Transcripts For CNNW CNN 20240703

Killed hundreds of innocent civilians. Officials in gaza claim it was an israeli airstrike. The Israeli Military insists it was a Misfire Rocket launched by Palestinian Militants near the hospital. Cnn geolocated this video, this is the moment of blast. This morning President Biden appearing to take israels side. Listen to the president. Deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at the hospital in gaza yesterday. And based on what i have seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you. But there is a lot of people out there who are not sure. So we have to overcome a lot of things. Shortly before President Biden landed in israel, the Israeli Military laid out evidence blaming the explosion on the Islamic Jihad militant group, including intercepted audio of hamas operatives alleged by talking about the misfired rocket. Despite israels denials, a wave of protests have erupted across the middle east. Lebanon hundreds tried to break through Security Barriers near the u. S. Embassy. Police fired tear gas and water canons to drive them away. We have team coverage. Erin burnett is live in tel aviv. The president , President Biden, has flown into an credibly volatile situation and a very different set of meetings than he expected even 24 hours ago. Reporter he was thinking he would meet with israelis and the arab countries at the center. Mahmoud abbas, King Abdullah and Abdel Fattah El sisi. Those meetings canceled. Kaitlan is with the president and had talk about what he can achieve. But it is these protests in the region that have now risen the stakes. The stakes have gone up and up and the protests are going continue even today in tunisia during the day they started last night 11 00 p. M. Eastern in beirut, amman, baghdad. We have seen them. As you say, phil, they are antiisrael, they are propalestine, and they are increasingly in some cases also antiamerican which is just proof of how closely President Biden is now tied to this. Of course, historically. Of course, always in perception. Showing up at this moment and only meeting with Prime Minister netanyahu with that great embrace, certainly adds to an image that the United States as biden says has israels back and is inextricably linked to whatever israel does next. As we are waiting on biden to speak, that is what is at stake. I know he has been in closed dor meetings, made some comments in between, where are we in his meetings right now . Reporter yeah, just to remind everyone what has transpired since President Biden got on the ground, which he has only been here a few hours, this is not a very lengthy trip for him. Right now he is still meeting with the wartime cabinet, that new cabinet formed by Prime Minister netanyahu. They are talking. One thing the president came here to find out what israels objectives are going to be in the war, if israel goes into gaza, what are their stated goals. Those were the tough questions that the white house, President Biden was going to have for his friend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while he is here on the ground. We will see what that look like. The other thing that is complicated what was already a challenging trip for this white house is that explosion at the hospital in gaza. And just to set the scene for our viewers, it had not been that long that President Biden had been here on the ground. He had greeted Prime Minister netanyahu. He had embraced him in a hug and then he came here and almost one of his first remarks was about the explosion, embraced israels key niles, said based on what he has seen, quote, it was the other team, not you. Obviously, that was a reference to Prime Minister netanyahu who was sitting next to him. We know the idf blamed a Palestinian Militant Group for this, a terrorist group. That is who they say is to blame. Of course, Authorities In Gaza have said it is the Israeli Defense forces that is to blame. That is something that israel strongly denied. President biden siding with israel in that. Now, we have asked the white house is it evidence that he saw, what made him buy into the denials. They have not yet clarified that statement. But it is an important one that he was making. Of course, netanyahu himself later dethied it. That is an undertone for the entire trip because as you noted it changed what the trip will look like. There is no follow visit to jordan. You can see a lectern behind me. President biden will be here once he finishes up with his meetings today, making remarks, and we will see what is the culmination of this historic visit of which i should note netanyahu said he is the first u. S. President to visit israel while israel was at war. Reporter all right. We are going to await that. Kaitlan is in the room and we will bring all of that to you. The blast on hospital in gaza that disrupted this trip and changed the trajectory of this story, Sparking Mass Protests across the region and raising question marks about where this goes, in jordan tear gas to disburse huge crowds near the Israeli Embassy in amman. I want to go to Clarissa Ward in ashkelon. South of here in israel. This tragic plast at the hospital in gaza, it is and his history of will show what other points come. At this moment this is an Inflection Point