ongoing. virginia fox, the chairwoman, said this won't be the last meeting to hold the college presidents accountable. >> julie tsirkin, thank you very much. before we go, some good news. the best news. one of our producers, kelly betts is back to work more than a year after she was diagnosed with cancer and had to take leave to focus on getting better. in february of 2023, she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. kelly is in remission. her fight is not over. we will be supporting her every step to recovery. kelly, welcome back. you are an inspiration. we couldn't be more grateful that you are okay and back with us. someone who never, ever lost

that smile. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. you can reach me on social media. you can watch clips from our show. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. she will be joined by nancy pelosi to talk about u.s. aid for israel and ukraine and much more. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," former president trump railing against his trial on social media as seven jurors have been chosen of the 12 needed, plus six alternates, as the judge says opening statements may begin as soon as monday. president biden is going on the attack against president trump -- former president trump in pennsylvania. in pittsburgh today, about to meet with steel workers. speaker mike johnson battling to save his job from threats by far right house members as billions of dollars for ukraine hang in the balance. nancy pelosi on what's at stake.

israel's war cabinet deciding to retaliate against iran but divided over how. i will speak to jordan's top diplomat about the role his country is playing. ♪♪ good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. opening statements in the first criminal trial against donald trump could start as soon as monday. the first seven new yorkers to sit in judgment of the former president have now been selected. that's more than a third of the number needed to fill the 12 jury seats and the six alternates, plus it puts the court ahead of schedule. the former president lashing out against the judge, accusing him of rushing the process. >> we think we have a very conflicted, highly conflicted judge who shouldn't be on the case. he is rushing this trial. he is doing as much as he can for the democrats. this is a biden-inspired witch hunt. it should end. >> earlier in the day, judge

merchan dressed down the former president. the judge warning, quote -- the juror was eventually excused. the trial is not in session today. the judge has not scheduled court for wednesdays and a few holidays. he is complaining on social media about the new york -- former president trump is complaining on social media about the new york state law limiting challenges to remove perspective jurors to ten. each side has four left. let's begin with vaughn hillyard, who has been covering the trial, philip rucker, and former federal prosecutor and

georgetown law professor paul butler. >> reporter: donald trump making the case he wanted to have unlimited challenges, be able to nix any individual from the jury pool that he wants. that's not the reality at play. right now, he has stared down seven individuals who are going to hold the fate of him criminally on these 34 felony counts. he had the chance to stare them down. they have been sworn in. if you look at the makeup of this jury pool, four men, three women. two attorneys, a salesman, an oncology nurse, an i.t. consultant, a teacher, a software engineer. the trial will commence again on thursday. we are going to see over the course of the six to eight-week trial wednesdays off. you are looking at video a few moments ago. we saw donald trump leave trump tower. we do not know where he headed

off to. his campaign team has not gotten back to us with details. at this point in time, the president of poland is in new york city. it is suggested on twitter that he intended to meet with former president trump while here visiting the city. of course, poland, a major outlie of ukraine and the united states. we could expect the president of poland to try to win over and try to use this opportunity to make the case to donald trump to support u.s. aid to ukraine because we saw just one week ago david cameron, british foreign diplomat make the same case to donald trump here with the acknowledgement that we are six months away from the general election. while donald trump is in the middle of a criminal proceeding, they are realizing they should engage with somebody who could be the next president of the united states. >> and paul butler, there were seven jurors selected in a day and a half. the first half day was taken up

with pretrial motions. it's one full court day for seven jurors. he thinks he is going to finish this week and start on monday with opening statements. that's faster than we thought. >> it's really quick. it's the judge gets credit. he runs an ordinarily courtroom with a very efficient jury selection process. he looks at the 42 questions and the answers from the perspective jurors. excludes people who he thinks can't be fair. each lawyer gets five minutes with each juror. they have to make a decision. at this rate, we could have a jury by early next week. >> mr. trump was complaining about the number of challenges where other than for race or gender or other inappropriate reasons they can excuse them. that's the case in new york state law for this kind of charge. he is complaining it's not enough. he is complaining against the rules. is it unusual -- they are down to four, each of them.

