Welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. In a few hours President Biden will address the nation in only his secondever Oval Office Address. The goal, convince the American People that it will be important to spend 100 billion of their tax dollars, majority of which would help israel and ukraine. Bottom line, sources tell cnn, that President Biden will not only try to make an argument about the immorality what Russias Vladimir Putin and the Terrorist Group Hamas have done but that the costs of u. S. Inaction of not supporting israel and ukraine would be harmful to u. S. National security. President biden arrived back in the u. S. Early this morning after roughly seven hours on the ground in tel aviv. President biden says he pressed israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu there on israels plans for the next phase of the war and worked to secure propositions from the israelis for humanitarian aid for the innocents in gaza. President biden will also speak about trying to bolster the Ukraine Military further. Ukraine, recently delivered u. S. Weapons systems led to the most significant sdrix strikes against Russian Forces in the last few days. Its not just the public President Biden needs to convince. Its some on capitol hill after House Republicans again woke up this morning and chose incompetence. Its not clear any aid package can get through congress as theres no speaker for the u. S. House of representatives for two weeks . A row. Ohio congressman jim jordan still doesnt have the vote and seems to be losing support further. And were told that todays republican meeting Behind Closed Doors devolved into shouting and cursing at each other. Its a staggering display of selfregard and immaturity from House Republicans. Not only American Allies but americans are being killed abroad. Cnn is learns congressman jordan is hoping for yet another vote on his nomination for speaker. Tonight well have more on that in a moment. Lets start in israel with Cnns Kaitlan Collins in tel aviv. Why has President Biden decided now is the right time for this speech . Reporter well, hes about to ask the American Public for billions of dollars of aid to other countries. Notably here in israel, of course, where he just spent a whirlwint seven, eight hours on the Ground Meeting with the newly formed wartime cabinet as israel prepares for its next steps in this war, and the president vowed time and time again since the attack to support them and also tying the address whats happening in ukraine and what could happen in taiwan and, of course, also mentioning something republicans repeatedly brought up saying they dont support sending more aid to ukraine. Thats the u. S. Southern border. Fortifying that as well. All of these pieces you see the president tie in to his address tonight and something you dont often see. He has only spoken to the nation from the Resolute Desk in the oval office twice since taking office. Did so around the Debt Deal Negotiations over the summer. Hes going to do so again tonight. Because hes got to ask congress for hundreds, or for ttens of billions of dollars. 10 billion to israel sending a message its important to stand up for democracies abroad. Ones that are coming under threat and could come under thread in the future and tying it back to why it matters for americans. Weve seen strong support from americans when it comes to israel but slipping when it comes to ukraine. The president just got off the phone with president zelenskyy. The president did everything he wanted. We expect to see aid go from eg egypt into gaza. Desperately needed but not support to the have americans and others in gaza to get out. He felt the visit was important and tie that in tonight from the oval office. And the conversations that President Biden had directly with members of israels war cabinet, and turns out that some of them were interested in House Republicans inability to agree upon a speaker . Reporter yeah. Its kind of hard to think about. That the president is here in this wartorn country. Even in tel aviv where the president was, intercepted another missile from the sky. Obviously a regular occurrence here in tel aviv and has been since october 7th and the president and Prime Minister of israel and new wartime cabinet sitting in this ballroom. Basement of a hotel. Doubles as bunker. You dont have to go anywhere when sirens go off its essentially already a bomb shelter and chaos happening on capitol hill got brought up, jake. Asking the president about this, talking what was happening as jim jordan was losing a vote you discussed yesterday and still did not get the votes because it affect whats the president will ask tonight. Ask all he wants. Until the house actually gets a speaker or empowers a temporary speaker they cant get the aid passed. Its frozen. Its a concern here in israel and the president brought it up, talked about it, lamented it, made assurances in the long run it wont stand in the way of israel getting that aid. Notable, jake, it was even brought up at all during this trip. Thanks so much. Now to cnns ben wedeman in southern lebanon. Seeing images of repairs made to the rafah vasing in southern gaza. And they are predicting open tomorrow. How likely is that actually looking . Reporter well, we understand from people on the ground in rafah that they are at the moment working to repair the road between the egyptian side and the palestinian side at rafah. Of course, its been damaged as result of israeli bombing, and they do believe that it will be ready for aid trucks to start moving in. We understand that those trucks full of aid have assembled in an