Transcripts For KNTV Meet 20240703

Hamas as the war intensifies. . We must stand tall, proud and united against evil. President biden promises to stand by israel while working to prevent the war from spreading wider. This is an act of sheer evil, any country, any organization, anyone thinking of taking advantage of this situation, i have one word. Dont. And fears grow for the american citizens who are presumed to be among the dozens of hostages being held inside gaza. I have not given up hope of bringing these folks home. How will the u. S. Navigate this unfolding crisis . Ill talk to National Security adviser Jake Sullivan and republican senator Lindsay Graham of south carolina. Plus, house of cards. Republicans struggle to find a new speaker sending the house into more chaos. Our conference still has to come together and is not there. The House Republicans civil war continues to rage on. Will democrats step in to help republicans solve their dysfunction . Ill ask the House Democratic leader Hakeem Jefferies. Joining me for insights and analysis are nbc news senior washington correspondent hallie jackson, tolu, White House Bureau chief for the washington post, nbc news chief washington correspondent Andrea Mitchell and ambassador dennis ross, a former middle east peace negotiator. Welcome to sunday. Its meet the press. From nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is meet the press with kristen welker. Good sunday morning. The eyes of the world are on gaza today as israel prepares to broaden its assault on hamas. This is more than a million palestinians in northern gaza are trying to head south in car, by foot and in carts pulled by donkeys after israel warned almost half of the territorys population to leave their homes. The United Nations has urged israel to withdraw its Evacuation Order with one official calling it a death sentence for gazans forced to leave hospitals. They have tried to reopen the rafah crossing to allow foreigners to leave. Palestinian Officials Say more than 2300 people have been killed in gaza. In israel more than 1400 have been killed. The dead include 29 americans, 15 americans remain unaccounted for. Feared to be among the more than 120 hostages hamas is holding in gaza. On friday, President Biden met virtually for more than an hour with their families and he spoke about that call last night. Theyve endured an agony of not knowing whats happening, i can tell you what its like to know youll lose someone and not able to be there to hold their hand and a very dufrpt thing to have a phone call saying theres been an accident. Im not sure your boys are going to make it. The uncertainty of those two or three hours trying to get back to find out. Its the worst feeling in the world. Its gutwrenching. The president has called the hamas attacks unadulterated evil and brutality. U. S. Officials including secretary of state blinken who is traveling in the region have also called on israel for restraint. Israel has the right and has the obligation to defend its people and to try to ensure that hamas can never repeat what its done we continue to discuss with israel the importance of taking every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians. My colleague, chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel is on the iz railgaza border. Richard, thank you so much for joining us. The world is bracing for this potential ground offensive by the israelis into gaza, but it hasnt happened yet. So, i can tell you what were hearing and what were seeing here near the gaza border. We are inside israel, but we can see the black smoke in the distance there, that is the gaza strip. That is gaza city and for the last several hours weve been hearing israeli air strikes that are continuing to go into gaza. Weve been hearing some small arms fire. There is an israeli drone up above right now, but what were not seeing is any final preparations. Were not seeing israeli tanks pushing right to the border getting ready to cross into the gaza strip. It could be a factor of weather. Its very windy today or it could be that the israelis still have final preparations to do, more commando raids. Theyve already done one commando raid to gather information about hostages. So we are waiting for this operation and its also been described as imminent, but we dont exactly know when its going to take place. The israelis are still tells palestinians theyre in gaza city and about 35,000 people are staying in the hospital sheltering in that one hospital. Thes railis are telling people dont worry about the deadlines, just take your things, take your families and head south, but many palestinians say they dont want to head south because they believe the israelis have been shelling them as they try to escape gaza city and move to safer areas in southern gaza. A Big Development today, was there an incident on friday in which 70 were killed according to palestinian officials and they were killed when there was an israeli air strike on a convoy fleeing gaza city and the Development Today was israel came out and said in no Uncertain Terms that it did not strike that convoy and accused hamas of putting roadside bombs under the main roads and killing civilians as they are trying to leave gaza city and head into the south. So israel says that hamas is trying to keep civilians up in the north in order to use them as human shields. Richard engel reporting from the ground there. We really appreciate your report and of course, it comes as there are real concerns that this could become a wider