>> each side gets ten occasions where they can strike a juror for any reason. sometimes it's just a vibe that a lawyer gets from a juror. she doesn't like me. sometimes it's a reason that you think that they can't be fair but the judge doesn't agree with you. >> let me interrupt you. president biden is talking at the airport, i believe, in pittsburgh. let's listen. >> when d-day occurred, the next day, on monday all four of my mother's brothers went down and volunteered to join the military. four of them -- three of them made it. one was -- couldn't go. ambrose finnigan was shot down. he volunteered if someone

couldn't make it. got shot down in an area where there were a lot of cannibals. they never recovered his body. the government went back and they check and found parts of the plane. what i was thinking about when i was standing there was, when trump refused to go to the memorial for veterans in paris. he said they are a bunch of suckers and losers. to me, that is such a disqualifying assertion made by a president. suckers and losers. guys who saved civilization, suckers and losers. i wanted to go. it's a tradition in my family that my grandfather started. you visit a gravesite of a family member, but you say three

hail marys. that's what i was doing at the site. my uncle, ambrose, uncle bozie, was a hell of a guy. i never met him. i just wanted to see where he was memorialized. >> what do you think about the separate bills for ukraine and israel aid? are you confident it's going to get through? >> i'm getting briefed on it when i get on the plane. i was talking to my staff. >> thanks, everybody. >> your reaction to the trump trial? >> thanks, everybody. >> let me recap what we were listening to. the president made an unscheduled stop at a war memorial in scranton on his way to the airport. he is boarding air force i to go to pittsburgh. he was in scranton. he campaigned there last night with an extraordinarily strong

speech, unusually strong speech, naming donald trump and really going after him on his record in a very specific way in battleground pennsylvania, which we know is so determiative in the 2016 campaign in which joe biden won over donald trump in 2020. he was talking about seeing his uncle's name on the war memorial, an uncle he had never known, on the world war ii memorial. he linked that and the feelings he had stopping at a war memorial, he linked that to then going on and criticizing donald trump for in paris on an official visit, not on a very rainy day wanting to go to a memorial where american troops had been buried. we interrupted paul butler. i want to bring phil rucker in who covered the campaign in 2020 and wrote two books about that and the trump presidency. i'm suggesting here that first

of all, we saw the personal attacks on trump's record last night in scranton. that important pennsylvania state where he visited more than any other state. it's not just close by. also, the fact he is going to pittsburgh now, going to see the steel workers, talk about tax cuts for the rich, talk about going after china on chinese steel exports that hurt american steel workers. a part of pennsylvania that went very heavily for trump in the past. certainly in 2016. also talking about what trump -- what donald trump did in paris, which was criticized at the time when he was president, not visiting the american cemetery. all of that, phil, shows that they are ramping up this campaign. >> absolutely, andrea. i think this is a very deliberate contrast that president biden is trying to draw with former president

trump, both talking about the reverence he shows for veterans, people who served in the military. his son, who passed away, did serve in the military. biden having gone to that cemetery in scranton earlier today pointing out there that when trump was in paris, was in france and was set to go to the world war ii memorial on that rainy day, he didn't want to go. he pulled out of that effort. his then chief of staff, john kelly himself a decorated military leader, made that trip to the cemetery in paris. trump famously did not go. he also referenced trump having called disabled veterans suckers and losers and some of the comments that he made as president about people who served in the military. then the contrast that biden is trying to draw when he gets to pittsburgh and talks to the steel workers is a connection to blue collar workers at a time when trump is standing trial

over his hush money payment. >> vaughn and phil and paul, thanks to all of you. the other thing the president said, that you could hear, is that on the plane he will study the latest propoals from the house speaker on separating ukraine and israeli aid -- military aid and the approach the speaker is about to take, under threat of being taken down by house republicans and whether democrats will now signal that they will be supporting that. we will talk to nancy pelosi about all of that as well as to congressman kelly armstrong from north dakota, republican. first, we will take a quick break and reset. we will be back in 60 seconds. stay with us. you are watching msnbc. watchingc it caused. but even after all these years, restoration is still possible.

