time, it would seem. >> reporter: you are absolutely right. not many days before we got this. also, it's important to note that hours after prime minister netanyahu spoke with president biden, we did see a shift. the israeli government said it would increase humanitarian aid into gaza, which is inclusive of ports and a checkpoint between israel and northern gaza. we don't know exactly when this will happen. we are hearing from secretary blinken who said earlier today that these are positive developments, but the real test is results. of course, that's something we will be keeping a close eye on. >> meagan fitzgerald, thank you so much. that wraps up the hour for me. you can reach me on social media. you can watch clips from our show on youtube. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now.

right now on "andrea mitchell reports," east coast shocker. a 4.8 earthquake rumbling through new jersey, new york city, long island, startling millions of americans. the israeli military admits a grave mistake in launching air strikes that killed seven world central kitchen workers, but aid is halted by other groups, afraid to enter gaza. this after prime minister netanyahu said he will open a key land crossing into north gaza and israel's port as well that had been closed since the hamas attack on october 7th, after months of personal employees do that from secretary of state blinken. the president departs for a tour of the massive salvage operation from the bridge collapse in baltimore. a booming jobs report for the white house in an election year, despite concerns it could delay fed rate cuts. ♪♪

good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. millions feeling rattled after a 4.8 earthquake rocked the northeast. it's in north central new jersey near the town of white house station. it occurred just after 10:20 a.m. there are no initial reports of major damage. tremors were felt throughout new york city, with people reporting feeling rumbles as far south as baltimore and north past boston and possibly into vermont. president biden heading to the site of the francis scott key collapse and has been briefed. in the past hour, the new york governor provided an update. >> right now, it's most important that we have our structural teams out there, our engineering teams surveying our bridges, our roads, any area there could be a fault line that is not easily detectible to make sure passengers on our rails as well as our commuters are safe.

if there's an aftershock, people are encouraged to drop and cover and to hold on. drop to the floor, cover your neck and hold on to something sturdy. >> i want to clarify as we watch antonia hylton from brooklyn, new york, the president has not yet left. we will report when he does. tell us what did it feel like in brooklyn? >> reporter: my gosh, i was in shock. my building shook for i think about ten seconds, just minutes before 10:30 a.m. i could hear screams. there's a playground near me. kids were on monkey bars and structures. i could hear them shouting. within just moments, in minutes, neighbors were flooding on the street. this is a part of brooklyn with brownstones, older buildings. i could see that my neighbors were shaken up. some described trying to come down the stairs of their building and feeling the stairs shake. they were afraid to go back inside.

people are gathering their thoughts. in some cases heading to cafes or parks to recover. as of now, as you mentioned, no major damage. people are calling their landlords to see, can you come out and check the basement, make sure nothing happened to the gas lines? we are not used to this. >> the northeast is not used to earthquakes at all. how are people feeling and reacting? what are you hearing from others in the neighborhood? >> reporter: i had a conversation with one neighbor who was quite shaken up. she lived in an older building, a small building right above a deli. they are common here in new york. she said the sensations that she felt made her so uncomfortable that she's not sure she wants to live there anymore. in other cases, neighbors were hanging out in parks laughing about the experience. they felt it was a fun little

adventure before the eclipse comes up in a few days. reactions have been all along that spectrum. certainly, for the people shaken up, they tell me they have to make some phone calls, that they at least at minimum, they want the owners of the buildings to come out and make sure the structure is sound, make sure nothing has happened to gas lines. that's come up a lot. that can be tricky in older buildings, as it is. people are taking it kind of and waiting for more guidance from state leadership here. we have heard reports from the local schools here in brooklyn that in some cases they are changing protocols. not going to have recess today, for example. planning to send alerts out to parents so they can just keep them updated with how the kids are doing. from the schools just in this area of brooklyn, nothing structural, nothing bad, no crises have unfolded. they want to make sure the kids feel good and parents feel they are in the loop, especially with the potential as the governor mentioned for an aftershock. people want to make sure the

