m.j. lee has more now from the white house. >> u.s. officials tell cnn that at this moment in time there is still no smoking gun that makes a directs connection between iran and hamas attack in israel over the weekend though officials of course point out there is a history of iran funding and aiding hamas as one u.s. official put to it cnn of course iran is in the picture and have been supporting hamas and hezbollah for a number of years and it does appear that u.s. officials are also more openly pointing to the possibility and the likelihood that it will be found that iran had played a direct role in helping to plan and execute this deadly attack. e aware also of administration briefing that was held with lawmakers to share information about what the administration knows so far and one of the things that was shared tonight with lawmakers is that four americans at least have been confirmed dead in israel officials also warning that number could rise in coming days, this of course all unfolding

let's bring in m.j. lee at the white house and m.j., obviously prime minister netanyahu, the president had a good meeting with him and reaffirmed the alliance of the united states and israel, but obviously had to have been disappointing. he really wanted to meet with the palestinian authority president mahmoud abbas as well as the leaders of jordan and egypt and that was canceled in the wake of the tragedy at the hospital in gaza and tragedy that the u.s. and israel was not done by israel, but that didn't seem to matter to the arab leaders. >> yeah. jake, it is really unusual for the president to any back to the back of the plane to have this kund of moment and taking questions from reporters. my read off the bat is that this is a president who wanted to sort of emphasize the reason that he sdeeded to go ahead with this trip anyway, even after the jordan portion of the trip was canceled and it was a little bit hard to hear, obviously, over the engine noise, but he did say initially that he felt that it was i

cnn's m.j. lee joins me now live from the white house. m.j., president biden has pledged full support to israel. he certainly needs congress to act in order to pass a larger aid package. the house is currently without a speaker, which from this vantage point just seems an incredibly awful time for this. where do things stand? >> reporter: anderson, you saw over the weekend how swiftly president biden moved to direct his team to first and foremost bolster american military presence in the region. as you mentioned, a u.s. aircraft carrier has been deployed to the region. scores of fighter jets have also moved to the area. and this is of course in part deterrence and also in part just wanting to avoid a situation where the conflict ends up spilling beyond israel's borders. that is a huge priority for the administration right now. but anderson, as you mentioned, we've heard the president personally pledge more aid to prime minister benjamin netanyahu, and there is very much this complicating factor on capitol hill, where we are in a situation

cnn's m.j. lee is there. m.j., what do we know about how president biden is reacting to these fast-moving events on capitol hill? >> reporter: well, jake, it is no surprise that white house officials and advisers to president biden, they are very closely monitoring everything that is unfolding on capitol hill right now, and it is safe to say there is recognition here at the white house that the white house soon could be dealing with a new speaker of the house and a new leader of an unruly house republican conference. now, i don't have to tell you that president biden and speaker mccarthy, they have a complicated working relationship. at times this relationship has been outright contentious. but there is, again, a recognition that a new speaker will mean a whole new potentially political landscape for democrats and this white house to navigate. i think one urgent priority for this white house that is worth looking at is of course the question of ukraine funding. this is something that got left out of the govern

>> m.j. lee. at this hour antony blinken is u.s. envoy involved in hostage negotiations as the fate of americans held by hamas in gaza remains very much unclear right now. let's bring in our chief national security correspondent alex marquardt. give us the latest. >> reporter: it's clear this is a huge priority for the biden administration and devoting a huge amount of resources to figuring out where the hostages are and getting them out. they're going with blinken to israel. we know fbi negotiators and agents are also involved as well as the intelligence community trying to figure out how those hostages were taken, where they are. the defense department has a special forces team on the ground in israel that is there to help with intelligence and planning according to the secretary of defense. in terms of the numbers that we're talking about with, wolf, the israelis have said 150 people have been taken hostage by hamas and gaza. there are 17 americans that are unaccounted for. that doesn't necessarily mean they are hostages. we did

