now cnn's senior white house correspondent mj lee joins us from san francisco. what's the latest on this? >> reporter: look we did get the fiery response from china's foreign ministry overnight, saying the president's comment was extremely erroneous and an irresponsible political maneuver. we knew, of course, this is a label that chinese officials are extremely sensitive to. and i gather that chinese officials are going to want to move on from this, if they can, and try to sort of point back to all the progress that both chinese and american officials were trying to herald yesterday after this four-hour summit where they said there was real progress made in trying to take some tension out of that relationship. and, of course, one of those key deliverables we saw get announced yesterday was the restoration of military to military communications between the two countries. that had been severed last year by beijing when there was a lot of conflict and disagreement, especially on the issue of taiwan. and president xi, john, for his part, he is spending a lot of time

mj lee starts us off with the summit. she was there at the press conference last night. this is the first time biden and xi have spoken in person since bali last year. walk us through the major take aways. >> the last time that president biden and president xi met on the sidelines of g-20, u.s. china relations had deteriorated so much so that heading into that meeting, u.s. officials had said they simply wanted to establish a floor in that relationship. this time around, washington and the white house lay ing out a i deliverables they hoped would come out of this summit. an historic summit between presidents joe biden and xi jinping marking a new chapter in u.s.-china relations. the leaders meeting in person for the first time in a year at a sprawling estate south of san francisco. the summit aimed at deescalating tensions between the two countries. >> it's paramount that you and i understand each other clearly leader to leader, with no misconceptions or miscommunication. >> translator: for two large countries like china and the united states, turning a back on each othe

let's start with mj lee. good morning to you. you also asked the crucial question of the president yesterday in all of this. but they sat down person to person. did they accomplish enough? >>. >> reporter: since the two presidents last met a year ago, tensions had really flared between the two countries on issues like taiwan, the chinese surveillance balloon, prompting beijing to cut off military communications with the u.s. and restoring that had been one of the few deliverables that u.s. officials said they hoped to get out of last night's tsummit. an historic summit between president biden and xi jinping, marking a new chapter in u.s.-china relations. the leaders meeting in person for the first time in a year at a sprawling estate south of san francisco. the high-stakes summit a aimed at deescalating tensions between the two countries. >> it is paramount that you and i understand each other clearly, leader to leader, with no misconceptions or miscommunication. >> two large countries turning their back on each other is not an o

cnn's mj lee is at the white house for us tonight. mj, what is the latest you're hearing about the negotiations? >> john, we are sensing a new level of optimism that an agreement may be near, and may even be days away from being announced. of course, the big caveat here is that we have been covering these negotiations for week now, and we have heard various other points that a deal may be close to being announced. but, reporting from myself and our colleague, alex marquardt, is that according to a draft of potential agreement, what would happen is that hamas would release 50 hostages in exchange for israel pausing the fighting for 4 to 5 days. now, between the parties we are told are beginning to close. though, there have been deliberations, ongoing deliberations about how exactly such a deal might be implemented, and some questions about the humanitarian aid that hamas has been demanding from the beginning by the hundreds of truckloads. this is something that's continuing to be deliberated, we are told. now, we have seen, and the whit

>> mj lee at the white house. thank you very much. with me tonight, michael orrin, ambassador to the united states. the deal they're discussing, the parameters seem to be a four or five-day pause in the fighting for the release of hostages. >> you don't have an agreement with hamas and even if you have an agreement, you don't have an agroemt. they don't negotiate in in good faith. they'll say, we want another ceasefire. they've broken every ceasefire in the past. they've never kept a ceasefire. it's very difficult to negotiate with someone who's moving that football constantly. these are a bunch of -- these are violent thugs. and meanwhile you're going to get bodies showing up, like these two women who were executed, according tour friends at "scientist." they were executed. they didn't die in caput tift. they were shot. my sources tell me hamas won't release women who have been raped raped. . a great number have been raped. you're going to have the equivalent of a mafia, sending a poos of a kidnapped person back in order to ramp up a

cnn's mj lee joins us now from the white house. first, give us some background about how the deal itself came together and what the president's role was. >> reporter: yeah, we know that there were weeks and weeks of pain staking negotiations that ultimately got us to this point. what we have learned is that shortly after october 7th, there was a top secret channel of communication that was established, including just a small number of white house, israeli and qatar officials to essentially negotiate with hamas about the hostage situation. of course, what we saw last months was the release of those two american citizen women from gaza, and when that was successful isly executed, it essentially signalled to u.s. officials that they had a bit of a blueprint in place to effectively negotiate with hamas over these hostages as slow going that communication was at times, but there were many, many challenges that u.s. officials and the israeli counterparts and qatar officials confront ed whe trying to negotiate with hamas. we learned that

