Welcome to Meet the Press Now. I'm Kristen Welker reporting in Washington where the impasse inside the house has hit yet another roadblock with Republicans unable to agree on even a temporary short-term plan to get the chamber up and running. We'll head to the Hill for the very latest in a moment. But first, President Biden is preparing to deliver a prime-time Oval Office address this evening to appeal directly to the American people to support Israel and Ukraine.
It comes amid a desperate humanitarian crisis inside Gaza. And as Israeli forces prepare for a potential ground invasion with the Israeli Defense Minister telling troops today, they would soon see Gaza quote from the inside. President Biden's remarks, just the second Oval Office address of his presidency, followed his return from Israel where he reaffirmed U.S. support and brokered an agreement to allow desperately needed humanitarian aid into southern Gaza from Egypt.
This morning, the White House Deputy National Security Advisor John Finer said aid could begin to reach civilians soon. We believe those trucks will get into Gaza over the course of the next day or so. The president has also been quite clear, though, that if we see that aid being misappropriated, being taken essentially by Hamas for its own purposes, that will affect the continued distribution of assistance. And so he sent a strong message that this aid needs to get to the Palestinian people in Gaza, to civilians in Gaza, that this is not some sort of support program for fighters, and we will see how that unfolds.
Meanwhile, the UN says more than a million Gazans have been displaced with no way out of the territory. And Israeli airstrikes in Gaza continue targeting Hamas. This NBC footage shows the aftermath of an apparent airstrike in Gaza City yesterday with first responders searching through the rubble. This is some of what the situation is like on the ground from video.
Audio diary shared with NBC News in recent days. I keep thinking that I'm in the nightmare and I'm going to wake up from it. But honestly, it's taking so long. I thought it would stop sooner.
I don't understand anymore. My brain can't take it. My heart can't take it because I would like to help, but I don't know how. And I don't understand why.
So this strike was about 200 metres from where we are. That area over there is a very busy market. A very busy market. We just picked up food from there half an hour ago.
So just to emphasise how Israeli bombs are falling on densely packed civilian areas and its women, children, people. People think life is going on in can units and in Gaza probably. Life is going on. And it's probably, you can't bomb here without killing civilians.
Well, it'd be the questions of getting into Gaza. Still no answer to the question of how many people will be able to get out. The US officials tells NBC more than 350 US citizens stuck in Gaza have asked the State Department for help leaving. The State Department announced today the number of Americans who've been killed has risen to 32 with 11 Americans still unaccounted for.
Joining me now is Raf Sanchez and Israel and Ali Rafa is at the White House. Rafa, let's start with you. President Biden announced 20 trucks of aid would be moving from Egypt to Gaza. The White House says it could come as early as Friday.
What is needed to get the crossing open? And how much optimism is there that this is actually going to happen, Raf? Well, Kristin, you heard the White House there calling for patience saying, they're hopeful that the crossing is going to open tomorrow. Egyptian state media is reporting the same, which hasn't happened before.
As you know, Kristin, we have been through this scene before where there's been American optimism about getting the Rafa crossing open only for that optimism to crash headlong into the realities on the ground. This is a fiendishly complicated security picture. You have Hamas on one side of the border, Israel carrying out airstrikes in the area. On the other side is Sinai, where Egypt has been struggling against its own jihadist groups.
It does seem at this moment, like both the Egyptian and the American and the Israeli governments, are aligned on getting the crossing opening tomorrow, but it is such a fluid situation inside of Gaza that I think for those people desperate for the aid to come in or desperate themselves to get out, they're only going to believe it when they see that crossing actually open. Yeah, for good reason, Raf, that's certainly understandable. And I guess the question is, we're talking about these 20 trucks getting in, but more aid will certainly be needed, right? I mean, is there any discussions, what plans, if any, exist to try to get more aid beyond these 20 trucks?
Yeah, absolutely. 20 trucks is a drop in the ocean here. The UN is estimating Gaza needs the equivalent of 100 trucks every single day. So 20 trucks would be a start, but it would be a small start.
The hope is to come up with some kind of mechanism here that is sustainable, that means that every day aid can be going from Egypt into Gaza. But with the security situation in flux, it really is going to be a case likely of taking it day by day. The Israelis have said they are agreeing to what they're calling a humanitarian area in the south of Gaza, where that aid can be safely delivered to, where they are committing, that there won't be any airstrikes. And you heard the White House say that they are determined that this aid will go only to Palestinian civilians, not to Hamas fighters.
The reality is it's going to be very, very difficult to make sure that happens once the aid crosses over. And if the Israelis see on any kind of large scale that this aid is going to Hamas, that they feel it is helping Hamas's war effort, you can bet they are going to withdraw their consent for that crossing to be opened. That's going to be the massive challenge in all of this, right? Making sure it doesn't go to Hamas.
