department. let's toss things over to jake tapper and "the lead." >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. welcome to "the lead," i'm jake tapper. we start with breaking news. two american hostages have been released by hamas. and any moment we expect to hear from the secretary of state antony blinken after a spokesperson for the israeli prime minister's office confirmed that judith rannan and her 17-year-old daughter natalie are now back from the gaza strip. let's listen into secretary of state blinken. >> -- held by hamas were released. these two americans are now safely in the hands of israeli authorities in israel. we expect a team from the u.s. embassy to see them very shortly. over the coming hours, they'll receive any support and assistance that they need and of course we're very anxious to reunite them with their loved ones. we welcome their release. we share in the relief that their families, friends and loved ones are feeling. but there are still ten additional americans who remain unaccounted for in this conflict. some of them are being held hostage by hamas along with an estimated 200 other hostages held in gaza. they include men, women and young boys, young girls andelerly people from many nations. every single one of them should be released. since the early hours of this crisis, the president has made clear that he will do everything possible to secure the release of every hostage. during my own recent travel to the region, i emphasized the urgency and importance of this to the united states and pressed or partners to do everything they can to help us secure the release. since that time, we continue to work relentlessly with partners to do just that. i can't speak publicly about the details of these efforts. i know you understand that. but, the urgent work, to free every single american, to free all other hostages, continues. as does our work to secure the safe passage out of gaza for the americans who are trapped there. in this particular instance, i want to thank the government of qatar for their very important assistance. when i was in israel last last week, i met with the families of u.s. citizens that hamas has taken hostage. president biden, too, had the opportunity to hear directly from the families. it is impossible to adequately put into words the agony they're feeling of not knowing the fate of their loved ones. worrying relentlessly about them, for their safety and their security and well being. no family, anywhere, should have to experience this torture. what i shared with the families, as the president does as well, that the entire united states government will work every minute of every day to secure their release, to bring their loved ones home. they have my solemn pledge, those who continue to have loved ones held hostage by hamas, that we'll continue to do that. working as though these family members were our own. with that, i'll take a few questions. >> mr. secretary -- >> thank you for coming down. i'm just -- you said you couldn't talk about specific details but i'm wondering, you did thank the government of qatar, and i'm wondering, since you were there, and they have an office, they host a hamas office, if you could elaborate a little bit on what their role was and if you continue to think that that channel there, them having an office there, is worthwhile? and then secondly, a lot has been made by you, by the president, by other officials about how it is important for israel once, if and when it begins a ground incursion into gaza. for it to respect the rules of war and international -- and i am curious if you think that to date, even before that ground incursion that started, if israel is respecting those rules and laws. thank you. >> matt, thank you for the questions. you'll understand that because this is an ongoing effort, an ongoing effort to get hostages -- americans who are hostages in this moment in gaza out to secure their release to get them back with their families, i can't go into any details about what we're doing, how we're doing it and all i could say with regard to qatar, is in this instance, we very much appreciate their assistance. beyond that, i really can't -- i really can't say because, again, we want to focus on making sure that we're getting those who remain hostages back home and with their loved ones. that is the single most important thing. with regard to how israel is conducting its operations. i think you heard the president speak to this very clearly and you've heard me speak to this very clearly, we've said we believe strongly that israel has not only the right but the obligation to defend itself against what -- it is very hard to put into words, the nature and the bar barrett of the attacks and they have the on ligity to defend against it and make sure this doesn't happen again. but we've been break through, that the way israel does it matters and that operations be conducted in accordance with humanitarian law and the law of war as applicable. and that everything be done to minimize the lost of civilian life. and we continue to focus on that. just as we're also focusing on getting assistance into people in gaza who need it. there will be plenty time to make assessments about how these operations were counducted. but for on the part of the united states, this is important to us. and again, it is what distinguishes us and israel from terrorist groups like hamas, which not only have absolutely no concern for innocent human life, they intentionally use innocent human lives to hide behind. to use as quite lit literally as human shields. knowing that civilians are going to suffer in conflict. >> would you say, just following up on that, hamas has issued a statement through rabbi and i know with the huge caveat that it is a terror group and one does not attach credibility to that. but they've said that all of the hostages, the civilian hostages, which includes the americans, could