in this war . It is an Inflection Point. I think that the hope of President Biden and Secretary Of State Antony Blinken was that they were going to be able to announce some kind of a tangible deliverable in terms of humanitarian aid, opening up a corridor, opening up potentially humanitarian zones as blinken had talked about. There is no longer a strong sense that thats going to be imminently feasible. The fact that President Biden has had his meetings with the egyptian leader, with mahmoud abbas, the palestinian leader, and also with the jordanian king canceled means it becomes all the more challenging to see how on earth there can be any kind of consensus built around how to deal with the humanitarian catastrophe that is playing out in gaza. And as the world is kind of arguing back and forth, he said, she said, fingerpointing, i think it bears reminding our viewers that the situation there is at absolute crisis point. The hospitals are no longer functioning. We have been talking to doctors who are performing operations without anesthesia. We have been talking to aid workers, the u. N. , no water, no electricity, only enough food to potentially last four or five more days. The u. N. Says 600,000 people displaced from their homes in Northern Gaza in the last well, since friday, the announcement was made that by israelis that people in Northern Gaza should leave their homes. Meanwhile, you have seen strikes continuing in southern gaza, making it frightening for people to leave their homes because they dont feel there is anywhere where they can find refuge or respite. And i would say now we hear strikes continuing throughout the day. Very little prospect from any side on kind of budging on sitting down at the table and taking a collective deep breath and trying to Work Together to deliver something in the form of respite for the people who are trapped in there. Many foreign nationals also trapped in there, i should add. The u. S. Embassy in cairo estimates more than 250 americans have been camped out by the rafah Border Crossing for days on end trying po get out. With the situation, with the inflamed tensions, with the protests, of course, you have to take into account that for arab leaders right now it is very difficult to sit down and meet with President Biden if they cant offer some guarantee or something that they can then show to their people and say, look, see . We are fighting for the palestinians as well. So it becomes a really complex issue. A very dangerous potential Inflection Point and the risk, as always, as we have talked about many times with this conflict of this becoming a broader regional conflict, erin. Reporter yes, and clarissa is talking about the explosions. You see the smoke over gaza. And we continue to show it when we see it so everyone understands the con stoont state of Bombardment Gaza is over. Some of those americans, one of them in touch with her family whenever she can, given the power issues at a place of the u. N. Compound, sometimes once every 24 hours, saying that looking where we are right now, two days of water left. Thats the u. N. To give you a sense of the fact this isnt just a humanitarian crisis, is a humanitarian crisis that could be bigger and worse and we are hours away. Something must be done. And Clarissa Ward, thank you so much, in ashkelon. Phil, back to you. Mentioning the acute difficulty complexity on the diplomatic side of things between the president and those canceled meetings with arab leaders, accelerant to that difficulty, that complexity, obviously, the blast the hospital in gaza. Now, at this moment in time we have seen from the idf their rationale for why they were not responsible. You have seen the protests as well of people in the arab world that dont believe that. Cnn has geolocated video that shows the moment of the deadly Hospital Blast in gaza. I will pull it up here because as you can see, as this video plays, the skylights up as a large blast erupts right there on the hospital grounds. It sends a huge crowd of smoke in the air. Cnn cannot independently verify what caused the blast. We are working on that. I want to bring in cnn Military Analyst lieutenantgeneral Mark Hertling the magic wall. Whl you see that in isolation, one of the things we have heard repeatedly from officials that are pointing to the idf say no rocket could make an explosion that big. What do you see there . First, well, start off by saying, phil, i heard the Expression Fog Of War about a hundred times this morning. Aim i am not a bomb analyst. Neither are you. What you see is a very large fiery explosion. Thats not usually something that comes with a Gguided Bomb M an aircraft. What it seems to be and this is just really conjecture on my part, is a rocket that still has fuel onboard. Thats the indicator. The Fuel Propellent that pushes a rocket forward. When it hit the ground, the rocket exploded like they always do when they hit, but there was a lot of fuel in the rocket, too, because it had fallen out of the sky. So you see a very large blast, a fiery blast in a parking lot. To this point and this is one of the pieces of information that we have heard from idf officials in their view or their the evidence they are presenting, which the president , President Biden, seems to agree with