Hamas, we are, of course, anticipating, and we've been talking about the possibility of this Israeli ground offensive. Roth, what's the latest there? Are all signs still pointing to an invasion? All signs still pointing to an invasion, Kristen.
The Israeli Defense Minister was a couple miles south of us here. Meeting Israeli troops, as you said, he told them right now you're looking at Gaza pretty soon. You are going to be inside Gaza. It is turned into something of a diplomatic guessing game, when exactly the Israelis might go in.
The conventional wisdom has been there, unlikely to launch the ground offensive while there is a Western leader in town. So we, of course, had President Biden here yesterday. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was here earlier today. He flew from here to Saudi Arabia to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who's a major, major player in all of this.
We were expecting the French President, Emmanuel Macron, to be here at some point in the coming days. But it may be, Kristen, that the Israelis surprised us, and they launched the ground offensive, even when one of these European leaders is in town. Well, and speaking of which, of course, President Biden just returned from that trip to Israel, as you said, and we are anticipating hearing from him tonight. What does the Israeli government want to hear from President Biden off?
So they were very reassured by his comments here yesterday. He spoke emotionally, as the President is known to do, when he's faced with human grief up close, and there is a lot of grief in this country right now. But he also spoke very practically that he's going to ask the Congress for more money for aid for Israel, especially to replenish those Iron Dome missile interceptors, which have been defending the skies against Palestinian rockets in just the last few minutes. There have been four more rockets aimed at the Tel Aviv area that's according to the Israeli military.
I think one thing the Israelis would like to know is one of the details of this aid package. And I think they have the same question that a lot of people where you are in DC have, which is how is this package going to get through a House of Representatives that does not have a speaker? So the President, unlikely to have a great answer to that tonight, given the chaos you've been reporting on in the House, but that's one of the questions that they have here. Roth, it's one of the questions that we all have.
You're absolutely right, and it is going to be a central focus throughout this hour. Really appreciate your joining us. We appreciate your continued extraordinary reporting from the region. Roth, please continue to stay safe.
Thank you so much for joining us. Ali, I want to turn to you. I know you've been reporting on this throughout the day. What are you expecting to hear from President Biden tonight?
What are you watching for? Yeah, Kristen. Well, I think the big test to come before President Biden today is just going to see whether the diplomatic accomplishments that he has been able to achieve since October 7th, since Hamas's attack on Israel, whether that can translate into support among the American public to continue supporting Israel through this Israel-Hamas War, but also Ukraine, as it's war with Russia, rages on. And that's going to be a very tall order when you consider what we've seen over the last few days, this outrage and anger frustration growing not just in the Middle East, but also among people here at home in the United States.
And White House officials say that the President thinks that this is extremely important to be able to issue this direct appeal directly to the American people, that they say will remind the American people what's at stake, how these two wars, frankly, going on half a world away still impact Americans here at home. And they say that that's going to be a major part and a major focus of the President's address tonight, Kristen. Well, we'll be watching very closely. Ali, we know that, of course, the President has been talking about the fact that he was able to secure this deal to open up the Rafa Gate temporarily, which, as Roth was just talking about, we are watching and waiting for to see if that happens.
But what does the White House think that the President accomplished during his trip in addition to that? What do they see as the other deliverables with his meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu? Yeah, Kristen. Well, the White House sees a couple of things that were accomplished during this trip, not just that agreement with Egyptian President Sisi to use the Rafa border crossing to bring that aid in, but they see that agreement as sort of a foundation, a groundwork to be able to eventually, when this Rafa border crossing does open, be able to get Palestinian Americans out.
As we know that more than 350 of the Palestinian Americans, roughly 500 to 600 that live in Gaza, have already contacted the State Department to try to get out, and you juxtapose that with what the State Department is seeing Americans trying to get out of Israel, and the situation in Gaza is much more desperate. They see that as a foundation to be able to work more with the Egyptian President to be able to get to those people out, Kristen. Yeah, it is a major test for this President. All right, Ali Rafa, thank you so much.
We really appreciate it. And we've got some great news to tell you about right now out of the Pentagon. While the administration grapples with the ongoing Israel-Homans War, the Pentagon is now seeing an uptick in drone attacks against U.S. forces in the Middle East region.
Just a moment ago, the Pentagon confirming the U.S. Carney, a guy to destroy your operating in the Red Sea, shot down missiles and drones launched by Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen. This follows multiple drone attacks targeting U.S. forces in Syria and Iraq.
Joining me now is Courtney Cubie, who was in that briefing at the Pentagon. So, Courtney, what more are we learning about these attacks? So, yeah, there's really been this uptick, as you said, Kristen, in attacks on U.S. forces installations where U.S.
forces are based in Iraq and Syria. But I'll start with the Carney, because that one is, it's a pretty remarkable incident. According to Breeder General Pat Rader, we just heard from the briefing, it's actually still ongoing. What we know so far is the Carney was in the northern Red Sea, so just south of the Suez Canal, when three land attack cruise missiles and upwards of a dozen drones all started flying near and over the ship.