lines of communication are open. >> let's talk about aftershocks. what are you hearing or feeling? are there any warnings? we are waiting for the mayor to do a briefing on what the situation is in new york city. they have to check the subways, all of the elevators as well. you can think about lots of mass transit impacts, roadways. the buildings in new york city are not build, most of them, in preparation for earthquakes. we saw how well taiwan responded and japan making lots of big changes after 2011. new york city has not experienced anything like this. >> reporter: that's right. most of these buildings have not been constructed with earthquakes in mind. people are grateful to hear that the mayor, governor, they are activating resources. they will have people out checking structures, observing activity along the fault lines. that's also why, as i mentioned,

people feel the need to reach out to their landlords, the owners of the buildings in neighborhoods like this. some of the buildings have been around since the 1800s. there are nerves about how might the building be faring, what might have happened in the basement or with older staircases here. that's why people are doing some of the direct outreach, because they are not sure that the officials heading out with the mayor are going to come into their personal homes and checking on the structures. people will plan to make plans to head to another location or stay with a friend if they feel like the location they are at isn't safe. they might have questions about the structural security. as of right now, in my neighborhood and folks i had a chance to speak to, people were a little bit shaken up. they are waiting for more information. >> thanks so much, antonia hylton. we will come back to you with mayor adams when he has his

briefing. moving on to other top stories, of course, israel. the military report. early this morning, mincing no words about killing the seven aid workers. a commander believed they were targeting hamas operatives, calling it a grave mistake, stemming from a serious failure due to mistaken identification. the strikes on the three vehicles were carried out in violation in commands and standard operating proceprocedu. two officers have been dismissed from their positions. world central kitchen responding saying -- that's a quote from the world central kitchen. in a news conference this morning in brussels, secretary of state blinken calls for an independent investigation, this

after president biden and israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu held a tense 30-minute call with biden saying he wants to see concrete steps to protect civilians and aid workers and israel address the humanitarian crisis. netanyahu agreed to open a crossing in north gaza and a port that blinken had been pushing israel to open for months on his trips there. now the secretary wants to see if israel will let the aid flow through those openings. >> these are positive developments, but the real test is results. is the aid effectively reaching people who immediate it? throughout gaza. are the bottlenecks and other delays at crossings being resolved? do we have a much better system for -- so people can deliver aid safely and securely?

>> the president threatened to put conditions on future military aid if israel does not respond. national security communications advisor john kirby spoke to savannah guthrie this morning on "today." >> is the u.s. prepared to cut military aid to israel if you don't see the results you want? >> i don't want to get ahead of the president or close down any of his decisions. he made it clear yesterday if we don't see meaningful changes in the policy, we will make changes to our policy. >> what will those changes be? they are not exactionly explain -- exactly explaining. john kirby was briefing. how will the u.s. determine about meaningful aid? you have aid groups afraid to go in. they need to see guidelines that a mistake like this will not

happen again. >> reporter: you are. as you heard from blinken, the focus is on results they want to see. the key takeaways that we learned, the results that we heard about with only a matter of hours of this tense 30-minute call taking place was the opening of the crossing in northern gaza, the port which is close to northern gaza, which would allow for a more direct line to get aid into gaza. it's one thing to make a commitment. it's another thing to see action. as blinken would say, we will just have to see how many trucks in terms of real aid is moving in and is allowed to get in there in real time. one other thing you have been talking, the conversation, the back and forth over the calling for an independent investigation -- >> peter, i hate to interrupt. we have this earthquake situation. mayor adams has started briefing. stand by. we will return to this. >> 50 miles from new york city.

as you notice, it's a developing situation. you are concerned about aftershocks after an earthquake. new yorkers should go about their normal day. first responders are working to make sure the city is safe. one thing we do so well in our city is bring together all of the agencies that are involved and our partners and other entities, everything from mta to the department of buildings, the parents who are concerned about their schoolchildren, chancellor banks will by here to report on that. we say over and over again, the safest place for our students, we believe, will continue to be in school. at this point, we do not have any reports of major impacts to our infrastructure or injuries. of course, we are still assessing the situation. we will continue to update the public. we are in touch with the white house, governor's office and

