Meet the Press NOW — October 24

Welcome to Meet the Press Now, I'm Gabe Gutierrez reporting in Washington where the White House is ramping up its criticism of UN members and others in the international community, asking them to point blank at the UN today where is the outrage and the revulsion over Hamas' attacks against Israel. We'll get to the very latest in the Israel-Moss War, including new developments tied to the humanitarian and hostage crises inside Gaza in just a moment. But we start this hour with a grim question facing our government here at home as new developments today on Capitol Hill further escalate concerns of a prolonged state of legislative paralysis. Right now, House Republicans are meeting as Congressman Tom Emmer, the third nominee to the speaker in recent days is scrambling to find the votes to become Speaker, but he faces incredibly long odds.

After 26 House Republicans signaled their opposition to Congressman Emmer's Speaker bit, according to the Republicans on the Hill, just five would be enough to derail his candidacy entirely. That was before former President Donald Trump went in with a scathing statement this afternoon against Emmer on social media, calling him a rhino and questioning his loyalty. As former Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters today, his conference is in a very, very bad place. We've been three weeks without a speaker.

We let eight people work with every single Democrat to put his in here to go directly against what our conference will say, that if you do a motion to vacate, you have to have 50% of the conference. And so now we're in a situation where we move the speaker, remove the majority of the speaker, remove Jim Jordan from the speaker, every single person that's won. And now that we've just gone through a battle with elections of nine people, one won, and now when we have a roll call vote, you're going to get to 17. So here we are three weeks into a crisis of leadership in the House raising concerns that this Republican majority has rendered Congress ungovernable, paralyzed in a time of intense domestic and international turmoil.

Emmer's senior Capitol Hill correspondent Garrett Hake has the latest and Garrett does time ever have a path to 2017. I suppose you could say he has a path, but it's increasingly narrow. I mean, I think he was in a very difficult position when that vote was first tabulated with 26 members against him, several of those, pretty significant hard-nosed. I think about somebody like Jim Banks with whom Emmer has some longstanding bad blood, Marjorie Taylor Greene, it sounds like a hard-no, a handful of others.

And then that Trump statement really kind of slammed the door shut on him. I think that this opposition comes from the MAGA wing of the House Republican conference by and large. And with Trump kind of digging his heels in, it's hard to see for me how many of these members who were even soft opponents of Emmer now flip, given the enormous pressure I think they'll get from the right to stay opposed to him. But if there's anybody who's got the tools and the information to turn members of the conference around, if he regularly should be Emmer, he's the whip.

This is his job to count votes and know what members want, and he's working hard behind closed doors right now. So, Garrett, when are we going to see a vote on the floor? That's a great question. Emmer has indicated that he doesn't want to go to the floor unless and until he thinks he has the vote.

So we might see more of like the Steve Silly situation here in which Emmer tries to work the members of the conference that opposed him behind the scenes for some period of time. And if he can't move them, bow out without going to the floor, I think a lot of Republicans prefer that to the drama and frankly the embarrassment of coming to the floor again and again on national television and being unable to elect a speaker. If that is his fate, look, I think if he calls the vote, we should watch very closely because I don't think he's going to do it as a tactic. I think he's going to do it if he thinks he's there.

So to that point, I guess, Jim Jordan got three votes on the floor. How long would Emmer go before they try to move to a backup plan? Yeah, look, I mean, I think the sense I have is that it's maybe one or two votes or none, right? I don't think Emmer wants to run the same exercise that Jordan did.

I don't think that appeals to his supporters. I don't think it's part of his strategy. I think for him, if he can get close enough to get there, or maybe he misses by one or two, you might see that. The idea of escalating series of no votes doesn't serve him any better than it serves Jim Jordan.

And if he loses, if he's not the speaker, he does still have a position in Republican leadership that he can go back to. It's probably, you could argue, more his political imperative not to expose his own weakness with the floor vote than it was for Jordan, who's not in that exact same situation as a committee chairman, but not somebody in the elected leadership. So at this point, what is the backup plan here? Is any real talk about empowering Speaker McHenry, Speaker Potemic Henry?

I mean, this is the thing I've been trying to explain to people who have been asking me about this for weeks now, unlike so many other things in Washington. I don't think there is no backup plan here. There's nobody in some room who's got some plan. They're just not telling me.

Like, I promise. If there was somebody who knew the answer to that question by now, I would have found him or her. I think there are a couple of possibilities though. I do think there's already some agitating for Mike Johnson, who was the number two in this round to get his go.

Okay. You know, maybe he can pull elements of the conference together. Although I think you'd have the same problems that everybody else does. And there continues to be talk about perhaps trying to empower Patrick McHenry or some other consensus candidate to do more, either if it's McHenry, do more or someone else be Speaker with Democratic votes.

But I gotta tell you, I think things have to get even more ridiculous and worse for House Republicans before they would entertain the possibility of working with Democrats. That is the last solution the vast majority of House Republicans want to see. But look, we're starting week four right now, and there could come a pain point in which that becomes more appealing for the Republican conference. You know, Garrett, we were just looking on the screen of that clock.

