that's one 804 037539. >> good day. i'm chris jansing, live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. stay or go. >> with almost. no details to work with and no time to figure. >> them out. federal workers may have to take a leap of faith if they're going to accept a government buyout in. >> the. >> next few hours. why? their union reps and some legal experts. >> are warning it may. >> be a bad bet. plus, elon musk's bid to insert himself into yet another federal agency, this. >> time promising. >> to fix the faa. why it's.

>> raising. concerns after. >> a week full of deadly and frightening plane incidents. and can benjamin netanyahu breathe new life into trump's pitch to turn gaza into the riviera of the middle east? the latest from washington, where he's having meetings on capitol hill. plus, what we're learning about this unusual gift that he gave to president trump. lots to get to. but we start with millions of federal employees who are facing a life changing decision and now have just 11 hours. left to make it the choice, a proverbial fork in the road resigned before midnight tonight and accept a legally. dubious buyout offer from the trump administration, or stay on the job and risk being fired anyway. a source close to nbc news says so far, out of nearly 2.3 million federal workers, about 40,000 have accepted the buyout. but that's just a fraction of the 100 to 200,000 the government hoped would take the deal. the

largest government employees union, agf, warned members not to be tricked into accepting what they call a vague offer with conflicting details. another union told members to pass, calling the. offer unreliable. and possibly illegal. and nbc news learned just yesterday that the top officials at the education department warned staffers that the government could just rescind the deal down the line, and they'd be stuck with no legal recourse. >> we have. >> heard nothing from above. >> and that's what i. >> think has caused more chaos. >> than anything, is. >> because even our chain of command and our highest leaders don't know what is happening and how to move forward with their people. >> it's heartbreaking because we. >> know that people. >> are going to be. >> less healthy, less safe through no choice of our. >> own, and. >> that that sense of despair and sadness is what. i sense really being pervasive in this space. >> i want to bring in nbc's gabe gutierrez at the white house.

eugene robinson is a washington post columnist and msnbc political analyst. so, gabe, obviously lots of questions about whether the government will stand behind this offer. >> but with the clock ticking. >> are federal workers getting answers? >> well, chris, you just heard from those federal workers right there. not a whole lot of answers. and morale is so low at many of these agencies. now, overnight, a spokesperson. >> for the. >> office of personnel management confirms that an email was sent to employees saying that this buyout offer would not be extended past this deadline. but as you said, federal workers are left to wonder if they don't take it, are they going to be filed anyway? now, something significant that we're waiting for this afternoon. unions have sued in order to block this deadline, and a hearing is set to happen in boston. and a federal judge is set to weigh in on whether it might be extended or not. many of these federal workers are waiting to see if that will happen. and as you said, so far 40,000 people have accepted this buyout offer. but

the white house has expected that number to grow significantly in the last 24 hours before the deadline. chris. >> and of course, eugene, elon musk's cost cutting is at. >> the. >> heart of all this. and politico writes that his goal is exactly. what gabe just said. >> to. >> demoralize and wear down federal employees. it quotes a gsa staffer. >> saying the. >> messages they keep receiving from trump officials are. >> akin to pointing. >> a gun at people. that confusion and fear is the point. a second federal employee. said half my office was in tears on a recent afternoon. i mean, look, layoffs do happen at one time or another. >> in. >> almost every business. but beyond the question of legal or illegal here, does this feel particularly cruel? >> well, yes it is. and i think the cruelty is the point is i think this is a that's a feature, not a bug of this buyout offer. and i would put that in air quotes because it is unclear whether it's.

>> real. >> whether, you know, clearly they don't have the authority to promise to pay anybody until september, given that there's no authorization for any agency to pay anybody that long. i mean, congress is going to have to do another continuing resolution or something in order to fund the government for most of that period. and so they don't have authorization to, to do this. but i think, yeah, it's to confuse sow chaos and demoralize federal federal workers, which is what they want to do. it's incomprehensible. but this is the idea and they're doing a good job of that. >> yeah. i want to play what president trump said about this this morning, particularly as it relates. >> to the. >> slashing of usaid. >> they gave money to all this