at this point, and that is what you are saying the trajectory, right, what they are showing based on their radar footage, these are Rocket Launches or rocket strikes headed towards israel and this is where the hospital was. So the idea this was a malfunction of some sort, how often does that happen . Is that something that happens with the kind of rockets that hamas has or the jihad union has, yes, it happens a lot. They are shipped primarily from iran. They are not good rockets. They are four different types. They go different distances. There are a lot of rocket failures. Israel has said they have seen a lot of rocket failures, over 400 so far. So when you see one fall out of the sky like that, its because the engine cuts off. They are not precision rockets. They are fired out of the back of literally a box. So in this particular one you see a series of rockets coming out of a point of origin. Thats where the rockets allegedly were fired from. There are six or seven lines. That means they are going in different trajectories. This is right over the hospital and there is another film of a rocket going up, the engine cutting off and seconds later you see that explosion on the ground that you just showed. The other issue, and this is one that i have been that struck me, because you heard the idf officials talk about it, the craters. The location of where the rocket landed or where the explosion happened and the scale of both where it hit compared to the hospital, not the hospital directly, but also what it created or what the kind of blast radius was compared to israeli footage showing this is what a crater supposed to look like in one of our strikes. This does not have that. Does that track for you . It does. This is the hospital building, right. As a satellite imagery. This is a parking lot. When we see the cars in that parking lot, most of them are burned. Not all of them. There is not kind of the blast that you would expect from a very large bomb like that coming off an aircraft. It looks like more like a lot of fire, a lot of burning, some shrapnel against the building. Again this is the parking lot. Thats the explosion outside. So evidence seems indicate and these are facts that dont counter emotions, what we have been seeing back and forth all morning long is the emotions on both sides. Hey, weve got the facts versus the opinion. Thats warfare. Unfortunately, thats what always happens in war. You have to contend with it. Yeah, one of the Big Questions President Biden will face after he is done with his mee meetings when he comes to speak what made him conclude based on these issues that you are laying out whether u. S. Intelligence has an assessment we dont know yet. I would say u. S. Intelligence has Additive Intelligence to what to this. And they had or the israelis passed their intelligence as well. Thank you. With us editor and Foreign Affairs come up news for bloomberg, bobby gauche. I want to start with something we heard from one of our Foreign Policy analysts, who has so much experience in the region. She said this sadly could become americas war. This is what President Biden is trying to prevent. What do you think when you hear that as he is there . That would be the perception of a lot of people that weve seen in the Street Scenes that you have been showing in the past couple of hours. That would be the perception, the fact that biden is there, that he seems to be giving israel you know, the perception is he is giving israel cover to do what happened last if that is not the president s intention, it will be seen as america but biden has the opportunity to make it americas peace. How . If he can lean into netanyahu, that private conversation they are having as we speak here, off camera, and persuade netanyahu to hold off on a ground offensive, to allow humanitarian aid to go in, it might just, just its still a very, very heavy lift, but might just show is that the United States is not there just to back up israel, but also to try to bring a resolution to the conflict, to give the people of gaza relief. To get that humanitarian aid. Yes, you need israel for some of the crossings. Also you need egypt. Egypt is waiting. We have seen images of those convoys of humanitarian aid waiting at the border. Egypts made it clear they are not going to take these people. They are not going to take the palestinian refugees. But they are ready to help. And the United States has been leaning on egypt to help. Now, its up to israel substantially to allow that possibility to take a break from the shelling of palestinian targets, to allow people to leave or to allow aid to come in. Thats basically i suspect what biden is pushing for right now. Whether he can persuade Bibi Netanyahu is another question. The blood is up in israel for very good reasons. People are reeling from the shock of what happened two saturdays ago. The images now fresh images emerging of what those hamas people did, terrorist people did in southern israel. Israelis are seeing those images and they want something done about it, which is not an unreasonable position to take. Thats what we have been hearing all morning from erin in tel aviv, from clarissa in ashkelon. A real node among the israeli people for ven jennings, revenge for what happened to them. Why would Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold back from that . Every instinct that he has will be telling him not to hold back, on the contrary, to lead into the fight, to send in the ground troops. Thats why its such a heavy lift for biden. Biden is going to have to press him perhaps using the example of what happened in this country. Our response to 9 11 and then the problem of going into afghanistan without a longterm plan. Bidens going to have to use the United States as a cautionary tale rather than as an example of what to do. It has to be an example of what not to do after you have been hit by such a horrific act of terror. Bobby, thank you for the analysis. President biden remains Behind Closed Doors with israels war cabinet but he is expected to speak with victims of last weeks hamas attacks as well as families of hostages still held by hamas after that meeting they are desperately searching for answers about their loved ones. We will speak to a moon whose son is one of the americans unaccounted for. Thats next. With President Biden on the Ground Reaffirming Support for israel and tel aviv the families of the families held by hamas continue the agonizing wait for updates on their loved ones. Our next guest spoke to President Biden last week about his son. He is one of the 14 americans who remain unaccounted for following the hamas Terror Attack. His family says he was last seen on october 7th after rushing his pregnant wife and two daughters into a bomb shelter while they attempted to guard his kibbutz near the gaza border. Joining us now, his father, History Professor at Hebrew University of jerusalem. Jonathan, we appreciate your time. You spoke to President Biden last week, i think afterwards he the conversation, proud to be an american. What do you want to hear from the president today when he speaks in tel aviv . Well, i would hope that when he is speaking today with Prime Minister netanyahu that there will be a renewed commitment and rock solid commitment that i believe that the president has to doing Everything Possible while israel pursues its other war aims to keep the hostages as safe as possible and do everything that can be done within this ongoing conflict to get them home safely, or at the very least show some signs of life for the vast for everyone but one of these hostages. Its important for us, i think i can speak for all of the hostages, americans and all of the other national tease, israelis included, that we understand what needs to be done with hamas overall, but we absolutely need for the well being of our loved ones to be prioritized. We know thats true for President Biden and it would be good to get reassurance from our own government. We are looking at pictures while we talk to our, jonathan, of your son and he and his wife are parents to a 6yearold and a 3yearold, as i understand it. She is also pregnant with a third daughter and they endured absolute horror during that attack for the better part of 20 hours. I wondered, obviously, you are comfortable them through this time, but how are they coping . Well, my daughterinlaw and her two beautiful little girls are, like all of the other survivors, from our kibbutz and i imagine the other Border Communities, they are utley traumatized. They experienced death right outside their door. They heard their father, their husband in hand tohand combat with hamas terrorists. When they walked out that door, they saw bodies everywhere and the kibbutz around them, this cooperative farm, burnt to the ground. I guess they are doing as well as they can. The community, of course, is rallying around them. They are strong, but, you know, this is its kind of incomprehensible between the unknowns about their father and the fact that all of us have no homes to go back to or any property. Everything is looted from our people. Its from the smallest toys to the largest tragters. I think incomprehensible is a perfect word to describe the horrors and the experiences because i dont think anybody could imagine that this could happen at least broadly on the ground. Is this something you could have ever foreseen . Even in my first dreams, to be honest, i have been a part of the security a civilian, security team. Thats important to emphasize. These Border Communities are farmers, civilians. We did have security teams, civilian security teams, because we live in a hostile region with a terrorist organization that is the government in the gaza strip. But this sort of scenario was never, ever on the table, and in any case the army, our army, the idf, was supposed to come and relieve us after a few minutes of engaging terrorists and it took nine hours. In our kibbutz. There are different accounts, we are about in the middle. Nine hours of the destruction of our community, the murder of dozens and the abduction of dozens more. Jonathan, it was a couple of years ago that you wrote this in the times of israel. This is during several days of unrest that left hundreds dead. For the sake of my children and the children of gaza, i hope for peace in their lifetimes, even if the past two decades of Bloodshed Make Optimism difficult. What about now . Do you hang on to that hope even now . I hang on to that hope because there is no alternative. I dont want my grandchildren