local elected officials. i encourage new yorkers to check on their loved ones to make sure that they are fine, not only from the infrastructure damage but this could be a traumatic moment for individuals going through an earthquake. if you feel an aftershock, drop to the floor, cover your head and neck and take cover under a solid piece of furniture next to an interior wall or any doorway. i want to thank the emergency staff and first responders for their work to keep new yorkers safe. earthquakes don't happen every day in new york. this can be extremely traumatic. the number of texts, calls, and inquiries that people sent out to not only our administration but to family members checking on them, we know how this can impact you. we are ready for the unexpected. this is new york city. we respond accordingly. we will continue to update new

yorkers as we get more information. i would now turn it over to commissioner iskal. >> thank you, sir. thank you all so much for being here today. thank you, mr. mayor, my colleagues for their quick and speedy response. i'm pleased to -- >> we have the headlines from mayor adams and good advice about what to do if you feel an aftershock here in new york city. peter, i was interrupting you. then we will bring hala in. >> reporter: to pick up where we were, i think the key takeaway, as you heard from blinken today, calling for a transparent investigation. our understanding from john kirby who has been speaking to reporters, including our team listening, as we are having this conversation, is that blinken was in the comments referring to this report, to this investigation completed by israel and released today, that

he was not calling for some broader further independent investigation. the white house to this point reserved judgment whether there would be any further call for something of that kind. the biggest takeaway from yesterday's conversation really relates to this call for an immediate cease-fire with a hostage deal. effectively, the president trying to pressure netanyahu to get to yes, as john kirby described it, to accept a deal with hamas without all the wrangling over what the ratio of palestinians turned over to hamas would be versus the israeli hostages coming home. just to get to yes to allow for a cease-fire that would allow for aid and the humanitarian crisis to be dealt with. that's what the white house will watch closely. >> hala, there are indications now that netanyahu will ease off on some of the red tape, the new

crossings, truckloads will get through and aid groups will be given guidelines to be secure about sending convoys in. >> reporter: yeah. we know so many aid organizations have suspended operations saying it's too dangerous. what blinken said is very much the feeling here, which is we will believe it when we see it. you will remember a few weeks ago, israel promised to flood the northern part of gaza with aid. that did not happen. border crossings are closed. the promises that it will open, that's been closed since october 7th. if that is the case, it will allow for this land route to bring in desperately needed aid. the reason that the world central kitchen was using the sea route was because the land routes have been blocked or have not been allowing in the number of trucks needed from the south or from the other crossings.

there's a near famine situation developing in gaza, especially in the north. it will be a question of whether or not there is a deep chasm. we will see if the erez crossing is opened that will bring in aid to people in the northern part of the gaza strip that have suffered so much. >> thanks so much. apologies for the interruption. it's a pretty busy day around here. especially in the earthquake zone area. joining us, ben rhodes. thanks for waiting. thanks for being with us. are we reaching a tipping point here in our relations with israel? do you think that critical mass

is developing, potentially in the senate as well as among some house members on aid to israel, given that as you would know and as a lot of other people might not know, jose andres is very well-known here in washington, knows all these members of congress, has been here for years before he was on the national -- before he was on the international stage. people go to his restaurants. this feels like a local tragedy as well as a global tragedy to a lot of people on capitol hill. >> yeah. it certainly feels like we are approaching some kind of tipping point. we have been moving in this direction for a long time. this is the most right wing government in israel's history. this is netanyahu who is not listening to successive american presidents. this is a military operation that has caused the humanitarian catastrophe that hasn't factored in the ability to get assistance in to people facing famine-like

conditions, that doesn't have a plan for how it comes to a conclusion. there's no plan for how gaza will be administered, what's going to happen to the 2 million people there. there are substantive differences between the u.s. and most of israel's traditional allies and the netanyahu government about whether a military operation goes forward in rafah, about the blockage of assistance. when you have an event like this, a glaring, tragic event, it encapsulates a lot of the concerns. why could there be a military strike against clearly marked civilian aid vehicles that had deconflicted with the idf? you could simply drive aid trucks across the crossings if israel would open them up. the strike both hit home in terms of how much people are familiar with jose andres and his organization and the strike illuminated what people have been concerned about for weeks if not months in a lot of cases in the united states congress.