mj lee at the white house, thank you all for this. we are watching so closely to see what does happen here and whether or not this temporary truce that has been in place for several days now is now about to come to an end. the youngest hostage taken we know has become a symbol of the cruelty of this entire ongoing ordeal. the world has been waiting for the release. tonight, hamas is claiming without any evidence, i should note, that he has been killed along with his 4-year-old brother and their mother who were taken hostage on october 7th. we are learning more from israel tonight on how they are assessing that claim. we will speak to a member of the bibas family right after thihis. >>> perhaps one of the most glaring parts of today's list of hostages who are released is who was not on that list. the youtyoungest hostage. hamas is claiming, without providing evidence, that he and his 4-year-old brother and their mother were killed in an israeli air strike. it's a claim that israel says it is assessing. there's no word on their father w

officials and israeli officials very much hope to see released. >> mj lee, thank you very much. of the nine americans held hostage released. 49 years old, a youth educator in israel and gives tours of the holocaust remembrance site there. mother of three has been released. her husband aviv is still in the hands of hamas, so that is some good news, although eight americans and countless others, dozens of others, innocent people kidnapped by the terrorist group hamas remain kidnapped in gaza. we'll be right back. >>> all there is, the podcast from cnn's anderson cooper cover a subject that impacts us all but isn't always easy to talk about. that subject is groef. in the first season, anderson explored his personal journey of grief after the death of his mother in 2019, as well as the grief he experienced after his father's death and the loss of his brother to suicide at a young age. in the second season of his podcast, which is out now, anderson continues this journey with his listeners. to learn how we can all try to live with grief. he spoke with several different guests, includ

let's go now to mj lee in california traveling along with this critical trip. mj, give us more details about this highly anticipated meeting. >> reporter: what was pretty remarkable there as the two leaders sat down to head into their series of bilateral meetings was hearing the two leaders really speak in agreement, at least in concept, about this notion of the two countries needing to avoid unnecessary conflict. you heard the president's comments there. he also said he doesn't want misconceptions or miscommunication. and president xi very much echoing that sentiment. he said, conflict and confrontation between the two countries has unbearable consequences. this is more of what president xi had to say. >> translator: one country's success is an opportunity for the other. it is an objective fact that china and the united states are different in history, culture, social system, and development path. however, as long as they respect each other, co-exist in peace and pursue cooperation, they will be fully capable of rising above differences and find the right way f

difficult. >> our senior white house correspondent, mj lee, is joining us now. today was biden's birthday but it also comes amid falling poll numbers for the president. how is the white house responding? >> president biden turns 81 today. the white house says the real celebration will take place in nantucket this week with family. but you're right. his birthday coincides with a series of tough polls that have come out about the president, showing that his age remains a real vulnerability for him. questions have been raised about his stamina, health, sharpness, and whether he is too old to effectively serve out a second term. then you asked about the israel hamas war. we saw this new poll that showed his approval rating is falling among younger voters. i raised some of these concerns with the white house press secretary earl yier today. >> what i'll be clear about is we're not going to govern by polls here. we're going to, or poll numbers. we're not going to change the minds of americans. i get that. americans are going to feel how they feel. >> a bit of a surpri

more from mj lee. >> reporter: a big disappointment for the white house that no american hostages were released on monday. the white house had said that three american citizens were believed to be among the initial 50 women and children hostages to be lereleased during a four y truce period. abigail edan was one of them, released on sunday. and two additional american women, but day four of the truce coming and going without those two women being released. we can't say anything at this point about the condition of those women, their whereabouts or if and when they may end up being released, but this is a part of the big reason why the white house has been pushing for this truce to be extended beyond those initial four days. the longer the truce obviously means that more hostages can hopefully get out. and what we're told is that seen your white house officials on monday made a whole bunch of phone calls to the qatari prime minister to work to getting the truce extended. bill burns we're told was involved and also jake sullivan keeping the president apprised the entire time. so we are a

mj lee, cnn, white house. >>> in the occupied west bank, they say confrontations have been escalating there. they've been escalating for years. frequent israeli incursions have caused palestinian lives according to the palestinian ministry of health. cnn's ben wedeman takes us inside one of the flash points, the refugee camp and a warning, the images in his report are graphic. >>> >> reporter: israeli forces with bulldozers and jeeps and turn the camp under the cover of darkness, this has become a routine. and this is the usual aftermath of, wreckage and rubble asphalt roads plowed down to the ground. once the damage is repaired, there's another raid, and it is the same thing. all over again. for almost two years alone density war has been raging in the occupied west bank, residents here in jenin refugee camp say that there have been more than 30 israeli military incursions since august of this year. the camp is home to militants who israel has accused of involvement of attacks on israelis, but here those whom israelis call terrorists are seen as fighters against a decades-long milita

let's go now to mj lee who asked that question.ell us about what has happened after this remark which keep in mind, he made, biden, he may be speaking the truth, but in the world of diplomacy, you have to be very careful about how you speak the truth. >> reporter: yeah. that's a really good point, and chinese officials were not pleased about that comment in particular, the chinese foreign ministry saying overnight that these comments were extremely erroneous and irresponsible, but as you say, these were unplanned, off the cuff comments that the president made at the time end of a lengthy press conference. you could see that secretary of state antony blinken perhaps for a moment seemed fidgety and a little uncomfortable, but what i can tell you is that the white house today is not at all dwelling on that moment. they are very much trying to focus on what they say was real progress that was made yesterday after that four-hour summit between president biden and president xi where they said that they were able to accomplish what they s