be released. that this could be the start of something bigger. if there are no air strikes. would this be a moment where, if under israel's discretion, obviously, it would be wise to pause, to give it more time, to see if this is a moment that the ground invasion is not started, should even the air strikes be stopped to see if you could get more people out? and it was notable without going into details, that in the president's statement he said he expected -- he compressed his thanks to israel, to qatar in partnership with israel. a notable connection there. the obviousen inference that t were working together on this. does this give you hope, that despite everything that has happened, that there could still be a broader relationship and avoid a wider war? >> thanks, andrea. so, two things there. first, it is very simple. hostages should be released immediately and unconditionally. that is been our position from day one. it remains our position. and to your point, i would not take anything that hamas said at face value. i'm not sure anyone in this room would take it face value or report something that isis had said. same applies to hamas. our position is clear. every hostage needs to be released and needs to be released now. um, there is no doubt from my own travels in the region that one of the important things throughout this very difficult period, and since the attack -- the unconscionable attack about hamas is to continue to find ways for countries to cooperate, coordinate when it is in their interest to do so. and we'll continue to look to that and any cooperation that we could illicit, that facilitates the release of hostages and any cooperation that secures the provision of the humanitarian assistance to the men, women and children in gaza who are so desperately needing it. we work on that every day. and i think we could say that we've seen some of that cooperation. the broader question, though, i think is usually important. because what is abundantly clear is the vast majority of countries, the vast majority of people, want the same thing. they want a region why countries are working together, where relations are normalized, where there is greater integration, where people are working together, studying together, and traveling and doing business. overwhelming majority of people want that. and we want to see as well the rights and aspirations of the people fulfilled in the context of that kind of region. and that is one vision and it remains very much alive in every conversation that i had. t the alternative is clear. it is hamas, it's hezbollah, it's iran. it is destruction, it is death, it is terrorism, it is darkness. so, the more we're able to make real that first vision, the more i'm convinced that that is the vision that everyone or virtually everyone will subscribe to. so even as we are working through this challenge, this crisis, it is important to keep that vision alive. because it is important that people know that there is an alternative. and that everything that they hope for and that they aspire to is going to be best addressed through what i've just described, that first vision. we'll continue to do that. >> jennifer? >> yes, mr. secretary. what could you tell us about the condition of these two americans who have been released? what is their health status and do you have any details on the condition of the americans who are being held hostage? have you seen any proof of life on them? and then on the rafah crossing. >> what is the hold up in operationalizing this deal and will we see it open this weekend? >> i can't speak to the condition of the two hostages who were just released. first out of respect for their privacy, second because we haven't had a chance yet, maybe it is happening as we speak to get our own team in there to see them, to evaluate them and most importantly to reunite them with their loved ones. so, i'm sure that will come out in the hours and days ahead. i don't have anything for you now. nor do i have anything for you on the status of or condition of americans that continue to be held by hamas. with regard to the rafah crossing, as you know, when some of us were traveling together, in the region over the past week, getting assistance moving was among my top priorities. and we worked very hard with the government of israel, the government of egypt, to do just that. and we secured an understanding that we would develop a plan to move assistance. that understanding was cemented by president biden when he was in israel and also speaking to president el sisi of egypt. in the time since we've been working with david saterfield on the ground, working with the united nations, with egypt and israel to put that into motion. and my expectation is that you'll see that moving soon. thank you. thanks, everyone. all right. so that was secretary of state antony blinken. talking about the hostages, two hostages released by the terrorist group hamas in a deal that was arranged by the government of qatar working with the government of israel. israel said that these two american hostages, judith rannan and her 17-year-old daughter, natalie, are back from gaza, in israel, heading to be reunited with her family. the family lives near chicago. they were visiting relatives in israel when they were kidnapped during the hamas terrorist attacks on october 7th. let's bring in orren lieberman at the pentagon. what does hamas have to gain by releasing these hostages? they didn't do it out of the goodness of their hearts. >> no, but they do have a few different bits to gain here. potentially quite a bit. first of all, it looks good for them to release hostages. given the international pressure and that is not just the u.s. and israel, is that qatar has cut for the release of women and children and other countries. so for that perspective, it is good for hamas. but it is not just that perspective. if there are other hostages alive, that gives hamas