You know, 20 days, one in 23 hours without a speaker, I can sense the frustration in your voice. And thank you so much. Keep up the fantastic work out there. You and the Hill team.

We'll bring you back with any developments throughout the hour. And we'll have more on the speaker's race and the consequences of this political stalemate coming up. But we turn now to the other major story today. The Israel Hamas war.

And as Hamas is still more than two, holding more than 200 hostages captive, an intention at the United Nations today on how Israel should respond. The Israeli military says 222 hostages remaining Gaza following yesterday's release of two elderly women, the third and fourth hostages Hamas is released. And a Hamas abduction manual released by the IDF yesterday shows hostage taking was a central aim of the October 7 attack. Meanwhile, meaning of the United Nations security council today only heightened international tensions over how Israel should respond to that brutal terror attack.

Take a listen to the UN Secretary-General and then to the Israeli Foreign Minister's response. It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. Their hopes for a political solution to the applied have been vanishing.

The grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people. Every general in what world you live, definitely this is not our world. Saturday October 7 will go down in history as nothing less than a brutal massacre.

Saturday October 7 is a wake-up call for the entire free world. A wake-up call against extremism and terror. And in the strongest words yet, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken made it clear the U.S. who had firmly with Israel and criticized those who have not condemned Hamas's attack.

But we must unequivocally condemn Hamas's barbaric terrorist attack against Israel. Babies riddled with bullets, young people hunted down and gunned down with glee. People, young people beheaded, families burned alive in a final embrace, parents executed in front of their children, children executed in front of their parents, and so many taken hostage from Gaza. We have to ask, indeed it must be asked, where is the outrage?

Where is the revulsion? Where is the rejection? Where is the explicit condemnation of these horrors? Those comments come as the details on the spiderweb of Hamas tunnels in Gaza raised questions of when and how Israel plans to carry out an expected ground offensive.

An Israeli army spokesperson said they're ready to act as they wait for the right operational and political timing, even as the U.S. has advised Israel to delay any ground invasion for both hostage negotiations and to allow time for aid to reach Gaza, which remains in the throes of a dire humanitarian crisis. This afternoon, I asked President Biden if humanitarian aid was getting into Gaza fast enough? As a response, quote, not fast enough.

And joining me now in Israel are embassies, Hala Garani and Josh Letterman. Hala, I want to start with you. What more are we learning about Hamas' planning and strategy leading up to the October 7 terrorist attack? Well, we are learning that there were some clear plans to take hostages as you reported there.

And we saw after the release of the two elderly ladies who were let go and crossed over into Egypt yesterday that they had that intricate network of tunnels through which they led the two women and then separated them into groups. The two women also described how they were abducted from their kaboots and put on the back of a motorcycle. I should say that was the older of the two. Yes, if it glitches the 85-year-old, her daughter, there was translating with her mother sitting by her in a wheelchair.

We are also learning, I have been speaking to a person that is close to the negotiations, that so far there are real hold-ups in terms of getting more people released. There are reports that the next batch of hostages, the hope at least is that the next batch would include more people, but there are disagreements surrounding some key questions. The reports are that those questions revolve around the supply of fuel to the Gaza Strip. So this is where we are now.

We have now two sets of releases of two people, four out of the more than 200. But right now it appears as though any future release based on current negotiations is not going to yield any positive result in at least imminently is what I can report to you, Gabe. And Hala, it was remarkable to see that hostage shocking less than 24 hours after being released. But Hala, I want to ask you, Israel has yet to launch its ground offensive into Gaza.

Are people in Israel frustrated that it hasn't been done yet? Is Netanyahu facing pressure from the far right wing members of his party to launch the offensive? Well, I can tell you that just anecdotally the people I speak with in Israel, I'm in Tel Aviv, so obviously it's not going up and down the country, but where I am, there is immense support for a military operation. Just the latest poll that was published, published conducted a couple of weeks after the October 7th attack, showed that 90% of Israelis are in support of a military operation.

Now there are family members of the hostages who are urging the Israeli leadership to hold off, so that there can be room, some more oxygen perhaps for negotiations to allow for the release of more hostages. But public opinion, though it is against Netanyahu, 80% are very much opposed to how the prime minister is leading the country, and many of them accuse him of having allowed this attack to take place. Pretty much that same percentage of Israelis are in support of military action against Hamas Gabe. Hala Granny, live for us in Tel Aviv.

Hala, thank you. I want to turn out to Josh Letterman. And Josh, turning out to the humanitarian situation in Gaza, what do we know is aid still coming through the Rafa border crossing today? Well, Gabe, over the last three days, we did see humanitarian aid shipments finally moving through the Rafa border crossing from Egypt into Gaza.

And the hope has been that that has created a paradigm where there's a system in place. They know how to do it. There's an agreement between the Egyptians officials in Gaza and importantly Israel about what this looks like. As far as today, we've heard from just the last few minutes from the Palestinian Red Crescent saying that more trucks are moving through the border.