conflict. Richard engel, thank you so much. Joining me now is National Security adviser Jake Sullivan. Jake, welcome back to meet the press. Thanks for having me. Thank you for being here on a busy day. So, jake, lets just dive right in. Overnight the state department confirmed the death of 29 u. S. Citizens in this conflict. T say whether any u. S. Citizens have been killed inside gaza . We cant confirm that at this time, kristen, but we are working actively to determine the fate of americans in gaza both those being held hostage and we are also working actively to try to help american citizens who want to leave gaza and have safe passage out through the Border Crossing with egypt. It has been difficult to execute that operation, to facilitate their passage out. We are continuing to work that and President Biden has put a team on it around the clock because its a high priority for us to get american out of gaza. It is also his highest priority to secure the safe return of those americans being held hostage by the brutal and vicious terrorist group hamas and we are working multiple angles to try to make that happen and im cautious about what i can say publicly on it. Jake, i want to ask you about both. Lets talk about the efforts to get citizens out. The u. S. Says evacuating civilians is, quote, impossible and potentially calamitous. Realistically, jake, where are people supposed to go . Are they not trapped inside gaza at this point . Critical thing, from our perspective, is that there be safe places for civilians to go that will not be subject to military bombardment, where they can be safe physically and where they can have access to the essentials, food, water, medicine, shelter. The many, many palestinians who have had nothing to do with the Brutal Terrorist Organization hamas, the vast majority of the population of gaza, they deserve dignity. They deserve safety and security and the United States is working with the United Nations with israel, with egypt, with jordan and with other organizations to try to ensure that. Just to be very clear, has anyone, u. S. Citizen or otherwise, been able to leave gaza . So far, we have not been able to get american citizens through the Border Crossing and im not aware of anyone else being able to get out at this time, though i cannot fully confirm that because its a dynamic situation. Like i said, were trying to create the circumstances where american citizens who are in gaza and are looking to leave get into egypt and ultimately to the United States or elsewhere that they are able to do so. We are working on that as we speak. Did the u. S. Ask to delay the ground offensive so that you can try to ensure the safe passage of civilians . First, im not going to get into the private conversations with the israelis, but we are not interfering in their military planning or trying to give them instructions or requests specific to their military planning. What we are doing is saying privately what we said publicly is that all military operations should be conducted consistent with the law, that civilians should be protected and that civilians should have a real opportunity to get to safety and that civilians, again, who have nothing to do with hamas because hamas is a brutal, vishgs, savage, terrorist group, it does not reflect the will of the Palestinian People that civilians get access to food, water, medicine and shelter and we are working hard on that is a key priority for our president. I know you dont want to get into private conversations, but i dont hear a denial. I mean, can you deny that you asked israel to hold off on its ground offensive . Kristen, as i just said, we are not making requests or demands of israel with respect to its military operations. We are simply stating our basic principles, the principles upon which this country is based and all democracies including israel are based and its what makes us different from the terrorists that, in fact, we respect civilian life, but i will tell you, we did not say to them, you know, youve got to do this or that with respect to the specifics operational planning for the military operation. Nbc is reporting that u. S. Officials have been privately urging restraint for the Israeli Government and the state department, you know, advised against officials using language like deescalation and restoring calm. So which is it, jake . Can you help clarify, what is the message to the u. S. Government from israel . The message to the u. S. Government has actually been straightforward from the first time the president spoke to this issue. Israel has a right indeed, a duty to defend itself against vicious, savage, barbaric terrorism. Israel also is a fellow democracy, has to respect the laws of war and all civilians should be protected and should have access to the basic necessities, and that has been the u. S. Position. That is what we will continue to discuss with our israeli counterparts with regional counterparts and with the United Nations and we will do all that we can to ensure the safety of civilians in gaza. Jake, is there a red line for the u. S. When it comes to israels actions, for example, is the use of phosphorous bombs off the table for the u. S. . I have seen the reports of that. The idf have come out and said they have not used phosphorous bombs and i will not sit here and draw red lines and i was asked the same question at the white house podium, and i said its not my job in public to draw red lines and it is my job and the job of the u. S. Government to have detailed, extensive conversations with