Good evening and welcome to the source. We start with Breaking News here tonight, as President Biden will be going to israel on wednesday, a critical trip that comes at a critical time. The major announcement was just made by the Secretary Of StateAntony Blinken following a nearly eighthour long meeting that he had with israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu and his wartime cabinet he has recently formed. This trip is going to amount to a massive show of support for americas closest ally in the middle east. It is also going to be extremely high stakes both politically and securitywise. Secretary blinken previewed part of what will be on President Bidens agenda when he lands in the grieving nation. Hes coming here at a critical moment for israel, for the region, and for the world. The president will reaffirm the United States solidarity with israel and our ironclad commitment to its security. The president will hear from israel what it needs to defend its meme, as we continue to work with congress to meet those needs. Aides have told cnn that the president expressed a strong interest in making this trip, after he was invited over the weekend by Prime Minister netanyahu. For more on this Breaking News, i want to go to anderson cooper, who is live in tel aviv. Anderson, this is a massive development, one we knew the white house had been weighing. It will be seen as a sign of solidarity. It comes as President Biden has been warning other groups, other countries, not to take advantage of what is happening on the ground in israel right now. Yeah. I dont think you can overstate the sign of support this is for the people of israel. And thats the way its going to be interpreted here by many, many people. I was speaking to families of those who are being held hostage today and families who have lost loved ones today, and they feel very much that israel is isolated on the world stage. And Something Like this will certainly harden many people on the ground here and certainly sends a message to hezbollah, to iran, about u. S. Support. Obviously also the groups that are in the region as well and a Rapid Reaction force as well also bolster that message. Yeah, theres a lot of u. S. Fire power that is being sent there. I also want to bring in the former director of national intelligence, director james clapper. Director clapper, security is going to be a key part of this visit. Its the president s second visit to a war zone this year. We saw earlier Secretary Blinken had to go and shelter in a bunker because Air Raid Sirens were going off as he was trying to meet with the Prime Minister. How risky is a visit like this, in your eyes . Its clearly risky. Its not like going to a noncombat environment. So, there is that prospect. But, you know, the Secret Service is very professional about this, and they will figure out ways and means of minimizing personal risk to the president. And i do think that this is a powerful message, as anderson outlined. But i also think its an opportunity for the president to counsel israelis privately about temperance, as they consider a plan, an incursion into gaza. Well, director clapper, when it comes to an imminent do you think this visit could schang the timing of that . Could israel potentially delay a Ground Invasion of gaza, if they have one planned . It certainly could. The visit and as well as im still trying to sort my way through Secretary Of State blinkens announcement about safety zones or safety corridors. And i had trouble reconciling the creation of those and their operation with an invasion. Remembering what a compressed geographical area that is. So, if this it may be a good thing to delay an invasion for a while. He seemed to be talking about a plan to develop what could be a humanitarian area, a corridor, two things we have not seen established yet, anderson. Those are something we have heard from families stuck at the rafah crossing, unable to get out of gaza so far. Without a doubt. As you know the idf had told people in gaza to move to the south. Its believed several hundred thousand people have already heeded those warnings. The question is, could some sort of zone be structured there with tents, temporary shelters, food, water, access to medical care . I suppose that may be one prospect that they are looking at. That would be something that would be coming up through egypt if egypt was willing to open up that border. As you know, President Biden is also going to be meet being the president of egypt, el sisi, in jordan. So, that could be one option. If egypt is cooperative on that and if thats something that the u. S. Thinks it can put together. And anderson, as we were talking about the families of the hostages that youve been speaking with, tonight you spoke with the family of a young french israeli woman, mia shim. She is being held, we believe, in the gaza strip. She was in a video hamas releesd tonight. This is going to be something that is brought up while President Biden is there. What did you hear from her family tonight . For her family, her mother, brothers, this was the first proof of life they had had that mia is alive. They had not had any