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is planning a rare saturday vote. saturday night to try to pass separate bills on long-delayed critical aid for ukraine and israel, despite a threat by two far right republicans to try to oust him from office if he does. last night, johnson met with members of the house republican conference. some of those members voiced opposition to the strategy to pass those critical foreign aid bills, which have been sitting -- the foreign aid has been sitting on the shelf for six months now, passed by the senate. of course, ukraine has been desperately needing those weapons. he says he will release the text of the bills soon. he missed several deadlines to reveal the specific provisions if they will be passed before congress takes another recess. now we know it's around saturday night. house republicans are moving ahead with their plan to impeach homeland security second mayorkas for differences over border policies. critics say it doesn't meet the legal standard for impeachment. next hour, all senators will be sworn in as jurors for the

mayorkas trial, with democrats in charge of the senate could end as quickly as it begins. joining me now, republican congressman kelly armstrong. thank you very much for being with us. we appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. >> tell me about the impeachment vote. is it frustrating that they don't -- there are not two-thirds of the votes in the senate to convict secretary mayorkas. it would be the first conviction of a cabinet member in american history. a former impeachment vote led to the -- >> yeah. i think this is the first cabinet secretary in 100 years has been so derelict that we are having the issues from the southern border reach north dakota. i don't particularly worry about that. i dealt with all of this when i was on judiciary on this side.

the house has done its job. we have given it to the senate. a lot of my colleagues on the senate side would like a robust debate and have this continue to move forward. once we hand something over, then it's the senators' duty to take it up. my two senators from south dakota would like to have debate on this issue. we will see what happens. >> moving on, i want to ask you about what the speaker has announced today, that there will be a saturday vote on separate votes but one rule for the package, but separate votes on ukraine, on israel, and on republican priorities. do you support that? are you supporting massey and marjorie taylor greene in the efforts to take him down? clearly, he will need democratic votes to get those passed. >> i do not support removing mike as speaker. i think he has the hardest job in politics. i had the opportunity to come into congress and serve with

mike. i think he has an incredibly tough job. he is doing it well. he made a call. the first question is whether they can get the rule on a committee. second question is whether the rule gets on the floor. it does give every member an opportunity to vote on each of those issues. i think particularly with ukraine aid, the text that we see today will be really important. there are varying views amongst our conference. i think on both sides of the aisle about what that looks like. we have made a play call. he will move forward with it. i disagree with the majority voting against rules in general. >> what would be your message to your colleagues massey and marjorie taylor greene and perhaps others, matt gaetz are the risk of going through another long period? it was weeks in between the ouster of kevin mccarthy and the settling on mike johnson. you know how many votes there were. with two wars going on and other

priorities, that you know you are facing, why have you decided to stand with the speaker? what would be your message to those who think that it's best to take him down? >> i'm standing with the speaker because i actually consider him a friend and i think he is trying to do the toughest job in politics. i think given all the circumstances, he is doing it admirably. my recommendation to any of my colleagues that are thinking about doing this is go back to october where we have 13 weeks where we go through all of this. now we are walking into an election cycle. we have tremendous things we can campaign on across our districts. by throwing ourselves into chaos without having any kind of real succession plan -- to be honest, i don't know who would want the job. >> i know that republicans believe that secretary mayorkas has failed at the border because of the rising numbers. there was a border bill that was approved and supported by a

bipartisan -- a large majority in the senate. it was opposition to that as well as ukraine that tanked that bill in the house for six months now. wouldn't it have been better to support that and see whether those enforcement measures and the additional money for enforcement that was in that wring by senator lankford, who is hardly a liberal, wouldn't that have been better? >> i'm not going to vote for anything that codifies all immigration cases come to the d.c. circuit court and codifies 5,000 migrants a day. we never got that in the house. the only live border bill right now is a bill resent to the senate two -- last may which was hr-2. that's been collecting dust over there. how you deal with this -- one of the functional things -- if you don't like it, fine, amend it,