mj lee, skcnn, the white house. >>> an american pediatrician was among those able to leave through the rafah crossing after 26 days. she was on a relief mission to treat children when she became stranded after the war broke out. erin burnett spoke to her husband. >> she was put on a list, my sister-in-law who is palestinian read on the rafah facebook page that my wife and ramona was 15th and 16th on the ngo list to be evacuated. so they got up early and went to the border. they said that it was -- indirectly again, they say it was fairly orderly, people calling out people's names and they would come up. there was some fighting. i'm not sure what they were fighting about. she said that she saw only two fist fights. but then once she got to the palestinian border crossing, she was there for like four or five hours in passport control. and that is when i was starting to get discouraged because she texted me that and i was like what is going to happen now. but i think conjecture is that they were removing the injured and maybe letting the ambulances through. so once she started to go throu

mj lee, cnn, the white house. >>> it is the u.n.'s annual climate change summit, documents are the host country, the uae, may be planning to use its role as host at the cop 28 climate talks to strike new oil and gas deals. documents published by the center for climate reporting appear to be briefing notes for soldin elder, bahrullah reside over the u.n. event which begins on thursday. among the documents is suggestions to offer oil and gas projects with a state owned abu dhabi oil company which is headed by, yep, algebra are. the cop 2018 spokesperson says the documents are inaccurate, when not used in meetings. still to come, cnn marks its third annual called earth day. we'll take you live to schools in beijing, hong kong, as well as seoul where students are raising awareness and taking action to o try to prorotect thr enenvironment.t. >> today is cnn's third annual called earth day to raise awareness with environmental issues and to promote conservation education across the globe. this year's theme is our share at home, focusing ou

mj lee, cnn, the white house. >>> still to come, u.s. officials say negotiators are nearing a deal to secure the release of some of the hamas -- the hostages that that hamas is holding. >>> and as top officials in the u.s. and germany make critical stops in kyiv, ukraine says russia missile strikes have killed two people in donetsk overnight. we'll have details. (car engine revs) (engine accelerating) (texting clicks) (tires squeal) (glass shattering) (loose gravel clanking) >>> welcome back. if you are just joining us, let me bring you up-to-date with our top stories. a federal appeals panel appears inclined to restore the limited gag order in former president trump's federal election subversion case. a three judge panel is hearing the case on an expedited schedule and are expected to issue a ruling soon. but the exact timing is unclear. family members of some of the hostages being held by hamas are pushing the israeli government to do more to bring their loved ones back. and there were intense exchanges when they met with benjamin neta

. >> so cnn reporter mj lee asked president biden about xi being a dictator, that is the key word here. take a look at what president biden had to say in response. >> mr. president, after today would you still refer to president xi as a dictator, a term you used earlier? >> well, look, he is. >> chinese foreign ministry called the comments extremely erow e called the comments extremely ero erroneous and irresponsible political maneuver. how is it viewed? >> i think that chinese spokesperson is extremely erroneous. article one of the chinese constitution says, and i quote, the peoples republic of china is a socialist country. and xi jinping is president of the republic so he is a dictator. so the constitution enshrines him as dictator. so they shouldn't be thin skinned about that. >> but clearly they are peeved about it. >> well, of course. china, i mean -- many of the chinese announcements coded the word. china say the world is big enough for two countries to co-exist. and so basically don't bother what we do. what china defines as domestic affairs could also mean china's work in taiwa

cnn's mj lee is at the white house with details. >> reporter: a senior u.s. official tells cnn that the parties involved in the ongoing negotiations to try to secure the release of the hostages being held by hamas in gaza are working towards a deal that would entail a days long sustained pause in fighting, in exchange for a large group of hostages being freed. i'm told that if a deal were to be struck, the hostages would leave gaza over the course of multiple days in stages with the first priority being given to the most vulnerable populations, including, of course, children and women, but in a sign of how delicate and how challenging these negotiations are, this senior u.s. official saying that a deal has been close before but there's no certainty at all. i'm also told that many, many details still would need to be worked out and that even in the best-case scenario, that deal would still be at least days away. israel, of course, has been unrelenting in its gaza offensive, and israeli officials have made clear in recent days that they believe an aggressive of

mj lee, cnn, the white house. >>> a group of former hostages from thailand back home after surviving seven weeks as captives. >> and they landed a little over an hour ago at an airport in bangkok. hamas has released 23 thai citizens who were taken hostage on october 7, most are believed to be migrant workers who went to israel in search of a better life but they ended up being caught up in the conflict between israel and hamas. have a kmanisha tank has been following this story for us. i understand this release was negotiated separately from the exchange that we've been seeing between hamas and israel. do we understand how it came about? >> reporter: we don't have the details on it yet, but one of the countries that thailand has been very grateful to has been qatar for its role in its role of helping with this second agreement that you speak of. i'm sure more details will come out in time, but obviously the thai government is celebrating to some extent. the prime minister has been speaking at a press conference. i'm actually getting the reports second by second coming in from bangkok