out of out of us aid. right. usaid. it came out hundreds of just tremendous amounts of money had nothing to do with anything. this is a terrible thing that was experienced. but we're catching them left and right. we're catching them. we're catching them to a point where they don't know what the heck is going on. they can't believe they're getting caught. >> i mean, can you speak about this. ongoing narrative about civil servants being bad actors? >> i mean, elon musk called. >> usaid evil. what did they get out of the demonization. >> of this? >> what do you think, jane? >> well, you know, i think demonization is the idea that they, for some reason and i can't understand it. pick a side

as the kind of poster child for how awful federal employees are and how they're doing things that are somehow un-american and the complete polar opposite, of course, is true. usaid is funding is saving lives and helping people in desperate situations around the world, building goodwill for this country. and in that sense, aiding in the national defense. that's what they've been doing. i can't think of any, any less likely villains than the people at a.i.d. and you would have thought that musk maybe would be picking on, like, irs or some somebody that, that that you could understand why he would go after. so i don't i don't get the choice. but maybe it was to,

to basically shoot bambi. right. to pick up an agency that is sympathetic. and if they can demonize them, they can demonize the whole federal workforce. >> yeah. and speaking of that workforce, gabe, one worker. we heard. >> talking about her concerns, as, you. >> know, what happens tomorrow if 100 or 200,000 people have not taken. this buyout, have not put in resign. >> in the. >> in the subject head of that email, she's worried that at that point, quote, the hammer comes down. do we have any real idea of what happens next after the deadline? >> no, chris, it's. >> really not clear at this point. and yes, as you said, it's a huge concern for federal workers. now, for example, for usaid, those workers were told earlier on this week that, you know, all direct hires would be placed on administrative leave starting on friday. staff around the world was asked to come back to the united states. but there are other questions. there are

so many other questions about other federal agencies and whether in the in the coming days and weeks, there could be massive layoffs at some of those agencies. so for this point, at this point, chris, we're waiting to see what happens at midnight tonight. how many employees do take this buyout, but also several hours earlier, actually in the next couple of hours to see if federal judge extends the deadline at all. chris. >> all right. gabe gutierrez, thank you as always. eugene, you're staying with me, but i want to bring in michael fallings, a partner at the law. >> firm of tully. >> rinckey and an expert. in federal employment law. it's good to see you. michael, what are your. >> biggest concerns about. >> this buyout offer? and what are you telling folks who are calling you and asking for advice? >> well, these federal employees are confused. they're scared. >> for many of the. >> reasons. >> we've been discussing. >> you know, they've been given just over. a week to make a decision, maybe a life changing decision. they're scared because of all the threats that. >> have occurred.

>> even if they. do decline the resignation. but some of the things i've been telling federal. employees is to, you know. >> specifically review the. >> the. >> agreement that has been sent. >> you. >> know, to most. >> federal employees. and the specific. >> clause i've been. >> referencing is that withdrawal. >> of any and. >> all. >> claims. >> which wasn't. really fully. >> described to these federal. >> employees when the initial email went out. >> on january 28th. >> but since then, there's been an agreement that's sent out to most federal. employees that requires them to. >> withdraw any. >> claims against their agency pertaining to their employment, or even pertaining to the deferred resignation, which really puts the employee in a difficult position, because if there's issues regarding their pay, perhaps in the resignation period, perhaps if they decide to take other employment, which. >> apparently that's allowable. >> but if there's if the government issue with that, it. >> leaves them without. >> a loss of. >> of. >> of challenging those, those actions by the agency.

>> yeah. this might not even be a valid contract is the concern. because as an employee, you just have to type the word resign. send it right from a government email account. but some of those employees have noted when they first got the email, they thought it was spam. they thought it looked so unofficial. how do you determine whether this. is a valid and binding and enforceable contract? i mean, what are the implications of this uncertainty? >> yes. >> it's very uncertain. >> i think the email initially came from an email inbox that no one had ever seen. and then the next day there was new information. and it seems to be changing by the hour. >> whether it's a. >> valid, enforceable contract i think will be determined. it's certainly already been challenged. and, you know, there's several provisions. of the draft agreement that's been set out. >> that. >> you know, i believe could be unenforceable. you know, we've talked about how there's not even funding guaranteed past, you know, march for these

