were working on the investigation that he was so incensed about and he had been tweeting about them and talking about them, and now after a series of court fights trying to protect the presidency from the justice department and others, trump is going to have to testify under oath about his public statements and communications about these two people in 2017, 2018, and peter struck wants back some of the things that he feels that he was deprived of when he was wrongfully terminated before he was going to be retiring from the fbi, but this is a bigger issue in the world of donald trump. it is about this case, these two people suing him, the justice department and the administration over what happened to them, struck's firing and the text messages and it is also about donald trump, the confidentiality around the presidency and all of the things that he may have to say now about what happened when he was in office as president.

>> katelyn polantz is following this, and keep us posted. president biden is showing his iron clad support for israel and preparing to leave washington for the middle east and set to leave israel tomorrow, and show of solidarity and also very clearly a search for solutions. israel is hitting new hamas targets in gaza today from the sky. this was the scene just last hour in northern gaza, and you see a plume of smoke, dust rising after an air strike. the palestinian ministry of health from their perspective, they say that strikes like this one are now damaging and shutting hospitals down. in southern gaza where the palestinians have been told to evacuate to, to flee to, this is the scene outside of the hospital there. one of the hospitals still running, and ambulances are

urgently rushing new victims in for care. john? >> so, our reporters who are in the city of askelon and israel have seen the rockets fall, and the rockets have fired from inside of gaza, and it is important to point out that these are the kibbutz where some 1,400 people were killed more than a week ago, and that is the basis of this current conflict that we are see right now between israel and hamas in gaza. one other thing, this is the rafah crossing between egypt and gaza, and senior israeli official is saying they will allow some aid in, but if any of it falls into the hamas hands, israel will stop any of the aid going over that border and difficult to keep hamas away from whatever crosses from egypt into gaza. sara sidner is standing by in tel aviv, and tell us what you are seeing.

>> yeah, here in israel, and across the world, people are seeing a video of a hostage for the first time. hamas is revealing it on social media, and we have also heard from the mother of that, that hostage who has been taken to gaza. she is injured. you can see it in the video, and we are not showing that to you out of an abundance, and it is also used as a propaganda by hamas, but we have been seeing the look in her eyes. she is scared, and her mother for the very first time who had no idea whether or not her daughter was alive or not, she is now speaking about the fact that this is finally showing her that her daughter was alive. she is relieved, but also horrified. i am going to go there in a bit, and i am going to hear from the mother of one of the hostages that has been shown, but we are

going to go now to where secretary of state antony blinken is meeting with the palestinian authority president mahmoud abbas, and you are going to be meeting there with hands shaken, and you can see antony blinken standing in front of the united states flag. this meeting is important for trying to figure out what to do with the palestinian population that is in gaza, but it should be be made clear that the palestinian authority does not have authority, if you will, over gaza. that is a hamas territory, and hamas has been in power there for a long time, and there you are seeing mahmoud abbas from the palestinian authority that governs the west bank only meeting with secretary of state blinken. one of the things that i am sure they will be discussing is how

to get palestinians out of gaza is the palestinians rushing to the rafah border and it is not opened up yet, but trying to get people to safety potentially to egypt as this war continues, and let's take a lis echblt -- li lis listen. >> okay. that is the picture from imman, jordan, from across the border, and i want to bring in clarissa ward who is in ashkelon, and just over the border, and she has been experiencing rocket booms, and i am curious what is happening there, and how significant th between president abbas and the secretary of state and how they

are going to help the hundreds of thousands of civilians in dire straits at this hour. >> well, sara, this meeting is urgently needed one. the situation in gaza by all accounts is rapidly escalating out of control. we have been hearing a steady stream of strikes on gaza in the distance, but also more alarmingly earlier on today, multiple strikes near that border crossing rafah near egypt where all of the intensive diplomatic efforts are being concentrated to allow in aid into the southern part of gaza, but the issue is that the egyptians are saying no guarantee of security as long as there are continued strikes going on, and that is from the egyptian perspective, and the israelis are pointing the pictures at hamas, and the hamas is pointing the pictures at the