>> the president has been really holding out against conditioning. now they say they are considering it. others in his team and the state department, even in the white house and perhaps even the first lady, judging from the comments they permitted to be made public, wanted some change in the policy. the president could have been the last holdout at the top of the government and of course, the most important one in terms of changing the policy. >> yeah. it feels that way. he wanted to take this approach where you embrace israel and its objectives but try to council it. the gulf on this military operation has been getting wider and wider and wider. we have seen now for weeks voices of concern, voices of outrage, voices of demands for israel to do this or that with respect to aid or with respect to moving to a cease-fire.

netanyahu does not listen to the words of u.s. presidents and politicians, particularly when he is focused on keeping control of his far right government. the people that he needs to stay in power in his view are people in his coalition, that includes some pretty far right people. we are in a situation where the real leverage the u.s. has is the military assistance that israel is using to conduct this military operation. if you really do have these concerns and want to see change, you need to use leverage. it's the military assistance. it's also voting for a cease-fire at the u.n. security council. it's -- there have been steps like sanctions on some of the settler leaders who have been engaged in violence notice west bank. president biden has been reluctant and remains somewhat reluctant to use those or signal he is considering those. he is facing a lot of pressure from within his own party but also from around the world. i'm sure that a lot of world

leaders are calling and saying, you are the one with the influence here because you provide so much military assistance to israel. we can't have a famine take place before our eyes in gaza. >> the difficult situation has been -- it was articulated by richard haas and others, american jews who have supported israel who say you can be supportive of israel -- the president was trying to say to netanyahu, don't say i don't love israel. you can do that and still be critical of the way this government -- this right wing government under netanyahu is conducting the war. the trigger point could be for conditioning aid to the president could be rafah. we understand from our reporting that israel is not ready to go in with a ground invasion yet. if they were to do that against the u.s., i think that that would be a big change. one other thing, there's so much in the pipeline with israel, so much had been approved by congress that 2,000-pound bombs

were approved on the day of the strike. they had been long approved by congress, by the state department. it was just announced that day. all of the aid will continue to flow. may 8th is the date for the new law where the u.s. will have to certify for all countries that get u.s. weapons that they are using those weapons appropriately, according to u.s. law. right? >> yeah. there are existing restrictions. if the u.s. makes a determination that certain assistance is being used in ways that are contrary to interest -- international law or if they aren't allowing in civilian aid, the president can make a determination to withhold that assistance. those were not envisioned to be dropped on civilian areas. they are made to get at deep underground bunkers. the way there which the weapons are being used is not consistent with u.s. law or the way in which u.s. policymakers

envisioned it to begin with. to your point, i think there's an argument that can be made that this is not good for israel. this military operation is isolating israel to a point that i can't remember in recent decades, frankly. it's not achieving the military objective of freeing the hostages. you don't free hostages by dropping bombs. it's not clear it's achieving the objective of destroying hamas. it's turning the palestinian public further and further away from any desire to want to negotiate a peaceful resolution with israel. i think you can frame an argument here that if your concern is the security and well-being of israel, supporting this military operation by this government is not the way to do that. >> i understand that point, ben. to your earlier point, there was -- at least one 2,000-pound

bomb used, according to my sources, in the first weeks of the war on that refugee camp, which is what began to turn world opinion against israel, despite the horrors that israel experienced from hamas on october 7th. that was counterproductive to israel's position. we will have to leave it there. ben rhodes, thank you very much. appreciate it. >> thanks. the booming jobs report next. another big monthly jobs number, really big one. raising questions about whether that would delay rate cuts to come from the federal reserve. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. s msnbc. to severe plaque psoriasis or active psoriatic arthritis, symptoms can sometimes take you out of the moment. now there's skyrizi, so you can show up with clearer skin... ...and show it off. ♪ nothing is everything ♪ with skyrizi, you could take each step with 90% clearer skin.

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report does complicate the decision about when and where and how much to cut interest rates. here with us now is an expert, the former chief economist on president george h.w. bush's cabinet. you have had so many titles. >> can't keep a job. >> other people are keeping a job, because the unemployment rate is down to 3.8. your overall read on the jobs report? >> this is a very strong jobs report. it's got the big top line numbers on 350,000 jobs, unemployment rate 3.8. the thing most reassuring is for the first time in months, the survey of households, where we get the unemployment rate, and the survey of employers, where we get the jobs, match. we have been seeing job losses in the household survey and gains in the employer. it didn't add up. this is a clean report. that's good.