employees. you know, there's a discussion of whether there's even consideration, a valid consideration, which you need for a contract that's being provided for these employees. so whether this is even a valid, enforceable contract is a concern that employees have. i've discussed that. you know, my firm. you know, whether that's something that's viable. >> yeah. and the other question i have is even if you decide to essentially roll the dice, and it turns out. that for one reason or another, you're not getting paid or what you thought was the deal isn't the deal. and this goes to. >> court, you. >> know, how long do you want to. >> be in this. situation of having. >> lawyers, not knowing what your. >> future holds, not knowing if you're. >> going to get money? i'm thinking about the lawsuits that are still in play after folks. >> who were fired. >> at twitter, or. >> ex elon. musk's company filed. >> some of them still active, and who knows when they'll be settled. >> yeah, and that's the scary thing is you're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place, because if you accept the

resignation, who knows what may happen regarding the legality of it, and you may be stuck without a way to challenge the issues that may arise, but if you decline it, then you may be subject to, you know, potential termination. regarding the administration's announcement that there will be mass layoffs, you. >> know, you're. >> still in a difficult position. so, you know, there's it's a lot of fear for these federal. >> employees. >> understandably, because there hasn't been clear information and has been ignorant of these federal. >> employees livelihoods. >> yeah. >> and you're up against elon musk and donald trump, who history tells us are not two men who will shy away from a lawsuit. michael, thank you so much. we appreciate your expertise in 90s yet another airport scare after one plane nearly slashes off the tail of another on the tarmac in seattle another on the tarmac in seattle as terrified passengers watched. -honey... -but the gains are pumping! dad, is mommy a "finance bro?"

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crews began the painstaking work of recovering the wreckage of the chopper from the potomac river. nbc's gary grumbach is following this for us. gary, what is the latest on the investigation into the crash and the changes being made at reagan airport as a result? >> hey there kristie. it's just one aircraft incident after another. these days. but here in. >> washington. >> the investigation by the ntsb certainly does continue as they are continuing to pull. wreckage out of the potomac river. they've gotten most of the airplane. >> we can see. now they're starting to pull up. as you. >> can. >> see, a. >> live picture here. >> some of. >> the. >> choppers, some. >> of the helicopter debris. and now. >> of course. >> that. >> all 67. victims have been recovered and identified. there's a couple changes. related to how. >> dca airspace. is going to work. >> for now. first of. >> all. >> unless you're. >> a law enforcement. >> chopper, a. >> medevac chopper, or a presidential helicopter. >> you are not. >> allowed within the potomac. >> river area. of dca airspace. >> that is, for. >> the next several. weeks at least. >> and second.

>> two of the three runways at dca. >> have. >> been closed. >> while this wreckage removal. >> process continues. >> just the other day. >> there. >> was a vigil outside out on one of the runways, so they're keeping two of the three closed. >> that is. >> of course leading to delays at dca. but this third point that i'm about to mention is another reason for that. and that's because the. >> maximum number of. arrivals into. >> dca is. >> being decreased. >> by the faa. >> usually there's about 28. >> arrivals per hour. >> into dca. that's going to. >> decrease now. >> to a maximum of 26. >> that's going to increase. >> however the average. >> delay at dca, usually it's about. >> 40 minutes. >> if you're delayed. >> coming into. >> dca now, it's going to be. >> closer to 50. so several changes. >> on the. >> faa front. as the. >> ntsb investigation continues. chris. >> but elon musk posted on x that the doge team will be making rapid safety upgrades to the air traffic control system. do we know any more about that? >> so as with a lot of elon musk's plans these days, we don't have a ton of information as to how exactly this will

work. department of transportation secretary sean duffy made clear that it might mean that there. >> are 22. >> year olds that do come into. >> the department of transportation. >> do come into. these systems and try. >> to. >> upgrade them. there are portions of the system. >> that are antiquated right. >> from the 60s and 70s. >> but there's also. >> portions that are the highest tech that are of. >> of the highest technology. so certainly, it will. >> be. >> interesting to. >> see how this happens, especially related to. >> air traffic control. >> the folks, the. >> people that are actually in all of these towers, because the school that's in oklahoma city is the only air traffic control school that exists in this country. and they are full. there's no more room. >> for. >> folks to. go into those classes. they are certainly maxed out at that point. so there's certainly a number of. options for elon musk, for the department of transportation, to look into. >> how we can. >> improve what. goes on. >> in those air traffic control towers. >> chris gary grumbach, thank you. we now know a day one priority for the new attorney general, pam bondi, investigating the federal and state officials who brought