the u. S. Counterparts and to continue to stand behind the basic principles of the laws of war and the rules of law. Former security adviser ben rhodes said this week, quote, the decisions being made now will impact millions of lives, reverberate for generations and all kinds of escalation. The u. S. Should have learned from 9 11 the profound cost of being guided by anger and fear. I hope that is what we are telling the Israeli Government. Is that what were telling the Israeli Government, jake . In big picture, who will govern gaza if israel succeeds in defeating hamas . Well, again, kristen, as frustrating as it may be, i have to be careful about revealing the sensitive, private conversations that were having with our israeli counterparts. Of course, theyre angry. Im angry. We should all be angry about this outrage of the terrorist attack that has taken place and claimed the lives of 1300 people. As President Biden said last night the worst massacre of jews since the holocaust, but of course, at the same time any effort to strike a brutal or excuse me, to strike a blow against hamas should be done consistent with clear objectives and should also be done in a way that protects innocent civilians but who will govern gaza . Has israel said what their plan is . Who will govern gaza . I cant sit here and tell you what the exact outcome of this military operation will be either militarily or politically. What i can tell you is that the United States sitting with our israeli counterparts are talking through all of the dimensions including questions related to governance as we go forward and it is simply premature sitting here today to talk about what the future holds in that regard. Do they have an exit strategy, jake . Right now the issue is not exit strategy. Right now they are still facing rocket attacks and they are still facing the very serious threat that hamas can continue to kill israeli civilians, women, children, elderly and the focus is on neutralizing that threat, destroying that threat so that israel can live in security and dignity and the United States is going to continue to support them in that effort even as we discuss with them all of the larger strategic questions to ensure that over the medium term and the long term the state of israel is secure, the state of israel is sustained. Jake, as you know, theres been a lot of discussion about how this attack could have been missed. I want to play you some remarks that you made eight days before the attack and get your reaction on the other side. The middle east region is quieter today than it has been in two decades. Now challenges remain. Irans Nuclear Weapons program, and the tensions between israelis and palestinians, but the amount of time i have to spend on crisis and conflict in the middle east today compared to any of my predecessors going back to 9 11 is significantly reduced. Jake, why was your assessment there so far off the mark . Well, first, kristen, i made those comment in the context of developments in the wider middle east region over the last few years after two decades that involved a civil war in yemen and a massive humanitarian catastrophe in civil war in syria and a massive refugee crisis and iraq, a nato military operation in libya. Iranianbacked attacks on both saudi and the uae as well as many other steps including the rise of a terrorist that occupied a huge amount of territory. The sentence before what you just played, i said, in fact, that that was for now and that it could all change and the two threats that i identified that were the most acute on my mind at the time were tensions between israelis and palestinians as i mentioned and the threat from iran. And so, yes, it is true that those two threats remained a real challenge to the long term stability of the middle east region and weve seen this absolutely tragic attack, but at no point did the Biden Administration take its eye off the ball to its threats to israel. President biden saw Prime Minister netanyahu just weeks before this attack to discuss the security challenges facing the state of israel and we continue to support them to as significant or greater an extent than any previous administration. Jake, very quickly, before i let you go, obviously, there have been talks about this deal for normalized relations about saudi arabia and israel prior to this horrific attack. We know secretary blinken met with the crown prince. What is the status of that deal . Are talks off for now . Well, secretary blinken was just in saudi arabia. I just had the opportunity to see the crown prince and other senior officials as part of a region wide tour where hes been talking about the leaders or many of the middle eastern countries. For the moment the focus has to be on helping israel defend itself against the brutal terrorism of hamas, and we will have opportunities as we go forward to look at diplomaticish in tiffs like normalization that help lead to a long term, more stable, more integrated region. I hear you saying theyre on pause for now. The talks are not continuing for now . Theres not some kind of formal pause. We are not pressing a button. I will just say that the main effort and emphasis from the diplomatic perspective from the United States today is on the immediate situation, but the longterm goal of a more peaceful, more integrated middle east region including through normalization remains very much a focus of u. S. Foreign policy. All right. National security adviser Jake Sullivan, thank you very much. Thanks for having me. And when we come back, republican senator Lindsay Graham joins me next. Somedays, i cover up because of my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Now i feel free to bare my skin, thanks to skyrizi. uplifting music nothing is everything im celebrating my clearer skin. My way. With skyrizi, 3 out of 4 people achieved 90 clearer skin at 4 months. In another study, most people had 90 clearer skin, even at 5 years. And skyrizi is just 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. Serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. 