>> we were talking off camera, there was what may be -- you said -- >> in every report, you can find something. in this one, the unemployment rate for african americans went up by half a percentage point. why? everything else is going one way. it goes the other. probably get fixed next month. this is why this has been the hardest economy to track and to read in my career. we get a report like this out of left field. okay. that's great. then you get something else and it doesn't match. you are trying to piece together the direction of the economy, which is clearly remaining solid. for how long? that's where it feeds into the fed. how long and how fast can this economy go with rates where they are? when do they need to back off? >> would your instinct be to err on the side of waiting? it's an election year. they will be criticized no matter what they do. waiting to avoid moving too quickly?

>> my instincts would be that. when the fed launched this tightening cycle, they harkened back to the late '80s. they said the mistake then was easing prematurely. we won't make that mistake. they set up a bias to do too much as opposed to too little. >> talk again about how this ever gets translated to the kitchen table. for a long time, inflation was sticky, core inflation was staying tough. >> it still is. >> people just are not feeling it. it's a political year. is it a communications problem? is this just -- >> i think it's a reality. for two full years, inflation badly outstripped wage increases. people went to work and got further behind. those years were back a year,

but they haven't recovered from that. they would like for things to get better and quicker. everyone likes things to happen faster. the translation comes when paychecks are coming in a little richer and the costs aren't so high. that's why i thought this was a reassuring report. one thing we saw in january and february was a real decline in the pace at which people's disposable income rose. the consumer has been carrying this economy. if they run out of cash, it's a problem. this is a solid report that says people will get paychecks. there will be jobs, hours, and they will be paid. >> thank you for the good news, as always. >> thank you. >> appreciate it. the president is going to head to baltimore for an aerial view of the collapses bridge. he has been tied up on some calls about the earthquake. he is leaving later than expected. he will learn more about the billions of dollars needed to replace that bridge. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. msnbc.

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president biden spoke to phil murphy minutes ago about the earthquake before flying to baltimore for an aerial view of the collapse of the bridge. he will by briefed on cleanup and recovery efforts there and what it's going to cost. the port of baltimore shipping channel is expected to be partially reopened by the end of the month. the president is going to meet

with family members of the six victims of the tragedy. that will be private, of course. joining us from baltimore, aaron gilcrist. seeing it, seeing it from the air and also from the ground, as whatever he will see there, and meeting the families, is very important for him. >> reporter: it really is. i can tell you that the press will have three parts to this visit today. the first is the flyover you mentioned. he will see the wreckage of the key bridge and the ship that's beneath parts of the bridge for himself from above. i can tell you having been out on the water with the coast guard earlier this week, getting within just a few dozen yards of this wreckage site, it's surreal to see up close, to see these pieces of the bridge that are now sort of intertwined with these containers that are on the

ship there and then the pieces of the bridge and the roadway that are in the water and on the water, it seems, as you are up close. the president will see that to get an operational update from the army corps of engineers and coast guard leading this operation for the last week and a half or so. the last part of the day will be to meet with the families of the men who died working on that bridge last tuesday when it collapsed. we know there are still four men who are unaccounted for. we believe we have seen family members coming to this area where we are today. this will be the president's opportunity to let them know that the federal government along with the state and local governments are working to clear this site so that those bodies can be recovered and the families can get closure after a horrible tragedy. >> whatever benefits they can get as well. you just know that these are the people who work in the middle of the night and they comefrom other countries.

they probably don't have the resources to sustain this tragedy. we hope they can get help from the government. aaron gilchrist, thank you very much. how legal experts are reading the trump appointee's latest ruling, the judge in the classified documents case. ing, t classified documents case.