cnn's white house correspondent mj lee is at the white house and, mj, the other question here for thehite house certainly has been whether or not americans are going to be included on this list because the white house believed there were three total who could be released as a part of this initial group of 50 hostages released so, far only one, abigail edan has been on that list. >> reporter: that's right. three total americans, we were always told, were expected to be among the first 50 women and children that are released and, yeah, yesterday we saw the release of abigail edan, the 4-year-old israeli-american citizen and so now the question is what happens to the two american women that we have been talking about. kaitlan, given that today is the last day of that four-day truce agreed upon by israel and hamas, presumably what we should see happen is have those two women, american women, be a part of that list, the hostage list that is supposed to be released today, but as you were just laying out, what we are told at this moment in time is that all of the parties are still sort of fu

>> mj lee at the white house for us. thank you very much. >>> i want to go back to nic robertson in sderot, israel. how has the situation on the ground changed since the u.s. secretary of state's visit? >> reporter: it's deteriorated significantly since secretary blinken's visit several weeks ago. there was a sense in the air when he was here that a ground offensive on gaza could be avoided, that there might be an off-ramp in the situation. the united states was giving that absolutely strong and clear and loud support for israel, saying that it had every right to strike back. privately, though, urging caution. now, these urges of caution to avoid civilian casualties, because the casualties now in gaza, more than 9,000 civilians dead, according to the hamas-led palestinian ministry of health there, more than 22,000 civilians injured in gaza, they say. this, now, is changing the narrative from the white house, so when secretary blinken arrives here in just a few hours' time, perhaps we're going to hear a more public messag

let's go to mj lee who was at the aipac. lots around this. what can we be hearing from president biden shortly? >> reporter: well, pam and brianna, now that the xi summit is behind us, the president is really focused today on this apec summit takes place any time now. we should hear him making remarks to a group of ceos, and the white house says there should be new announcements made about investments that the united states is making in some of these apec countries. this coming on the heels of the biden/xi summit is in contrast, really, because it really represents the ongoing efforts the biden administration has been making over the years to really try to nurture and strengthen these alliances that they have with a number of asian and indo-pacific nations. and u.s. officials have said they're doing everything to try to contain china and remain competitive with beijing. at the same time we are seeing this huge effort to try to ease tensions between u.s. and china, we are also seeing on this parallel track the biden administration continuing t

mj lee, great questions there.o during this press conference, there were questions about what is happening in gaza tonight. the al-shifa hospital, the idf forces entered it last night. they released new video that, they say, shows weapons, ammunition, and a radio that was the largest hospital in gaza. it was not this evidence of the extensive tunnel system and underneath the al-shifa hospital. the israel defense forces talking about hamas, using this hospital as its headquarters. it was 3d animation that they're used throwing here, showing these tunnels. it was this intelligence now, and colonel leighton, when you see these questions and what is underneath this hospital, is it what israel said it is? we know from a senior adviser to prime minister netanyahu, and from the days, and weeks to come. can they show the difference for today though? >> there might be several reasons for that. there is still efforts trump of the hamas fighters on their, and with pockets of resistance. what is one possible scenario. there wa

mj lee is at the summit location for us. david culver is in san francisco. he reported from china for three years, including at the height of the pandemic. also evan oz knows, former israeli ambassador to the united states, michael orrin, and dana bash. mj, what's the white house saying about how the summit went? >> well, you know, anderson, as we wait for president biden to come out any moment now for this solo press conference, i think it is abundantly clear that when he comes out, he is going to herald this summit as having been a success. it is clear that he is going to point to a few of the deliverables that the administration had laid out, leading into the summit, namely the re-establishment of the military-to-military communications between the two countries. and then this significant announcement on cracking down on fentanyl. i think in the bigger picture, the president is likely to say that he has achieved, sort of, the overarching goal of hitting a reset on u.s./china relations. both leaders, when we heard them speaking at the top of the summit, ma

mj lee is there. just set the scene for us. >> reporter: yeah, you know, u.s. was just transported from san francisco to woodside, california, just south of the city. which was a location undisclosed to even members of the press corps under a few minutes ago, for a variety of security reasons. you're right, months and months of planning have gone into what we'll see today. in a few moments, we'll see the official meet and greet. really a series of meeting between the delegations, and that rare solo press conference from president biden. now, u.s. officials, we are told, encountered a remarkable amount of anxiety and attention to exactly how president xi would be treated during his brief visit to the united states. every piece of choreography, we are told, was something that the chinese officials were very attuned to, from where the chinese leader would sit, what he would see out the window at any given moment. while this is not at all unusual for any foreign trip for a chinese leader to be this closely cite niced, we were told that u.s. officials this level of