change it. let's go to conference. it's the number one issue in every district across the country right now, whether it's fentanyl, whether it's illegal immigration, whether it's all of those different issues. the only live bill we have in congress right now is the bill that the house sent over to the senate last year. >> when do you think the rule will be voted on? is that tomorrow? you haven't seen the text yet, right? >> we haven't seen the text yet. i don't know when the rules will be voted on. with two-vote margins, we will try a saturday evening vote. each member has the opportunity to read it. each member has the opportunity to offer an amendment. we keep people in town while this is going on. >> congressman kelly armstrong from north dakota, thank you very much. appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. abortion in arizona. the legislature returning to phoenix amid calls to overturn the state's controversial 1864

abortion law. i will talk to a local lawmaker, a state senator at the center of the debate. nancy pelosi is coming to touch on all these big political issues of the day and importantly on that ukraine aid. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. -remember when i said we need to screen for colon cancer? -was that after i texted the age to screen was now 45? [both] because i said cologuard®! -hey there! -where did he come from? -yup, with me you can screen at home. just talk to your provider.

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once again, i have scheduled an appointment to terminate my pregnancy. i don't think people should have to justify their abortions. but i'm choosing to talk about why i made this decision, because i want us to have meaningful conversations about the reality of how the work that we do in this body impacts people in the real world. >> that was a viral moment of arizona senator eva birch surrounded by her colleagues sharing she was seeking an abortion after discovering the pregnancy she wanted was no longer viable. she passionately spoke out last week when the state supreme court reinstated a near total

abortion ban that would make the medical care she received illegal. >> i have had enough. the people of arizona have had enough. we are electing pro-choice candidates in november. watch it happen. >> she is joining us now. thank you very much. before we talk about all of that, which happened in the statehouse, i want to address your advocacy. you spoke about all of this. how difficult was that? what made you want to be so public about the most private problems a woman can have? >> thank you so much for having me here today to talk about this really critical, important issue and time in arizona history. i will say that while, of course, it's difficult to talk about private moments and it's difficult to have to share your pain so publically, it was not a

difficult decision for me to make to speak out about it. i thought it was so important to cut through some of the stigma that exists about who seeks abortion services and who the abortion patient is. i felt like the wrong people were controlling the conversation. i wanted to cut through that and to really expand the conversation and have a more honest look at what abortion care means to people in arizona and across this country. >> the state senate is reconvening today after last week's attempt to roll back the 1864 near total ban was scuttled by republicans. are you going to force a vote? are there enough republicans willing to cross party lines? >> ideally, we would see the clean repeal come out of the house. representatives hamilton had sponsored a clean repeal. it's been collecting dust over on the house since january. ideally, that would be kicked over to us from the house and we would be able to make a vote on that. the problem, of course, is that

the republican caucus is very fractured. they do not agree on what the right thing to do is right now. the people of arizona are calling for a repeal. that is the right thing to do. that's what's being asked of us. that's what we are hoping for. if we are not able to vote on a clean repeal today, then we are going to use every tool in the toolbox, the democratic caucus is ready to make motions and to do what we have to do to make sure that we get this on the floor so that the people of arizona can be heard and so we can have a vote on this very important issue. >> how complicated is it to get a referendum to repeal it on the ballot in november? >> well, i think the ballot measure that we already have in play is the right thing. i think that that's where our energies need to be focused right now. i think that we have to keep in mind is that even if that ballot measure is successful, which i think it will be, it's going to be challenged. it's going to be challenged continuously until it gets right

back to the arizona supreme court. the very people who just reinstated this ban. i think that we have to focus, yes, on a ballot initiative, but we have to be mindful we are electing pro-choice candidates in november. because we have to have a legislature that's pro-choice or else we are not going to have rights available to us in this state. it's going to continue to erode the same way it has been for decades under republican leadership in arizona. >> of course, it's a critical battleground state now in the presidential campaign as well. again, thank you. thank you for being so public and thank you for coming on today to talk about it. >> any time. thank you for having me. the third party problem next. chuck todd joining me to dig into his analysis today of the impact rfk junior could have in november and a lot more. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. but for me a strn trigger migraine attacks too.