israelis and then the oldest cliche of war, and it is really the civilians who are suffering most profoundly, and 3,000 palestinians have now been killed since hamas' bloody attacks ten days ago, and the u.n. is warning that 600,000 people have been displaced from their homes and told to evacuate to the southern part of the enclave, but there is not enough electricity or food, and there is not enough medicine, and one of the doctors at the frontier, the doctors without borders-sponsored hospitals is saying they are forced to perform surgeries without painkillers and the mechanisms for establishing a way to get that aid in to allow foreign nationals out, and to allow the most seriously wounded out is the topic that everybody is waiting for some kind of a breakthrough on, and it is complex for many reasons, and that why the meeting between

blinken and abbas is so important and they will be presumably talking about if there is an israeli offensive into gaza, and if israeli does carry out the promise to decapitate hamas, what kind of power will be established to take over to ensure that there is no vacuum. so no shortage of very important pressing issues for those two leaders to discuss, but of course, the primary being trying to get that desperately-needed aid in as quickly as possible, sara. >> yeah, those are all really important points that you made there, clarissa. i want to talk about the 600,000 people, and to give you a sense of how many people that is because it is hard to get it in your mind, but it is the size, and bigger than the population of one whole city. oakland, california, has 450,000 people -- all right. we are hearing the blasts, and i don't know if you can hear that,

but just behind me, we are hearing the very large booms, and i don't know where that is coming from, but we are certainly hearing a them here in tel aviv which means one of two things. it is either rockets coming over from gaza being hit by the iron dome or it is blasts in gaza. it sounded like, because of where it is coming from that it is probably the iron dome reacting to rockets coming our way, and we did not hear sirens, and normally, we hear the sirens to warn you, and giving you that warning here in tel aviv, and we are all here in especially gaza in active war zone, and because israel has declared war days ago, one week ago in gaza. clarissa, thank you for the reporting there in ashkelon which is close to the border near gaza. i want to go to jeremy diamond

who is in jerusalem waiting for president biden to come, from an invite of president benjamin netanyahu, and we also learned that the u.s. has also moved two carrier groups into the region. jeremy, can you give us a sense owhat that means and also what we are expecting to hear from president biden when he comes here to meet with prime minister netanyahu and the rest of the israeli cabinet. >> yes, sara. when president biden arrives in tel aviv tomorrow for the visit, there is both the symbolism, and also the concrete practical elements of a visit by a president of the united states to israel at a time of war. the symbolism first of all is obviously going to be a strong show of solidarity, and the kind of the no day light pan tra that -- mantra that we have been hearing from the white house since this war began, and that

going to continue tomorrow when president biden stands shoulder to shoulder with the israeli president. and also, the practical implications of the visit and what might be announced when the president comes here, and it is going to be followed by the visits of the secretary of defense and secretary of state, and that is typically the lead-up to an announcement when the president comes here. we know that he is going to be focused on the humanitarian side of gaza, and the situation of americans to be led to the rafah crossing. this is the national spokesman john kirby of why the president feels now is the right time to come. >> the president believes this is exactly the right time to go to israel and jordan to speak to other leaders in the region about the humanitarian assistance that gets into gaza about israeli plans and intentions to go forward and how this is unfolding on the ground, and absolutely to continue to talk, to talk to regional partners about the hostages and

see about getting them home, and back to their families where they belong. >> this is going to be the president's second visit to the war zone just this year after he visited ukraine earlier in the year. and this visit is unfolding very differently though. they have announced it ahead of time, and the white house says they are comfortable with the security risks. and even yesterday when the secretary of state was meeting in tel aviv, rocket sirens went off twice in the visit, and they had to go to the bomb shelter, and as you heard today, sara, rockets have been fired toward tel aviv, and south tel aviv, and that is the real possible, and something that the white house has to consider as the president arrives tomorrow. >> yeah, there is no doubt if there is one thing that is true, this is an active war zone all across israel and of course, in gaza. jeremy diamond, thank you so

much for your reporting at this hour. kate. >> sara, thank you so much. coming up for us, the humanitarian crisis in gaza as we know and see is growing. the key point of access, the rafah crossing is still closed. how to get aid in, and also to continue to target the hamas terrorists who attacked israel last week is the focus of the top level diplomacy right now. more on that ahead. and plus back in the united states, there is action on the house floor. republicans headed there very soon, and will they finally leave the floor with a speaker of the house? new updates from capitol hill ahead.