word. She was at the supernova music festival. She had gotten a call or text to her mom. I spoke to karen a short time ago about how her daughter looked to her. Listen. Shes been through pain. Shes in pain. And shes injured. She looks a bitter bit terrified, but shes alive and stable. Shes very, very strong. Thats why we all believe in our hearts that shes alive because we knew that she will never give up. I really knew it. The problem is that every time we opened the tv and i saw the numbers, it was very hard to stick to this belief. But shes a survivor. And they are hopeful today in a way that perhaps they havent been before. They at least know that she is alive. And of course im sure a visit by a u. S. President will only help bolster that hope. But director clapper, when you look at how difficult it is to get to these hostages, i mean, our reporting tonight is even obviously there are americans being held among those nearly 200 hostages that we believe hamas is holding in gaza. The u. S. Has limited intelligence on this hostage situation. How does that factor into President Bidens visit and what hes expected to potentially deliver by the end of it . Well, i dont know that the visit will have any impact. It would be wonderful if it did. But i dont think its going to have any impact on locating the hostages, which is the key piece of intelligence information you need. It sounds like an obvious point. But you cant rescue the hostages if you dont know where they are. And i suspect these hostages are underground and widely dispersed. And i also could expect theres precious little intelligence on their location. Obviously the intelligence community, both ours and israelis, will be pouring over this video for any clues, the slightest clues or suggestions as to location. I think in this regard, though, the president s visit is also a message to the families of the hostages. I think it also reinforces and underscores his commitment to freeing them. And he certainly said thats a big priority. Anderson cooper, director james clapper, thank you both for joining me tonight. Meanwhile, as hamas is releasing this first video of a hostage that it captured, which i should note, we are not sharing for obvious reasons. We are not playing that video. We just showed you mia shib. That is the young woman featured in that video. You heard from her family what that video meant to them. Families across the globe are desperate for any news about their loved ones who have been taken hostage. That includes the family of judith rannen. When they were taken by hamas. Their family tells us tonight this is a statement from them they say, we pray and hope that judith and natalie are well and healthy, kept captive together, and keep each other safe. We are people of peace. We seek the well being of all people and denounce violence of any kind to any human being. Im joined now together by judith and natalies rabbi. Thank you for being here. When you hear this Breaking News that President Biden is going to visit israel on wednesday, does it give you more hope that judith and natalie can potentially be brought home . Thank you, kaitlan. Its definitely reassuring that the United States is so supportive of israels right to defend itself and of the need to rescue all these hostages. And of course its reassuring that the president is making a special trip to israel. I want to share, if you give me a moment, a little bit about judith and natalie. We are a synagogue, a small synagogue in evanston, illinois. Judith is one of our con gre gats. She would come to our congregation every single chabad, sabbath, and hold our baby in her hands and parade around the house with this glee and joy of just being part of a Beautiful Community and part of our family. And we are devastated to be honest. Im holding right in my hand right here a prayer book that is pink because judith k. Wanted to bring a gift for my 7yearold daughter. Right before she left to israel, she dropped off this pink prayer book. And in it, she inscribed a little note that states that this is for your daughter, hannah, with love from both of us, judith and natalie. The fact that someone who lives next door to us and is a part of our community is a hostage in israel makes the devastation and the pain and the grief that all j jews around the world are feeling that much more real and brings it home in a way that is so much more a part of our life here, even though were on the other side of the world in United States. I know, rabbi, youve been talking to judith and natalies family. How are they holding up . What have you heard from them lately . You can imagine that this is beyond devastation for them. This is news that they have to process day by day. But more important than that, theyre doing everything that they can to try and bring their family members, their daughter, and daughters mother back home. And anything that they can do to get the message out, theyve requested that i help to get the message out, that the world knows that these are honest people, that these are people that are citizens of the United States, a mother and a daughter, a young woman, a young girl, who is innocent and