we're going to go right now to mj lee at the white house. mj, you were part of the reporting team to break this news. what are you hearing about the details of this extended truce? >> yeah, the extension of this four-day truce by two additional days has just been announced. and actually, a white house official is now confirming as well that the truce is being extended by an additional two days. dana, just keep in mind the original parameters of the original deal, it was a four-day pause in fighting for the release of 50 women and children hostages in exchange for palestinian prisoners, being released by the israelis as well as humanitarian aid flowing into gaza. the understanding, though, was always that there could be an extension of this four-day truce if hamas was able to release additional hostages. ten hostages would buy hamas an additional one day in pause in fighting, but also israeli and u.s. officials had always believed too that there were more than 50 women and children hostages. as many as potentially about several dozen more host

mj lee is in san francisco. obviously, the crisis at america's southern border is going to be key. >> reporter: that's right. president biden is the last day of a packed summit here. the meeting with the president of mexico and there are going to be a number of issues. some democrats expresed concerns about handling of the issue. it's president biden and the chinese president xi with that major announcement on efforts to crack down on fentanyl. so we expect this to discuss today. >>> president biden is going to take the gloves off. as he ramps up attacks against donald trump and that is according to campaign officials and democratic donors. it's part of a new story from cnn white house correspondent arlette saenz, who joins me now from the white house. >> reporter: president biden has really been sharpening his attacks against former president trump it was tweaking on policy and official speaks like climate change and liabor lieutenanton support. he's speak at these off-camera fundraisers. an adviser said presid

you want to bring in mj lee, frank poyer and margaret tolive. frank, i want to start with you. you have a book out on joe biden in particular, but i know you have done a lot of work on reporting on his family. what do you make of this new op-ed? >> so joe biden's interest in hunter biden's interests are not totally aligned here. they never really have been. hunter biden, in this split screen, set against everything else going on in the world is fighting this battle for his reputation. part of the reason he's not settled his case thus far is that he has his own set of interest. he doesn't want to be prosecuted. he wants to be rehabilitated in the public's eyes. and he is being smeared, but there are other choices he could make along the way that would help his case disappear. his instinct is to fight hard and fight back. >> his instinlt is to fight back, and my understanding is that he has been incredibly frustrated that he's being attacked because he's the son of a president, but because he's the son of a president, he doesn't feel like he can defend himself in a way that he. s

mj lee is standing by. >> we are told that an announcement is on the cusp of being made where hamas wouldse 50 hostages, women and children that they are holding in gaza, and that three palestinian prisoners would be exchanged for every hostage that is released. we are also told during the pause, hamas would stop flying surveillance drones over northern gaza for at least six hours a day. the hostages we are told of various nationalities. usual officials are hope one of the 50 hostages will be 3-year-old abigail adan, the youngest-known hostages whose parents were killed by hamas. officials are hopeful she will be among the hostages released. and if they are successfully able to do so, that pause could be extended for a period of time. now, as we have been reporting, hamas has insisted that hundreds of aid -- trucks of aid will be able to go into gaza. this, of course, has been very contentious, because a big part of what they are looking for is fuel, fuel which is used for its military operations like ventilating underground tunnels, so we will have to see, when and if the deal is announc

mj lee is at the white house. i want to start with you.t was pretty remarkable moment from the president of the united states to lean that far into where he thinks that this negotiation is right now. >> yeah, that's right. you heard the president saying that we are very close to a deal and that echoes what sources have been telling cnn all morning. that the u.s., israel and hamas are on the cusp of announcing this deal and it could come as early as today. i was in the room when the president made those remarks. i did try to ask him at the end how many americans he believes maybe among the 50 hostages. he said i'll have plenty of time to talk, but declining to go into any of the details. and i'll let him speak to the contours of the potential deal, but at least for the biden administration, this has been an you are priority trying to get the hostages out because they believe there are at least a handful of american citizens in the mix in gaza being held by hamas. and now what u.s. officials are saying is that they are hopeful that 3-year-ol

straight to mj lee at the white house. why are some more upbeat about this deal this time? >> reporter: we have covered these negotiations for weeks now and we were told in the past at different points that a deal had been close, but we are sensing a different level of optimism now that an agreement may be within reach and possibly coming within days. sources tell me and my colleagues that according to a recent draft language of a potential deal, it would have hamas releasing some 50 hostages in exchange for a four to five-day pause in fighting. the gaps between the parties have begun to close, we are told, though there be furious deliberations about how actually the deal would be implemented and also on the question of aid. humanitarian aid that will be going in to gaza. the white house, of course, has been working around the clock on this issue, it has said. we've seen brent mcgurk the white house middle east negotiator crisscrossing the states and information about the american haumps in gaza incredibly ditfficult to ascertain. take a listen. >> potential american hostag