all right. happening now, and we areless tha than an hour away for the first vote of the speaker of the house on the house floor, and jim jordan has made progress, but still short of the votes he needs on the first ballot. he can afford to lose three republicans and we are counting five firm nos. with me is a democrat from nevada, and congresswoman, thank you for being with us, an jim jordan has made the progress, and if at the end of the day, jim jordan is the speaker of the house, and how would you feel about that? >> well, i certainly don't support jim jordan. i don't support him for the good of the institution or the good

of my constituents in nevada. his record is not much of one when it is coming to passing any bills. one resolution the whole time he has been here, and the positions that he takes are contrary to what we need at my home state of las vegas, too. you know, the abortion issue, the election issue, and he is an election denier, and his name was the first one on the petition to deny the election, and so we are not that crazy about him. >> and so if he does win, what regrets will you have if he has the job, because he is an election denier and on the phone with donald trump on january 6th, and how much better off would you be with him than kevin mccarthy? >> i would not be any better off than kevin mccarthy, and that is in the past, but we have to look into the future, and he has not gotten the votes yet. and the scheduled vote at noon is put off to 1:00, and probably

donald trump has been strong arming people, because that is his man. on the meantime, the democrats are united behind hakeem jeffries and we are proud of his leadership. we don't have to be dragged kicking and screaming like this apparently on the republican side. >> we just chased down congressman jim jordan in hallways of the capitol, and this what he said. >> okay. >> how many ballots are you willing to go? >> we need to get a speaker today, and we are feeling good where we are at. i am sorry, i am going to meet. >> and ballot after ballot like mccarthy did? >> whatever it takes to get a speaker today. >> what are some of the concerns that you have feeling? >> we have been picking up support everyday, and so it is, again, i feel confident. >> have you spoken to president trump and asked him to help you with this vote? >> i have not talked to the president in a couple of days. >> how is it going? >> very good. >> why would you say to ken buck that the election was stolen in

2020 when it was not stolen. >> no answer there at the end, and ken buck has asked jim jordan to acknowledge that it is a fair election in 2020 and he has not done so to ken buck's liking. and if jim jordan wins, congresswoman, how will the democrats work with him going forward and what do you think that the impact of him as speaker is going to have on the 2024 race? >> well, if he is speaker, who knows if he would certify the election, since he didn't support it last time, and said it is unfair. but democrats have been offering a hand across the line for a good while. we say it takes some bipartisan cooperation, and we are willing to cooperate, but he is going to drag the party so far to the left, it is going to be difficult to pass some of the measures that are important. he was opposed to all of those good recovery bills that helped nevada climb from 35% to 4%

unemployment. i don't know what he sis going o do, and talking about the caucus of the moderate republicans, and where are they? why don't they have the courage to stand up to him, because we are going to be coming to him, social security, roll it back, and women rights, roll it back, and environmental protection, roll it back, and it is not a wing agenda, and it is going to be hard to get him to kind of come to middle. >> i want to ask you about what is happening in israel, and president biden is headed there tomorrow, and what do you want to see accomplished on the trip? >> well, it is a good thing that he is going. it is good timing and a statement to rest of the world and also to the area in which israel is the neighborhood. it is a strong statement of our continued support for israel and it is also a way to establish that we should follow the rules of war. it is a way to try to work on

the deal that has been started under blinken to look for ways to provide humanitarian aid to the palestinians, and that shuttle diplomacy in the whole area. he will be making another stop which shores up blinken's efforts to keep this contain and not have it spread throughout the rest of the middle east. >> conwoman dena titus, thank you for being with us. thank you very much. >> thank you. and kate, it is interesting that she said that was buried in there and i want you to pay attention and she issued a warning to moderate republicans. if jim jordan wins, we will come after you if you don't stand up to him. and this a campaign issue for the democrats heading into the election. >> and it is not a be careful what you wish for, but it is now between the new rock and hard place, and if they want a new speaker, what do they do about the one they get. great interview. >> interesting. >> and what we are learning about those taken hostage by

hamas from the new video released of one of the hostages. that new video and what we are learning from it next.