leverage in this case. whether that is leverage to try to get some sort of cease-fire here or get humanitarian aid, it is the belief that they could get something out of that. as you pointed out, they're not holding people or releasing these two out of the goodness of their hearts. it is because they stand to gain something. and it is because they believe there is value in keeping these hostages. keeping them alive. the u.s. believes they're held in different locations which makes it hard so pinpoint exactly where they are. but there is another point to be made here. as we look back at the relationship between israel and hamas, that has largely been managed through qatar over the course of the past several years and that is hamas in the past, when they've launched rockets or held fence protests, or even launched flaming balloons, they have seen israel and specifically the government of benjamin netanyahu make concessions in the form of tens of millions of dollars of money from qatar flowing into gaza or israel expanding the fishing zone off the coast of gaza or expanding number of permits. so at least before the previous two weeks, there was a precedent for israel and netanyahu making con sections for violence. this is a entirely different scenario. but if they believe that precedent is still in place, perhaps they believe they could get concessions out of holding the hostages, whether that is concessions on the israeli side or somewhere else. so clearly, jake, they believe there is value in keeping these hostages and perhaps releasing proofs of live at certain 's and depending on the success of qatar in this situation. releasing more hostages in the future as it is to their need and as they think they could benefit. >> thank you so much. i want to now go to the rabbi for the rannan family. rabbi hecht. thank you so much for joining us. you must be pretty happy, i imagine, the worst fears imaginable have been going through your head since october 7th. how did you find out and what are you hearing from the family? >> jake, thank you so much for having me. the news that we received that judith and natalie rannan have been released is overwhelming. we are, of course, tremendously grateful to the almighty god. so much gratitude for this incredible beyond belief miracle. at the same time, you could understand that there is so much pain and deep concern for the over 200 hostages that still remain in gaza in the hands of terrorists, hamas have just done the most vicious and evil crimes against humanity, two weeks ago. so the fact that they released two hostages, to us that is incredible and it is a member of our community. someone who we see every week in our congregation and close to us like family and we're elated, still continuing to pray and when we are still continuing to ask everyone to do all you can. prayer helps. we got judith and natalie out, but continue the prayers for the over 200 hostages that still remain in the hands of hamas, vicious terrorists and for the -- the entire nation of israel who is still mourning over 1400 who were visually murdered, babies and men and women and children, and we are hoping and praying that we will all be able to celebrate the end of this evil very, very soon. >> rabbi, what could you tell us about judith and natalie? >> obviously, without violating their privacy, what could you tell us about them as people? >> judith and natalie are such kind, sweet, giving sharing, generous souls. judith is the type of person who could woman over to our home, to our congregation all of the time with gifts for the -- for the children. wanting to be there to spend this spiritual moment of prayer with everyone together. always wanting to join a class or any kind of gathering. a person who loves life, who loves humanity, and being together with other people. and like mom, like daughter, natalie has been described by all of her friends as such a kind and sweet and generous girl. and we are so, so grateful to almighty god for this miracle. we are so glad to get this news. and again, we still need to pray and we're still paying a deep concern for the rest of the hostages. >> here is the tough questionch i'm a journalist so -- how do you explain this? you talk about praying to god, somebody comes to you and said if there is a god, how do you explain october 7th? if there is a god, how do you explain hamas? how do you explain people that would do this? how do you explain the actions that took place? >> jake, people have choices and people have the ability to perform evil. we are living in a world where there is good and evil. that is the world that we live in. that is the world that god placed us in. it is or job to -- in the face of evil, this is a good versus evil and this is versus evil and darkness and this is our job to shine that light. so it is the jewish sabbath, before the sabbath and before sundown light the shabbat candles and every human being should be out there standing up for civilization and for the light of goodness in this world. make a prayer, do a good and kind deed for your fellow, it will make a difference. it made a difference for judith and natalie and will make a difference for the rest of the hostages, the rest of the israel and all those who are suffering. >> rabbi hecht, thank you so much. i'm glad you got some good news today because god knows we could all use some good news in these dark times. have a good sabbath. >> thank you, jake. dan o 'shea is with me now. we don't know how this all happened. but what does the release of these two american hostages and it does not escape notice that they were americans. >> of course. >> say about the potential fate of other 200 or so? >> well, hostage taking is how terrorist organizations negotiate with the west. this is their own leverage that they have. so these -- this release, which is shocking and surprising, it is a meiracle. it is a positive sign. i know that public