. >>> let's go to the white house where mj lee is going to give us her latest information about the administration'sh to extend this truce. what are you hearing? >> reporter: we already gathered that the negotiations to get another day of an extension in the pause had been very messy and had come down to the wire. we are now learning more ab the list of hostages to be released today. the proposal that the israeli government accepted yesterday, we are told by sources, includes eight new women and children to be released today. and then together with two iz are really russian hostages that were released yesterday would make in total the ten hostages that would be released today or counted towards the ten that would be released today. this is all pretty unusual given that the deal specifically says that every day of the truce, ten new hostages would have to be released. so we're seeing some moving around of numbers here. we are also learning that yesterday during the negotiations that were incredibly tense, hamas had made a number of other proposals that were just unacceptable to the israeli government

>> reporter: so my colleague, alex marquardt and mj lee are reporting they are closing in on a deal here. that would be essentially for a four hto five-day pause in the fighting in order to release a first round of about 50 hostages. now, what actually happens here and whether this deal actually comes together is another question. there have been a number of false starts in the past when it comes it these hostage negotiations. they are extremely delicate. there are a number of different parties involved, including the qataris, the united states, and of course hamas. that makes it extremely complicated. another sticking point here that we're told is that the dynamics of actually getting fuel, getting aid into the civilians in gaza during that four to five-day pause, that is a key sticking point in terms of the logistics. how is that aid going to get in? so there are a number of key points here that are still yet to be worked out. but all of the parties involved, including the united states, including the qataris, they seem to be very optimistic that there is a chance for a large number, s

mj lee, cnn, the white house. >> they still have no motive in the shooting of three palestinian college students but hate crime charges are possible. all three were taken to hospital according to one source the alleged shooter has been charged with attempted murder and and help. isabelle details now from jason carroll from cnn. >> i believe the families fear that this was motivated by hate, these young men were targeted because they were arabs. >> one of the victims uncles sharing a families fear about what they say could've been a motive for the shooting in vermont and saturday. >> hard to imagine in this time with everything that is happening that it was just a random act. >> the three victims, he sham are a tony, touching elliott mud and l and meet our palestinian. all our 20 year old college students in the u.s.. lifelong friends visiting one man's family in burlington on holiday break. the three were out for a walk saturday night shortly before 6:30. two were winning palestinian scarves when they say a man suddenly stepped off a porch, walked toward them and opened fire. >> they we

we will get over to the white house, and mj lee is looking at the details. what is the sense this morning? >> kate, what the sources are telling us this morning is that israel, the u.s. and hamas are on the cusp of reaching a deal, and that deal could be announced as early as today. hamas would release 50 women and children hostages in exchange for four to five days of pause in fighting, and also in exchange for three palestinian prisoners that israel is holding for exchange for every one hostage. in the pause, israel would stop flying the surveillance drones over northern gaza for six hours a day, and what we are told about the identity of the hostages is that they are a various nationalities, and u.s. officials are hoping that one of the hostages that is released in initial tranche is 3-year-old abigail adan who is the youngest known american hostage and her parents were killed by hamas, and there is hope that she is one of the initial 50 released if this deal were to come to fruition. among the other hostages, the thought is that the hamas would use this

. >> cnn's mj lee is in san francisco and mark stuart is joining us from beijing. and m.j., what is president biden hoping to accomplish here and do we have any hints yet about how things are going floor this third hour of their meeting so far? >> reporter: well, according to president biden himself, one of the goals is simply to change the relationship for the better. jake, u.s.-china relations had hit such a rock bottom that when the two leaders met a year ago on the side lines of the g20 summit, the goal was to establish a floor in that relationship. now heading into this summit today, u.s. officials are saying that what they want is to re-es re-establish diplomacy and open up the lines of communication that they say are so important between two superpowers like the u.s. and china. and particularly focusing on that military to military communication that china had recently severed. when the two leaders met each other and greeted each other here, they did acknowledge that things had been rocky at times. take a listen. >> translator: china u.s. relationship has ne

let's go to mj lee in washington, who has some breaking news about the american hostages. >> yeah, u.s. official tells me that american citizens are not expected to be among the first group of hostages, the 13 that are released today. the official tells me they are still hopeful that americans will be among the first 50 that are released in the coming days. we have said all along that there's been no expectation, no sort of set schedule, certainly nothing to indicate when exact ly the three american hostages will be released in that four-day truce period, but certainly, you can imagine the urgency here as far as the u.s. government is concerned about the two women and then of course, 4-year-old alabigail a don. the fact that the three women and abigail have been held in who knows what kinds of conditions for weeks now in gaza, the president has made clear in recent weeks just what a high priority it is for them to get the americans in the mix out of gaza, but again, the news that we are breaking right now is that according to a u.s. official, american citizens are not expected to be am

i want to get straight to mj lee, who is in san francisco with the president waiting for him at least. what did the president say? and put this intoen context along with other reporting this you and other colleagues have. >> reporter: yeah, you heard from president biden, who is making his way now here to san francisco for his summit with xi jinping, expressing a sense of optimism that a deal could be reached to get the hostages out of gaza. this was echoed in part by a u.s. senior official that i was speaking with earlier, who said that israel and hamas are moving closer to a deal to secure the release of these hostages, but the official, it's important to note, cautioned that it's closer, but it's not done. essentially saying closer does not mean they are necessarily close. in terms of the broad parameter of the deal, we're talking about a large group of hostages being released out of gaza in exchange for a number of palestinian prisoners that they are holding. there would presumably be a sustained pause in fighting that i'm told could last as long as five days, but a lot of the det