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the terror attacks that killed as many as 1,400 people. and one of them is mia schem who was at the music festival. >> and we spoke to her mother and brothers about the video that was released of their sister and daughter. >> that is all we want. just to get mia back to us. >> we are begging the world to bring my baby home. >> with us right now is cnn national security analyst peter bergen on this. thank you for coming in. you have had some conversations in the past days of what are really the aims and goals of hamas. the idf says that this hostage video being released is a psychological warfare on the israeli civilian, and what do you think it is?

>> well, there's that, and it is also proof of life that the hostage has been taken, and hostage-taking situation, and often the terrorist group will release a video, and obviously, it is very, very traumatizing for the family, but as you know, kate, you have got 199 hostages, and hamas claims 200 to 250, and you have palestinian and islamic jihad who claimed 230 in beginning, so it is not clear of how many have been taken, but this is a proof of life of one hostage, and so, we have seen tony blinken going to qatar to speak to the qatari government which is the most fruitful way that this might be resolved in some way that is, you know, to have the safe release of the hostages. they were helpful in getting five americans out of iran last month, and sent hundreds of millions into gaza, and they do have relations with hamas, and

the political situation and the military situation are all very complicated, but if there is going to be a peaceful situation for some of this to the hostages the qatari government is the most likely venue. >> peter, it is a staggering number of potential hostages from a wide range of countries and not just israeli, but countries all over the world. why do you think that hamas did it? are they getting what they want out of it? and is there the international outrage that they had expected from it? >> well, what they are getting out of it is first of all human shields to go back to the first gulf war. saddam hussein did something similar and he gathered literally hundreds of human shields to have an attack against him. and this is close to the scale of 200 hostages it seems. and so, a, kind of diswading any

kind of israeli military action, and obviously a deal down road, and hamas has nothing to show for the conflict in terms of any real political goal. if they can get some prisoners back, obviously, that is something they want. maybe that is the intention in the beginning of this, and obviously the operation became bigger and they killed more people than initially was the plan. and is it getting the international attention, and the short answer is yes, and 30 nationalities of various kinds, and this seems to be a great deal of concern around the world, including from the united states about these hostages, and hopefully there can be a success resolution starting with the children and the elderly and the people who are sick. see if they can be released first. >> peter, israel has said that at least, you know, the public

statement is that they are not going to be negotiating around with regard to the hostages. you know, israeli leaders pointed to this is where the leadership of hamas has come from the hostages in the past which is what you are laying out, what is the best scenario then? >> well, i don't know. look, i mean, for this is a huge dilemma for governments. the stated position for the united states is that we will make no concession to terrorist groups, and well, in practice, we will make concessions and we will do prisoner exchanges, and with the governments that we don't recognize like iran, and we will do prisoner exchanges with terrorist groups like the taliban as we have done in the past, and israel has a long record of doing prisoner exchanges, and the politics around this right now may prevent them from doing anything at all and having any

communications with hamas. and this could go on for months. the military communications, and you look at the attack in mosul with isis and it took many, many months and almost a year of planning with the u.s. air force and the special forces advising on the ground to extripate the forces from mosul, and so this in gaza is not going to be over in matter of days. >> peter bergen, thank you for coming on. and the house republicans are about to head to the house floor, and does jim jordan now have enough support or enough momentum maybe. to win the position of house speaker and the major negotiations going on around capitol hill. that coming up next.