The ship shot them all down. Now, it doesn't appear at this point that the missiles or the drones were actually targeting the ship, but the fact that they were flying over and nearby is a threat to the U.S. This ship, many of these can be guided while they're in flight, especially the drones, so they could be flying over and brought down to attack the ship. Again, at this point, there's still is no indication that they were actually targeting the ship.
And in fact, General Reider said they were potentially going towards Israel. The U.S. using their inheritance of self-defense to shoot those projectiles down. On land, yesterday, we heard about attacks at Alisad, two drones that went in over the base, trying to attack it.
One was shot down. The second one, as it was shot down, it broke into pieces and struck a hanger, where U.S. forces were sheltering in place. Several U.S.
military forces received minor injuries, including lacerations. Another drone attacked a U.S. base in northern Iraq. It was shot down with no injuries or casualties involved.
But then we just learned about two more drones that targeted at Tom Garrison in southern Syria. One was shot down. The second wasn't. It actually struck the base leading to some injuries among U.S.
forces there. Now, I mean, all of this combined is a large increase in the number of these sorts of incidents than what we have been hearing over the last several months. We've been asking the question, is it directly tied to what's happening in Israel and Gaza? The U.S.
doesn't have any direct ties at this point. But at the timing, sir, sure seems like it could be some kind of a connection, Kristin. Mm-hmm. Courtney Kubie on this breaking news and these breaking developments.
We know you'll continue to stay on top of it. Courtney, thank you for rushing to the camera for us. We really appreciate it. Thanks.
Coming up, tensions flare behind closed doors as House Republicans scramble to find a way to get Congress back to work, potentially without a speaker. How will they do it? Well, we're live on the Hill with the latest NACs. Plus, we've got interviews with one of the key holdouts on the Republicans' side, along with a member of Democratic leadership on what comes next for both sides amid the impasse.
That's next. You're watching me the press now. Welcome back. Turning to Capitol Hill, the House of Representatives is still without a speaker, as Republican infighting and dysfunction entered a new level today.
Faced with no path to the majority, Republican Speaker nominee Jim Jordan this morning threw his support behind temporarily empowering Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry in order to revive some basic functions of the House. McHenry told NBC News, though, that he is still focused on electing Jordan. That's my goal. That's my goal.
That's my goal. That's my goal. That's my goal. That's my goal.
That's my goal. That's my goal. That's my goal. That's my goal.
That's my goal. Well, by the afternoon, that gambit fell flat with several Republicans coming out of their closed door meeting telling us that it lacked support within the conference. Later on, Jordan acknowledged McHenry and the empowerment plan failed and told reporters that he is still running for speaker and trying to get holdouts on board ahead of a potential third ballot that could happen, could happen as soon as today. I'll just say this.
We made the pitch to members on the resolution as a way to lower the temperature and get back to work. We decided that wasn't where we're going to go. I'm still running for speaker and I plan to go to the floor and get the votes and win this race. I want to go talk with a few of my colleagues, particularly.
I want to talk with the 20 individuals who voted against me so that we can move forward and begin to work for the mayor. NBC's Garrett Hake has the very latest on the fast moving developments on Capitol Hill. Garrett, you guys are getting a workout on the Hill. It's safe to say that.
Look, things appear to be basically in the same place as they were 24 hours ago. What's the very latest from your vantage point? Well, same place are worse. I mean, the challenge here for Republicans is every time they think they've hit rock bottom or they can't be more divided against one another and themselves.
They find a way to make it worse. And that's really what happened in this conference meeting today. A lot of angry members making accusations against one another. And now folks are back in their corners.
And as we speak right now, Jim Jordan is meeting with at least some of those holdouts also with Kevin McCarthy and Patrick McHenry, who are trying to help him with votes back in his direction. Look, to McHenry's credit, he's been very consistent that he doesn't want anything to do with this job. He said as much today on camera, he's been saying as much when he talks at all about any of this. And they're trying to see if there's any path forward for Jordan because McHenry's momentum is basically toast.
I mean, listen to what some of the sort of base members of the Republican Party were telling us after that idea was shot down in conference today. What is that? Our Republican voters work very hard to give us our majority. And this conference is broken because Republicans work with Democrats and put us here.
We're handing our majority over back over to the Democrats by going along with the power sharing agreement. It's absurd. It's going to take Democrats to make it happen. And that's a historic betrayal to our Republican voters if we go along with it.
It's a big mistake. So Chris and Jordan has left open the possibility that there'll be another vote perhaps as early as today. But another vote that simply loses him more Republican support. I don't understand how that helps.
And I think people have to understand it's not as if there is some secret plan that nobody's telling us up here on Capitol Hill. No Republican leader or back venture. Nobody in the Republican conference knows how they're going to get out of this just yet. And they're all kind of staring at each other looking for ideas.