NBC News has not yet been able to independently verify that. But regardless, we're talking about here, somewhere in the neighborhood of eight to 20 trucks a day, a drop in the bucket compared to the need for more than two million people who are besieged in the Gaza Strip. The officials there say it's something like 3% of what used to go into the Gaza Strip before the war and that what has moved into there on a daily basis for the last few days has been wholly insufficient for the scope of the humanitarian crisis there. And Josh, the UN has been calling for a humanitarian ceasefire.

Today, the White House reiterated that it believed that that would only help Hamas. Is that realistic? This idea of a ceasefire? As far as Israel is concerned, no, they say that would simply be unilaterally disarming after this terror attack that killed well over a thousand people in Israel.

Now, of course, the concern has been both whether not having a ceasefire makes it harder to get civilian hostages out of Gaza and also how the maintenance of these airstrikes is making it so hard to get humanitarian aid and is really creating terrible conditions for the civilians, the Palestinian population in Gaza. But I want you to hear how the Israeli Foreign Minister at the UN today responded to these growing calls for a ceasefire watch. How you can agree to a ceasefire with someone who swore to kill and destroy your own existence? How the proportional response to October 7th massacre is a total destruction, a total destruction to the last one of the Hamas.

And I have to tell you, Gabe, Israeli officials are incensed by some comments that UN Secretary General Guterres made at the UN today suggesting that the events of that terror attack need to be viewed in context of what Palestinians have faced over the last many decades. Israeli officials, including the Foreign Ministry, say that is essentially the head of the UN justifying terror against Israel. And they are now calling for him to resign. And the Israeli Foreign Minister canceled a meeting with the UN Secretary General today as well.

Josh Letterman, life resident Israel. Josh, thank you. And coming up, how the political fallout of the Israel Hamas war is shaping up the race and shaking up the race for president in a key swing state. We're live in Michigan ahead.

But first, world leaders sound the alarm over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza as fuel runs low, tensions run high, and aid remains out of reach for many. I'll talk to an aid worker with the International Red Cross. Next, you're watching Meet the Press Now. Welcome back.

As we mentioned earlier, the humanitarian situation on the ground in Gaza remains urgent. Some food, water and medical supplies have crossed the Gaza, Egypt border in recent days, but humanitarian organizations are warning without fuel. Aid won't reach those who need it most. The Red Cross warns low fuel supplies could especially impact hospitals as generators run low.

Joining me now is the permanent observer to the UN for the International Committee of the Red Cross. Leticia Kortua. Leticia, thank you so much for joining me the press now. What you hearing from your team on the ground, how much longer can your team operate before it runs out of resources?

The capacity to operate is extremely limited. The resources are various cars. And as days are gone by, there's even more needs right now. The fuel, the food, the electricity, the water are essential goods that are really lacking for the majority of the population, but also those resources are necessary to maintain services such as hospital running and setting lies.

Today, President Biden said that he didn't think the humanitarian aid into Gaza was getting there fast enough, but he's also said that all the aid to Gaza would end if any of it fell into the hands of some Hamas. So what mechanisms you haven't placed to make sure all of that aid is going only to civilians? We've been working in Gaza for many years now, and we've been making sure that the assistance goes to the area that we have identified as a need, be it just the support of the services that provide water to the civilian population that support hospitals that continue running and treating patients who need to be treated, particularly in the height of their hostilities as we see today happen. What do you want to tell us about exactly how these hostage releases came to be?

So our colleagues in Gaza have been supporting the operation of the release of four hostages in two different operations. We facilitated the exit of hostages, allowing them to return to Israel, and we are ready to do more as soon as the parties agree on the next stage of this operation. We've been calling for their release from the onset. When you talk about the parties, the U.S.

government has been very grateful and public statements to the Qatari government for facilitating some of this. What more insight can you provide to us about that? How instrumental has the Qatari government been in securing the release of these hostages? I don't have many details on this aspect.

I think, however, that the support of actors and states that have an influence and can contribute to the release of those persons should be recognized and supported in the efforts. It is something that everyone wants to see happening, and in particular, the families of those that have gone missing for days and who are without using and extricating pain. So we thank everyone that can continue pushing for those operations to get places. And let's see, has Hamas provided any insight into the conditions of the more than 200 hostages that it still has?

So the ICRC is in contact with both Hamas and Israeli officials trying to also connect with the families of those that are missing. We are trying to not only advocate for their return, but also for their human treatment for them to have the necessary conditions until they are released in a fastest way. You mentioned four hostages released so far, two at a time. Do you expect we'll continue to see this cadence of hostages released from Gaza?

This is not an answer I can give you. This is really what needs to be decided by the parties and I hope the rhythm can increase as fast as possible to allow for this return in the safest conditions. Now Secretary Blanken spoke at the UN today. Are you satisfied with what you heard or does the US and the international community need to be more here?