legal cases against president trump. bondi has launched a new weaponization working group to review the actions of former special counsel jack smith, manhattan da alvin bragg. new york attorney general letitia james. the directive is an early indication of bondi's plan, in spite of what she said during her confirmation hearing last month. >> no one will be. >> prosecuted. >> investigated because they are. >> a. >> political opponent. >> the partizanship. >> the weaponization. >> will be gone. >> america will have one. >> tier of justice for all. there will never be an enemies. >> list within the department of justice. i believe that the justice department must. be independent and must act independently. >> joining me now is nbc's ken dilanian and msnbc political analyst eugene daniels is back with me. walk us through, ken, what this new working group's mission will be. >> well. >> chris. the most important

thing to say about this is that there has been no evidence produced in public. none. not a shred that any of particularly the justice department investigations of donald trump were in any way biased or unfair or weaponized to use their term, even though republicans have been making that charge, the sum total of their case seems to be you investigated my guy. i didn't like the investigation. therefore this was weaponized. >> now, there may. >> be such evidence. look, the justice department has access to every memo, every email, every document that jack smith and his team reviewed and produced and wrote over the years of their investigation. and if they find, as has happened in the past, you know, texts from. fbi agents saying they didn't they wanted to get donald trump, then that will be significant. but right now, we have just not seen that. usually when you investigate something, you have some evidence to lead you in that direction. here they have none. but look, they're serious about this. this is a priority of the trump administration to look at all these investigations of donald trump, both at the state and the federal level, and to determine whether there was any

prosecutorial abuse. chris. >> all right. eugene robinson, don't always believe everything you read. but unless you've shaved your head. >> gotta go. right. you got to keep your eugene straight, okay? >> okay. >> bob bondi said over and over again in her confirmation hearing that politics is not going to influence her work at the doj. but what do these day one actions signal to you? >> yes. well, they say exactly the opposite, right? i mean, you know, there's no enemies list. no, there's an obvious enemies list, and it's letitia james and alvin bragg and fani willis and jack smith and anybody who investigated donald trump or brought charges against donald trump and that's i mean, i confess, i'm not surprised. i anyone who believed when donald trump did you believe donald trump when he and his nominees

said there's not going to be any enemies list? or did you believe him? months earlier when he said, you know, i am your retribution when he when he talked openly about seeking retribution and revenge against his enemies. i think that was the real donald trump. and i think this is probably a requirement of the job. pam bondi i don't know whether she's doing this with with enthusiasm and how she intends to proceed, but i think she probably had to do it to get the job, frankly. >> you know, but if you're a government employee fired for doing your job, prosecutors, for example, are assigned cases like even if ultimately the courts say you were fired without cause. there is a question of what this does to your life. it goes back to what you and i were talking about at the top of the show. you know, i think back to the folks who testified in front of the j. six committee who said they were harassed. they the

georgia election workers, ruby freeman, their lives became a living hell. what's their recourse? >> they don't have much recourse, to tell you the truth. i mean, you know, the election workers were able to sue rudy giuliani and get a get a settlement. what happens if it's essentially the president of the united states who is ruining your life? and even if you win in the end, or even if you are vindicated in the end, what have you had to spend in legal fees, what your your career has been derailed you you certainly have a feeling of physical insecurity being sort of on the maga target list. it's a terrible thing that we're seeing how powerful the federal government is, and especially the justice department. it is. it can ruin people's lives whether or not it

convicts them. and i fear that is what we are going to see more of in the coming months and years. >> and ken, i understand bondi has also disbanded the doj's foreign influence task force. explain to folks what that is and what this could mean. >> yeah, this was a group created in 2018 by the trump administration to combat efforts by foreign governments china, russia and iran, principally to wage secret influence campaigns, mainly on social media, to divide americans. i mean, it started most prominently with the russian election interference in 2016, but it's been going on ever since. christopher wray, the former fbi director, warned about it over and. over again. >> so the fbi. >> had as many as 50 people in three squads working to combat this. they would flag information campaigns to social media. bondi disbanded it. it's gone. it's over. she also ordered the justice department to diminish its enforcement of the foreign lobbyist