i have given up on my children. But i have ten wonderful grandchildren, some of them deeply traumatized right now. I cant give up hope. What i do know is that my family and the country as a whole and the people of gaza overall will have not even a chance, not even a remote chance of peace as long as hamas remains the governing authority in gaza. And so just for the sake of hope, if anyone had any doubt before this past saturday or two saturdays ago that hamas was anything other than a Savage Terrorist Organization Set On Only Murdering Jews and destroying our country, then, you know, there is no more gray area. Sadly, sadly. But i believe that a grandfather my age in gaza is not a member of hamas wants more or less the same thing for his grandchildren, and i just have to believe that, you know, if the government of israel and the people of gaza have an opportunity to look each other in the eye, truly without the flawed leadership on both sides, to be honest with you, then for our grandchildren there might be a chance of peace, yes. Jonathan, thank you very much. Our hearts are, obviously, with you and the safe return. We are all hoping for that for your son. Thank you. I appreciate your time. We also want to take a moment to remember the 17 journalists who lost their lives so far reporting on the israel hamas war. Eight more have been injured. Its believed three are either missing or detained. 13 of the journalists were palestinian. Three israeli. One was lebanese. The middle east Program Coordinator for the Committee Says journalists across the regional are making great sacrifices to cover this heartbreaking conflict. All parties must take steps to ensure their safety. It is not just their physical safety of concern. One of our colleagues, cnn journalist in gaza, conditions are unlivable, the water is undrinkable. [ speaking in a global language ]. Again thats our colleague, ibrahim, trying to flee with his family and young cheer. Sincere thanks and appreciation to all of the journalists in the field that are risking their lives every day. Well be right back. 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. Welcome back. President biden right now here in meetings in israel right now. He has met with the israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Appeared with him in his war cabinet. He said that based on the evidence he has seen, biden said this, that the deadly blast at that Gaza Hospital was caused by what he used as, quote, the other team. Not israel. Of course, use of the word teams in that way is part of the reason why the world does see the United States so inextricably tied with israel. The death toll in the explosion has increased they say to at least 471 people. Whatever the final numbers are, it is a horror. Earlier this morning the Israeli Defense forces presented detailed evidence that they say shows the deadly blast at the hospital in gaza was not their fault. They showed satellite imagery, rocket tra jekt rows, intercepted communications, they showed all of. Even so, massive propalestinian protests are erupting in baghdad, amman, jordan, beirut, lebanon, tunisia, and there are also clashes in the west bank today between propalestinian and proisraeli protesters. Those are clashes right across from here in the west bank. Lets go to ben wedeman because he is live in southern lebanon. Ben, it was, what, 2 15, 2 30 this morning, sorry, when we were speaking and you had seen those crowds start hours after are that blast at the hospital to gather in beirut and try to break through barriers heading into the direction of the u. S. Embassy. What are you hearing and seeing now on the ground . Reporter well, in beirut, just at the moment there is a protest, a rally going on the Southern Suburbs of the city, organized by hezbollah. Hezbollah had called for an unprecedented day of rage. What were seeing in lebanon is scattered protests. I wouldnt call unprecedented in any sense, but nonetheless, the mood in lebanon and throughout the middle east is starting to worry u. S. Officials. Here in lebanon, the State Department has said that Family Members of u. S. Government personnel and other nonemergency staff are now allowed to leave the country on a casebycase basis. Keeping in mind, the staff of the u. S. Embassy All Live On Grounds of the embassy. Its a highly fortified installation. They rarely can go out except with armed escorts. But that indicates a level of worry. And we are seeing the worries shared by others, the Canadian Foreign minister has advised canadians in lebanon that they might consider booking flights out as long as there are commercial flights available. Situ swiss air, lufthanza are no longer flying here. So there are concerns that the situation already very volatile could get worse. Erin. Reporter all right. Ben wedeman, thank you very much. In lebanon. Phil, it is when you talk about airlines canceling flights, they do it out of caution. They dont do it because something has happened. They do it because there is a risk something could happen. When you see these International Carriers cancel flights as they have already done here in israel, now in lebanon, it is, you know, ominous feeling for everyone, including so many people who want to get out and are unable to do so. It underscores