Well, what I heard today of the security council is first of all, in an enormous call for the respect of international humanitarian law, the laws of war are pickable in such situation and calling for the protection of civilian. This is a message that we've been repeating from the onset of the fighting and this is important that is being said by the members of the security council and obviously the US in particular. Let's teach you a quote. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you. And up next, the view from voters, Arab and Muslim Americans in background, Michigan saying President Biden is at risk of losing their votes as the Israel Hamas war drags on. That reporting next. You're watching, need to press now.

Welcome back. Some Muslim and Arab American leaders are warning President Biden that he could lose their community support over his positions on the Israel Hamas war. The issue is especially acute for the White House in the battleground state of Michigan, which is one of the largest Muslim and Arab American populations in the country. Some people in Michigan say Biden has already lost their vote for 2024 and you see Shaquille Brewster hit the ground there to learn more.

Adam Abu Salah worked on President Biden's 2020 campaign in battleground Michigan. I was working on Arab American engagement getting people out to vote for Biden. So committed that his Palestinian American parents put Biden 2020 on his birthday cake that year. But today as President Biden shows unwavering support for Israel in the wake of Hamas's terror attack, Abu Salah says he's devastating.

Now I have family in Palestine who's afraid for their lives and Biden is doing nothing to stop it. I'm hurt for the betrayal that we feel from Biden, but I also feel like a little bit of guilt for what I've done. Amid a humanitarian crisis and with the civilian death toll in Gaza rising, Muslim and Arab American community leaders warned the president's reelection support in Michigan could be in jeopardy. They said that we had to save America from Donald Trump.

And now we feel that we have to save Palestine from Joe Biden. More than 300,000 Americans from the Middle East called Michigan home, a state president Biden flipped in 2020 after Donald Trump won in 2016 by just 11,000 votes. And although not all Arab Americans are Muslim and exit poll from the Council on American Islamic Relations showed nearly 70 percent of American Muslims back to Biden. We're predicting this could be another 2016.

Nata Al-Hooti runs the Michigan chapter of a nonprofit that studies and works to increase the political engagement of American Muslims called Engage. 145,000 Michigan Muslims went out to vote in 2020. Biden needs the Muslim vote in order to win. And right now it is all good.

The White House and Biden's campaign says they are aware of the concerns and are working to address them. We mourn every innocent life lost. We can't ignore the humanity of innocent Palestinians who only want to live in peace and have an opportunity. But the publisher of the Arab American News, who last year vocally backed Democrats in the midterms, is calling for his community to withdraw its support.

Did you vote for Biden in 2020? Yes. Would you support his reelection? No, I have already made the decision and we are not going to endorse him in the paper.

It's not only disrespect, disregard to our lives, our livelihood. It's more than disrespecting me, disregarding my life. And why we see, you know, the kids, our kids, and our families are being torn apart overseas. We're being threatened here.

In Michigan's majority Arab American city, the Dearborn Democratic Club president, says he's concerned these feelings will threaten the party's full control over state government. But insists the sentiment can still shift. We still have time. President has still have time to turn things around and make good progress toward the two state solutions, stopping the war.

But as the war expands, nothing is guaranteed. Do you plan to vote for President Biden? I'm a Democrat and I support the Democratic values and I will always vote Democrats. That includes President Biden?

Like, we will have to wait and see. But that's what I'm voting. I'm voting Democrat. And she joins us now live from a Dearborn Michigan and Jack.

What are Arab Americans and Muslim Americans looking for from the White House at this point? Well, gave the most immediate and the most urgent call that you hear from folks is that they want President Biden to call for a ceasefire. They believe that President Biden has influence. He has respected Israel.

They believe he can get on the phone and suggest and urge Netanyahu to stop the bombing. They believe that will then slow down the rising civilian death toll that you're seeing in Gaza. Beyond that, they want to see a push, a serious push for a two state solution. There's a lot of disappointment that they haven't seen that in the first three years of the Biden administration and they believe that this could be a time to kind of resurrect that.

And then finally, you hear people just saying, we want to be heard. We don't feel like we're heard. One person said, you had Jill Biden, Dr. Jill Biden, the first lady come out here during the campaign.

You had Vice President Harris come out here and said, you will have a seat at the table. One person put it to me and said, we don't know where that table is, Dave. Shaq Bruce, your life for us in Michigan. Shaq, thank you.

And we now have some breaking news from Capitol Hill. Three sources have confirmed NBC News that Congressman Tom Emmer has dropped out of the speaker's race just hours after being nominated by his House Republican colleagues. Back with me now with the breaking news is, NBC's Gary. Hey, Gary, what do you know?

Well, a couple of minutes ago, you asked me how long Tom Emmer would stay in his race and look like he didn't have a map. And the answer appears to be about four hours. That's about how long he was the speaker designee. The majority of that time spent in the Ways and Means Karini room behind me just a few minutes ago.

Emmer bolted out here with some of his colleagues didn't say a word to the cameras. And that's about the time we learned that he had disclosed in the room that he was going to be dropping out of the speaker's race. He no longer saw a path. I think there was some acknowledgement that Donald Trump opposition to him was going to make this perhaps untenable.