and he is is a fit young man still, and very strong. he is very proper opinions about the country and loves our country, and would serve you well. i think that he will be confirmed some time soon. >> young and strong and proper opinions is donald trump just now outside of court in new york throwing his support behind jim jordan with regard to who will be the next speaker of the house. moments from now, the house members are heading to the floor to once again try to fight this out in public, but a big question is does jordan have the votes now, and the momentum this

time to get enough votes to win. >> let's find out. cnn's manu raju is on capitol hill counting the votes. where do we stand, manu? >> well, right now, he is short of the 217 votes that he needs to be elected speaker. in this vote series that will happen after noon, we will get a sense of how widespread the opposition is. and that is the first key question, and the second key question is how long jordan plans to fight it out on the house floor. will he try to go as long as kevin mccarthy did in january when he went 15 ballots and lasted over several days ultimately elected speaker or will the opposition continue to stiffen. that is one of the questions, too. are those people come taught vote for somebody else change their mind in any way as the pressure ultimately grows. when i asked congressman jordan about his strategy, and about whether he is going to continue to go on, and he said, whatever it takes to get a speaker elected today, and suggesting that he is ready for the fight on the floor to continue to drag

out, but the math right now is not working in his favor. yes, he has closed the gap. on friday, 55 house republicans in the secret ballot election who voted against him, and he has significantly narrowed the gap, and six who were leaning no, and others who have not said one way or another, and this key vote is a test of how much support he ultimately has, and whether this house that is completely paralyzed among the republican in-fighting and the ouster of kevin mccarthy can move ahead, and huge questions as jordan plans to fight it out, but how close to 217 is a question that we will learn in about an hour. >> we will learn soon enough, and a lot uncertainty around it, but a sense of where it is headed and everyone on the steps of the capitol is cheering for manu raju. >> and six no votes is enough to keep him from the chair. and six no votes is going to

keep him from that. >> i am bad at math, but that is not a lot. >> and so six is enough to sink him, but will the six hold through multiple ballots, and will others join in to oppose jim jordan? much more ahead.

mr. jordan -- >> really good. >> how many ballots are you willing to go? are you willing to go as many as kevin mccarthy? >> i am sorry i have to go. >> are you willing to go ballot

after ballot like kevin mccarthy. >> whatever it takes to get a speaker. >> what are some to concerns? >> we are picking up support every day, and so it is -- i feel confident. >> have you spoken to president trump, and asked him to help you with this vote? >> i have not talked to the president in a couple of days. >> how are things going? >> very good. >> why wouldn't you say to ken buck that the election is not stolen? so manu raju there chasing down congressman jim jordan speed walking, who wants to be the speaker of the house within the next few hours will be a vote on the house floor shortly. and just to explain what manu is asking about. colorado republican ken buck is one of the people that we have listed as firm no right now, because ken buck has asked jim jordan to acknowledge that donald trump lost the election in 2020, and jordan would not do

it right there, and apparently he would not do it in privately to ken buck, and that is notable. >> absolutely. and what that means is if jim jordan is the next speaker of the house, standby to standby. and joining us is political analyst for the washington bureau chief for the "boston globe" is jackie kucinich, and what is your best guess of what is going to happen today, because jim jordan saying there that he is going to do whatever it takes to become the speaker and get it done today, and yes, that is speaking to how many rounds he is willing to go, and also to wheel and deal which is what got kevin mccarthy into trouble. >> that is the question, right. jim jordan is not known for the willingness to wheel and deal, but that is part of the job with speaker, and particularly with this latest breed of speaker. you really do have to make a lot of deals in order to, and have a lot of humility with a lot of the votes that could happen to get this job. now, i think that some of the

things that we have heard about is that he is willing to have a vote on the ukraine and israel funding. again, none of this is in writing, but that is what members are talking about what jordan has promised them should he become speaker, but again, he is going to have to answer to right wing media, and right now, he is friendly, because they are doing what he wants to do, and they are used to a certain jim jordan and a new jim jordan that we are not familiar with on the other side of this is the question. >> and he has to listen to right wing media who have endorsed him, and there are people at fox who have endorsed him, and there are people who have current members and we had democrat dina from nebraska who said she would not vote for him, so does that help or hurt him? >> well, some of them have said