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between jack smith and the florida federal judge overseeing the classified documents case against donald trump. while rejecting trump's bid to have the case tossed out under the presidential records act, she refused to issue a final ruling on what most lawyers say is an irrelevant law. leaving that open, the potential she would rule, to acquit him under that law, that would prevent the special prosecutor from filing an appeal, and the case could be over. the prosecutor will have to decide what to do, whether to file a petition for the 11th circuit court to intervene at the risk of being turned down, and permanently alienating the judge, who has been criticized for repeatedly siding with the trump lawyers and delaying the start of the trial to the point it's now much less likely that it will take place this year before the election. joining me now is former u.s.

attorney paul charlton. you know the background better than i do. now, what are the options? if you were jack smith and not paul charlton, would you go directly to the 11th circuit? would you file to order her do this? would you file what professor tribe told us last night was a motion for eliminate? what does that all mean? >> let me start first with professor tribe's suggestion, which is the better of less than perfect options available. it's just a lawyer's way of saying, a motion before the trial starts, a motion at the beginning. here what jack smith could do, what the special prosecutor's office could do is we want clarification. we want to you make a decision

now. does the presidential records act, which as you point out most legal scholars and certainly jack smith himself say has absolutely nothing to do with the unlawful possession of classified documents, jack smith would say, judge, make a ruling now. do you think the presidential records act applies or do you not think it applies? we need to get in front of the 11th circuit court of appeals to get a decision from them. if you don't make that decision now and you hold on -- if you don't give us that decision until after the jury is selected, until after we make our arguments, that's the end of the case, because we will lose. jack smith was very clear about this. jack smith said, we will lose. you are prejudicing the prosecution, because you are giving the defense an opportunity to argue a law that doesn't apply here. the jury will be compelled to find former president trump not guilty. that seems to me in a series of options, this motion, the best

option. judge cannon made it clear so far that she thinks in some way this defense applies. she would likely rule that that defense applies, and then jack smith could take it up on appeal. as you know, all of this is still a victory for former president trump if he can continue to delay this trial. as you pointed out, it seems very, very unlikely that we will have a trial before the november election. >> on each of these instances, instead of just asking for a brief, she's asking for hearings. that further delays. she's scheduling hearings. in many cases, some of the lawyers say that's unnecessary, the lawyers in jack smith's office. in terms of doing something with the 11th circuit, you are practicing -- you are familiar with the circuit down there. it's considered a fairly conservative circuit. yet they have twice overruled her. if jack smith does do something

with the 11th circuit and try to pre-empt her, go around her, is there a risk that he would draw three judges who were of the pro-trump stripe or who would be more inclined to rule with the defense here? >> there's always a risk that when you take any issue up on appeal you could lose. as you recall, prior panels -- these judges are selected at random from a large number of judges in the 11th circuit. prior panels included former president trump appointees. they ruled judge cannon had previously gotten it wrong. this issue seems to be, from the majority of scholars who looked at this, so clearcut that the risk of an appeal and losing that appeal for jack smith seems slight. where the victory comes in for former president trump is the delay. >> delay, delay, delay, it's a great legal strategy. it's been working well for him. >> so far.

>> paul charlton, thank you very much. is there hope for the hostages? lester holt's extraordinary conversation, an exclusive visit with these families desperate to bring their loved ones home. it's six months since they have been held on october 7th. in that massacre. a congressman joins us back from qatar meeting with officials there who are trying to negotiate the release. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. rgettable sceh viking. unpack once and get closer to iconic landmarks, local life and cultural treasures. because when you experience europe on a viking longship, you'll spend less time getting there and more time being there. viking. exploring the world in comfort. liberty mutual customized my car insurance and i saved hundreds. that's great.

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this weekend marks six months since the october 7th hamas attack on israel killing 1,200 people and taking 240 people hostage. 182 days later, roughly 100 are still being held captive. in a new interview with lester holt, the families of american hostages are calling for an end to the war and demanding that prime minister benjamin netanyahu broker a deal to bring their loved ones home. >> this deal needs to be done, and it can be done, but it's going to take some real strong leaders. it's going to take powerful leadership, and it's going to take brave leadership, and for myself and i hope that for everybody here where we are now is that prime minister netanyahu, he needs to be that brave leader. he needs to be that powerful strong leader, and he needs to make it clear, he's been talking for many months about how important hostage release is, we don't have any more time for talking. >> are the israeli army actions

in gaza right now complicating any effort to get your loved ones home? >> the pressure on israel to stop the fight and provide cease fire and humanitarian support to gaza is obviously increasing. yet, hamas, isis can stop everything by releasing the hostages and putting down their weapons. so we got to remember who are the bad guys here. yes, israel has made a terrible mistake with those, you know, food aid workers. it apologized, and during war mistake happen, but the bad guys can release the hostages, can put down their weapons, and release not only the israeli hostages but their own people. >> and you can see a lot more of