Some of the opposition that started the day sort of softly opposed to the time Emmer was going to have a very difficult time backing out. And three sources from there with his decision to tell my colleague Sally Vitale Rebecca Kaplan, the decision has been made. Emmer will be out. And I can tell you, there's a physical sense of the scramble right now.

What's going to happen next? Congressman, we're live on the air right now. What do you make of this news that time members have apparently decided to drop out? Well, you know, I like Tom a lot.

He's he's a nice guy, someone I get along with. But I couldn't support him for Speaker of the House. His voting record is what turned me. He had voted against President Trump's ban on transgender's in the military.

He voted for the Democrats gay marriage bill that opens up churches and other places for lawsuits. If they if they use their faith in student against it, he was for the national popular vote. At one time, that's that's not a movement I can say. Why did you communicate to him that you couldn't change your opinion?

You're sort of locked in on opposing him. I opposed him openly in the conference in our role called up. And that was that was simple enough for me. There was more conversations that went in went on in the conference, but he's dropped out now.

And and I think this is good. Here's what's going on. The GOP conference is changing. And it's changing to reflect America first.

And Republican voters overwhelmingly support President Trump and the GOP conference and the Speaker of the House should do the same. Jordan was the America first candidate. He couldn't come any closer than time members come. What happens now?

How do you get anybody from any faction of this conference to 217 votes? Well, that's what we're going to have to do. You know, in 1855, it took two months and 133 ballots to elect a Speaker of the House. I don't want to go through that.

I don't think the country should have to go through with it. But I think Congress needs to learn a lesson. The House of Representatives has not worked for the people in a long time. And I think Congress needs to learn to do a better job.

Our debt is atrocious. The border is unbelievable. We've got terrorists coming in our country. And the president is leading us to World War III.

Do you worry at all that every time a Republican candidate gets rejected because they can't get the Republican votes to move closer to a candidate who gets elected with Democratic support to the frustration just builds to the point where people do start working across the aisle on this issue? You know, I think that's a good question. And that's the threat that's constantly brought up. But every single Republican in the conference is elected by Republican voters.

They may be in a Biden district, but they're still largely elected with Republican voters, and they're supported by donations with Republican donors and the NRCC. I think it would be a complete holes there and for any Republican in our conference to join the Democrats to elect a speaker. How much did Embers vote to certify the 2020 election have to do with the opposition against him? Well, it played a big role for me.

I voted to object. And I don't think that that was a fair election. I think there was a lot of election fraud. And you want to know something?

It's okay to say that. No one's speech should be canceled. No one should be prosecuted. President Trump shouldn't be prosecuted.

And I couldn't support a speaker of the House that didn't. Well, why does it have to be a proxy? What do you mean? I mean, why does that have to be a good binding reason?

Why? That wasn't a binding reason. There were many reasons. He also voted against President Trump's transgender band in the military.

And I don't support that. And I'm largely against, and I'm trying to stop and make it a felony to perform transgender surgeries on children. It's a serious issue. The speaker of the House needs to reflect the views and the will of Republican voters.

But the Republican vote for your position. You admit that the 2020 election was not still okay. Okay. Over it.

Guess what? I think it was stolen. I can say that all day. I think Trump, I think Trump, I think Trump.

Well, David, I don't know if you're still with this, but I think that was illuminating in a lot of ways. I mean, I think, you know, the Congress Women's Complaints here were echoed by some of these other members here. I think, you know, she represents one faction of this party. And you heard her say that she thinks the party is changing.

I don't think anyone in any faction would dispute that. It's a cause of much consternation within the Republican Party about what direction they're going and who should leave them. And now, for going on three weeks, we have no answer to that question. And frankly, I'm not sure we're any closer to finding one tonight.

You know, Garrett, a few minutes ago, I had asked you, does the GOP have a backup plan at this point? It's clear from your conversation with Marjorie Taylor Green that they do not. And she brought up, what, in the 1800s, the speakers erased 133 ballots. You know, how reassuring is that?

Where do you see this going from here? Well, look, I think there's a couple of back stops here that are going to force this issue. And probably the most important one is government funding. The thing that I was going to ask the Congresswoman, if I had one more question was, this all started with a CR, right?

A continuing resolution to fund the government for a short period of time that Kevin McCarthy supported. It was the straw that broke the back of, you know, his support in the conference. It was enough to push those eight members over the edge. Every day we get closer to the government funding deadline coming up in mid November makes another longer term version of exactly that kind of legislation more likely.

And I think that's the kind of thing that ultimately somebody's going to have to force across the finish line. It's going to be an ugly job. It's going to be a job no Republican's going to want. But every day they waste not working on appropriations bills or negotiating with Democrats is a day that makes it more likely they're going to have to take a bill they hate and pass it to keep the lights on or to turn them back on after a shutdown.

And honestly, Dave, I think that may be the only mechanism to force this group to pick a leader, because in that moment, somebody's going to have to pass something on the House floor. So Garrett, in the end, was Trump knifing Emmer, essentially the mail in the coffin here? I think it was. I mean, look, I think Tom Emmer was going to have a very difficult path as would anyone else.