perception in the arab world has turned against them because their hostages are grandparents and family and children and that is not serving their cause. everything is about public images. right now there is pressure for all of the countries that have hostages, their governments are appreciating the idf not to go in and do massive scale operations because largely at a ramada or fallujah type of scenario. this is a brutal and brilliant tactic and this is going to play out because there is 200 plus missing. this is the first chapter in some happy ending, but probably some tragedy as well. >> today the israeli defense force said a majority of the hostages, we think there are about 200 or so, the idf said a majority of them are still alive. how would they know that? >> you know, there is -- there is no idea. there could be 200 different holding locations or holding in six or seven locations. all of that is based on the intelligence that the idf had and massad per se. but they were -- the october 7th attacks, that shows you a link. a damaged link in the intelligence collection. so there is no guarantee that they have this advanced system because they should have known about this. so there is no guarantee. there is never 100%. you rarely get that type of intelligence on the hostages. and that is the needle in the haystack and that will be the case for every one of the hostages, where they are potentially located. >> is there a strategic or military reason for the idf to claim that the majority are still alive, even if they don't know? >> of course. absolutely. they have leverage on every word. the hostages are now the danes gill, they are part of the exchange, the goal that is an ancient tactic about taking hostages and that is the leverage. and so, this was a very smart move by hamas to do this. because this is going to drag out as long as there is the possibility that those hostages are still alive, there is tremendous pressure from foreign governments that have hostages being held in gaza right now. >> dan o 'shea, thank you. as we learn of this american mother and daughter released from the grips of hamas, hundreds of other families are a agonizing. i'm talk with a man whose brothers and nephews are believed to be kidnapped and held right now by hamas. that is next. other families are living in despair, obviously. overwhelmed by the silence of not knowing if their relatives are okay or frankly even alive. for example, jair and his girlfriend were kidnapped from their kibbutz in near israel. his two nephews ages 12 and 16, they were also kidnapped. and he joins us now. and jeannine, i'm so sorry you and your family are going through. how are you holding up? >> hello. it's been 13 days since that started, since the terrorist attack took place. we are struggling, we are trying to get a sign, something that will show us the status, whether they are healthy, whether they are eating, drinking, how do they feel? are they together? we don't know. we don't have a clue where are they being held or what are they doing? i was listening to liefncoln's words and i heard someone restated all of our goals since day one. release the civilians back home alive. that is all we ask since day one. they're not supposed to be breaking news. >> yeah. >> of releasing the two hostages, i heard about it a couple of minutes before i went to this interview. and then the fact that there were -- that they were released, gives us hope in our hearts. but there are 200 more held by hamas and think about what you just said when i heard you saying, it is my brother and his two kids. and his girlfriend. a whole family has been kidnapped. imagine our thoughts, imagine what we're going through. and now the world starts to see what we saw on the first day. this should never happen. the evil that we saw was so frustrating, so hard for us. and we must stop it, not in israel or anyplace in the world. >> tell us about jair. >> well, jair is a people's guy. whenever he gets into a room, it doesn't matter where, you could put in -- him in anywhere and after five minutes he will have so many friends around him. he will be contacted to so many people, different people. they don't have to be the same. i'm his youngest brother. he's older than me by 12 years and i've always as a child looked up and wanted to be jair. wanted to be like him. he was always bringing joy when he entered a room. when he was there. and also his kids. he has two marvelous kids. really, really enjoyable and always laughing. always making jokes at each other. um, i have a son. my oldest son is very close to the older son that was kidnapped, 16 years old. my son is 17. and his daughter was saved in that horrible situation. >> yeah. >> my oldest brother was saved. but when she saw this week, we went to visit her, also, and when she saw my son, she said, it is a mixture of the two brothers that were kidnapped. he's part of them. they are so happy. they are so enjoyable as i explain. >> how old are your nephews that were kidnapped? >> 12 and 16. >> just kids. >> two little kids. >> a friend of your brothers -- >> i truly hope -- >> go ahead. >> sorry. i truly hope and i truly believe that the world is the only one who could influence this situation, right. israel is in a war with hamas. we know that. and since israel is in a war and hamas is in a war, none of those two could influence each other. they have fighting. we need the world with us. that is what i started to do two days after the whole thing started and i really understood that my brother was kidnapped. it is not just us who now understand. think about it. today 86 nobel laureates signed a petition to immediately release them. the civilians and the children. even one of them was iranian. every one of them finds that -- signed that petition. so the world understands and we must do something to continue to push hamas to release the civilians back home. not just release them back