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But the same aipowered security that protects all of google also defends the systems running americas infrastructure. For these services. For the 336 million of us living here. And welcome back. Joining me now is republican senator Lindsay Graham of south carolina. Senator, welcome back to meet the press. Thank you. You have gotten off the phone with u. S. And saudi officials, what can you tell us . I will be going to saudi arabia and israel in the coming days with a group of senators to drive the peace and normalization as saudi arabia and israel continues. There is a desire by both parties to move forward in this effort to normalize relationships. Israel is talking about humanitarian aid. Theyre going to turn the water on in the south. They are urging the egyptians to let people from gaza go into the sinai. I just got a message from cindy mccain, the head of the food program in dharres strait. Here is our message to our friends in egypt. Open up, allow gaza residents to go into the sinai and the international community. We have to help our friends in israel. We need the time and space to destroy hamas. All palestinians are not the same. Hamas has destroyed israel is safer and the pathway to peace between the palestinians and the world gets wider. So i start this morning somewhat optimistic that irans goal to destroy the Peace Process between israel and saudi arabia will fail. And you dont think the Peace Process at this point is dead as we sit here . No. I never felt better about the drive to peace by saudi, israel and the United States shall continue. We need to change the world as it is. Nothing will change for the better more than saudi arabia, israel and the United States to form agreements to end the arabisraeli conflict as we know it. I do want to ask you about the crisis on the ground in gaza, and you have said that israel should go to plaza and quote, level the place. If necessary. Are you calling for the fullscale destruction of gaza despite what could be untold civilian death . No. Im calling for the destruction of hamas. Israel is trying to find a safe place for gaza residents. Hamas is trying to stop them from leaving. Israel is trying to encourage them to leave. Our friends in egypt, you have it in your power to give gaza residents a safe place. This will be a world war iitype operation where you go and destroy the regime, hamas and over time replace it with Something Else like we did germany and japan, but the israelis do not want to kill innocent people. Theyre going to turn the water on. Every death Going Forward i blame on ham a not israel. 40 of gazas population is under the age of 15. Yeah. Are you confident, though . Right now the people of gaza are trapped. Are you confident and are you essentially sending the message to israel to let them get out before they continue the operation. Israel doesnt need me to tell them to let them out. It died with the killing and slaughter babies by hamas. Were not going to do the old game anymore. The goal is to destroy hamas as a terrorist organization that would liberate the Palestinian People who live in gaza and will make it safe for israel and well give israel the time and the space. Egypt, if youre listening, open up your borders and the world will help you deal with the people in sinai and they will go back home and when they go back home, hamas will be destroyed. I have to ask you the same question, what happens the day after if israel is successful in defeating hamas and gaza . Who governs gaza, senator . Heres what i think. Thats a really good question. All palestinians are not the same. They all are not terrorists and the p. A. Is still in existence in the west bank. The deal between israel and saudi arabia has a palestinian component, for this deal to really go into effect, the saudis are willing to help the palestinians, but the p. A. Needs to change. Weve got old, corrupt leaders. They need to replace with younger leaders who are less corrupt, so i have no animosity toward the Palestinian People. I want to destroy hamas, and i want to go to the heart of the problem. Youre saying the palestinian authorities should control gaza after . I am saying hamas needs to be destroyed and israel needs to have a safe zone in gaza. The gaza people need to be liberated from hamas and how do we get there from here is my question. Let me ask you about iran, senator . The broader region. You say the only way to keep the war from escalating is to hold iran accountable and part of what youre talking about now and that it might mean bombing their oil refineries. Yeah. Have you had discussions with the Biden Administration about this . A bit. I want to applaud President Biden for his strong statement in support of israel. I just got off the phone with the israelis. Their goal is to destroy hamas in the south and try to save as many innocent palestinians as possible to prevent escalation north from hezbollah. Heres my message. If hezbollah which is a proxy of iran launches a massive attack on israel, i would consider that a threat to the state of israel existential in nature. Ill introduce a resolution in the United States senate to allow military action by the United States in conjunction with israel to knock iran out of the oil business. Iran, if you escalate this war, we are coming for you. Are you effectively poised to declare war on iran . Thats very strong language. I am poised to use military force to destroy the source of funding for hamas and hezbollah. The idea that iran read about this operation in the paper or on television is laughable. 