Before that, the threat of the Trump opposition out there was already quite damaging to him. But the vocal specific opposition and call not to support him, I think really kind of sign the door on anybody changing their mind to be pro Emmer despite his best work to the contrary. All right, Garrett. Hey, our senior Capitol Hill correspondent, thank you so much for leading us through that breaking news and getting us through that scramble there on Capitol Hill.

Garrett, thank you so much. And joining me now on set is our panel, Benji Sarlon, Washington Bureau Chief for Semaphore Democratic Strategists and Misha Cross and former Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Charlie Dent. Thank you all so much for joining us and Benji. What do you make of this breaking news?

What happens next? Emmer out. Well, it's a tough question. They're going, it sounds like they're powering right ahead with trying to find another speaker designates from some of the options who were eliminated earlier.

They got Kevin Hearn, they got Mike Johnson. There's a few possibilities from talking to members that our reporters have brought up. One is that maybe the problem is that there's too many people with ties to leadership, ties to these rivalries between them. You need someone a little more anonymous who might be able to unite them.

Another is that nobody can get this. I mean, it's absolutely impossible. They have to declare some kind of bankruptcy here and look for a bipartisan option. Is it realistic to think, Charlie, that they're going to empower the kind of money?

Well, that might be the only option they have right now, but what is really disturbing about all of this is there's a trend that the opinion of the majority is disrespected. Steve Scalise beat Jim Jordan and a small minority took him down and they want to impose a guy who finished second place. Same thing happening here again. Ukraine funding, same thing, a minority wants to obstruct a world majority.

It wants to fund Ukraine. Don't like the presidential election outcome. You vote to be certified. It's anti-democratic.

And that's my point. Isn't that an extension of not wanting to certify the 2020 election? No respect for majority rule. How dangerous is this for democracy?

Well, it's terrible for democracy and it's probably even worse just for general governance. I mean, you think I was just talking about it. They were just talking about a continuing resolution to fund the government for 40 days or 70 days. It should take five minutes.

Now I was around, we could pass these in five minutes. Just to fund the government at current levels. Now these are these high stakes, dramatic events. This has been gone on for years, but now it just reached this point of absurdity, the point that they vacated the chair over a simple funding measure.

And I mean, what do Democrats do now? I mean, is there any, is it realistic that Republicans are actually going to work with Democrats here to elect a speaker? Probably not. But what about everything that's still on the table here?

Last week, the Biden administration introducing this huge supplemental funding bill, $105 billion. You just heard Charlie talk about, you know, funding the government in a few weeks. What happens now and how do Democrats play this? Well, Democrats are going to do what they've been doing.

Democrats have to lead. Unfortunately, Democrats are not in majority. So they're not going to choose the next speaker. What I do think that they will do is come with a list of demands because, according to the map, it doesn't look like anybody on the current list of Republicans who are being considered is going to be able to break even when it comes to getting to the next rung and actually taking the speakership.

They will need Democratic votes. That puts the Democrats in a very interesting position in terms of getting some of the things that they want across the aisle. But I think that what we're seeing here to Charlie's point is a Republican party that lost his grip, one that has no vision, but one that also is being led by former President Trump, even though he is not only no longer in office, even though he has all of the criminal litigation issues that he has coming up. But it took a few social media instagations to basically take, and otherwise very well-qualified candidate who could have, you know, set this thing back on track.

And I don't think that, you know, we're giving enough credit to the votes of Trump that are still looming very largely over this Republican conference. But do you think this trickles out, or goes out at the 2024, does this affect the 2024 presidential race? Or do voters, is this outside of their daily lives? This is a general dysfunction in Washington.

Will this translate to benefits for Democrats in the upcoming election? It depends on who you're listening to and who you're watching, because conservatives are saying that this is just a product of Washington dysfunction. That's what they're saying on all their networks, all the blogs, everything the conservative voters are actually looking to enter supporting. And I think that that is a very different discussion than what is happening in more relevant media sources.

And it's frustrating because they are literally using talking points that we've seen Donald Trump himself use. And he's the one who's creating the chaos in the mayhem, and then kind of holding his hand. And I think that right now it's really frustrating because there's so many things that need to be funded. There's so many things that we're going to watch and imminently shut down.

And the Republicans quite frankly don't care. And they're not worried about the down ballot races, which is a place we haven't necessarily been before. And Benji, I want to turn back to you. Do you think that the time crunch here, the urgency of the government shut down, the supplemental funding bill that's on the table, why do you think that this hasn't struck a more urgent court with Republicans?

I mean, we just saw that video there of the chaos, the scramble of Emmer leaving the Hill today. But has that chaos motivated Republicans to act? Why hasn't it? It hasn't yet, because if there's one thing Congress is used to doing, it's going right up against the deadline.