registration act. they've made a number of cases against both democrats and republicans in corruption cases, where they've accused people of taking foreign money to lobby on behalf of foreign governments, but failing to register. the doj is saying we're not going to do that anymore. we're going to focus only on civil enforcement. why are they doing that? well, there have been a number of trump allies who have been caught up in fara prosecutions over the years, starting with mike flynn and paul manafort. so big, big. that's these are huge policy changes that pam bondi made on her first day in office. chris. >> let me ask you, finally, eugene, the senate judiciary committee vote on kash patel to lead the fbi is set for next week. now that we've seen what pam bondi is doing versus what she said she was going to do, and remember a lot of these cases, the senator said yes, but when we talk behind closed doors, i got these assurances. do you think that has any influence at all on his confirmation hearing? >> i doubt it, to tell you the truth, i really doubt it. i mean, you look at what has

happened to all these controversial and, frankly, unqualified nominees, the several that you and i are both thinking of now. in the end, they get through because of the president's political power and the fact that that republican senators don't want to be on his bad side, because that puts them on the bad side of a potential primary challenge. and it it it is it is a huge it could end their political careers. so far they haven't been willing to take that step and just say no. and i don't think they're going to do it with kash patel. >> ken dilanian and eugene robinson. gentlemen, thank you. and coming up, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu on capitol hill today after president trump's idea for a u.s. takeover of gaza left some republicans and u.s. allies republicans and u.s. allies uwhen you really need to sleep.

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california and texas, prize picks. run your game. >> we do have major developments out of washington. have we already sort of crossed a rubicon in terms of who we are as a country and what the rule of law is? america is listening to you right now, thinking about what might have been, people hearing you, talking about the pushback and the fight and that mattering. what does that mean in practical terms? what they're doing to immigrants is something they say they're going to do every day. what's democratic strategy for trying to take that on? we've got a free press, a free people, and an organized political opposition that represents fully half the country. so here we go. >> it's on. >> we have breaking news. a federal judge in boston has temporarily blocked this government buyout program at least until monday. the word comes after roughly 60,000 federal workers. that's a new number. has already accepted the trump administration's offer. i want to bring in nbc's ken dilanian. eugene robinson is also back with us, and lisa rubin is msnbc legal correspondent. ken, what can you

tell us about this decision? it just happened in court, correct? >> that's right. chris, u.s. district judge george o'toole in boston has temporarily enjoined this buyout program because he's allowing both sides more time to make their arguments. one of the federal employee unions has asked for a halt to this program, saying that it's illegal. and, of course, as we know, there are many, many questions about this program, including, first of all, whether it's legal, whether the government would have the money to fund it in the event of a government shutdown. many federal public employees have a lot of questions about it. and yet, as you said, many thousands have signed up for it. it allows people to stay employed and be administration, using it in an effort to cull the federal workforce. but a lot of questions and criticism about it. and now this federal judge has put a temporary halt to this program. while both sides marshal their arguments for a later hearing. chris.

>> ken, thank you so much for that. what else can you tell us? lisa. >> well, chris, one of the things i can tell you is that the claims being made here are essentially that the buyout program amounts to a federal regulation for which they have not given a reasoned basis for issuing. so essentially, what the employee unions are saying is this is contrary to federal law called the administrative procedures act because it's arbitrary, it's capricious. we don't understand why they're offering it to us, and therefore you should put a halt to it now. but even if you don't put a halt to it, you should at least force the office of personnel management to justify why they are offering these buyouts to as many as hundreds of thousands of workers. we deserve some clarity on why they're doing it, but also we deserve some clarity on whether or not the government will ultimately be able to fulfill these promises we've all seen, including through ken's reporting, some of the question and answers that have been issued to people who have been offered this buyout, none of which necessarily give a guarantee. senator tim kaine, among others, have said, hey, be