area to the west of rafah. That theyre preparing to move. It does appear that at this point it will go ahead. Exactly what time on friday we dont know, but we also know that trucks are already at the rafah crossing. Theyre handing out numbers so everybody know whats order theyre going in and already handed out, according to our source on the scene, 25 numbers, but we understand in total there are hundreds of trucks waiting to go in. And the leader of Evipt El Sisi called on the egyptian public to get on the streets and protest in solidarity with the palestinian people. How unusual is that to have a demonstration on the streets of egypt . Reporter well, when its in response to a call from president sisi, it looks like all the usual bureaucratic hurdles have been wiped away. We understand that state supported Political Parties trade unions and other organizations have very quickly received their permission to hold protests in egypt since sisi came to power ten years ago, strictly forbidden. Any unauthorized protest, strictly forbidden and oftentimes brutally sue pppress by the security forces, but in this instance looks like a goahead. He said meeting with the german chancellor yesterday in cairo you will see millions of egyptians come out in support of the egyptian position. Its important to stress what exactly is the egyptian position . The egyptians have been ada adamantly opposed to any idea of palestinians from gaza coming in to egypt. Remember there is a deep feeling that when palestinians are forced or flee from their homes, by the israelis, oftentimes theyre never allowed back. This is really a red line for the egyptians and, of course, these protests will be also an opportunity for the egyptians to show their support for president sisis position. Keep in mind, however, theres always a worry in egypt when you have a large group of people out demonstrating, someone might step outside the bounds placed by the government, and perhaps stress some unhappiness with the rule of president sisi, and we expect by and large many people to come out in the streets of egypt to protest tomorrow. Jake . Maybe remind people the blockade against gaza is not only israels its egypts and southern lebanon. Thank you. Breaking news from the pentagon. U. S. Officials say a u. S. Naish destroyer operating in the middle east shot down multiple missiles and drones off the coast of yemen. The pentagon is not sure exactly where those missiles or drones were headed but it was potentially for targets in israel. Bring in cnns oren liebermann. What are you hearing . Reporter we understand the uss kardian Navy Destroyer operating In The Red Sea passed south in the suez canal and intercepted three missiles the pentagon confirmed a short time ago. According to the pentagon, iranianback ed rebels s who launched the attack. Heading north along the red sea and dont Say Givtentatively th target. They can continue to defend itself, u. S. Interests and its partners. Worth noting this isnt the only hot spot outside gaza. A series of Drone Attacks on u. S. And Coalition Forces in iraq. Two days ago one caused minor injuries to coalition, and a second, pentagon noting during one of the alarms because of a suspected threat a u. S. Contract her a cardiac episode and died as a result of that. This is what the pentagon and Biden Administration are trying to watch closely preventing it from becoming a regional conflict even as you see protests across the middle east directed at both the u. S. And israel, defense secretary lloyd austin held a number of talk wis israeli counterparts and arab leaders first saying the u. S. Would continue to back israel but also defending and ensuring that the safeguarding of civilian lives was important for everybody here, jake. A tense situation as the conflict looks like its hheade towards a regional expansion. Devastating news about two of the hostages kidnapped by hamas and an 8yearold israeli American Woman and her teenage granddaughter were killed. Their bodies found. Ill talk with their cousin next. Stay with us. We have a, a terrible update for you right now on five Family Member whose were all kidnapped by hamas, 12 days ago from their home. They were kidnapped obviously october 7th and near oes from the border. Talked to one relative two mods ago and sadly the bodies of two of the five, abbys Cousin Carmella Dan and the granddaughter noya dan, their bodies found. They were killed. No word on the three other Israeli Citizens from the family missing. Carmellas soninlaw and her father. And noyas siblings as well. Joining us now is abby back with us. When we do the interviews we obviously hope youll come back with great news and thats not the case with at least two of the five and im so sorry. So sorry about the loss of your cousin carmella and her granddaughter noya. Its a, its a stupid question, but how are you doing . Hows the rest of the family doing . Youre hearing this awful news and also are worried about the others. You know, we celebrated carmellas 80th Birthday on tuesday. We got together as a family to have each other and to bring each other strength, and we blessed letter believing that she heard us thinking that she was alive. You know, the last messages they sent to one another, they were saying goodbye to each other. Her daughters saying goodbye. Feared they wouldnt make it and carmella said to them, dont say goodbye. Stay strong. We are going to survive this. This messages created hope for us she was alive and well, and for us now, i cant imagine that the nightmare got worse, but it did. We not only thonow have two of m murdered by hamas but still fighting for three of