as cnn's senior white house correspondent m.j. lee tells us, there are still questions that need to be addressed. >> reporter: just hours ahead of a midnight deadline for government shutdown, president biden signing into law a government funding bill that would fund the government for 45 days. the white house had made a deliberate decision some time ago to take a hands-off approach as the process unfolded on capitol hill. the messaging we have been hearing from the white house over the last few days has really been, this is a house republicans' problem to solve. they made a political calculation that if the government were to shut down at midnight, house republicans would end up shouldering much of that political blame. of course, there is a sigh of relief tonight here at the white house that a government shutdown has been averted, but this are two very big outstanding questions. first is how the government is going to potentially secure more funding for ukraine. that has been a big priority for many democrats and white house official

we have reporters standing by in israel and m.j. lee is at the white house as the blast threatens to become a flash point. let's go to clarissa. what do we know about this hospital blast? >> reporter: well, wolf, we know that thousands of people were taking shelter in the baptist hospital in gaza city. palestinian officials are saying that hundreds of people have been killed and the scenes and the aftermath are just absolutely horrifying. many of these people were seeking refuge. they thought that the hospital would be a safe place for them to go. you may remember that the ibf ordered people to leave northern gaza. we've been speaking to people on the phone. many didn't feel it was safe or possible to leave. a lot of people go to hotels, to hospitals to try to find a safe place. now, there is a continued back and forth about who was responsible, how this happened. palestinians on the ground pointing out that hundreds of people have been killed. that is not consistent with the kind of death to you would see from a rocket. also, the enorm

cnn's m.j. lee is live for us at the white house with more. m.j., what are we anticipating to hear from president biden? >> well, boris, as you know he have well, student loan debt relief has been a huge focus for this white house. and you're right that the administration today announced additional cancellation for some 125,000 borrowers totaling according to the administration some $9 billion, and it really falls into several categories including cancellation for borrowers who are public servants, debt relief for folks who have been making their payments for 20 years or more, and then there's another category of cancellation for borrowers who have disabilities. now, the timing of this announcement is pretty interesting because do keep in mind it was several days ago that a pause on federal student loan payments that had been in place since march of 2020, so really we are talking about the onset of the pandemic, that ended up being lifted. so we are looking at millions of borrowers across the country who haven't had to make these payments in a

other than jerusalem, of course, inside the country of israel, i want to go the white house and our m.j. lee is there. m.j., we heard from president biden earlier today saying multiple times that the u.s. stands with and stands by israel. the question, of course, going forward, is, what does that mean, and what the posture of the u.s. is, as israel undeniably will counterattack? >> yeah, dana, it was clear that the president wanted to use these brief remarks to first and foremost resoundingly show support to the government of israel and the people of israel, and to condemn these attacks. he said that the scenes pouring out of israel were unconscionable and he heartbreaking. just take a listen to a little bit of what he had to say earlier. >> when i spoke to prime minister netanyahu this morning, i told him the united states stands with the people of israel in the face of these terrorist assaults. israel has the right to defend itself and its people, full stop. there's never justification for terrorist attacks, and my administration's support for israel's security is rock solid and unwavering

. >>> now i want to go to cnn's m.j. lee who is at the white house for us. joe biden spoke with reporters on air force one about many subjects, including humanitarian aid that is just waiting in egypt, trying to get into dgaza. what did the president have to say? >> reporter: he just told reporters on air force one that he reached an agreement with egypt's president, president sisi, that the agreement is to open the rafah crossing, to get this humanitarian aid into gaza. the agreement, he said, was to allow 20 trucks through for the time being. and then in terms of the timeline, how quickly this would happen, the president saying the roads need to get fixed. potholes need to get fixed before trucks can get through. so he estimated that those 20 trucks could start rolling into gaza around friday. he also said that the purpose was only to get the humanitarian aid through, that it would not be to allow a lot of people out. so clearly this was a key sticking point in his discussions with the president of egypt. he called this a very blunt negotiation that he had

let's go to m.j. lee now who's at the white house where president biden just released a statement. breaking news about the two americans that were released earlier by hamas. m.j., what is the white house saying? >> reporter: the president released a statement confirming and celebrating the release of those two american hostages that had been held by hamas and gaza and says that from the earliest moments from that attack we have been working around the clock to free american citizens who were taken hostage by hamas, and we have not ceased our efforts to fre those who are still being held. he thanked the government of qatar and israel for their partnership in this work. i just want to be clear here -- i just checked in with a u.s. official about that part of the statement where he says the government is continuing to secure its release of those being held, whether we should take that to men there are additional american hostage still being held -- and i was just told that that is correct, that that is a correct reading of the statement. that in and of itself is big news women now have