And Garrett, on top of all of this, we understand that at the Republican conference, things got a little heated that McCarthy may have shouted at Matt Gates who of course led the effort to oust him. What did you hear about that? Yeah, look, I mean, there's clearly no low of loss between these two. Our understanding of this incident was that McCarthy was speaking.
Gates got up to speak. McCarthy yelled at him to sit down. Nobody disputes that. Look, it's not surprising.
And Gates is definitely getting some blowback in this moment because the more dysfunctional this all gets. The more that the anger in the rest of the Republican conference is resurfaced at him for being the one to bring forward this motion to vacate that then was joined by seven other members and the rest of the rest of the, and all Democrats that to oust McCarthy. So, you know, if he's the sort of spark that got him into this mess every now and then, members are reminded of that as they sit in that windowless basement conference room meeting box lunches and sort of fretting over the fact that this is what their jobs as members of the United States House of Representatives has been reduced to. Well, a lot of pressure on them to resolve this.
Undoubtedly, that's adding to the tensions. Thank you so much, Garrett. Hey, great reporting. As always, joining me now on set is Colorado Republican Congressman Ken Buck.
Thank you so much for being here. So as Garrett just reported, Jim Jordan is huddled meeting with some holdouts on Capitol Hill. You, of course, are one of those holdouts. You're not there.
You're here. Is that a sign that your vote is not getable? I am not going to change my vote on Jim Jordan. I'm happy to meet with him.
I'm happy to meet with Patrick McHenry, Kevin McCarthy, anybody that wants to meet and talk. I think the best move is for Jim to withdraw at this point. I think he may need another vote to be convinced that he's not going to get there, which is fine. He was the nominee.
The conference should give him that respect. But I think at some point, we need to move on and find the 217 votes for a plan. And just to be clear, will you attend that meeting? Let's assume it's still ongoing once this conversation finishes.
Will you go and listen to what he has to say? Oh, absolutely. He's meeting with folks individually. So I just kind of move my time slot along.
So I could meet with him, but I absolutely will go and meet. Yeah. Let's talk big picture here. Garrett, make this point that I thought was interesting.
He said that the momentum for McHenry is essentially toast. Is that how you see it? Do you think that McHenry is not going to be the speaker pro tem because just to reset the table here, there had been this plan, I guess, see at this point, right, to give him more powers, but you all would need to vote to do that. Is that something you would support or do you think that effort's done?
Well, I agree that it can't happen as a bipartisan effort. We have to have 217 votes before we leave conference for one candidate or for Patrick McHenry as a temporary candidate. I think it would be politically unwise to try to go back to a base and say, give us the votes, give us the money, give us the resources to win elections after we had to use the Democrats to make the House floor functional. So I think there will be that realization when Jim Jordan decides to step away.
And would you just put a fine point on it? Would you support McHenry if you could get 217 Republican votes? You would give him a vote for expanded authority, essentially. Well, I would give him a vote to be the Speaker of the House for a temporary time period.
And I would during that time period work very hard with my Republican colleagues to try to find the 217 votes and make sure that we have a permanent speaker for the rest of this Congress. But you're not going to do it with Democratic support has to be Republican funding that path. I believe that's right. I think that's a general feeling in the conference.
Let's talk about what happened at that meeting today because apparently there was some reporting that McCarthy shouted at Matt Gaetz to sit down. Were you in that meeting? What did you witness? I was there for three and a half hours, Kristen.
Who was painful? Yeah. Kevin McCarthy went to the microphone several times. And as the sort of person who was last speaker was granted the ability to speak as often and as long as he wanted to.
Matt Gaetz got up and wanted to make a point. Kevin told him to sit down. At that point, a temper started flaring a little bit. It was no more than a minute and a half of a three and a half hour meeting.
But there was some tempers clearly. And I think after that point in time, people back down again. Part of the reason that there's temper right now is this constant barrage of phone calls. We have I have six full time people answering the phones.
I have 20,000 messages from people where we couldn't. So far, I've had four death threats. I've been evicted from my office in Colorado. I haven't noticed of an eviction because a landlord is mad with my voting record on the speaker issue.
And everybody in the conference is getting this. So it's natural. Family members have been approached and threatened. All kinds of things are going on.
There's going to be some tension. Four death threats, Congressman, because you're not supporting Jim Jordan. That's right. And of course- If I can't accept that, absolutely clear.
This is not Jim Jordan Ball. I'm not suggesting all of the news. And he has been very clear about that. There are a lot of TV pundits.
There are a lot of radio pundits. There are a lot of grassroots groups that are putting out misinformation and hateful information. And it just stirs people up. And there are a lot of people that are scared about the direction of this country.
And they're taking this hard. Given that, you're not the only Congressman, as you say, to receive these threatening texts and phone calls and emails. What does that say about the state right now of the House of Representatives? I mean, some people are looking at this from the outside and saying, it feels broken right now, Congressman.