just visiting family in israel. They went to a trip to israel for a trip to see friends and to see family and to spend the 85th birthday of natalies grandmother. This is a travesty. This is devastation. These are the pain is just unimaginable. And the family is certainly going through the hardest time of their life. Yeah. I mean, you cant even imagine what that feeling is like, especially, i mean, when were seeing videos like what were seeing released tonight by hamas. These obviously propaganda videos. We are obviously thinking of all of them and keeping all of their family in our thoughts. Please pass that on. Rabbi meir hecht. Kaitlan, if i may just share for another moment, i think it is of utmost importance that all of your viewers understand that this is a war between goodness and evil. The savage murder of young children, of babies, of burning people alive and taking hostages, innocent people to a foreign country, this is terrorism versus civilization. And when people understand what were dealing with, what were facing, i think the outrage needs to be something that every human being of moral compass should stand up and should have a forceful voice tell the world, i am here to support goodness. I am here to bring light to the world. And the foremost jewish leader of our times has made a public plea in times like this that we bring goodness and light to the world, that we ask everyone to pray. Please, open a prayer book and say a prayer that judith, natalie, and all of the hostages and all the people of israel and all those that are suffering should be safe. And i ask the jewish men put on the and jewish women, please light the chabot candles. These are the things that will bring light to the world against The Dark Skpns the evil that we are facing. And the more light that we bring, this will make a transformative difference for the world. Rabbi, thank you for that, and thank you for that message. Thank you, kaitlan. Coming up here on the source, there is more on the military response from the United States and from israel. One of the biggest obstacles for Israeli Forces in this maze of tunnels that lie beneath gaza, where Hamas Terrorists hide, plot, and move their tunnels around. What could t Tunnel Warfare potentially look like . Well tell you next. Tonight, we are learning that roughly 2,000 u. S. Troops r preparing to potentially deploy to israel. We are told they would provide medical and logistics support, but thats it. Also a Marine Rapid Force is heading to the coast. Already an Aircraft Carrier is in the Eastern Mediterranean sea with another aircraft on the way. Here to talk about this, mark hertling. Thank you for being here tonight. In addition to what we just laid out, were also learning tonight israel is striking what they say are hezbollah terrorist targets. What is your concerned about where this could be heading, big picture . It would rapidly expand, kaitlan. Thats what concerns me. Theres a lot of things going on. Israel is looking in multiple direction. They focused on gaza, but now theyre having to deal with terrorists inside of Southern Lebanon, which is a normal problem for them. That happens a lot. Theyve been fighting in Southern Lebanon for several decades actually. I mean, one of the big things that they do is just watch that area because they do have settlements there. The other thing is the west bank. Palestinians are, you know, rising up in that area, and they also have to look to syria. All of this is being well, lets just say iran is contributing to this. But the u. S. Forces going into the area, two carrier battle groups, strike groups, thats a lot of ships. Its more than just what appears op the surface of the Aircraft Carrier and destroyers and cruisers. Theres a lot more than that. The Amphibious Readiness group coming from the marine corp. Is something thats normally with the strike group. They provide a whole lot of omission capabilities. Everything from amphibious landings to helping this particular group, this special operations, capable. That all the way to noncombatant evacuation operations. We see all of that getting ready. What seems the most imminent, and thats still a question of when, is this potential Ground Invasion into gaza. Last time israel went into gaza. We saw how that went. In that, thats when they learned about the vast array of tunnels that hamas operates out of that is underneath gaza. Obviously this idea is that theyve only grown more sophisticated. You can see them here since then. How do they prepare if that . How does that factor into their plan of attack . Lets go back to 2014. In that year at operation i cant remember the name of the operation. Israel mobilized 70,000 soldiers. They have now mobilized over 300,000. During a 50day period of time in that operation, they took israel took 66 soldiers casualties, 6 civilians casualties. The palestinians took about 2,100 casualties during that period. Were way beyond that period already and they havent even started the ground operation. We see the Israeli Air Force doing significant damage in northern gaza. And thats only going to get worse, as the Ground Forces going in. As you said, the Tunnel