93 of hezbollah and hamas money comes from iran. Theyre the source of the problem. Theyre the great evil. So if hezbollah escalates against israel it would be because iran told them to, and then iran, youre in the crosshairs of the United States and israel. I have to ask you about some of these recent comments by the gop frontrunner and former President Trump he praised hezbollah as, quote, very smart. Israels communication minister called that language shameful. Do you agree . Is that shameful language . That was a huge mistake. If i was President Trump i would talk about the strongest president for israel in modern times. He issued a statement two days ago and i stand with bibi and i stand with israel. Hes on the right track. The Biden Administrations border policies are failing senator, as you know, he also criticized Prime Minister netanyahu as well, and a lot of people saw that as a personal attack because netanyahu has recognized President Biden as a duly elected president. Yes. Do you think thats appropriate at this moment . No, i thought it was not helpful and President Trump recognized israel and jerusalem as the capital. He recognized golan height as part of israel. He put in place the abraham accords. No, i wouldnt criticize bibi. He put out a statement a couple of days ago. I stand with bibi. The house, i know we have a lot to talk about. If i were in the house i would vote for jim jordan tomorrow, hes a good man, but we need to get a speaker. Are those comments disqualifying for the former president to be attacking americas closest ally in the middle east when they have just undergone these attacks, the largest attack against jews since the holocaust, senator . Its his policy appeasing iran and withdrawing from afghanistan and are they disqualifying . Well have an election. President trump was a strong president. They were afraid of him and iran was afraid of him and russia was afraid of him, and we lost deterrence. Im not talking about the 24 election and im talking about destroying hamas in of a way that will make israel safer and the Palestinian People freer. As you just mentioned, the house of representatives unable to take any action to help israel because they are in this state of paralysis and saying you would support jim jordan. Heres what congressman Michael Mccaul said, he called the situation dangerous. Do you worry it makes the United States vulnerable on the world stage that we dont have a speaker of the house, senator . It could be. We had a meeting two days ago with senators Ranking Member and chairman with the white house. Heres whats come out of the senate very soon. A big package for ukraine to my house colleague, if you strip out ukrainian aid rushal keep going and there will be a war with nato and russia and it will be a green light to invade taiwan and the republicans in the house, if you pull the plug on ukraine you will create more war in europe and china will go after thailand and to the Biden Administration. You dont need Lindsay Graham saying were coming after iran. You need to say it. Do you hold former President Trump for that . Hes leading that charge. I think it should be transparent. You know, President Trump do you hold him responsible for that . No. Every member of congress will vote. Heres what will happen. We get an aid package to the house the component will pass, defeating russia is in our National Security interest. We spent less than 5 of our military budget. They have destroyed 50 of the russian combat capabilities of the ukrainians. Keeping ukrainians in the fight deters war and will stop. He must be defeated before we get a war in nato. To the Biden Administration, i will work with you to bring peace between saudi and israel, but you will have to up your game when it comes to iran and do it now. All right. Senator Lindsay Graham, well leave it there. Thank you so much. Good to see you. We appreciate it. When we come back, the house of representatives as we discussed is still without a leader and all legislative action is froze own the hill. Will the repub all toooo youuuuu sean i wish for the amazing new iphone 15 pro jason sean do you mean this one the one with titanium . sean no way i can trade this busted up thing for one. jason maybe stealing wishes from the birthday boy is not your best plan switch to verizon and trade in any iphone and get the new iphone 15 pro on them. sean what . jason yup, and on an Amazing Network sean and i dont have to ruin anymore birthday parties jason yeah, that ship has sailed. Lets go get you the iphone. 