Do you feel that way? Politics is downstream from the reality that we have in this country. And we have a country that is very divided at this point. What we need to do in Congress is to make sure we don't throw so gasoline on that fire.
We need to make sure that we are talking in ways that soothe the tensions and not inflame the tensions. Given where you are right now, given that it has been so many days without a speaker of the House, do you regret voting to House Speaker McCarthy? I don't. I regret the fact that we didn't solve this problem during the first 15 votes.
That it took a lot of promises to a lot of different groups to get to the Speaker vote in January. That's what I regret. I think if we had had more consensus at the beginning, we wouldn't have gotten into this point. I voted the way I did because I think that the spending in this country is an existential threat.
I made my point. Now we need to move on, get a speaker and govern. You have signaled you would support Congressman Emmer for Speaker of the House. And yet he's someone who supported the CR that Speaker McCarthy signed off on.
So would he have done anything differently? I don't know if he would have. I think what he would have done differently is to have an initial conversation where we didn't have four or five different numbers floating around the conference as promises. This is what we're going to spend.
I think that's what Tom would do differently. But I support Kevin Hearn. I support a lot of people for this position. Do you know very quickly who that next person up will be if it doesn't go to Jim Jordan?
And let's say hypothetically, McHenry does become Speaker for the next Speaker Pro Tem for the next 30 days. Who would be that next person up at bat? I think what you're going to see is four or five people run. But I also think that Scalise was an automatic.
And Jordan was an automatic. Now you're going to see the conference actually have discussions about qualities and move forward. Congressman, I have to ask you this because I've spoken to so many Republicans in the House, in the Senate, outside of Congress, who say they are really worried that this is going to cost Republicans your majority in the House, your hard fought majority. How much does that concern you?
Do you think you're giving up your majority day by day? I think the majority was in jeopardy long before this. And I think it will be in jeopardy based on the presidential races and who the candidate is at the top of the ballot. So I don't think that people are going to look at this and say I voted against a Republican because of what happened to your 13, 14 months ago.
Well, let me put it another way. Do you think Republicans can hold on to your majority in the house in the wake of this? What's the argument to show that Republicans can govern? Well, I absolutely think I can.
The key, the critical piece is do we pass appropriations bills? Do we do what we need to do to secure the world? Do we do things that make sense and show a contrast with the other party? Congressman Buck, thank you for joining us on what is a very busy day for you.
We appreciate it. Great to see you. Thank you. And joining me now is South Carolina Democratic Congressman, House Democratic leader Jim Clyburn.
Congressman Clyburn, thank you so much for joining me again. I know this is a busy day, perhaps not as busy for Democrats, but look as I was just talking about with Congressman Buck. It appears as though the plan to empower McHenry to make him Speaker Pro Tem is falling apart. What are Democrats doing right now with anything?
Because I know there were some preliminary discussions going on potentially about a bipartisan deal. What are Democrats doing to try to get the house back open? First of all, thank you very much for having me. We are really at the critical point in the relationships that we have here on Capitol Hill.
Our leader, our King Jefferson, is making the plane for several days now. The Democrats are all about keeping our focus on the people of this country. And I'll do this responsibility to them. And he has been saying for some time now that a bipartisan path forward is a very good way to go, especially on an interim basis or a temporary basis, while the Republicans work out their differences.
And hopefully, at some point, in the not too distant future, be ready to have a permanent speaker. He's offered a democratic support for such a situation that they seem now to be throwing cold water on. So I don't know where we're going from here. I just hope that we remember what our responsibilities are to the American people, to the security of this country and to this ability of American families.
Well, I guess a two-part follow-up question to that. On the one hand, Patrick McHenry is saying he actually hasn't talked to leader Jeffries yet about empowering him as Speaker. Do you even though you're at this standstill, this roadblock? Do you want to see that conversation start?
Oh, I think that the leader Jeffries wants to see it start. I've been watching and listening to him up into our meetings. He's been very clear that he sees as our responsibility to see common ground. And the best way to do that, in my opinion, is for us to get a broad mass, critical mass of both sides, Democrats and Republicans to come together to elect someone to get us to where the untill such times as Republicans can get their act together.
I just think that will calm the waters, that will cool things down. And I think it would say to the American people that all of us are interested in putting aside partisanship in order to focus on their futures and on our country's security. Congressman, as you just heard Congressman Bucks say to me, he doesn't want a bipartisan solution. They want to be able to do this with Republican only support.
So what are you saying to your Republican friends and colleagues to try to break that log jam? As you are saying, okay, you would be open to a bipartisan solution. It seems like there are a number of Republicans based on reporting who don't think that's the right path forward. They feel like that would be a betrayal to their voters.
Well, you know, I've been around here for quite a while now. And this will be called a has to rule. I'm not too sure that that rule deserves credibility that my Republican friends are given that any more than has to service as a speaker maintained credibility. Just because of the name of it.