cautious, federal employees, when you're weighing this offer, because it's not clear that the government can fund these. there's no appropriations, for example, that has been made to fulfill the buyout offer. and so right now we're pressing pause on it. on monday, the parties will come back to court, having briefed it. and then we expect judge george o'toole in the district of massachusetts. that's a federal court in boston to make a longer term decision about the future of the buyout program. >> then what, though? i mean, because this is not likely to end there, do you think? >> no, it's definitely not likely to end there. and then i think depending on what his decision is, it's likely to be appealed by one or the other side. we also could see other lawsuits about the buyout program and other areas of the country. certainly, employees in boston are not the only federal employees in the country who are affected by this. this is a nationwide offer being made to employees of various federal agencies. we know that there are a couple of federal agencies or categories of federal workers that are exempt from this, but for the most part, it applies to

federal workers all across the country. so i would not be surprised if we see, for example, other suits in other areas of the country. and that just allows for a process that is like legal dueling banjos, where appeals courts may make different decisions after these are first heard by federal district or trial judges, and ultimately, perhaps to the supreme court. >> you know, eugene, it occurs to me that even before donald trump was sworn in, and certainly on that first day when he sat at the resolute desk and he signed one executive order after another after another, the question that was raised was, will the constitution hold? will institutions hold? and you can make an argument about what the legislative branch has been doing over these first three weeks or so. but in this case at least, and whatever side you're on with this, certainly the judicial branch seems to be working the way the founders intended it to. >> yes, it does seem to be working the way it's intended to work. and we should recall that that's the judicial branch in

2020 and, and, and early 2021 function exactly in the same manner. and in weighing the false claims of rigged election and this and that the, you know, our political system are are article one branch, the congress does not necessarily step up and is not doing so right now in the face of executive orders that seem on their face, unconstitutional or illegal or simply dumb. but but the judiciary, you know, is playing its role. and so as this as these cases funnel their way up to the supreme court, i have a feeling the supreme court may be busy for the next while. and as these cases get up there and the justices have to decide just how

much donald trump gets to bend the constitution because he's trying to bend it. >> eugene, thank you so much for that. which brings me back to you, lisa, which is i don't think there's any doubt that the supreme court is going to be very busy going forward. but there are people in limbo. if we got this new number just in the last few minutes, 60,000 people who put resign on that email that they got, they don't know right now. right now, that's all just on hold. >> that is on hold. and i wish, chris, that you or i could give them more clarity. and i don't think that this temporary stay. that's what it appears judge o'toole in boston has granted will give them that clarity. my hope is that by monday, when he rules on whether or not there should be a temporary restraining order, that they have a little better of an understanding of what's going to happen with this buyout package. but it may be some time before we have a final up or down on whether this federal buyout package is something that can be

granted and should be funded. and that, as you noted, leaves lots of people in limbo. now, there are question and answers from the doj's office that essentially say to people who take the buyout, you don't necessarily have to show up to work. you can continue to look for other employment and still be eligible for these payouts. but for people who are trying to condition their behavior on what is being offered to them, this definitely leaves them in a state of limbo with their hands thrown up in the air. it's like the emoji that we all see all the time. like this. this is essentially where they are right now. >> yeah. and you don't become a federal worker to become independently wealthy. so people need to make money if. right. yeah. >> and certainty is one of the reasons that many people enter federal employment. that certainly is not giving them that. >> lisa rubin, thank you. and coming up, the vicious cold and flu season that's now forcing schools across the country to schools across the country to cancel classes. what you need to ♪♪

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>> at just 4.99 a month. call 1-888-246-2612 or visit homeserve. com. >> right now israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is on capitol hill meeting with lawmakers. his conversations follow president trump doubling down on his plan for a u.s. takeover of gaza, suggesting israel turn it over to the u.s. at the conclusion of fighting when palestinians would have, quote, already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities. although he neglected to say where or how. the president's proposal has been met with a frosty reception

on capitol hill, even by some republican senators who have staunchly supported virtually every part of trump's agenda. nbc's vaughn hillyard is on capitol hill for us, matt bradley has the latest from the middle east, and joel rubin is a former deputy assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs. vaughn, what are you hearing from lawmakers about netanyahu's visit and trump's plan for gaza? >> right. benjamin netanyahu is still here up on capitol hill, actually waiting for speaker mike johnson to return from his meeting with other house republican leaders at the white house, where they're talking about the budget. the federal funding deadline, and, of course, the debt ceiling that is all coming up here this spring. but in the meanwhile, for prime minister netanyahu here, this visit comes at a moment in time in which republican lawmakers, by and large, are not outwardly denouncing the suggestion by president trump. with the backing of prime minister netanyahu this morning for