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Dont take ozempic® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. Stop ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. Serious side effects may include pancreatitis. Gallbladder problems may occur. Tell your provider about vision problems or changes. Taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase low blood sugar risk. Side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. Living with type 2 diabetes . Ask about the power of 3 with ozempic®. Welcome back. The house has been without a speaker for nearly 13 days. On friday after republicans nominated jim jordan, hardright chairman of the Judiciary Committee to be their next speaker, but quickly postponed a floor vote as it became clear more than 50 republican members are not prepared to support jordan. He can only afford to lose four republican votes. House democrats made it clear they are unenthusiastic about bailing out the republican majority. We want to find a bepartisan path to reopening the house of representatives so we can solve problems for the American People and stand with our friends like israel and ukraine and others throughout the free world. But the House Republican civil war continues to rage on. Joining me now is the House Democratic leader congressman Hakeem Jefferies of new york. Leader jefferies, welcome back to meet the press. Good morning. Well, lets start right there. We heard you talking about a bipartisan solution to resolving this stalemate in the house. Are you actually having conversations behind the scenes with the republican counterpart about trying to create a bipartisan solution, a governing coalition . There are informal conversations that have been under way when we get back to washington tomorrow, its important to begin to formalize those discussions. From the very beginning of this congress, House Democrats have made clear that we want to continue to put people over politics, and to fight for things like lower cost, better paying jobs, Safer Communities and to build an economy that works from the middle out and the bottom up. On the other hand, House Republicans have been focused on fighting each other. Its time to end the republican civil war so we can get back to doing the business of the American People and we as House Democrats are committed to finding that bipartisan path forward in a meaningful way. Leader jefferies, this has been going on for 11 days. Why havent formal conversations started yet . At this point, that is on my House Republican colleagues. We have made clear publicly and privately that we are ready, willing and able to enter into a bipartisan governing coalition that puts the American People first and solves problems for hardworking american taxpayers. My republican colleagues have a simple choice. They can either double or triple down on the chaos, dysfunction and extremism or lets have a real conversation about changing the rules of the house so it can work in the best interest of the American People. What are your demands, leader jefferies . You talk about changing the rules in the house. Can you pick through a couple of your demands that youre going to ask for . These arent demands. We are ready to be reasonable and trying to find the Common Ground necessary. What are they . What is it that you want . We want to ensure that votes are taken on bills that have substantial democratic support and substantial republican support so that the extremists arent able to dictate the agenda. The current rules of the house have facilitated a handful of republicans being able to determine what gets voted on in the house of representatives and that undermines the interest of the American People. We can change the rules to facilitate bipartisanship and that should be the starting point of our conversation. Leader jefferies, i hear you saying that this is a republican issue and of course, but is the democratic leader of the house, dont you also bear a responsibility to try to bring this stalemate to an end . We want to reopen the house and get to a place where we can tackle the challenges that are in front of us domestically as well as make sure that we can stand with our close friend israel during her time of need in terms of ensuring israels ability to decisively defeat hamas, a Brutal Terrorist Organization. We need to be able to stand with the ukrainian people in its effort to defeat Vladimir Putin and russian aggression. We need to be able to make sure that we can keep the government open to meet the needs of the American People, and so we are ready, willing and able to have those conversations. You effectively need five democrats to get onboard and support a republican speaker to have a governing coalition. Have you identified a candidate who you could potentially get behind and would you allow your members to vote for a republican speaker . We have not identified any candidate on the other side of the aisle because our focus is not on the individual. Its on the institution of congress and the best interest of the American People which is why as we suggested why we reevaluate the rules that are currently in place to facilitate bipartisan cooperation and to eliminate division. Leader jefferies, how worried should people be about a potential Government Shutdown . Its now less than 40 days away. We entered into an agreement to avoid a catastrophic default on our debt in may led by President Biden who is doing a tremendous job. More than 300 members of congress supported that agreement which included topline spending numbers so that we would avert a Government Shutdown and could lean in to providing for the health, the safety and the economic wellbeing of the American People. Leader jefferies, would you intervene what im asking, though, is would you intervene to prevent a shutdown because as you know military members will not get paid if the government shuts down. Is that the point when democrats will intervene . House democrats have