And let's really think about what we need to do on an interim basis until we all today can get their act together. Look, we are all Americans. We are all great offenders of this democracy, I would hope. But it seems to me that there are some on that side of how they seem not to want to defend.
There's the maps that not want to continue our trek toward a more perfect union. It's what this country's been going through since it's founded. We know that history of the country and we know what we've been through as an American people. And what we need to do in order to seek that more perfect union.
And that is yet beyond our comfort zones. I know it may be very comfortable for them to do things if they got everybody in their caucus or green on it. But sometimes, you know, to get things done. Each side must get beyond its comfort zone.
Big things happen in this country. When people do that, when they accommodate each other. It happens in families. You know, I talk to people all the time.
No family can succeed with one person being the one to always get his or her way. And that's the same thing with the Congress. We have to learn to compromise. And I can't think of a better way to compromise than for us to put together a critical mass of members on both sides of their aisle.
And get us to be young where we are today. That's what the American people like to see us do. Congressman, I want to ask you about one other issue. Some tweets by your fellow members of Congress.
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. They have tweets up saying that Israel is to blame for the hospital blast in Gaza. Those tweets have not yet been removed despite US intelligence and assessment, which shows it was a rocket misfire from a militant Palestinian group in the region. Do you think your Democratic colleagues should delete those tweets?
And should they apologize? I'm going to give it all up to them. I do not pass judgment and those sort of things. I stand with the President of the United States.
Joe Biden made it very clear that he was there in Israel. He has seen all of the videos and the other pictures of what may or may not have happened. And he came to the conclusion that this was an error on the part of a third party to this conflict. And I am going to stand squarely with the President of the United States.
We should have one voice when it comes to our foreign policy. The President has laid out what that position is for the country, and I support him 100%. So given that, was it appropriate for your two colleagues to tweet out something that runs counter to what the President said and the US intelligence congressmen? You implied that those tweets went out before the investigations were made.
And if they did go out before the investigations were made, I understand that because there are people who thought that it had Trump from that source. The investigations have been made and they indicate that the amount of them decide will not do to each other. I'm going to do a lot of tweeting, especially when it comes to issues involving national security and our relationships with our allies around the world. All right, Congressman Jim Clyburn.
Thank you so much for joining us in a critical moment for the House of Representatives. We really appreciate it. Thank you very much for having me. Coming up next, wartime politics, 24 Republican rivals are picking sides and picking fights as the crisis in the Middle East takes center stage on the campaign trail.
The panel is next. You're watching The Press Now. Welcome back. As President Biden prepares to speak in prime time tonight, a new poll from Grinnell College has his approval rating at just 38%, similar to full numbers from CNBC and Quinnipiac earlier this week.
As the White House looks to bolster the president's political standing at home, he's expected to push for action tonight as he prepares to seek congressional approval of a massive aid package for Israel and Ukraine. But the White House will be unable to pass anything while the House is paralyzed without a speaker. The House has now been in the state of legislative limbo for 15 days. I'm joined by my panel, Julian Manchester, national political reporter at the Hill, fascicure, senior advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders.
And former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, Charlie Dent, thanks so much to all of you for being here, really appreciate it. Julia, let's start with President Biden, his approval ratings. He's been very outspoken, obviously, just traveled to Israel. Before the trip, though, we had approval ratings from him showing that he's still struggling.
He's still struggling to gain traction, despite speaking out forcefully on the day of 38% approved, 53% disapproved. However, this is a big moment for him. It's a very big moment. And I think it's one of his strongest moments.
I mean, you're hearing from his usual critics, David Friedman, the former ambassador to Israel, under Trump praising him for his response. He's getting a lot of praise. I can say from conservatives, Israel, not as much here. But it is a big moment.
This is very much his bread and butter foreign policy. Of course, chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He has these relationships like in Israel and in the Arab world. And I think whenever there is a moment in a country when Americans feel that they are under attack, they rally around the commander-in-chief.
We saw it during 9-11. And I think we could see it with President Biden, but things are just still partisan right now. I don't know if it's translating. Well, it is a big test.
And, Charlie, I mean, we're going to hear from President Biden tonight. People are going to be listening very closely to what he says he will undoubtedly talk about this deal that he's secured while he was in Israel to get some aid in. We anticipate that happening hopefully at tomorrow, at some point. What are you going to be watching for?
Well, I want to see how the President lays out this whole situation in terms of not just Israel, but Ukraine, Taiwan. We have so many threats that we need to deal with right now. And of course, Congress is paralyzed. The House is paralyzed at the moment.
And so how is the President going to talk about this issue in the context of what's going on Capitol Hill? I think this is a big problem. Even though I think most Republicans have probably agreed with the President on his approach to Israel thus far. There will be some critics, but by and large are in the same place.