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president biden is traveling in battleground pennsylvania today, heading to pittsburgh. democrats lost it in 2016. he is meeting with steel workers, promising new measures to protect them from chinese imports. he left scranton where moments ago we heard him take donald trump apart, to task for comments about military service members. that's the president stopping at an unscheduled stop at a war memorial in scranton. looking for the name of his uncle, an uncle he never met, comparing that sacrifice to donald trump in paris not going to the american cemetery there for world war ii veterans. that's donald trump in harlem last night. unable to campaign for the rest of the week. he was in court for eight or nine hours yesterday in his hometown of new york. joining us now is chuck todd.

you wrote today about rfk junior. we want to talk about that. there was a notable comparison with the democratic campaign stepping up. the president's speech last night went after donald trump. >> they have been doing this. this is an intentional decision. he used to be the predecessor. don't speak his name. if you say his name three times, you lose the news cycle. that was the mindset. they have taken almost the exact opposite -- >> i think it's donald trump is in trial in court and this is a great opportunity for joe biden to show contrast, but also to schedule that visit to the war memorial and bring up what happened in paris to the press corps, doesn't always stop on the tarmac. took a question. he will be reading what mike johnson is sending over in terms of ukraine on the plane and deciding how they will come down on that. they have been waffling a bit. >> he is going to normandy,

where one of the anniversaies is coming up. president biden is going there to -- started to alert folks. it's interesting. it's almost as if it was on his mind. >> it's every ten years they do it. this is his opportunity. >> it's an opportunity. >> every ten years since 1984. >> every ten years, there's fewer world war ii veterans. >> they started doing it in 1984 for a variety of presidential reasons and international reasons. i have been there at every once since. >> single best world war ii memorial. >> it's moving. let's talk about rfk junior. i've been waiting for this column, waiting for someone to point to the significant strength that he has. >> yes. it's really -- he is strong because the parties are weak. he is not strong because he is doing anything.

ironically, this is the period in the presidential primary calendar that no labels was high. they knew this moment was going to happen where the front-loaded primary calendar would deliver two nominees that nobody was excited about. there would be, isn't there somebody else? rich tile is a political researcher. he has been doing focus groups for a decade. he did obama and trump voters. then it turned into trump and biden voters. the fact that they all brought up rfk, it shows you the power of -- there are people who don't like either. they are shopping. there's got to be a third alternative. this guy with the brand name is sitting out there. luckily for the two major parties, kennedy himself is not running a serious campaign. voters want to take him more seriously. to me, it's a reflection on the weakness of the two. >> he is appealing to

progressive voters on -- >> i don't know if he is appealing. he is none of the above. do i think -- if israel is your issue, what's the difference between biden and trump? not much if you are on the side of what's going on in gaza. kennedy might be your protest vehicle. what if you are a military veteran in north carolina and you can't stomach trump, you feel like america -- what's happening in ukraine, it makes -- i think it makes a lot of us sick to our stomach. >> we will talk to nancy pelosi about that. >> we are letting -- they are running out of ammunition. >> i know. >> this is just -- america is walking away from ukraine. >> donald trump said the other day, uncorrected, donald trump said the other day without any correction or enough correction that, why should we do it when the europeans are not. they did $54 billion.

>> more than ever before. >> more than we have. >> but there's some things they can't do that only america can do. >> right now, it's air defenses and ammo. let's talk about something -- a great man who passed, that's senator bob graham of florida. 83% popularity for a democratic governor. he got elected by spending eight hours a day in different jobs every day and writing about it. >> i was lucky with good political role models. bob graham showed he is a regular person. he decided to do workdays. it was a good idea. tom harkin ended up doing it as well. he would spend a day on a job with somebody. maybe a nurse, a factory worker,

a -- >> a sanitation worker. >> he would do all of these things. he didn't do it just the first campaign. he would do it when he was going to win by 50. he would do it every year. he was a floridian first. it was -- i think that -- you want to know why he never became president? because he wasn't partisan enough. he had too many -- he was too much of an american. >> old-fashion virtues. >> he looks taller today than ever before as a statesman when you look at the mess today. >> thank you so much, chuck. >> good to see you. >> appreciate it. house rules. nancy pelosi joining me in our studio to discuss those issues and more facing the house of representatives and the current house speaker, mike johnson. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. , started disrupting my day. td felt embarrassing. i felt like disconnecting.