already intervened to prevent a Government Shutdown. House democrats provided a majority of the votes to avoid a Government Shutdown. We we certainly we are not the party of Government Shutdowns. We are the party that puts people over politics. So, of course, we are prepared to enter into an agreement that keeps the government funking and that meets the needs of the American People, what im saying is that we entered into an agreemental read they is a matter of law and the problem is House Republicans breached that agreement less than a week after it was entered into at the end of may. If we enter that agreement, we will make sure that the government stays open. Leader jefferies, thank you so much. Really appreciate it. We will stay tuned. Appreciate you joining us. Thank you. And when we come back, can the u. S. Stop the israelhamas war from Fisher Investments its easy to think that all Money Managers are pretty much the same, but at Fisher Investments were clearly different. other money manager different how . You sell High Commission investment products, right . Fisher Investments nope. Fisher avoids them. other money manager well, you must earn commissions on trades. 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For a better tomorrow, were focused on making plastics better today. Welcome back. The panel is here. Nbc news chief washington correspondent and Foreign Affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell. Nbc news senior washington correspondent hallie jackson. Ambassador dennis ross, former special envoy to the middle east and an nbc news Foreign Affairs analyst and Toluse Olorunnipa for the washington post. Andrea, i want to start with you. Throughout this broadcast, we have been talking to Jake Sullivan, senator graham about the prospect of this becoming a wider war, and i know you have a lot of reporting about that. Of course, the secretary of state in the region in cairo today dealing with that very issue. Whats at stake here . . Everything is at stake and in fact, the iranian warning that they will not be spectators if israel goes in big and you can see what the obvious impact of that would be, that is concerning and that is concerning because hezbollah, as hezbollah opens up the second front in the north that is a big challenge for israel is a major issue. The u. S. Does not even know where the american hostages are. They dont know how many there are who are being held hostage. The death count has been rising of americans and that is a big concern as well as israel has been going in. They went in on friday on the ground with special opes to do reconnaissance to fine where the hostages is and to see what the hamas response would be to them on the ground and they did that for about 24 hours on friday. How much did they get . We dont really know for obvious reasons, but theyre trying to find out where the hostages are, but that is going to be just devastating. Big american concerns and youve heard this from the secretary privately and publicly that they are telling israel and he will be heading back to israel to stress the restraint. They are already losing the Public Relations and the support of europe and that is a big concern and what you heard today importantly, Lindsay Graham got approval to go in and the saudi deal is not dead. It comes after secretary blinken was meeting with the saudi leader overnight. They still want that, but theyre not saying privately is that the sunni arabs are not supporting hamas. They would be very happy to eliminate hamas. Ambassador, you have negotiated peace for four administrations. You know this region well. You know the players well including Prime Minister netanyahu who wrote in his 2022 biography, i want to read you a piece of this, he said, quote, in terms of a Ground Invasion into gaza that could only be done with the wholesale destruction of gaza with tens of thousands of civilian deaths after destroying the hamas region. Israel would have to cover 2 million gazans. I have no intention of doing that and i believe the cost is not worth it and now here we are and no clear answer as to who will govern gaza. I guess i would make a couple of points in 2009, 2018, and 19 and smaller skirmishes in 2021 you had all of this and it was based on the assumption and the cost of managing and dealing with hamas this way knowing who they were was better than the cost of going back into gaza. The problem is that all changed last saturday because here was israel losing more people in one day than they had since the holocaust and the way it was done, the people who were killed, the hostages taken and all of this, the sheer brutality of this and the sheer absence of a shred of humanity has shocked israel and basically said we now have isis living next door, we can no longer tolerate and thats why it is no longer applied. The ambassador talked about everything changing and everything changed for President Biden this week and hes been reporting on this throughout the week and a test for him, a major test. And one that he has cast in intensely personal terms, kristen, the way he talks about it and the deep emotion that he has in the conversations with the president telling me this weekend that it is a function of empathy, they believe that the president brings to this issue and a function of experience, as well. This is somebody who understands the world stage who gets Foreign Policy. You are starting to see the white house also continue to draw in domestic messaging thats on the economy, for example, keeping focus on the domestic peace