And that's often been the trigger for decisions that they've had to put off because they're politically uncomfortable, because they know they're going to lose a lot of members of their own party. Eventually, that's how we got the debt ceiling deal. That's how we got the deal that funded the government through November that set off this whole fight. They come up to a deadline.

They know what to do. They can come up with something. Now, here, as bad as a shutdown fight would be for Republicans politically, which is why McCarthy took such extraordinary steps to avoid it. One that happened because you literally cannot pick a speaker who can bring up a funding bill at all.

It would just be catastrophic. We're totally off the map. My suspicion is that the temptation might be to try to talk themselves into some temporary solution, like, for example, empowering Patrick McHenry for 10 days or so to do something, and then find that it's hard to turn it off once you've made that the way you're governing. Charlie, does Trump's presence and all this make it impossible to get to 217?

No, it doesn't. I mean, they just defeated Jim Jordan. He was Trump's guy. So I don't think that's the case at all.

But we were talking about government shutdowns coming up and potentially in November. But I kind of feel like the government is shut down right now. At least half of the Congress is shut down, even though it's still funded. But yeah, Trump has been a very destructive force here.

There's no doubt about it. But at some point, you're going to need a power sharing arrangement where Republicans are going to have to talk about Hakeem Jeffries, share power in some way, just to be able to do the basics. The only question is how long is Hakeem's list right now? You know, the store's open right now.

So he should stop him. And Charlie, I want to get to 2024 right now. I want to get to Tim Scott. He made a major speech yesterday on race in Chicago.

And I want to play a little bit of his remarks. Take a listen. I was raised in working poverty, but when I cut people's taxes, they called me a prop. Well, I pushed back on the president's progressive agenda.

They called me the inward. And when I say that America is not a racist country, that every one of us can build our lives, guess what? Trindid on social media. Uncle Tim.

I mean, what'd you make of that event? Who was his audience? So it definitely wasn't Chicagoan. It's someone who was born and raised in the great city of Chicago, Tim Scott's message didn't resonate.

But I think that what he is trying to do is reset himself as someone who's been castigated by the left and the right in racialized terms. And it's very interesting because this is the same guy who utilizes his personal story. I think in some ways effectively here, not so much. But when you're looking at a world that is anti-dei, where you're looking at one where affirmative action just came down, where you're looking at one where attacks against black people in black progress are happening on a regular basis, largely pushed by state level Republicans.

It becomes really frustrating that he would try to re totally restructure the argument. And I think that when you're talking in a city like Chicago, that was built off of the blacks of black people. That's definitely not something that is going to sell. They're still fighting for equity and pay.

They're still fighting for equity and education. They're still fighting for equity and housing. That's not the message that is actually going to work. This is a guy whose campaign is falling apart day in and day out.

His own super PAC has decided to pull out in several places. I think that he is trying to put oxygen back into a campaign that is basically on live support. And Chicago wasn't the place to do it. That message wasn't the one to send.

All right, Amisha, thanks so much. I was going to have to leave it there. Charlie and Benji, thank you so much for joining us here on Meet the Press Now. And I'm joined now by Democratic Congressman from Michigan, Sri Tanadar.

And Congressman, before this breaking news, we're planning to talk to you about my colleague, Shaq Rooster is reporting about President Biden's struggle with Muslim and Arab Americans in Michigan. But I want to start with your reaction to that breaking news on Capitol Hill. What do you make about it? Well, the Republicans have shown that they cannot govern.

You know, they 21 days now, we don't have a speaker. Congress is paralyzed. We cannot make decisions. We cannot pass bills.

We cannot, when we have an international crisis like what's going on in Israel, Congress must act. And the Republicans who are in the majority are unable to choose a leader for 21 days now. And this crisis has caused, you know, we are marching towards a government shutdown on November 17th, where hundreds of thousands of federal employees, their families are going to have hardship. We have national security issues.

The Republicans have clearly shown they cannot govern. And Congressman, I want to turn back now to the Israel-Hamas War and your reaction to the Biden administration's response. You recently ended your affiliation with the Democratic Socialists of America over their response to the Hamas attack in Israel. What is more reaction to what we heard from Muslim voters in Michigan?

Is this track with what you heard from your own constituents? Well, look, President Biden enjoys a lot of support in the state of Michigan. He has created, you know, over 12 million jobs, the infrastructure. He's for the first time.

The bipartisan infrastructure bill has brought in money to fix roads. And he's working on the economy, the inflation. There's so much, you know, loading the prices on pharmaceuticals. President Biden has done a lot of things right.

And he is right in fighting and staying strong in fighting Hamas. They are clearly the terrorists, and they need to be stopped. But Congressman, is the concern not real for 2024, battleground Michigan, you know, could come down to this, you know, tens of thousands of votes. And you just heard, you should pick Shaquille Brewster's penis and the longtime Democrats, major supporters of President Biden say they can't stick with him this time around.

So I understand your points that the Biden administration has done a lot for Michigan and for Muslim Americans. But what do you say to those critics who right now are looking at that response and they're not going to support him next year? Well, look, the Muslim Americans have seen the bigotry and the hatred that former President Trump, you know, put on them. So, you know, we need to deal with this and look at this as a fight against terrorism.