them. There are so many israelis in the last 12 days that have lost people, have people missing, have people serving or killed and we cant grieve in peace, because we have to continue to fight. How do you feel about how the Israeli Government responded to the Terrorist Attack on october 7th so far . I feel from the Point Of View of several Family Members missing that isolated. It took a very long time for the families to hear. It took almost nine days to get confirmation of them being kidnapped and kind out two days later carmella and noya had been murdered, but someone with a larger understanding of what the country is dealing with, i understand the massive dilemma and massive challenge theyre facing. The members now are looking, like, 16 or 1,700 people murdered by hamas. To catalog and number that number of bodies. I dont know how anyone would be ready for Something Like that. Yeah. When President Biden was in tel aviv yesterday he met with some of the families. He had a lot of messages for the people of israel. Including that the u. S. Stands firmly with israel. One of the other things he said was that one of the lessons from 9 11, and i know that proportionately this is much worse than 9 11. Proportionately this is like 40,000 people in israel, terms how big your country is versus how big our country is. Correct. He says one of the lessons to learn, dont be consumed by rage. And i know thats got to be difficult to hear but i wonder how, i wonder how that landed with you . It lands with me, because for the first time in 12 days i sat with my children this morning and explained to them we lost people that they were dead and no longer hostages, and we had to finally explain to them that we were at war and that people infiltrated our border to murder and brutalize citizens here. And that two of our Family Members were dead, and they asked so many questions, but why would someone do that . But why take them or why kill them . And end of the conversation we said to them, we dont hate anyone. We are not dealing with rage right now. We are dealing with hope and were fighting, and i believe thats the only choice right now. And the only thing that we can tell our children. What do you want what do you want us to know about your loved ones who you lost . I think i saw an image of your cousins granddaughter and she was a fan of harry potter. She was. What should we remember . What if theres one thing we should, we should take away and just remember forever from this interview what do you want us to remember about your cousin and her granddaughter . Carmella was in the worst moments the strongest person we knew, and noya in her love of harry potter believed in magic and i have to believe the combination of strength and magic and the fact they had the strongest of relationships, until the end, gives us some solace knowing that theyre together in this. That what biden also said in his speech and in his visit that we have to stand against terror. That we have to fight for the civilians that are still being held hostage, and that we have to use our voices. Whether that means speaked to elected officials demanding that this remain a top priority. This is what we want. Abby, im so sorry. Thank you. Were all so sorry. Were all so sorry. Were still fighting. May carmella and noya, may they are memories be a blessing. Thank you. We were remember carmellas strength and noyas love and belief in magic. Thank you so much. Well be right back. Muc israelhamas war, but the aid package President Biden will pitch tonight the American People tonight cannot actually pass congress, because there is not a House Speaker. Right now on capitol hill republican congressman jim jordan and in his effort to bully his way into the house Speakers Chamber run into the reality that he doesnt have the votes. But that does not mean hes giving up. Not having the votes has never stopped mr. Jordan before. Remember he didnt give up when donald trump lost the 2020 election. A major player in the conspiracy to overturn the peoples vote and keep him in office. And threatening republicans and their spouses if those republicans voted against jordans grab for the speakers gavel. Congresswoman meeks from iowa reserved credible Death Threats and barrage of threatening calls after flipping her speaker vote from jordan on tuesday for House Appropriations chairwoman kate granger on wednesday. Congressman steve womack of arkansas says his office flooded with calls and lots of profanity and nebraska congressmans wife receiving menacing text messages. Jordan on x, formerly known as twitter came out said, no american should i cost another. Condemn all threats against our colleagues. Imperative to come together, its important, he said that yesterday, last night. Of course, the campaign to pressure people was announced on i think Saturday Night or sunday morning. He came out yesterday. Cnns reporter on capitol hill, melanie, after all of this, somehow, for some reason, congressman jim jordan announced he will hold a third vote for speaker . Still trying . Reporter yeah. Jim jordans new plan is actually the same as his old plan which is hes going to try to win over his opposition and potentially fight this out on the floor even though its clear he is nowhere near having votes it will take to become speaker. Initially earlier today, rallied around a resolution temporarily Empowered Ed Interim speaker Patrick Mchenry to build Support Rally around his candidacy ctak away chaos. Quickly turned away from that plan when we got blowback during a closed door meeting. We caught up with him after that meeting and here what he had to say. Im still running