that they would vote for him, which is perhaps they are worried about the primary challenges or perhaps worried about getting funds to run for re-election, but it is going to put them at disadvantage with the democrats or the independents in their district who are not a big fan of trump and perhaps the way he politics which jim jordan very much in lock step with. so it is definitely if they are putting themselves out there, that is a risk. another thing, john and kate, you have to look at the moderates who are holding out right now, because they are usually the first one to give up the ghost when it is coming to whether or not they will change their vote from a no to the yes. they are the most susceptible to that pressure, and so a lot of us, the eyes will be on them to see what happens if, if there are more than one speaker vote. >> we are going to be looking at this, jackie, thank you so much, and we will see this play out very soon in the alphabetical order, and there are

you got to wait until the whole vote happens. >> there might be three or four no votes by the time you get to d or e, right? seriously. you're absolutely right. we will start seeing members of congress walk into the house chamber soon and get a sense where this vote is headed. we are all over this right after this. ♪

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♪ you're looking at live pictures of the united states capitol. the country starts the day as it has for two weeks now, without a house speaker. i'm danea bash on capitol hill. >> in minutes the house will gavel open the floor proceedings and we will find out if congressman jim jordan of ohio has the votes to take that gavel permanently. his descendents to the brink of the speakership and marks a real depart for the house gop conference. jordan, for one, is a 2020 election denier. he is someone about whom former house republican vice chair liz cheney is an enemy of democracy

and enemy of the u.s. constitution. to win, congressman jordan needs to stay on the right side of a very thin republican majority margin. he just hit a -- he must hit rather a magic number of 217 votes to win the job. if everyone we expect to vote votes, which means mr. jordan can only lose three house republicans in the vote. but heading into this first tally, we already know of six republicans who have said they will reject jordan's bid for speaker. he can't afford to lose six republicans. if all six vote against him it might throw the house into another drawn-out floor mess like what we watch play out in january where it took kevin mccarthy 15 rounds to win the job. a leaderless house means congress cannot pass a aid package for israeli at war.

rockets through the sky in tel aviv. cnn is tracking the fast moving mission to submit jordan's bid for the gavel and we start with m manu. what did congressman jordan have to say? >> he said he willing to go as long as it takes and the message i'm hearing from sources that are familiar with the matter that congressman jordan, even if he does not get 217 votes in this first ballot which he is not expected to get the magic number in this first ballot, that he will fight it out on the house floor, potentially ballot after ballot. maybe perhaps as long as kevin mccarthy went back in january. but this source i spoke to believes that they are closer than kevin mccarthy was on the first ballot back in january. remember, at that time, kevin mccarthy was down 19 votes. they believe they will be closer to that in this vote and that we will see in a matter of moments. we do know at least six republicans are no's or no votes

against mccarthy. there are expected to be perhaps six more who have leaning no. we will see how they ultimately come down. then a whole bunch of other members have simply not said how they will vote. the key question that we will see at the moment is not necessarily whether jordan doesn't get 217, no one expects that in the first vote. it's how many members are voting no and what are their concerns? a number of simply are concerned about everything that has happened in the last two weeks. the ouster of kevin mccarthy and they don't want to reward the hard liners who pushed out mccarthy by elevateding their choice which is jim jordan. others have concerns about the things jim jordan said congressman said jordan did not say the 2020 election was not stolen. i asked jordan about that moments ago and why he did not say that he sdid not respond to that question but the number of questions percolating out here. when this vote how long will they withstand the pressure and

will they jot vote no after no? they say ultimately they will come to hid side and he will be elected as speaker of the house later on tonight. >> just a reminder. he doesn't have the votes but he is the one that called for this vote. he is the one forcing this display of chaos, right? >> reporter: yeah. he wanted it. before he indicated he would only go to the floor if he had 217 votes when he put himself up in a secret ballot election to replace kevin mccarthy. he lost that secret ballot collection to steve scalise who ultimately bowed out antididn't want to go to the floor because he didn't have the votes. he wants to force this and get these members to come along to his side so that is the question. will they ultimately do that or stand firm against jim jordan and push for another candidate