u.s. has not been tougher with israel. >> i imagine there were tough words exchanged between secretary blinken and prime minister netanyahu as well. you covered every possible aspect. but there was one key thing that the secretary said about the opportunity that he sees out of this darkness, out of this disaster. he sees an opportunity but the arab countries, particularly the saudis -- the secretary said he

is someone who wants normalization. the arab countries are interested in a more integrated region, provided that the palestinian issue is addressed. this is where america and israel, the u.s. foreign policy and israeli foreign policy, diverge in a way that's almost unbridgeable. the secretary is a top diplomat. he wouldn't tell you that he is disappointed or disillusioned or can't work with mr. netanyahu. he has to work with what he has in front of him. the truth of the matter is, if this is the consensus among the others and particularly the saudis, there could be a normalization process, there could be a more integrated and coordinated region, provided the palestinian issue is addressed, beginning with gaza and then moving to a border across it, i

have to tell you, the secretary -- this is not going to be done and this cannot be achieved with netanyahu. >> i think that is the conclusion of the u.s. officials as well. they have been trying. richard, you have been watching this as long as i have. this is the first prime minister of israel that -- since 1991 -- that has not agreed to a two-state solution and permitted settlements that have taken so much of the palestinian land in the west bank that it would be very difficult to put together a palestinian state, particularly if as some of the ministers are saying, they try to reoccupy gaza once the war is over. that difficult to put together a palestinian state, particularly if as some of his ministers are saying, they try to reoccupy gaza once this war is over. so i don't know, richard, what prospects you see, but there is

a lot of feeling, a lot of focus on this entire trip, and it's about to wind down, that at least he now know that the arab leaders are on the record committing to do the normalization that was very much in play before october 7th and that once the war ends, there's still the possibility for a regional peace with arab recognition of israel. richard. >> it is almost like he was trying to address the israeli people directly because secretary blinken must know that this government does not want a two-state solution, that this government has said publicly it doesn't want a two-state solution. that it doesn't want to dismantle the settlements or pay the palestinian authority because there are -- the settler movement is part and parcel of the government, the minister of finance who doesn't want to pay the salaries and the taxes to the palestinian authority, comes from that movement himself.

but by laying it out and saying, all of these arab states that he's been too far and wide, and he's still got more countries to go to, are willing to integrate with israel, want better relations with israel, want normalization, which is something that israel has been seeking since its formation as a modern country in 1948, since he's saying this publicly and saying it is the israeli government that doesn't want it. it is the israeli government that is not interested in pursuing a path. it is almost as if he's trying to appeal potentially to israeli voters or to people who might decide the next government. richard engel, thanks so much to you, ambassador alon pinkas, thank you so much to you. let's send it back to josé diaz-balart in miami. >> thank you so very much, a must-see interview. i really appreciate that. up next, we just got some breaking news, the judge in former president donald trump's civil fraud trial has just ruled

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it's great to see you again. we were having this conversation just a couple of minutes ago. you were saying it wouldn't be unusual for the judge to say no way, you can't do it. that's what he did, not a surprise or was it? >> not surprising at all. in a way it shows me that trump is being treated like other folks, and i can tell you that if somebody you've never heard of was a party and they filed a motion to say, hey, i know i have these lawyers, but i want to give a speech at my closing argument in my civil case as well, that motion would be denied. nine times out of ten, 99 times out of 100, really, the judge has discretion to allow it, but i imagine he conducted his own balancing test between on the one side, i need to maintain courtroom decorum, and on the other side, well, this ought to be interesting if i allow this. and really, courtroom decorum does have to prevail. he would be giving up just too much control if he allowed trump a podium to speak in the format of a closing argument, which is literally a speech.

it's supposed to be a summation of evidence. trump isn't going to follow the rules of evidence, he's going to follow the rules of trump. no surprise that judge engoron denied the request. >> what are the possible options that a judge would have if the judge, for example, would have said, yes, former president trump, go ahead, give part of the closing statement yourself and then he goes off track out of decorum, what would a judge have the possibility to do? >> yeah, you're exactly right. there's a big difference between him testifying as a witness. that's guided by the questioning of the lawyers, and at some point, the answer to question ends and you have a little more control, but the essence of opening and closing arguments is that they are a kind of speech. they're performative in their nature, and in fact, it's really, really bad form to interrupt with an objection.

so the presumption is you get it keep talking. so you have contempt power. the judge could do that, but you don't to want hold the former president in contempt. that's another thorny issue. >> great to see you. i thank you so much. there is still much more ahead today. coming up, the republican push to impeach homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas over the humanitarian crisis at the border. the first critical hearing happening right now on capitol hill. we'll go and speak with one of the top democrats in the room right now. you're watching "josé diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. .

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