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visit bombas.com and get 20% off your first order. house speaker mike johnson said that he is going to permit floor votes on saturday on aid to ukraine and israel, but separate bills rather than approving the package that the senate passed six months ago. now two far right house republicans are threatening to lead an effort to oust the speaker if he does turn to democrats to pass that urgently needed aid. he will need democrats. this as president zelenskyy says they are desperate for air defenses that only the u.s. can provide, and ammunition, after attacks in northern ukraine in

recent days with russian advances and a rising death toll in ukraine. joining me now, nancy pelosi. the speaker has not released the text of the aid yet. he has not released the text yet, which could create other stumbling blocks. i'm told in my ear by my wonderful producer, he just released the text. our teams on the hill will go through that and hopefully we can get you details. that said, it's going to be separate bills. they could have done this six months ago when the senate passed it. but now is now. they lost territory. we were in munich when president zelenskyy said, we are now going to be retreating. we could lose. he has made it clear, they could lose this war to vladimir putin. what's at stake? >> what's at stake is our democracy. i want to thank you for the attention that you have paid to

ukraine. it is all the things that are going, whether in a manhattan courtroom or in gaza and the rest, so important there. the attention to ukraine has been diminished in my view in the press and our country. nothing less is at stake than our democracy. almost two years ago, i made the first trip. i brought a delegation, high-level delegation to ukraine. we thought we might die because it was very dangerous then. we saw firsthand the courage and the determination of the ukrainian people to protect their democracy. in protecting their democracy, to protect our democracy. to fight the russians. now it's two years later. right now they need distance, they need speed, they need heft in this fight. they can win it. what happened in the congress of the united states is heartbreaking. it's sad.

america -- america -- the chair -- the republican chair of the intelligence committee -- i am told the chair of the foreign affairs committee, republican chair, have said that russian propaganda has taken over the republican caucus. >> you are right. both turner and mckaul said that. totally untrue. it's spewing out from russian social media. >> it's an indication of the candidate for president of the united states. as i have always said with him, all roads lead to putin. now we have the possibility of this legislation coming forward. i think splitting it is fine as long as it's understood that it will come together when it goes to the senate. it's something the senate is consistent with what the senate has done and that the president will sign as soon as possible.

every day is a matter of life and death in ukraine, of success or failure in ukraine. it's a tragedy that it has taken this long. i'm so glad -- i won't say glad. at long last, it has happened. the ukrainians have been remarkable. the countries surrounding it have been taking in refugees, supplying humanitarian assistance and the rest. those were members of nato. they know they could be threatened should putin prevail. those who are not members of nato are scared. they made it clear to us that they have propaganda in their own country coming from russia as well. >> in fact, i was saying to chuck todd a few moments ago that one of the things donald trump just said on friday, i believe, was that no money should go for ukraine until europe does something. europe did $54 billion when this

legislation was sitting in the senate and in the house. europe did $54 billion. they don't have the weapons, the air defenses and the ammunition that zelenskyy and ukraine need. >> that's indicative of how irresponsible he has been on this, because he is pals with putin for some reason. for him to say that shows his lack of knowledge, his lack of values and quite frankly, his lack of commitment to democracy. >> another thing that he has been pushing was, again, when he met with the speaker, was this repo bill where the u.s. would unfreeze russian assets here and use that money for ukraine. ukraine needs $60 billion, if not more now. i am told that only $3 billion in total of russian assets are held under american control. most of it is in belgium and some in japan. our allies would have to come together. they may in the g7 put that on