of this and that the president can walk and chew gum at the same time and foculing this crisis while ng on these things that americans also care about. Whats interesting, too, that i was struck by senator graham in the interview with you that he applauds, President Biden, and he believes former president george bush saying the same thing. You are seeing at this moment a bit of bipartisan support in large terms, broadly speaking for the president at this moment. It is such a great point. It is striking to hear a senator Lindsay Graham saying he supports what hes seeing from the Biden Administration. Take us behind the scenes because of course, some of the gop candidates have been taking this chance to lash out at President Biden, but as hallie says, this has been quite personal for the president. It is personal for the president. His aides see this as personal for him and they also see the domestic focus of the president talking about how this impacts not only him personally, but also him as an american in terms of focusing on all of the various Foreign Policy implications, but also looking at how this impacts domestic politics when you look at the fact that senator Lindsay Graham is showing support for the president and other republicans are showing support for the president. Youve seen the white house and the Biden Campaign amplify those positive messages to say yes, the president is the age that he is and he brings experience to the table. He brings Foreign Policy to the table and that is something that they try to amplify when they talk about the implications. Andrea, again, the big test of the saudi deal that we heard them say is not necessarily dead and the Bigger Picture here of those efforts to try to bring a broader peace in the region. It isnt dead. Obviously, its not going to happen in the middle of the war, but they have to think about the day after. Who is going to govern gaza if they do get rid of hamas, even if thats possible. We are talking about the palestinian authority. They have been so weakened over decades from personal experience and senator graham said it has to be younger, better leadership by the palestinian authority. Thats not really credible right now. So who will do that . But the saudi interest in this is an economic interest. They see the benefits and the fact that this would transform the region. So Everyone Wants it. Netanyahu wants it and the biden people want it and it will still be alive. It was so interesting, you heard Jake Sullivan say, it is not clear what the exit strategy is at this point. Look, there will have to be a dayafter strategy. You dont prepare a dayafter strategy on the day after. You have to begin to think about it. Right. You also have to be very practical right now. You talk about an exit strategy right now and it affect everything thats going on. You are trying to deter a lot of different actors. You dont want to signal that we are so concerned about the day after that we have to stop this right now. Hamas needs to be completely defeated because if it looks like they won their ideology rejection will have a great tailwind behind it and will have an impact on the whole region. Hallie, no clarity who will be the next speaker. In the midst of this international crisis, it is not clear that jim jordan, who is the nominee at this point is not clear, the mchenry, and you spoke with congressman mccaul who talked about how this is a threat right now internationally. Thank you all for being here. We do have to leave it there. 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Megawatts of power, rails and open road, and essential services of every kind. All running on countless invisible networks, making it a prime target for cyberattacks. But the same aipowered security that protects all of google also defends the systems running americas infrastructure. For these services. For the 336 million of us living here. Theres challenges, and i love overcoming challenges. When better money habits® content first started coming out, it expanded what i could do for Special Olympics athletes with developmental needs. Thousands of bank of america employees like scott spend countless hours volunteering to teach people how to reach their financial goals. It felt good. It felt like i could take on the whole world. Welcome back. 54 years ago golda meyer, former Prime Minister joined meet the press to talk about egypt, jordan and syria. She called herself that the worlds super powers could bring peace in the nearterm and talked about the long term prospects. A general from israel said to me recently that the present situation could easily go on for another ten years unchanged, but you have grandchildren. They will live presumably well into the next century. What do you see in the long term if we dont get a break in the present stalemate. I am convinced, honestly, sincerely believe that my grandchildren will live in an area of peace in the middle east because there are other grandmothers in egypt and in syria and in jordan that have grandchildren and they also want them to live. Irrespective of what hussein thinks. The grandmothers and the mothers want their children to live. Now you say when will that come . I dont know. Those are haunting words. And we leave you with the aim knowledges of the pain of this war now entering its second week upon. That is all for today. Thank you for watching. We will be back next week because if its sunday its meet the press. We made it bmo has arrived. Hello . You said it. 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