lester's conversation with the hostage families tonight on nbc "nightly news." and joining me now is new jersey congressman and member of the house intelligence committee, democrat josh gottheimer who is just back from a trip to qatar in egypt where he is meeting with senior officials who have been negotiating for the hostage release to bring them home and for a cease fire. welcome home, and thank you very much. first of all, you represent north jersey. i think you were traveling this morning, but did you feel that earthquake that hit new jersey communitys? >> i just landed. i was in my car. i didn't feel it but i was on the phone with my wife who definitely felt it. she said the house is shaking. the good news so far everyone's okay but not something we usually experience in jersey. >> that's for sure. other things happen in jersey that shake things up. >> other earthquakes but not that earthquake. >> so congressman, the white house telling us that president

biden urged prime minister netanyahu to get negotiating on that deal, that the cia director bill burns is heading back to cairo this weekend to get to yes. you know, we know from reporting that they're pretty close. hamas obviously has the hostages. they could do it like that. but in these talks there have been obstacles on both sides and that hamas did come back with an offer, and now they've got to decide on the proportion, for instance, of how many palestinians and which palestinians for which hostages. what are you hearing from your trip to egypt and to qatar? >> i met with lead negotiators from the qataris and the egyptians, an incredibly eye-opening last couple of days, you know, and very informative just in trying to understand exactly where things are. you know, as you just pointed out, you know, there are sticking points on both sides, but both sides are working around the clock, including with

the qataris, egyptians, and of course our team and burns who's doing a phenomenal job, director burns. so you know, they move a little bit. they take a couple of steps back. i was at my meeting last night in egypt. they left multiple times. the officials i was meeting with who were involved in the negotiations left multiple times for updates. so i think everyone's working around the clock to make this happen, but you know, there's still some sticking points clearly. you raised a couple of them. there are some other issues, you know, it's incredibly challenging, and both sides have to want to make it happen, right? and that's the key. and realize that we can't wait any longer to get the hostages released to make sure that we get more humanitarian aid into gaza, which is urgently needed, and to make sure that hamas, frankly is significantly diminished and stops firing

rockets as the interviewer just said. they're still firing into israel. so you know, the war continues. we need to get both sides of the table to actually be willing to take the next step and compromise. >> we don't have much time left, but in the past you've opposed conditioning military aid. has your position shifted at all? >> no, i don't think conditioning aid does anything at this point except weaken israel's hand in the negotiations with hamas and striking hamas, right? i think what's needed here is both sides to actually take the next step and to get this necessary pause in effect, get hostages out, and of course get more aid in. i think we know what has to happen. i don't think coming up with new conditions is the answer. i think the only answer is getting to this temporary pause, getting hostages home including e dan alexander who lives in my district in northern new jersey and his family i met with before

i left on my trip. >> our hearts are with them, all of the families, and we've met with so many of them. and thanks very much for all the efforts that you are undertaking, josh gottheimer. >> thank you so much. thanks for having me. turning to a landmark weekend. starting tonight in women's college basketball. cleveland is going to be the center of the sports world hosting the women's final four in what has been a record breaking champion tournament season so far. tv ratings topping for iowa's playoff against lsu 13 million people plus, surpassing the viewership for all baseball games except the world series and the nba as well. so first up, cinderella team nc state taking on a juggernaut, the undefeated south carolina gamecocks, and after that, two of the biggest stars ever to grace the college game, iowa's caitlin clark going toe to toe with uconn's paige bu kerrs in what could be one of the most memorable matchups in the history of the women's tournament.

get your dvrs ready and enjoy it all, enjoy the weekend. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow us on social media @mitchellreports. you can watch highlights on youtube. just go to msnbc.com/andrea. monday my friend katy tur hosting special coverage of the total eclipse 2:00 eastern right here on msnbc. "chris jansing reports" starts right now. good day i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. it should never have happened. the words of the idf as they announce the firing of two officers involved in the deaths of aid workers in gaza blaming their actions on a string of errors but that likely won't be the last word. secretary of state antony blinken today joining world central kitchen in calling for an independent investigation. plus, did you feel it too? that's