the agenda in june. there's not more than $3 billion in total to make that part of this deal. >> even if it were twice that, you are talking not a sufficient amount. we had always thought -- many of us had said, seize the russian assets, freeze the russian assets until we can unleash it to rebuild ukraine. russian assets were for the rebuilding so they pay for the damage they caused. when we were in munich and met with the leadership there and the chancellor at the highest levels, they said that this is not a path that they really can follow. as you said, the real money isn't all this. >> just handed to me is the fact the house appropriations chair, tom cole, and the defense subcommittee chair and others --

subcommittee chairs, all co-sponsoring appropriation bills to follow up on this. they are ready to move. a good sign. >> hakeem jeffries has been instrumental in giving us leverage. i think we will be able to proceed. >> how big a threat is it for the speaker now if both congressman massey and congresswoman marjorie taylor greene try to vacate the speakership? if he has democratic votes for these aid bills and he will need democratic votes, he can't pass it without. >> we come to washington, we come to congress to do a job, not to keep a job. i think -- i wish the speaker well. if, in fact, he is going to be at risk in his job so that we can save democracy in ukraine,

that's -- any one of us would make that trade, because that's so -- >> democrats will support him and put this over the top and stop the motion to vacate? >> let's see what hakeem jeffries guides us on this. >> all the signals are that democrats will support. >> we will see. it depends. we have to see the substance. when i was coming in here, the message i -- i had the speaker's letter which said shortly. now it is released. we will see what that is. as mr. jeffries said, when we see it, then we will know if we can support it. >> you said u.s. weapon transfers to israel should be halted after the strike against the world central kitchen workers. >> i said specifically what we said is that we should not be sending those resources and the rest, the money for that until there is an investigation of how that happened. the humanitarian --

>> there's been a preliminary investigation. >> and they have an investigation. i myself think there should be an outside independent investigation. in that vein i want to depart from the subject to say i worked with bob graham so much when he was chair in the intelligence committee. i was ranking in the house. they had the majority, we did not. he was sufficient a patriotic american, a beautiful lovely family person. loved his state of florida, loved america, was a great supporter of democracy, so just as another aside. >> you're so right, we were just talking about that and how special a man he was and how we miss leadership like that in a lot of the government right now. >> and he was bipartisan. that marked his leadership as well. >> let me ask you about israel, though. >> yeah. >> do you think that there should be some conditioning of aid going forward once this package gets through given what's happened in gaza, the toll and some of the decisions

that have been made. >> those classifications of hunger and dehydration and the rest is dangerously close to famine and famine in certain parts of gaza. we have to have humanitarian assistance to gaza. now, what happened on october 7th was barbaric and horrible. horrible, again, our sympathies go out to the israeli people for what happened then, but now that we have 33,000 people killed and something we can do something about, we cannot be dropping food and dropping our bombs on gaza. we have to have the humanitarian assistance in a way that really undermines the onslaught of famine, dehydration, and starvation that is happening there. so i think that we have in the package, that the senate has, they have the assistance to israel, they have ukraine. they have taiwan and asia, and

they have humanitarian assistance for gaza and i would hope that that is in this legislation because it would be very important to pass a package that honors our values as we support our security and israel's. >> israel has said it's going to retaliate for the iranian attacks and president ray he see in tehran had new threats today. there was an extraordinary air defense operation by israel. with the help of britain, france, the u.s. importantly and even jordan, i'm going to be speaking to the deputy prime minister, he's been a great ally of israel but also a great leader in the region shortly in a matter of minutes. but what do you think israel should do, the war cabinet's meeting again today. they're divided. they've agreed they have to respond. the president has said take the win, president biden. take the win. you've proved your air superiority, your defenses and

don't go after the territory of iran. find other ways. >> the iranians are villains in the regions. we know that they support terrorist organizations, whether hamas, hezbollah and the rest of that. so the response to their 300 -- firing of 300 whatever they were, if they were drones, this and that and the other thing, that was withstood by the israelis is remarkable. but as you mentioned with the help of some of the members of the g-7. the g-7 has commended israel for its leadership in staving that off, happy to help. it has said that iran should cool it now, and they would be willing to do other things vis-a-vis iran. but they also said they are working for a cease fire in gaza and humanitarian assistance to gaza. so they blended that together. the president, we couldn't be better served than to have joe biden who knows the territory,