just how volatile this moment is. You didnt think it could get more volatile 24 hours ago, yet here we are as these consequential meetings are happening. One those meetings in amman was canceled because of this moment we are in. Stay with us. We are keeping an Eye On Washington where in a few hours the house will take to the floor to vote again on jim jordans nomination to be speaker. We will have the latest. Jim in peril morning. Hours from now, the house is scheduled to hold a second speaker vote after jordan lost in the first round. No person having received a majority of the whole number of votes cast by surname, a speaker has not been elected. Jordan has been reaching out to the 20 members his conference who voted against him tuesday. Earlier morning got an endorsement from the previous speaker, congressman kevin mccarthy. The chaos was created by this crazy eights that are led by gaetz and every single democrat. Now they voted to stop one branch of government. We are elect ago new speaker. Jim jordan is prepared to do that job. I lost about 20 on the first round, too. Coming into the second round, i look at making sure that vote number goes up if he can hold his votes, the number goes up, i think he can get there. I believe thats what will happen today. Crazy eights led by gaetz. The former speaker has more time on his hands than he used to. Joining us is lauren fox live outside congressman jordans office this morning. What is the game plan . What are you hearing Behind The Scenes . Reporter yeah, well, look, today jordan goes to the floor at 11 00 a. M. To try and pick up a couple of votes on the floor of the House Of Representatives, but there is a real chance, phil, he could start to lose some of that support on the floor. There are a am number of members we are watching who potentially may have voted for jordan on the first round but may not stick with him on a second or third ballot if he him ridges support, then you get into a situation where there are a number of active discussions right now among rooms about bringing a resolution to the floor of the house as soon as today that would potentially empower mchenry to continue being the speaker pro tem, but with additional power, so that he could bring legislation to the floor. There is really a Breaking Point happening within the republican conference right now as a number of members are looking around, seeing the reality, seeing that there is likely no one in their conference at this moment who could get the 217 votes needed to be the next speaker. In that case, you have a lot of republicans who want to govern in this moment, in this moment of crisis. It has been more than two weeks without a speaker. It has been more than ten days since an attack in israel and you are potentially staring down a Government Shutdown in less than a month at this point. Those republicans believe that it is a moment where mchenry needs to be empowered so he can start bringing legislation to the floor. If they introduce a resolution today, they have two legislative days to act on it. That means that there could be active discussions with democrats because in all likelihood they are going to need democratic support to get that effort across the finish line because there are a number of republicans who are not going to support empowering mchenry. They want jim jordan to be the next speaker, that to be the focus. Obviously, phil, we are in a situation where its groundhogs day. Every day it is not clear who the republican is who could lead this conference with such a narrow majority in this moment. Yeah. Its a good point. It had been on the periphery, that idea of Empowering Speaker pro tem mchenry moving towards that. Joining us republican congressman from new york, one of 20 republicans who voted against jim jordans bid to become speaker yesterday. Congressman, great to have you. Good morning. You know, interesting. Jim jordan said yesterday to laurens reporting, no one had the conference wants to see a Coalition Government with democrats. What do you say . Would you be supportive, vote for a resolution that would empower the speaker pro tem Patrick Mchenry, try to keep the government open, lets say . Well, i think the speaker pro tem and some people are confused by that term because there is some latin in there, merely the temporary speaker. When there is a vacancy in the office of speaker, i think speaker pro tem can act, he or she should act, like a Vice President can or should act in a vacancy of the office of president. There should be a continuity of government. This position was contemplated post9 11 specifically for the continuity of government. Business should go on in the House Of Representatives in space of a bona fide speaker and we should accept the fact and it doesnt require a vote in my opinion. The speaker pro tem has every right, duty, responsibility, authority to act in the absence of a bona fide speaker. I would encourage he do so right away. Full capacity as the Vice President in the analogy you are giving . One more time . With full capacity of the speaker with the full abilities of a speaker as a Vice President would in the analogy you just gave . Yeah, absolutely. Has every duty, right, responsibility of a bona fide speaker. This is not a position merely to be