Complexes have expanded significantly, i mean, by a lot. Theyve got more rockets. They have all kinds of antitank guided missiles. Theres indicators they have shoulder launched antiair missiles. Youre seeing hamas just garner a great many more capabilities than they had a decade ago. And theyve been practicing. Whereas israel took their eye off the ball inside of gaza. And youve seen we talked about this about the difficulty of training and other places in the middle east of how to go into caves where terrorists or terrorist groups are hiding. Are they prepared to go into this . Do they have enough intelligence and understanding of what this complex Tunnel System Underneath Gaza is going to look like . Im not going to say they dont. But knowing how difficult it is to go into tunnel and shaft complexes, i would say this is going to be really tough. Really tough. Because it takes just a couple of people to defend in a complex like this against literally hundreds. We saw that in ukraine at mariupol. This is going to be a tough operation. And they need intelligence, which right now they dont have. We saw that from the origin of the attack. Lieutenant general mark hertling, thank you as always for sharing your expertise. Pleasure. Thank you kaitlan. Absolutely. Up next tonight some 2,000 u. S. Forces have been put on notice by the pentagon to prepare to deploy potentially to israel, the rapid Marine Response force already being ordered to the region. The chaithe chair of the Foreigs Committee will weigh in with his thoughts right after this quick break. Youre probably not easily persuaded to switch mobile providers for your business. But what if we told you its possible that comcast Business Mobile can save you up to 75 a year on your wireless bill versus the big three carriers . Its true. Plus, when you buy your first line of mobile, you get a second line free. There are no Term Contracts or line activation fees. And you can bring your own device. Oh, and all on the most reliable 5g Mobile Network nationwide. Wireless that works for you. Its not just possible. Its happening. As we see the first images of any of the hostages who have been take bin hamas, a u. S. Official is telling cnn tonight that the administration has little insight into the status of american hostages that we know are also being held in gaza. And im joined now by the chairman House Foreign Affairs committee, republican congressman michael mccaw. Chairman, thank you for being here tonight. On the american hostages, americans are part of this larger group that is being held in gaza by hamas. Have you learned anything new about the americans who are being held in gaza right now . No, there are several of them. I know that i just got off the phone with the ambassador from qatar. Jordan is working on this, egypt, saudi arabia, trying to get them out, trying to negotiate with hamas to free these hostages. We know they will be used as Human Shields when the idf goes on the ground, which i would anticipate any day or so. So, what are your concerns for those hostages if that is going to be we know that hamas uses people as Human Shields. If they are still there and they have not gotten out by then, what happens to them . Its very disturbing. Ive seen some of the videos of some of the children theyve taken. Remember weve seen the videos of the toddlers in the cages. Ive seen pictures of hamas with these 2, 3yearold toddlers, holding them but knowing that theyre going to threaten israel for other conditions. They want the release of a lot of Palestinian Hamas hostages in israel. But its so sick that they use, you know, these little children as pawns in their terrorist fight. And in addition to those efforts, weve also learned tonight that the u. S. Is moving a second Aircraft Carrier that way. Cnn is also now reporting that a Marine Amphibious group is also headed towards israel. Thats a lot of u. S. Fire power near a very hot conflict. Are you concerned about direct u. S. Military involvement here . Well, of course. We dont want to see troops on the ground here. But actually what the administration is doing in this case, i fully support. And that is deterrence. I think iran needs to see this. And most importantly, hezbollah and lebanon needs to see a showing of force by the United States both in terms of the destroyer ships, the two Aircraft Carriers, and now were sending special operators to train, not boots on the ground, but to train the idf, as they go to the second phase of the military operation, which will be going door to door to liberate hostages and eliminate the terrorists. I think its important that we show that force. Well, my colleague, Orrin Liebermann over at the pentagon is also reporting that Secretary Austin is preparing for the possibility of deploying 2,000 troops to israel. We are told these would be in support roles, medical assistants, logistics. Are you okay with that move . Do you think it requires congressional approval . No. Congressional approval would only apply if we are sending groups into combat. I am very cognizant of whats going op. I had had a briefing in the Situation Room with the National Security council about