>> mj lee at the white house for us, thank you very much. also tonight the israeli military is on heightened alert at its northern border amid escalating rocket attacks from inside lebanon. the leader of hezbollah warning that that front could explode into a wider war as he speaks out in praise of the hamas attacks on israel. cnn's ben wedemen is joining us inside lebanon right now. he's inside the beirut capital. this is the first time we've heard from the leader since the war began. update our viewers. >> reporter: yeah, he hasn't said a word, wolf, since the 7th of october, and much anticipation and speculation has been going on about why. but finally this afternoon about 3:00 p.m. local time he finally emerged on the air waves across the middle east. they turned out in the thousands to hear their leader, the secretary-general speaking out for the first time since the start of the war between israel and hamas. all options, he warned, are open and we can exercise them at any moment. already hezbollah and israel are engaged in a deadly exch

but afterwards, cnn's mj lee asked biden if she still thinks xi is a dictator. >>> look, here's a guyt runs a country that ask in the country. >> china called that answer, quote, an irresponsible political maneuver. lulu, after their summit, president xi, at a big dinner, said that china's ready to be a partner and a friend of the united states. basically said even the president's talk about a competitor was too harsh. are you reassured? >> no. you'd be surprised to hear. i think xi was trying to play good cop globally, trying to show that somehow the united states is the aggressor in his relationship. i think it is very important at the moment, that the two superpowers talk, i think it was a good meeting. i'm glad to see that the rhetoric has changed, but i think the substance hasn't. i think china at the moment is in a very precarious situation, economically, and i think it remains to be seen if they're going to try and use this moment to either, you know, draw closer to the united states or cause trouble in the south china seas. >> reihan, i think with all of the biggest media flas

but president biden made the biggest splash when is asked by mj lee whether he still considers xi a dictator. >> mr. president, after today, would you still refer to president xi as a dictator? >> he is. he's a dictator in the sense that he's the guy who runs a cou country. >> my colleague mj is here now to talk about not just that moment after the press conference, but the other sort of notable moments that we heard from the president last night. >> reporter: we did get a fiery response from the chinese foreign ministry to that dictator comment. they said it was extremely erroneous and irresponsible, but the white house has noes interest in dwelling on those comments. they are really pointing to what they say was real progress that was made yesterday at the summit, where they were able to sort of take the heat out a little bit from the tensions between the two countries. they were touting some of the few deliverables that they were able to announce yesterday, including chiefly that military to military communication being reestablished between the two countries. that announcement on crackin

i want to bring in alex marquardt and mj lee. these are issues that the white house has been grappling with from the very beginning of this. first behind the scenes and now increasingly in front of the cameras trying to get the israeli os to take more measures to reduce civilian loss of life. this is something that brinken brought up with benjamin netanyahu earlier today. >> the biden administration would like to see this release of hostages continue as long as possible, but they know that this phase, as the israelis are calling it, will soon be over and they will start back up again. the biden administration has been very loudly saying in public and behind the scenes they want to see a different military campaign from the israelis. the expectation is that israel is going to move into southern gaza, where so many of the hundreds of thousands, almost 2 million of the displaced are this extraordinary level of destruction in northern gaza. all these thousands of civilian deaths so laying out this imperative for humanitarian civilian

mj lee is live for us this morning at the white house with some of that new reporting. mj, walk us through a little bit more what you have learned the last 24 hours about how the deal came together. >> you know, all day yesterday we were talking about abigail, the 3-year-old american citizen toddler and the hope that she could be among the first 50 hostages that are released. but now u.s. officials say that they know of at least two other american citizens, two women. so the hope now is that there could be three american citizens that are in the mix of the women and children that are first released in this first phase of the process. but as you say, there are ten miles per hours that are unaccounted for right now. and what is not clear is could there be for example adult men in the mix who wouldn't be counted in that first phase and how would the u.s. government try to get them out. and what they have said is that they believe that this deal is in in-cent advised in such a way on so that hamas would have incentive to continue releasing more hostages. obviously this is a

officials told our colleague mj lee that they were able to track in real time the movement of abigail edan as she moved through the gaza strip, presumably in hamas custody, and then got handed over to the red cross. so clearly american officials, american intelligence keeping a very close eye on those hostages. >> reporter: yeah. and we had asked officials how do they have this level of ability to track them because that was a concern as part of this agreement, was no flying of drones over gaza, which israel and the u.s. had been doing to pick up their tension. clearly they do still have a way to keep an eye on these hostages. the question, of course, is how they're able to do that in this period where there is no fighting in gaza if hamas is, indeed, moving around the hostages it's holding. so we are continuing to speak with officials about that and report that out. i want to bring in the editor in chief of the jerusalem post, who is here with us now. as we're talking about approaching day four of this temporary truce and what this looks like, we know the war cabinet has been discuss