for speaker, and i plan to go to the floor. Get the votes and win this race. But i want to go talk with a few of my colleagues, particularly i want to talk with the 20 individuals who voted against me so we can move forward and begin to work for the American People. Reporter now, jordan is currently huddled with some of those holdouts in a meeting right behind me. Kevin mccarthy former speaker in there as well as Patrick Mchenry. Give you a sense of the uphill climb hes facing, some holdouts are refusing to meet with him or take jim jordans call. One reason why they are so upset because of those Death Threats you mentioned. A number of holdouts are getting angry calls, menacing messages, Death Threats. Cold one of the member whose voted against jim jordan had to have a sheriff stationed at his Daughters School because of the threats this person is getting. A flavor how tense things are inside the Republican Party today. Also a Conference Meeting earlier, told there was screaming, some profanitylaced rants against one another. So republicans are really scram belonging now to come up with a solution. At this point, jake, though no consensus. No speaker, and no ability to govern. The Pressure Campaign announced over the weekend. He didnt say anything publicly to call off the dogs until last night, melanie. Reporter and that is why some members are so upset. Because they said he could have done way more to try to stand these conservative attacks down. Remember, some of these conservative media figures and leaders were posting Office Numbers encouraging people to go after these members and let them know how though feel. Why theres so much emotion now and why feelings are so raw inside the republican conference. Something in the background suggests he would stand by and look away when bad things were going on. Reporting from capitol hill. Thanks. Cnns jamie gangel is here. And has been working with sources. What are you hearing about the House Speaker . I want to say this dysfunction has now become Death Threats. 13 days and this is extraordinary. Let me suggest this. Different people have different agendas, and melanie talked about Kevin Mccarthy being in that meeting. I want to show you two pictures. One is that im told by my sources that Kevin Mccarthys office wouldnt let them take his name off the speakers door. I think we have a picture of it. Its still right up there. Hes not speaker of the house. He is not speaker of the house. Number two, look on the official website why does he want that on . Look on the official website for house. Gov, Kevin Mccarthy is still listed as speaker of the house. Is that even legal . So bottom line, possession is 9 10 of the law. Bottom line, as long as there isnt a speaker. Okay. Even though Patrick Mchentry is speaker pro tem, i would argue he is still in charge and im told that his team is supposedly helping johnson joh johnson jim jordan going through a strategy where were told numbers of likely to get worse for jim jordan. Im not sure that Kevin Mccarthy is acting in jim jordans best interests. Is teams, my sources say, just holding on to this, the sign and the listing in house. Gov. Herd congressman tom massie saying he didnt think congressman Steve Scalise was acting in jim jordans best interests. A lot of people here that are not helping jim jordan. Right now in this closeddoor meeting ive been told some of these holdouts are telling jim jordan, its over. Right. See if jim jordan is even capable of hearing that. Correct. Im not quite sure he is. Correct. Melanie reported i think yesterday that the the opponents to jim jordan were actually keeping no votes in their back pockets. Make it look like it would guess worse, worse and worse, he was a rodent. Corrects. Oh, boy. Coming up, a surprise guilty plea in the Georgia Subversion case that could have a big impact on donald trump. That is next. A Major Development in Donald Trumps legal troubles today. Taking a step back in time. Midnovember 2020. Sidney powell promised she would produce vast probes of nonexistent proof trump won the election. Im going to release the kraken, she said in a reference to Clash Of The Titans on fox business. No kraken ever produced because no kraken exists and the krakenless ms. Powell pleaded guilty in the Election Subversion Case in fulton county, georgia. Our reporter reports about the krakenless codefendants. How do you plead potential interference with election . Guilty. Reporter appearing in a georgia courtroom. Second person to plead guilty in the sprawling case over efforts to overturn the 2020 election in that state. Do you understand about pleading guilty you giving up a trial by jury. Yes. Reporter as part of the deal powell admits her role in the january 2021 breach of Voting Systems in rural Coffey County, georgia. Be required to write an Apology Letter to the citizens of the state and pay nearly 9,000 in restitution and fines as well as Turnover Documents but not expected to f eed to face jail. Prosecutors recommending six years probation. One name that did not come up at thursdays hearing, her codefendant donald trump. The deal is the first by a member of his inner circle. Im goin to release the kraken. Reporter powell among the most vocal of lawyers Pushing Youd Landishes claims about the election including millions of votes were flipped in a global scheme against trump. Never another election conducted in this country i dont care for a local dog catcher using a dominion machine. Reporter repeating those Conspiracy Theories proved too much even for trump and she was ousted from his team and her plea raises new questions about a deal in the federal