american occupation, it was benjamin netanyahu earlier today that suggested that there could be a pathway forward on this front. now, it was suggested that u.s. military troops would not be used in this. but i want to let you just listen to a few of the lawmakers we spoke to just a bit ago. >> i'm not going to in your natural lifetime or mine, you will not see me voting to take american taxpayer money and rebuild gaza. what's your reaction? that's not america's responsibility. >> no troops on the ground, no money. i don't know, you'd have to ask the president. my view is, is that i'm very opposed to any u.s. troops on the ground there, and i don't want to spend taxpayer dollars in gaza. >> so what's the plan? i don't know, that's a good question. okay. question. >> when do you find out what you want me to do? >> i also talked with senators cassidy, schmidt and cornyn, each saying that they needed more details but not outright dismissing it, saying that they

first want to understand what was happening on the ground in gaza and what the president exactly had in mind. we should note that the white house has been very scarce in their specifics about what this would actually look like. chris. >> yeah. so, matt, you have a key senator saying if you find out what the plan is, let me know. so a lot of people are asking as a result of that if trump is serious about this, but israel has ordered the idf to prepare plans for palestinians to voluntarily leave gaza. what more can you tell us? >> yeah, that's right, israel's. >> defense minister said today, thursday he had instructed his military to draft a plan that would allow for the voluntary departure of palestinians from gaza. so this is israel katz. he said that he welcomed trump's plan to relocate the palestinian population to various destinations around the world. now, unlike trump's own proposal that we heard first two days ago, that the us will own the gaza strip, the defense minister's comments today offered a little bit more detail. he said israel would

allow gazans to depart for any country willing to receive them through what he called special arrangements for departure by sea or air. now, katz statements didn't put a timeline on trump's proposal. it was just about this order to draft plans for palestinians eviction from the gaza strip. and while this announcement it also like trump's announcement, marks a drastic departure from official israeli policy on gaza. up until now, israel and egypt had been maintaining a blockade for nearly 20 years, so evicting palestinians from gaza is still very consistent with comments from israel. katz's fellow right wing cabinet members, who recently have been calling for israeli settlements of the gaza strip and allying themselves with israelis who want to see gaza resettled. but it still remains unclear whether the defense minister's comments will actually become policy on the ground. and some of it it sounded really political, katz said. countries like spain, ireland and norway, which were very critical of the conduct of

israel's war in the gaza strip, that they should take in palestinians. he even said that they had a legal obligation to do so. so katz wasn't alone in the israeli government praising trump. other right wing ministers on prime minister benjamin netanyahu's very right wing cabinet. they've come out and strenuously blessed the idea of evicting palestinians from gaza. but how much of a role the us would play in such a plan? and most of the plan itself, of course, all of that remains totally unclear. chris. >> so, joel, donald trump claims the us can take over gaza, resettle palestinians, in his words, in beautiful communities with new and modern homes in the region, and rebuild the enclave into one of the most, greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on earth. all of it, by the way, without using us troops. and apparently benjamin netanyahu agrees. listen. >> mr. netanyahu, do you think bodies are needed in gaza? are

we ready to make. peace? >> no. >> does this sound feasible to you? >> well, chris, you know, i've been around long enough to have served in the bush administration when we invaded that country and created a quagmire in this. if you want to see a quagmire for the united states in the middle east, this is doing it. this is how you have all the ingredients coming together to create a quagmire. it's like the fever dream fantasies of american conquest, all there in front of you to try to figure out how is this going to end? well, the point is, it's not going to end well. this is a fantasy. it's embarrassing. it's undermining our alliances in the region. it's making the united states now a target. it's going to motivate terrorist activity. there is no budget. there's no plan. it's concepts of a plan. i could go on and on. i just think this is a such a ridiculous and dangerous idea to float. and it