knows the personalities, has been a leader in bringing people together when it comes to this. >> what was your advice to prime minister netanyahu and this right wing coalition? >> i think the president has conveyed appropriateness as we go forward with this. we all want to help israel, that's been in our interests to do so. we don't want picking fights -- not picking fights, because the iranians have been totally irresponsible, but don't take their bait. don't take their bait, and we have to resolve the issue of iran in the region, in the world. israel takes -- because they had proximity, they have -- they're more in danger, but they take -- they're having a fight that is one that is global when it comes to iranian aspirations for a nuclear pow. >> speaker emerita, nancy

pelosi. >> thank you so much. and thank you for your focus on ukraine. >> thank you very much. and as we've been speaking about the tensions in the middle east, joining us now is jordan's deputy prime minister and foreign minister, thank you very much. who's in new york today. talk to me about what jordan -- how jordan now sees this picture because you are more vulnerable than almost any other of the arab neighbors. you have a large palestinian population. you've seen the devastation in gaza, and you took the step of shooting down iranian drones that were aimed towards israel. >> thank you so much. i mean, we are where we have always been trying to bring an end to this war, trying to work against deescalation, the danger of escalation is real and all of us have to work together to prevent it. we did what we have to do to

make sure that everybody understands that we will not allow iran or israel to turn jordan into a battleground. we will take any projectiles that threaten our peoples and violate our sovereignty and pose a threat to jordanians, and we made this clear to both israel and iran. i think the focus now should be where it should have been from the very, very beginning. we need end -- in gaza and the suffering it's causing and work towards an irreversible credible track towards a just and lasting peace that will ensure security for both palestinians and israelis. i think what happened over the weekend should be a wake-up call to all. the situation is too dangerous: the chances of regional explosion are real, and that has got to stop, and we've got to make sure that there's no further escalation. iran retaliated against the attack on its consulate in

damascus. i think now the pressure should be on israel not to retaliate and to focus on ending the war and creating a future of peace for its people and for the palestinians and for everyone else. >> and you saw what president raisi in iran said. israel's war cabinet said they will retaliate. what are the risks here if israel does strike territorial iran rather than a proxy? >> the risks are enormous. that could drive the whole region into war, which would be devastating to us in the region, and would have very, very serious implications for the rest of the world including the u.s. so i think the message that should be driven to all is that escalation will help no one. the only way that we can prevent this from escalating is to, again, stop the war and get back to a real plan to implement the two-state solution that will --

security for both palestinians and israelis. i have to be very unequivocal here, andrea. jordan will not be -- we're in the middle of the fire. both parties have to understand we'll do what we have to do to protect our own and prevent this escalation and also the israeli prime minister should not be allowed to drag the u.s. and other western powers into a war with iran. nor should he use this tension with iran to draw attention away from the real threat now which is the continuation of the war on gaza which has killed over 33,000 people, 13,000 children. peace, security is right for all peoples of the regions, for palestinians, for israelis. the path to this peace is not war. the path to this peace is negotiations that would deliver a solution that will fulfill the legitimate rights of the palestinians and address and guarantee the security of israel. >> hamas has so far said that

they don't even have 40 hostages to turn over in the latest deal in those categories of women, children injured, the elderly. in just the few seconds that we have left, do you think the hostage talks now are fruitless and the cease fire talks, or can they ever be revived? >> we have to all do what we can do make sure that those talks succeed because they are a way into getting us into calming down the situation which we all need. egypt, the u.s., we all are supportive of this. we have to make sure that they succeed and overcome whatever challenges and everybody, again, needs to focus on the broader picture, which is this war, this destruction, this hatred that is engulfing the whole region will benefit no one. the interest of palestinians and israelis is to get over this and start immediately on working effectively and irreversibly on a sn