. >> we want to go to mj lee at the white house.ou have been doing some remarkable reporting on the contours of this deal, including just in the past couple of hours what we're hearing from inside the administration as they are waiting for this deal to be finalized, hoping, of course, that that happens. >> yeah, keep in mind there's no playbook for how everything would unfold once a deal is agreed upon. there's no precedent for how everything would unfold, but the white house has laid out some of the broad strokes of how they be believe things would unfold once the hostages are released. first and foremost, there would need to be safe passages that are established so that people can physically get out safely. you can see how a pause in the fighting would have everything to do with that. and then the hostages would need to get medical attention. that goes without saying that we cannot imagine the conditions that these people have been under for many weeks now. we don't know about the status updates, the status of their health updates

. >>> and for more on the white house reaction, mj lee is joining us live. what more are we hearing from the white house? >> reporter: the white house says the deal is still on even though final logistical details are still being figured out. spokesperson saying that we are hopeful that the implementation will begin friday morning. what a senior u.s. official tells me is that more time was needed to iron out details like leaks location of the hostages and also moving those hostages. and i'm told that the u.s. consulted and agreed with the decision to delay the release by at least a day. with regards to the idea that hamas has yet to produce a list of the first ten or so hostages to be released on day one, i'm told that that is not a serious issue as of right now. but that it would be more worrisome if wasn't a list produced by tonight. >> and you have new reporting this morning on the working list of hostages, what the white house believes is going to happen the first round of ten. >> reporter: yeah, i'm told the u.s. has a working list of sorts for the host

. >> mj lee rolling out great reporting almost hourly over the course of the last several days from the white house north lawn, thank you. >>> george santos' time in congress could be running out. he's set to respond to the looming expulsion vote, as house speaker mike johnson explains why he's so hesitant to kick santos out. >>> more tributes overnight for henry kissinger, how they're remembering the diplomat. >>> really set the standard for everyone who followed in this job. few people were better students at history, even fewer people did more to shape history than he henry kissinger. >> secretary of state antony blinken this morning honoring one of the most influential diplomats in american history. former secretary of state henry kissinger who died at the age of 100. his influence can be felt in policy from vietnam to the middle east to china. he helped orchestrate richard nixon's visit in 1972. kissinger last visited china in july. cnn's richard roth has a look back at his controversial legacy. >> i know all of you will want to hear from the new secretary of state. >> henry kissin

but afterwards, cnn's mj lee asked biden if he still thinks xi is a dictator. >> well, look, he is, i mean he is a dictator in the sense that he is a guy who runs a country that is country that is a form of government different than ours. >> china called it an irresponsible political maneuver. >> lulu, after their summit, president xi at a big dinner saying that china is ready to be a partner and a friend of the united states. basically said even the president's talk about a competitor was too harsh. are you reassured? >> no. you would be surprised to hear. i think xi was trying to play good cop, globally, trying to show that somehow the united states is the aggressor in this relationship. i think it is very important at the moment that the two super powers talk. i think it was a good meeting. i'm glad to see that the rhetoric has changed. but i think the substance hasn't. i think china at the moment is in a very precarious situation economically, and i think it remains to be seen if they're going to try and use this moment to either, you know, draw closer to the united states, or cau

mj lee joins us live. good morning to you. so the president's fingers are crossed.ryone is hoping. the administration feeling confident. >> you said cautiously optimistic. i do think the emphasis right now is probably more on cautiously. it has been such a difficult process to even get to this point. but what we can tell you is there are three americans expected to be in the initial group of 50 women and children that will be released in the next 4 days or so. what we don't know is any of those americans will end upcoming out on day one. will be among the 13 hostages that are first released. among the three americans are two women and abigail. her two siblings saw the murder of their parents. all three of them have been orphaned. and today abigail turns 4. as of last night, her family tells cnn that they have yet to hear from either the israeli or american government. >> the u.s. has been fairly communicative with the families of the israeli hostages. do we know more about the contact from the administration with the families of the hostages, if and when their names

mj lee, i want to bring you in from the white house. benjamin netanyahu credited president biden with improving this deal in his remarks before the cabinet meeting. tell us about that. >> well, pam, as you know, president biden and prime minister netanyahu have had many, many conversations since october 7th, and that's not including the trip that president biden made to israel to show his support to the people of israel and in every single one of those conversation, basically, we are told the issue of securing the release of these hostages has come up, and it was very interesting, the comments that the prime minister made when he was speaking to his cabinet. he said in part, quote, in the last few days i talked with our friend, the president of the united states, joe biden, i asked for his intervention in order to prove the outline that is presented to you and it was, indeed, improved so that it would include more hostages and less prices, these talks bore fruit. president biden got involved, and i thank him for that. netanyahu basicall