But how is the President going to address this function? That's what he's going to be listening for. What are you watching for? To me, one of the harder political questions he's trying to deal with the President is that while we embolden and we rightly stand with Israel to take on Hamas.
We have, based on the record, a concern of Benjamin Netanyahu as a Prime Minister. Is he going to overreach, overreact? Two things that are against humanitarian concerns. And the track record, as you know, between Biden and Netanyahu, is one where Biden has expressed that concern.
Yes. And I think he's lost a little bit of the voice now, right? Because he's had to hug, rightly so. Hugger, Israeli Prime Minister is taking on terrorism.
Yet, I know harbors those concerns about don't know overreaching. And you started to see that come out a little bit of just Biden expressing don't overreach here. And I think that finding that voice and calibrating it accordingly tonight is critical. It will be fascinating to see how he walks that line and we understand in private conversations administration officials, the President himself has been very firm on that point, that it's critical to follow international auditors are saying, Julie, you know, Charlie makes the point that this is all going on against the backdrop of this complete dysfunction that we are seeing in the House of Representatives.
They still don't have a speaker of the House. And yet they're getting this request for $100 billion in aid. I mean, do you have any sense of how this ends? How long could this actually drag out?
You would think that, you know, in the wake of a war in the Middle East and a looming government shutdown, that there would be some sort of last-stitch effort to, you know, put aside any grievances and such and just get it through, get someone through. But we heard rumblings earlier today that Patrick McHenry could potentially get those expanded powers. That's not happening. So it's really unclear where we go from now.
And I think that's the scariest part because now we are seeing the real impacts of what it means to not have a speaker of the House. Yeah. What is your takeaway, Charlie? Is he watched this all unfold?
And you heard Ken Bucks say he's gotten threatening text messages and phone calls because he didn't throw his support behind Jim Jordan. Well, the threats have been made against those who have opposed Jim Jordan have not gone well with the members who have threatened. In fact, I think many of them are immovable objects right now. And, you know, I don't know how they get to 217 votes for a Republican candidate with Republican votes.
I still say that they're going to, at some point, have to establish some kind of bipartisan coalition with the government sharing option there that they're going to have to negotiate with the Democrats. Similar to what the Senate did last session when it was 50-50. Each side had equal representation on committees, Democrat controlled chairs. Maybe you can work something similar.
You have to negotiate that. But that's going to be painful too. But they're going to have to start talking about it because there just aren't votes for one candidate. You have a theory for what's at the root of this.
I mean, what are we watching here unfold? Well, what happened is, I'm certain that Republican caucus is our conference, you have a small minority that wants to dictate policy outcomes. In this case, they want to dictate the speaker. Jordan lost his police.
But by electing Jordan, they would be rewarding bad behavior. We've seen this before on so many issues. You're craning. They don't want you craning.
Even though a strong majority in the House wants you craning. They're trying to undermine the will of the majority. That's why we have votes in Congress to determine policy. It's notable because there are some divisions right now amongst Democrats as they watch this unfold as they talk about the situation in Israel.
John Federman, I want to put this up, posted yesterday. It's truly disturbing that members of Congress, and I was just talking about this, of course, with Congressman Clyburn, rush to blame Israel for the hospital tragedy in Gaza. Who would take the word of a group that just massacred innocent Israeli civilians over your key ally? Politically, what do you think this moment means for Democrats?
It's a, you want to navigate your values and you appreciate people who are coming to this. This is an intractable conflict. This is 1948. So you're going to obviously have a lot of passionate feelings about each perspective.
And as Democrats, I think we have a broader tent that has all of those perspectives, which is healthy and then can be unhealthy at times. But I think it's to say that ultimately there is some common ground here. This is why I was saying about that. I think for many people, there's a concern.
We easily understand Hamas craze radical inhumane. Yeah. Now it's not there, but if he engages in actions that are, are you able and willing to say that there's a concern too? I think that's where a medium ground is because there's a lot of people who are concerned that you would only have the criticism of Palestinians.
Is there going to be an appropriate voice of saying if Israel overreacts or does something that's inhumane? Would we as America with its power and its might be able to say something about that? And we're watching divisions in the Republican Party too. I want to play a little bit of what Ron DeSantis had to say and get everyone's reaction on the other side.
He's sending $100 million to the Gaza Strip. For quote humanitarian assistance, the problem with that is Hamas runs the Gaza Strip. That is going to be commandeered by Hamas. And oh, by the way, Hamas is still holding people hostage.
They're still holding Americans hostage. I would not send that money. And I've actually challenged all the other Republican presidential candidates. I step up to the plate and join me in saying don't send money to Hamas.
Charlie, is that good politics to be criticizing $100 million in humanitarian aid? No, quickly, I would say that Republicans are not right now have to deal with their non-interventionist isolationist swing. They're in a spot. I put DeSantis around the Swami Trump in that area.