this very issue and what would trigger response from the congress about a use of military force. My committee, the Foreign Affairs committee r, is a committee that is responsible for either declaring war or an auth authorized use of military force. Actually im preparing a draft of that in the event it is called upon and necessary, but most importantly supported by the american people. Its something that were all watching closely, chairman. Youre on capitol hill right now. There is still no House Speaker. Weve heard from jim jordan, they plan to potentially have a vote as soon as tomorrow. Given the fact that there is still no House Speaker, that it has gone on this long without republicans being able to coalesce around one of your colleagues and frozen the house from being able to d, including passing aid to israel, do you have confidence that republicans are going to be able to get that done this week . Well, i warned my colleagues i did at the last conference look, this is a dangerous time. The world is on fire, and our enemies are emboldened. Chairman xi talks about how democracy doesnt work. And i dont want to prove him right. The long we go like that with speaker and the chair, we cannot govern. Ive got a resolution, bipartisan, signed by 420 members of Congress Condemning hamas, supporting israel. But i cant get that passed until we have a speaker in the chair. Same thing with the israeli supplemental bill that weve been talking about that could include ukraine and indopacific and possible border. We cant get that passed unless we have a speaker in the chair. And we really cant play games anymore with fire. And i think fire is already out there. Ijordan does become the next House Speaker, do you think the house will ever be able to pass aid to ukraine again . I do. In fact, i talked to him today. I think hes amenable to a package really . The one i talked about yeah. I think the one that i talked about, he has to respect the will of the conference, right . This conference cant be controlled by eight people. And jim jordan seems to have more control over those eight than any. But i believe that there will be i was in the Situation Room with the National Security council just two days ago talking with the white house aid and abet nationalabout a Nation Security package that is going to be necessary to pass. So, every day that goes without a speaker did jim jordan make any assurances to you that he would pass aid to ukraine . He was open to the fact of raeli funding, which is t absolutely necessary. I talked to the israeli ambassador last night. They need 10 billion to sustain this war and defend israel. Chairman michael mccaul, thank you for your time tonight. Thanks, kaitlan. I appreciate it. Back to your Breaking News tonight, President Biden is going to be making an extraordinary wartime visit to israel two days from now. Were live at the white house with the Details Behind the planning for this big trip. Thats next. Tonight, President Biden is planning to make a historic wartime visit to israel on wednesday, amid concerns about a wider war happening in the region. Cnns mj lee is at the white house and joins me now. Mj, obviously this is going to be a message clearly that the president is going to be taking with him, a sign of solidarity. But this is also to send a message to the other adversaries, those who have been warning about taking advantage of whats been happening in israel in recent days. Reporter this was not a decision that was made lightly by this white house. We are told there was a lot of furious planning to ensure first and foremost that the president can make this trip in a safe and secure way. We know the president had expressed a personal interest in making this trip ever since Prime Minister netanyahu extended that invitation last weekend when the two men spoke on the phone. This is as forceful and Dramatic A Show Of Force that the u. S. Can show to israel. But kaitlan, really this is not just about showing that solidarity. It is already becoming clear that there are a number of deliverables or goals that the president clearly has in mind. First and foremost is an attempt at opening that humanitarian corridor so that aid can go into gaza, so that people that want to leave can leave. There is also the hostage situation. The president has talked about this a whole lot over the last week or so. We know there are believed to be at least a handful of american hostages in the mix. We still dont know the condition of those hostages. The president has made very clear that that is a top priority for him. And sending this message of deterrence to other actors in the region and sending the message that we dont want this war to become a wider, broader war. It is important to note that the president is going to be making a stop in jordan. And that is a space to watch very closely because one of the leaders that will be participating in that meeting egyptian president el sisi. That is the country that holds the key to making sure that humanitarian corridor can be open in gaza. Clearly a decision has been made that the president himself showing up in the region, making that physical difference, is