joining me from the white house is cnn's m.j. lee. what are you hearing from your sources at the white house about the prepared response right now? >> reporter: well, dana, needless to say, the situation in israel has been front and center for president biden all weekend as he has been getting briefings by his national security team. and as you said, he's spoken already twice with prime minister benjamin netanyahu, and we saw overnight how abruptly the president's focused and priority can change. this is now a president who is overseeing and contending with two different wars in two different regions of the world, and even though he as a candidate really explicitly ran as the person who he said is best equipped to handle this kind of global crisis, really better than anybody else, he is about to be tested in a whole new set of ways, and certainly when it comes to sort of the efforts to reshape diplomacy in the middle east, those efforts, at the very least, are on hold or disrupted right now. now, as for the immediacy of the president'

we'll get to cnn's clarissa ward on the ground in israel in a moment and let's bring in m.j. leethe white house. the gaza hospital strike is already impacting president biden's trip to israel even before he's left wash wish. >> that's right, jake. the president was supposed to be wheels up within a number of hours, but already his itinerary has been affected. the palestinian president mahmoud abbas pulling out of what was supposed to be his meeting with president biden that was supposed to take place in jordan with a number of other regional leaders. obviously as these horrific images and scenes and reports of hundreds of casualties and deaths pouring out of this hospital in gaza, and so far, jake, i can tell you that white house officials, u.s. officials that we have been reaching out to, we've really been met with radio silence. nothing yet officially from the u.s. side in terms of a reaction to this deadly strike in gaza. this hospital strike also just nothing in terms of any kind of reaction, any changes potentially to the president's trip. again, that was supposed to commenc

cnn's m.j. leetarts off our coverage today with a closer look at the new barriers coming closer to the southern border, and why president biden says he was forced to make this move. >> reporter: the contentious political issue of the border wall -- >> build the wall, build the wall! >> don't worry, we're going build the back. >> reporter: back in the spotlight. the biden administration announcing that it is waiving 26 federal laws in order to green light the construction of a border wall in south texas. the wall will be built using previously appropriated funds specifically earmarked for this purpose under the trump administration. but the building of the wall clashing with this explicit promise that biden made as a presidential candidate. >> there will not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration. >> reporter: his then opponent donald trump made construction of a border wall a major rallying cry in his reelection campaign. >> and we are now building that beautiful wall. [ cheering ]

let's check in with senior white house correspondent m.j. lee. what are you hearing over at the white house? >> reporter: well, of course president biden tonight is standing by here at the white house to sign that funding bill into law as soon as it reaches his desk. but we did just receive a paper statement from the white house. this is a president weighing in on everything that's happened tonight for the first time. let me just read you a part of that statement. the president writes, "tonight bipartisan majorities in the house and senate voted to keep the government open, preventing an unnecessary crisis that would have inflicted needless pain on millions of hard-working americans. this bill ensures that active duty troops will continue to get paid, that travelers will be spared airport delays, millions of women and children will continue to have access to vital nutrition assistance, and so much more. this is good news for the american people. the president also goes on to say, "while the speaker and the overwhelming majority of congress have b

cnn's m.j. lee is at the white house tonight. what are you hearing? >> reporter: yeah, anderson, in the last hour the president putting out a new statement on this hospital blast offering his condolences and the president saying that he is directing his national security team to continue gathering information and to determine what exactly happened. as you can imagine, this is going to be an extraordinarily sensitive issue for the white house. and u.s. officials to weigh in on given that there are conflicting claims from hamas, from the idf, and so u.s. officials for the time being trying to make clear they have not made a determination as to who is responsible but as oren said, they are just going through the intelligence, trying to collect information and trying to figure out exactly what happened and who might be responsible. but needless to say, as we have been talking about, it's had a huge effect on the president 's upcoming travel to jordan, being canceled after palestinian authority president mahmoud abbas pulling out of that meeting and this i