elections subversion case. Trump is the only individual charged in that indictment, but powell has been identified by cnn as one of the six coconspirators listed by special counsel jack smith, who has signaled other people could be charged. The Department Of Justice remained committed to ensuring accountability for those criminal responsible for what happened that day. Reporter that federal trial is scheduled to be in march and its unclear anyone else will be charged in this case, or powell even interested in a deal with federal prosecutors. To give awe sense how quickly Something Like this can come about we learned this deal was arranged in about the last 24 hours. Interesting. Stick with us. Bringing in michael moore, former u. S. Attorney in georgia. Play what Sidney Powell said, again, just days after the 2020 election. We are not going to be intimidated, not going to back down. We are going to clean this mess up now. President trump won by a landslide. We are going to prove it, and we are going to reclaim the United States of america for the people who vote for freedom. Okay. Thats not true. All of thats lies, and that video was tweeted by the Republican National committee. That tweet is still up. I just checked. Its still up at the rnc. She was spreading lies Many Americans still believe. What is the significance of her pleading guilty . Well, glad to be with you. Having a plea in a criminal case is always a big deal for the prosecutor. One of the biggest weapons they have, helping people decide to cooperate and Tell The Truth about other codefendants. Here remember her conduct is really pretty limited in the georgia indictment. Dealt with the Coffey County case, access to voting machines. I dont know from The Grand Scheme of things this is the kind of thing thats going to be the Silver Bullet to take town. The big lie . Right. You heard her identified inner circle. First of inner circle reported on. Interesting, anticlimactic in a case touted as the largest election case in history and had all the ceremony of bringing people in, turn themselves in at the jail. Then to come way with a misdemeanor. Completes probation, essentially she has no record at all. Means she can still vote. Not convicted felon, and i think, you know, see what the prosecutors have gotten out of it. Shes got to cooperate. Tell the truth as she goes forward. Not a really big ax to hang over her head. The bigger question, what does she do for jack smith in the case . Sort of maybe useful, maybe not as it comes to trial in georgia. So paula, her deal includes six years probation. Testify at future trials. Apology letter to georgia citizens. 9,000 in restitution. Turn over documents. And was facing other charges. Is it surprising she isnt facing jail time . It does seem like a slap on the wrist . It is slap on the wrist, but thats what you get when second in line and agree plea. Good for prosecutors, great for her but ultimately gives prosecutors ability to claim a win. First member of trumps now former inner circle to agree to plea. This is something that they would absolutely want as opposed to having to put on a trial for five months. Complicated rico case. Watching hearings. Its not clear how successful theyll be in this first trial. For prosecutors its a win. What does she get in return . A slap on the wrist. What does did mean for donald trump if anything, michael . Chipping away at the wall built around himself. Known for putting somebody between him and the jailhouse or him and the guilty verdict or the judgment. It is a little bit i think probably psychological goes from there but i dont know what it means in the state case against him. Not a lot of testimony but in the federal case might give more information about what happened those Interior Meetings at the white house. Thats where its going to be important. Interesting. Thank you both. New intelligence and new estimates how many people were killed in that blast outside the hospital in gaza. The one President Biden says was actually the responsibility of the palestinians. That story, next. Dozens of rockets coming in here. Hearing repeated exchanges of gunfire. You can see the scale of destruction. If you know anything about what they do to people in gaza that is worse than death. My children and grandchildren experienced a living hell. How difficult is this fight going to be on the ground . We have no other placpers time to win is running out in our prize packed kick off the savings Monopoly Game hurry in to play for your chance at over 25 million in prizes and money saving offers like this, and this, or even this. Plus, you still have a shot at up to 100,000 in guaranteed prize money. Stop in while you can still win and shop your Favorite Brands sporting the kick off the Savings Monopoly Tag for unlimited bonus game tickets at lucky were back. In addition to inclusion of u. S. Intelligence a misfired palestinian rocket, not the israelis that caused 9 explosion at the gaza hospital on tuesday, cnn just got its hands unen classified intelligence sewing t showing the plaft killed 300 people contradicting the initial claims 471 people were killed. Reminder that the Palestinian Health ministry is controlled by hamas. Cnns Alex Marquardt is here to walk us through the latest evidence. Reporter jake, of course, a horrific strike and seen unclassified Intelligence Assessment put out by office of the director of National Intelligence about the strike at the baptist hospital. This is some of what went into this assessment. An analysis that echoes what israel said. S israel is not responsible basing it on several intelligence streams saying that some Palestinian