going to make a difference in all of these scenarios. This is the second trip, as you know very well, that the president is making into an active war zone. The president visited ukraine earlier this year. Very quickly we are seeing just how overwhelmingly events abroad can overtake the president s schedule, the president s agenda just in a matter of days. Certainly not something they thought he was going to colorado today. Now hes going to israel. As President Biden is planning for this visit and the white house obvious lip has so much going into this, were learning more about what has been happening on the ground, what he is going to learn more about when hes there, the horrors of hamas attack, and the First Responders who were there racing to help the victims, as that day unfolded. Joining me now is ellie beard, the founder and president of united the largest Emergency Medical Service in israel, whose volunteers were among the first people to respond to the attack by hamas. Ellie, im so grateful youre here tonight because youre personally there, youre responding to this. Can you just, kind of, describe to me what youve been seeing . Well, im involved with life saving for the last 35 years. I started volunteering on the back of an ambulance when i was 15 years old. And my first terrorist attack, i was just a couple of days after starting volunteering, was a terrorist stabbing people in jerusalem. If you take 35 years and put them all combined together of the most horrific Terrorist Atakes and the restaurants in jerusalem, tel aviv, the bus bombings, and all the other terrible strategies that i saw all combined together, its nothing compared to what i saw in the last ten days. And the first day was the most horrific. Un unfortunately, after being part of this in the first day and my wife, who is a paramedic, and my daughters and my soninlaws were all there, rescuing people, seeing little babies chopped up to pieces, seeing how these terrorists, the Hamas Terrorists, who are so evil they just wanted to kill any jewish person no matter who they are, how old they are. And they were going from babies to their mothers to their fathers and grandparents and then shooting the pets, shooting little parrots just for fun because they were owned by jews. And i remember seeing hours later when we were able to go into places and seeing in these little kibbutzes that are all peaceful little villages, seeing a whole family just murdered and shot. And the situation, the conditions that they were in, its when i went out of there and my family and my wife went out of there, we felt like we just came out of the holocaust. Thats how we felt after one day of seeing so many horrors. Thats how our volunteers felt. Its something ill never forget. To hear you say that it felt like coming out of the holocaust is i mean, its unfathomable. And i know that one of the volunteers even, they were given one of your volunteers was given two children, two babies, whose parents had been killed in the attack. Do you know how theyre doing tonight, whos taking qcare of them now . Well, shalom is a thee row. One of my volunteers, shalom, who is a young kid hes only, like, 21 years old. And he went into the Special Forces into far aza, 60 of the population were murdered. He went in with them, putting his life in danger. We were there in the first moment while the shooting was still above our heads. T missiles were falling in the air. Shalom went in, he heard baby crying. It wasnt real. How do you hear a baby crying . Everyone is dead everywhere. These terrorists, when they murdered the mother who went out to bring some milk for her children who were starving in the shelter, the mother ran to the kitchen just to get some milk or some water for the baby to feed the baby, and the terrorists saw her, and they i dont even want to talk what they did to her and the type of condition we found her there. And the mother was murdered afterwards. And the father ran out to save his wife, who was a young lady. They just got married about two years ago. And the father was shot in his head and shot all over his body. And then shalom, when he came, hours later, maybe 16 hours later, these babies were crying for 16 hours. But because of the shooting, no one heard. And when the Israeli Special forces came into the house, trying to clear it from terrorists, they heard the babies crying. And they took these tiny little babies, six months old. They brought them out to united ha Za La Volunteers who were there. Shalom was looking at this baby that was starving, and he ran into the kitchen to get a little bottle of water to give her water. The baby was dehydrated. You could hardly feel a pulse on the baby. The baby was crying for 16 hours. He felt he told me later when i was hugging him, i said, i am so proud of you. He said, i felt like i was 1944 in europe, just saved two little jewish babies. Thats how i felt. And i cant even describe the sorrow that we feel, as volunteers. Two families of our volunteers. These two volunteers were murdered. I dont know if you realize so many people in israel know people who were either murdered or kidnapped or injured. Two volunteers