a caretaker of the election of the next speaker. We have a clerk of the House Of Representatives that can do is that administrative function. This position was contemplated post9 11 when our country was under attack and we contemplated losing multiple elected officials at the highest level. Of course, logic would dictate and would not need to have gone to law school to come to this conclusion the speaker pro tem has every right, duty and responsibility and authority to act in the absence of a bona fide speaker. The rub Patrick Mchenry has that has gone to law school who disagree with your interpretation. Which brings the question, if he disagrees, would you support this resolution from a congressman dave joyce to give him the powers you say he should have already . Thats tricky because everything is based upon legal precedence in this town, specifically with roles we have in the house. If we facilitate a vote, we are affirming the failed notion that it requires a vote to act. So i think that one should really seek some more legal guidance on this and a vote probably taints the very notion that the speaker has every single power afind to speaker pro tem has every single power assigned to the speaker. Another way to look at it is that a vote in the affirmative would set some precedent for this. What would it take to get you to a yes on jordan . Well, i have been speaking with representative jordan over the last couple of weeks since he became a candidate for speaker and i have announced my criteria quite clearly. I am looking for a reasonable republican, a common sense conservative to lead the House Of Representatives. And specifically in the 118th congress we understand that just several weeks from now the government runs out of moneyism was one of the republicans who supported funding the government to ensure that our troops got paid. We should not play games with soldier pay and i have asked every single candidate for speaker who has approached me in the last couple of weeks, will you ensure the government is funded . Thats my number one criteria. Yes, we should pursue the commitment to america, yes, continue to reduce spending b but we must keep the government open, show the drops we will put them first. I asked that criteria of all of the candidates, including representative jordan, and i have not yet been satisfied by his answer. What happens next . And i think the reason i ask that question, everybody is asking the question right now, but talking to people inside your conference that actually feels like the opposition to jordan may start growing as soon as the second vote. Do you think thats true . Yeah, i think thats likely. I think its more likely there are less jordan votes on round two than round one, especially if he doesnt address things like how to fund the government. Thats a big issue for a number of us who are a no right now. If there is no specific resolution on that and we are not looking for promise, we are looking for bona fide actions, statements which make it very clear bewe are not going to pla games request soldier pay moving forward, yes, we should negotiate with the administration who is weak on the border, who is spending a whole buncmp bunch of our futur generations position of strength but to use soldier pay as a Bargaining Chip is a red line for me. I thought it was interesting that your fellow republican who also didnt vote for jim jordan, Carlos Gimenez of florida, voted for mccarthy instead, by the way, said im not going to be part of a coup. Do you see it as a coup . Yeah, this is a political coup. Eight republicans joined with 210 democrats to remove a speaker who was making a lot of progress for our nation. Who at times stepped across the aisle and when we raised the debt ceiling, we funded the government, was doing the right things to fulfill our commitment to america, to make life better for my constituents. Obviously for carloss constituents as well. And to throw out somebody who was making that progress was a political coup that needs to be addressed, we should reform the motion to vacate rule. One should not be able to merely vacate the speaker. One should have to come with a bona fide alternative to do so or else were going to end in this chaos every time. It took mccarthy years to build relationships and to gain confidences and trust to get elected by his peers, and to think that somebody is going to be able to do it just in a couple of days or even a couple of weeks is unreasonable. Those folks who voted to vacate the chair knew this chaos would ensue. Theyre responsible for it. And we need to find a way to move on and perhaps the best way to do so is to have a speaker Pro Tem Run The House and to do the peoples business and to get that started right away. Congressman nick lalota of new york, we appreciate your time. Youre looking at live pictures of President Biden. What hes doing right now is hes meeting with families and First Responders to the horrific hamas attacks on israel. He is set to speak live at any moment. Our wolf blitzer is here next. We are showing you live pictures right now of beirut, lebanon, outside the u. S. Embassy. We have seen protests over the course of the last 12 or 13 hours in the wake of that explosion at a hospital in gaza and it appears to be escalating. At