Militants inside gaza suspect it was the Mill Tarrant GroupPalestinian Islamic jihad and a rocket from inside gaza caused limited structural damage but did Kill Hundreds of people. The Israeli Military also the Israeli Military has argued that the damage that was done on the ground was not consistent with airstrikes from the israeli air force. They also claim to have intercepted calls between hamas operatives which they say talk about a misfire from islamic jihad. Now, weve heard those calls. We cannot verify them. So what do we know now . What have we seen . This is the area that were talking about. Northern gaza right here. This is the hospital here in the middle of northern gaza. Remember, israel told everyone to leave the north and head to the south. But so many palestinians cant or they dont want to because they have seen what the gazans in the south are going through and that they are not faring very well. Now, i want to show you some of the video that we have. This is the most dramatic video of the explosion that we have seen. Take a listen. You hear that loud whoosh followed by that massive explosion. We have geolocated the site of that blast to the hospital. But from this clip and from this Sound Experts tell us that we cant glean too much about what that projectile is except that it caused that huge explosion. This is another piece of video. It is a key piece of evidence. Just before 7 00 p. M. Al jazeera news caught this on an eastfacing camera. You can see that light in the sky. Weve determined that this is a rocket that was fired from the ground south of gaza city, then exploding high above gaza city. Cnn military analyst Cedric Leighton says this is consistent with a malfunctioning rocket. And then just around six seconds later an explosion was seen on the ground. The camera is going to pan down. Right there. We cant say that that rocket in the sky is related to that explosion on the ground, but we have geolocated, again, that explosion to the site of the hospital in gaza city. Now, eyewitnesses have described bodies and parts of bodies strewn all over the strike site. The health ministry, which is controlled by hamas, claims that almost 500 gazans were killed. The new u. S. Intelligence assessment today says that number is lower, closer to 100 to 300. They still call it a staggering death toll. And then there was this extraordinary press conference. Doctors at the hospital surrounded, as you can see here, by the dead and the injured. Weve seen all kinds of charred vehicles strewn across the parking lot at the hospital. We have seen damage to the buildings. You can see these windows have been blown out. But nothing that we have seen has been leveled. Weve seen belongings everywhere. Blood on the ground. But experts who have looked at this damage say this does not look like an israeli airstrike. We also have this new Video Exclusive just in to cnn. Were showing it to you for the first time. Of this crater in the parking lot, which appears to be where the projectile struck. It is, as you can see, relatively small. And again, experts say that a crater this size is not what you would see after a Missile Strike from a jet or from a drone. It could say, they say it could be, rather, from a smaller rocket. And then we have these Satellite Images before the strike and after the strike. You can see here the parking lot at the hospital before and here the parking lot after, which has been blackened. And you can see some of those vehicles in the middle of the parking lot. It shows the limited structural damage and the lack of a major crater. Theres nothing on these Satellite Images pointing to a crater from an airstrike. Since those horrific attacks by hamas in israel on october 7th weve seen thousands of israeli airstrikes all across the gaza strip. And this is what they normally look like. Flattened buildings, huge craters. So could israel have used a smaller munition, perhaps an artillery shell, at the hospital . Experts say that is not outside the realm of possibility. But as the u. S. And israel are saying, it is unlikely, given what else weve seen and what else we know. So altogether, cnn has reviewed dozens of videos posted on social media, that aired on live broadcast and filmed by a Freelance Journalist Working In Gaza which showed the blast and its aftermath. A thorough cnn analysis of that footage suggests that the devastating explosion was not the result of an israeli airstrike, and several Weapons Experts say that the visual evidence points to the possibility that it was caused by a rocket. Now, jake, this doesnt prove the assertions made by israeli and u. S. Intelligence, but it is consistent with their claims that the explosion was due to a local rocket misfire. Jake . All right. Very thorough. Alex marquardt, thank you so much. We are following two major stories on the lead. President biden is preparing to deliver in primetime an Oval Office Address tonight as republicans on capitol hill are Behind Closed Doors right now battling it out over the speakership or lack thereof. Weve got all of the latest developments. Thats next. Welcome to the lead. Welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. And leading this hour, President Biden will address the nation from the oval office this evening for only the second time in his presidency. Hes going to try to convince americans why it is critical to provide tens of billions of dollars to support two allies in their two wars, israel and ukraine. Perhaps a glimmer of hope for the civilians stuck in gaza right now. Egyptian Security Officials tell cnn they are preparing to try to open the rafah border crossing