We need to end Hamas. We need to destroy Hamas's military infrastructure to bring peace. And you know, more importantly, the people in Gaza, they have been exploited, used as a human shield by Hamas. And you know, they're leaving in generations of poverty.

And the people in Gaza need to be helped. And eliminating Hamas is will go a long way in creating peace and prosperity for all, not only the Israelis, but also Palestinian citizens who are innocent and have been caught in this fire. Do you have, you know, does this war, does it give you any concern for your own electoral prospects? No, no, I think it's the right thing to do to fight the terrorists.

It is the right thing to do Hamas. Hamas is an internationally recognized terrorist organization. They entered the country of Israel, you know, did atrocities, killed, you know, some people, abducted people, you know, separated children from their parents. You know, Hamas need to be stopped.

Such terrorist activities need to be stopped. They are holding 200 or so, you know, some people as hostages, you know, those hostages need to be released. They need to, you know, there's a lot that needs to be done. So to ensure lasting peace in the Middle East.

Congressman Canada, thank you so much for joining us here on the press now. And up next three, a former President Trump's ex-lawyers have now reached plea deals and that Fulton County Election Interference case is the former president makes a separate court appearance in New York. You're watching me, the press now, say with us. Welcome back.

It's been a dramatic day in the courtrooms of two trials involving Donald Trump. In Atlanta, one of his co-defendants, his former attorney, Jenna Ellis, agreed to plead guilty for one felony count in connection to the Georgia election interference case, an emotional Ellis then read a statement expressing her regret. In the frenetic pace of attempting to raise challenges to the election in several states, including Georgia, I failed to do my due diligence. I believe in and I value election integrity.

If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges. I look back on this whole experience with deeper remorse. Ellis is the fourth of Trump's 19 co-defendants in Georgia to reach a plea agreement. Meanwhile, Manhattan, the former president was in court to hear his former attorney, Michael Cohen, testify against him in the New York Attorney General's civil fraud drive brought against Mr.

Trump in his business. For more now, I'm joined by NBC News senior legal correspondent, Laura Jared. And Laura, how significant is Ellis's plea deal here? It's really significant, Gabe.

She obviously is an insider. She is a member of the Trump legal team, or at least was a member of the Trump legal team. So she can speak to a lot of conversations that others simply weren't privy to. As for the specifics of what she's pleading to today, pleading guilty to, it's about aiding and abetting Rudy Giuliani, another member of the legal team, and the lies that were told just after the 2020 election, namely going in front of the Georgia State Senate and talking about dead voters, talking about illegal voters, none of which was true, all based on conspiracy and lies.

But she's admitting an open court today that that's simply not true and agreeing in return for only getting probation to come forward and cooperate with prosecutors about all that she knows again. So should Mr. Trump be more worried about her cooperation or city pups? Well, it's interesting.

Obviously, Powell's situation is discreet in one way. It has to do with the breach of voting equipment and coffee counter. Trump is not a legend of actually participated in the breach of that equipment, but she too can speak to larger issues, as opposed to Ellis, who's sort of in a larger scale, talking about things like the false slates of electors putting pressure on state officials around the country. So not just in Georgia, but I think Ellis has a broader sweep here.

And meanwhile, Trump is supposed as city Powell never was actually his attorney. So how troublesome could this be for the former president if he tries to invoke an attorney client privilege defense, either in Georgia or in Jack Smith's election interference trial? The problem with trying to distance himself from people like Powell, which you can understand why he would want to do, is that you lose the privilege, right? So if he maintains the attorney client privilege, then arguably anything they discussed would stay secret.

But even in fact, she was not as attorney as he's now claiming that anything that they talked about would arguably be fair game. But all of this is going to get hashed out in court down the line. And Laura, turning to Trump's New York civil fraud trial. Was there any value added today by Michael Cohen's testimony?

Well, certainly having live testimony, I think is powerful. There's not a jury there. Remember, Mr. Trump has already been found liable for the judge that's hearing this case.

It's a bench trial. He's already been finally found liable for on the court claim, which is inflating the value of his assets to get more favorable loan terms. This is all about determining the penalty. Having Michael Cohen there in the flesh confronting them there for the first time really in five years, I think added a little bit of color.

But as court closed today, he was being cross examined about how he's changed the story before. And Laura, really quickly before I let you go, once again, Mr. Trump posting about Michael Cohen on social media as Colleen was testifying, how do you think this will sit with the judge? Well, the judge has been very clear that he is not allowed to talk about court staff, but he's been out allowed to talk about the prosecution.

He's been allowed to talk about the judge himself. So I don't see the judge clamping down on that anytime soon. As long as he doesn't say anything about the judge's clerk, that is off limits. Laura, Jared, thank you so much.

And thank you. And thank you for being with us this hour. I'm Gabe Gutierrez and I'm back tomorrow with more Meet the Press Now. NBC News Now coverage continues with Hallie Jackson right now.