the same exact moment President Biden is in tel aviv right now meeting with the families of those taken hostage, of those victims from the Terror Attack conducted by hamas on october 7th, which has driven to this point the president meeting Behind The Scenes with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as his war cabinet, now meeting with these families. He is expected to speak publicly in short order. Joining us now is cnn anchor of the Situation Room wolf blitzer. Wolf, the last 24 hours in a very unsettled situation, its accelerated tenfold, probably more. What can the president say today that could change the dynamic . Well, hes going to continue to express his solid support for israel, no doubt about that. There are Serious Problems, though, as a result of this hospital being blown up in gaza, Serious Problems with other friendly countries in the region. Ive covered the middle east for a long time, u. S. Relations with israel, u. S. Relations with arab countries, and that leaders of the palestinian authority, jordan and egypt, were all supposed to meet with the president of the United States in amman, jordan. The fact that they decided because of this Hospital Explosion to cancel that visit, not meet with him, its pretty extraordinary that the president of the United States would come all the way to the middle east and three entities, the palestinian authority, jordan and egypt, jordan and egypt received billions of dollars in u. S. Economic and military assistance every year. The fact that their leadership would decide this is not a good time to meet with a visiting president , american president s dont normally go to a war zone and in this particular case this president decided to go. The fact that they decided to cancel and not let him come to amman, jordan, to meet with them inperson, they will do a phone conversation, but thats clearly not the same. Christiane was saying earlier on the program unprecedented to have them cancel on him. We see live pictures of President Biden leaning into one of the things he does best, as consoler in chief. He can do this, he will make live remarks, but he will leave without those crucial meetings and potentially without any guarantee on getting humanitarian aid in nor any clarity on what the end game is in israel. Humanitarian said it was so significant that he was going to meet with president El Sisi Of Egypt which controls the southern part of gaza, the exit, the Border Crossing because he really wanted to try to convince president el sisi to open up that rafah Border Crossing and allow much more humanitarian assistance into gaza and the fact that they are not going to have a facetoface meeting i think undermines that possibility. Wolf, youve done so much work in the region, you were referencing some of it. Have you ever seen it at this level . Well, i remember the 1967 sixday war, the Yom Kippur War. There was the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the sixday war in 67, i was much younger, obviously, i wasnt a reporter at that time, but there were wars between israel and egypt and syria and jordan in that 67, 68 war and 73 Yom Kippur War. There were a lot of people that were killed. Those were major, major wars. This is a war with a terrorist organization named hamas and Islamic Jihad which is also in gaza right now and its a lot different than a fullscale military to Military State War that israel has had in the past. Just to tell people what theyre watching next to wolf right now is President Biden standing next to tony blinken, Secretary Of State. Were going to listen for a minute. People coming together in community and National Service and, mr. President and mr. Secretary, the folks that we have gathered with us here today are representative of all of that and representative of the unity and the resilience of the israeli people, and the light that is shining through this incredible darkness. Mr. Secretary . Ive had the opportunity to meet so many israelis over the last few days that ive been in and out of israel. Ive heard the stories, ive heard about the lives lost and changed forever. We know that virtually every israeli has been touched by the bloody hand of hamas, but what ive found is a nation thats united, yes, in grief, but also united in resolve. And we know the pride that israel takes and the ability to defend itself by itself, but as we want to make very clear, you dont have to do that because were here. Were here, too, to make sure that youre able to defend yourselves and to deal with something that is, i think, on a basic human level almost unimaginable. Its so hard for any of us to pro process, but its been so important to meet and talk to so many of you because thats what makes it real. And no one understands that better, no one feels that more than the president of the United States. Mr. President . Folks, theres an irish poet names yates and he wrote a line, he said, too long of suffering makes a stone of the heart. Too long of suffering makes a stone of the heart. The thing that i found in this real quick meeting with all of you is none of your hearts have turned to stone yet. Every one of you talked about what you have to do. Every one of you talked about how to reach out. Talked about whether or not jaw jew or muslim, r