of united hat za la, one is an israeli jew who was murdered right in the beginning. He went to save lives. And he was murdered by these terrorists and they shot him maybe 50 bullets in his body. And the second one was an arab volunteer of united from nazareth nazareth, you all know from the bible he was down there because he was protecting these people who are having these young kids having a fun time in this festival. And he went to volunteer to say, if someone gets hurt, if someone gets injured, he was there to help them. And when he saw the massacre happening, he ran over instead of running away, he was running to stop bleeding of these young kids, not knowing that youre talking about hundreds of the most horrific, terrible terrorists in the world, i. S. I. S. Hamas. They attacked him. He was wearing the same exact vest im wearing now with the israeli flag. Were all proud. We have jews and arabs working together in israel. 7,000 people are working together. Jews and arabs, christians, were all working, no difference. We all love each other. And he was running to save people, and they tortured him so much when they heard he was a muslim. We found him only four or five days later. And it was terrible to see his face because you couldnt recognize anything. Ellie, i cant even imagine what youve been through, what your volunteers have been through. And i just please tell them all that were thinking of them, that they are so quick to respond on that day and what theyve seen since then. Thank you. We will continue to tell your stories. Thank you for your time tonight. The war in israel right now is only adding to the pressure that you see on capitol hill, as republicans are being asked to potentially, maybe, finally settle on a new House Speaker. There is supposed to be a vote tomorrow. The question is whether or not there will be an actual House Speaker tomorrow. Jim jordan still whipping the votes. Well have the latest on capitol hill right after this. House republicans, who are without a House Speaker tonight, are hoping to potentially change that tomorrow. Jim jordan won over smart members today, who initially were not going to vote for him. But there are still several more holdouts following a closed door meeting tonight. Mister chairman, is 217 still there . I think so. Of course, jordan can only afford to lose four votes. Cnns manu raju has been doing the math on capitol hill. Manu, whats the latest on where the stands, and if jim jordan could actually become speaker jordan tomorrow . Hes still short the 217 votes needed to be elected speaker, but hes narrowing the gap considerably. Remember on friday, 55 republicans voted against him in a secret ballot election. I know yesterday, there are about 20 republicans that were ready to vote no. That is much smaller now, convincing some holdouts, making some assurances behind the scenes, particular overspending levels, defense policy, and the like. But now its much narrower. But that doesnt mean hes there yet. In fact, i spoke to several these republicans going, in some of them are still concerned about everything that happened over the last two weeks. They dont want to reward the conservative are leaders who pushed out kevin mccarthy, later sunk Thieves Scalise to replace mccarthy. And others want some clarity from jim jordan, including if he believes the 2020 election was stolen. You dont have a process where i play by the rules and these other peoples, dont get what they want, thats not america. Americans want fair play. So if anybodys trying to get my vote, the last thing you want to do is try to pressure me. Because then i close out entirely. If hes going to lead this conference during the president ial election cycle, hes going to have to be strong and say donald trump didnt win the election. Now, jordan previously has said, caitlin, that he would not go to the floor of his short 213 votes. But hes changed that approach, he told me today he will in fact do that, and the expectation is that this could go multiple ballots, something he also did not rule out, only saying that tomorrow we will elect a speaker of the house, kaitlan. We will see who that is. Manu raju, thank you for that update. Also tonight, another development out of washington, of course, the First Amendment does not allow donald trump to launch a pretrial fear campaign. That is the words of the federal judge overseeing his case over what he can say regarding that trial. More on her decision, thats next. Former President Donald Trump is a candidate, a defendant, and now under a limited gag order for the second time. Today, the federal judge who is overseeing the Election Subversion Case in washington barred him from attacking the prosecutor, jack smith, which he has done many times, the court, or potential witnesses at the risk of facing sanctions. Trump said he would appeal that order from judge tanya chutkan, not totally clear what the future of that looks like. But i should note that the former president is also using this limited gag order to fundraise tonight, something he has done repeatedly. Judge chutkan said she would assess any consequences if and when trump violates that order. We