has real consequences. you know, president trump was supposed to be working with the prime minister here this week to help figure out how to ensure that the cease fire that is underway continues so that all the hostages can get out instead. now he has us in this weird distraction and this idea that somehow the united states now is going to build condos in gaza for jared kushner at the expense of our national security. >> on the surface, this all looks so friendly, right? we saw, obviously, the joint press conference yesterday between the president and the prime minister. there was a gift that was given to donald trump. it's a golden pager on a block of wood, obviously an allusion to the deadly september operation by israel and lebanon, which targeted pagers used by hezbollah. so they got he got that as a gift. and at the same time, you have a situation where, as you pointed out, there

are cease fire talks. there's another phase that has to go into effect and more hostages to come out. does what we're seeing and these proposals potentially have an impact on what happens next. there are still ongoing negotiations. >> yeah. you know, chris, what's very distressing about this is that these two men don't seem to want to be living in the reality that is on the ground right now and dealing with it alongside with our partners in the region. and of course, with the negotiations need to continue, you know, these negotiations to get to the cease fire envisioned a final status kind of discussion, a phase three. let's describe it that way. well, let's have that phase three discussion. but instead they're they're putting out fantasies, mirages that are going to somehow placate political allies and aren't really grappling with the hard issue of how to resolve this fight with hamas, how to push hamas out completely, and do so in a manner that builds stability for the region and

brings israel into the middle east in alliance with arab states. this will push it further away. and i have to say, i've been a strong supporter of israel in this fight. i'm proud of that. i think that the panjshir attack was a crucial attack in defending israeli security against hezbollah. but they're not talking about practical items right now. they're talking about fantasies. >> joel rubin, vaughn hillyard, matt bradley, thanks to all of you. coming up, the growing warnings about donald trump and elon musk, elon musk's mission to dismantle usaid. we'll talk about the impact with new york about the impact with new york times columnist nicholas kristof here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need, and the flavor you love. so, here's to now... now available: boost max! ♪ like a relentless weed, moderate to severe ulcerative colitis symptoms can keep coming back. start to break away from uc with tremfya...

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or very high levels. and one pediatrician told the cincinnati enquirer, we had six doctors working yesterday in the office, and each of us probably had 5 or 6 kids come in that had the flu. nbc's maggie vespa is following this story from columbus. what's happening there, maggie? >> hey, there. yeah, there are absolutely two staggering kind of threads to this story. number one, flu cases and hospitalizations are absolutely surging nationwide right now, experts say, especially among kids. we're here at nationwide children's hospital in columbus. and this really sweet waiting area where staff say they are absolutely inundated and they're scrambling to keep up with this surge. they tell me they had roughly 1500 cases of the flu here at this hospital last week alone. the second thread to this story is that because of this surge right now, schools, districts, classes, they're being canceled and closed by the dozen across several states. this is really a nationwide problem from ohio to kentucky. we found examples in oklahoma

and texas. we just found dozens and dozens of districts going remote due to what some are calling widespread illness, mainly the flu and tennessee. more than 70 schools have closed in the last couple of weeks alone near louisville, kentucky. one district sent a letter home telling parents they were going to go remote three days this week because by their count, they had roughly 1700 students and more than 200 staff members, including roughly a dozen school bus drivers who had to be marked absent due to widespread illness. and they said those numbers continued to rise. so again, back here to the hospital, doctors tell us absolutely this flu season is extreme. >> i mean, this is a normal time. people say, oh, you know, i've never had the flu or, you know, but a lot of people have had it right. they feel like they've been hit by a truck. they hurt so bad. they have high fevers, they ache and they have raynaud's and cough. and you will have it. but yeah, i think it's the familiarity of it. and if you have a loved one, especially a child, maybe less than five that ends up in the

hospital, might end up in the icu, might have some complications like impact their brain, impact their lungs, maybe they get a bacterial infection. you will always remember. >> it amid all of this. we're also tragically, according to the cdc, seeing a rise in pediatric flu deaths, with some states saying they're reporting their first pediatric flu deaths and flu deaths in kids in years. all of this coming as the cdc also warns that flu vaccination rates, just the rates of kids across the country getting their flu shots, is really at historic lows. the latest numbers from the cdc right now, 44.5% vaccination rate among kids in the u.s. that's down from 58.3% this time five years ago. so roughly a 14 point drop. i'll send it back to you. >> maggie. vespa. thank you. and still ahead, new nbc news exclusive reporting. first, the trump administration fired her, and now the white house is targeting a four star admiral and former head of the coast guard in a whole new way. we'll

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