They don't want the best to get involved. Well, now they're going to have to help Israel. They know that. Same thing on Ukraine and Taiwan.
So this is a real moment for them. It's a good moment for Nikki Haley, probably in Mike Pence. You're just hearing and listening to anti-Arab animus. You can sense and you can feel it.
It's not about policy. It's just that there are some brown skinned people. They aren't like me. I don't like them.
Don't fund them. You're like, okay, I get that's an ideological perspective. It's being aired. You're seeing it.
Well, it's interesting to see Ron DeSantis coming after Nikki Haley this week. Someone who arguably has one of the most wide foreign policy resumes in the field. He's coming after her for being too liberal on refugees. She never said that the US would accept refugees.
But she's also moving up in the polls. So I think that's a reflection of that. She is leading into our foreign policy experience and it is paying off in the polls. That is for sure fantastic conversation.
Thank you so much, Julia Faz and Charlie. Really appreciate it. And still to come inside the urgent and complex mission to get humanitarian aid into Gaza's besieged borders. I will talk to an aid worker about the increasingly dire situation on the ground.
That's next to watching with the press now. Welcome back. The UN and the Red Cross are calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza today to address the rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis taking place as the war between Israel and Hamas rages on supplies, including food, water, and fuel remaining dangerously short supply all across Gaza. Meanwhile, aid workers and truckers are gathered on the Egypt side of the Rafa crossing ready for the gate to open on the Gaza side.
After the US, Egypt and Israel indicated they had come to an agreement to get some humanitarian assistance into the region. I'm joined here in Washington by Scott Paul, Associate Director of Peace and Security for Oxfam. Thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate it.
Thank you for having me on. Well, as we've been reporting on President Biden's struck this deal yesterday to open the Rafa gate to get some aid in. We anticipate we hope that happens at some point tomorrow. But do you expect that to actually happen?
What's your level of optimism that they're actually going to be able to get that aid in and get it to the right people? Well, technically speaking, three groups need to turn a key. You need the Egyptians, the Israelis, and the authorities in Gaza, Hamas. But let's also put this in perspective here.
We're talking about about about 20 trucks that would go through the gate and be distributed, truck loads distributed amongst the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza. Before this escalation of the conflict, hundreds of trucks would go through that gate just for humanitarian assistance. And then you have to talk about what kind of circumstances that assistance is going to be delivered in. I have 33 Palestinian colleagues in Gaza.
Normally they be running relief operations. Now they're running for our lives. It is not safe to deliver or receive assistance with bombs falling and without a clear sense of where is safe and where is unsafe. So optimistic that the assistance will come in, not feeling very good about the impact that will have once it arrives.
How much assistance is actually needed? Because our reporter Russ Sanchez was saying earlier today that 20 truck loads, while it's welcome, is really a drop compared to how much is needed. He said that about 100 trucks per day are needed. Is that your assessment too?
Yeah, even more than that. It's a drop in all of the oceans. And again, that's assuming that it can be safely distributed and people can safely receive it. So this point, there's been no assurances that there's any place within the Gaza Strip that's safe from bombardment.
And remember also, people within Gaza, the 2.3 million civilians living in Gaza, are working without telecommunications, without clear information about what's happened recently, except for very, very little word of mouth. Fuel has been interrupted. So there's very little way to get around the Gaza Strip. It's chaos.
And people are afraid and unsure what to do to stay safe. What can you tell us about the situation on the ground inside Gaza? And how many aid workers do you actually have there right now? So we have about 33 colleagues working in the Gaza Strip.
A number of them have lost their homes, many of them have lost close family members. It's been a very difficult time for them. On TV, what you see is you see bombs. But I think that's difficult.
It's hard to portray the scale of devastation that's taking place. From bombardment, you've got entire residential neighborhoods wiped out and key water and sanitation infrastructure. But let's also remember that the government of Israel imposed what they called a complete siege on the Gaza Strip, which means no food, no fuel, no electricity, and no water. And so without fuel and electricity, you can't pump safe water for drinking.
You can't transport solid waste. Hospitals can't function. Right now you have surgeries taking place without anesthetics. Waste water is not being treated, and so it's going straight out into the sea.
And it's a massive public health risk. And again, no one knows where to go for safety. And of course, we are all bracing and watching for this potential ground invasion by Israel. We only have a few seconds left.
But what are your concerns if and when that happens? The people of Israel have suffered a horrific attack. And I know everyone there is afraid. And unfortunately, there's simply no way to guarantee the safety of Israelis or Palestinians.
But we know that a ground invasion like that and for going in immediate ceasefire will cause additional untold construction devastation for Palestinians in Gaza. Scott Paul, thank you so much. Our thoughts are with your workers. And thank you for being with us this hour.
Be sure to tune in for special coverage of the President's Primetime Oval Office address tonight. That's 8 p.m. Eastern right here on NBC News Now. The news continues with Hallie Jackson right now.
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