home but also alive. >> yaniv, thank you very much. i hope you get them back soon. >> thank you so much for having me. >> thank you. when will the humanitarian aid get into gaza? cnn's clarissa ward just traveled to the rafah crossing where dozens of trucks aresying in egypt and waiting and waiting. she'll join us live next. stacks of humanitarian aid, that were supposed to have already gone into gaza today. it will now cross the egyptian border within the next 24 to 48 hours, supposedly. in about 200 trucks, which carrying dire humanitarian aid, water and food and medicine. are just sitting there. just a short distance away. from the tens of thousands of palestinian innocent civilians who desperately need it. the united nations calling this a difference between life and death. clarissa ward is in cairo, egypt for us. and officials say that road repairs were needed before the crucial aid to pass through. is that really the only reason for this 13-day long delay so far? >> reporter: no, jake. it is not. we were actually at the rafah border crossing today, the u.n. said there is a number of other issues. firstly, the issue of the israelis wanting to verify everything that is in those trucks to make sure there is no weapons there. they need to come up with some kind of a mechanism to do that. but that takes time. how would they do that, where would they do that? the second issue, they say, is that they don't want this to be a one-off of just 20 trucks going in. they want to have an agreement in place for a sustained continuous humanitarian corridor. they are worried that their trucks and workers could get attacks or mobbed if this is just that one -- one sort of shipment or movement of 20 trucks. all of this, though, jake, is really coming down to the wire now. with fuel stocks about to run out in a matter of days and anger getting ever, ever higher. take a look. for days they have been waiting. more than 200 trucks full of aid desperately needed in gaza, but stuck on the egyptian side of the rafah border crossing. u.n. sect general antonio gutierrez hopes to be here for a much-needed diplomat win. instead, he found himself in the midst of a protest, his remarks drowned out by the crowd. >> people are chanting over and over again, with our blood, with our souls. we will defend palestine. there is a huge amount of anger, a huge amount of emotion. much of it directed at the west. [ crowd chanting ] and much also at western media where people here have favored israeli voices over palestinians. >> where is your humanity. >> reporter: protests start shouting at me. we invite her to do an interview with us. >> when a thousand plus palestinian babies die, you don't feel the same, as when i tell you one of your own has died. but these are our own. and it is unfair and egypt will tell you, palestine, all are talking for israel and the united nations are standing for israel, all of these international institutions who is there for the palestinians and don't call it a war. the jargon is even more infuriating. they are not on equal footing. it is not a war. >> reporter: for many it is deeply personal. a palestinian man holds up his i.d. >> i can't contact my family. >> your family is on the other side. >> i have seven sisters and my family, my mother, grandmother and uncles, all of my family is there. i can't contact them. i don't know -- >> are they okay? >> i don't know if they are okay or not. >> reporter: as egyptian soldiers stand by, the protests get more animated and protests are illegal here but today the egyptian president called on people to take to the streets. so this is rapidly becoming a very chaotic scene now. they're trying to get the secretary general out of here. we're ordered back on to the buses. and escorted out through the crowd back to an airport. where piles of aid sit by the runway, so close to where they need to be. but held back the u.n., said, by complications over how to monitor the trucks that enter gaza and how to establish a continuous humanitarian corridor. when you saw the anger of those protesters, most of it leveled at israel and the u.s., but also at the international community for failing to stop this situation, what is your response? >> i think what is important to say is that we are doing everything we can engaging with all the parties to make sure that sooner rather than later, we are able to have not only a first convoy, but continued aid to the population. >> but no time line? >> i think it should be as quickly as possible. and with as many as possible trucks to cross into the first few days. >> reporter: but that is little comfort to the people of gaza. for whom every day, every hour is vital. jake, one of the other sticking points here appears to be the issue of fuel. there has been agreement about food and medicine and about water. but fuel is desperately needed to power the generators that are keeping those hospitals going, that are keeping the refugee centers overwhelmed as they are still going. president biden as you menged in the introduction said hopefully within 24 to 48 hours we may start to see movement. but there are still obstacles to overcome and the secretary general is saying we desperately need to end this impasse, jake. >> clarissa ward in cairo, egypt, for us. thank you so much. this photo just into cnn. it shows the two american hostages just released. judith rannan and her 17-year-old daughter natalie right after they were allowed to leave gaza, they live near chicago and had been visiting relatives in israel when they were kidnapped during the hamas terrorist attacks on israel onon october 7th. jim jordan is out. his bumpy road to the house speakership met its final road block and now several house republicans are jumping into the speaker's race. that is next. in politics today, after forcing three votes for speaker, despite never having actually secured enough support, and in fact losing support on each subsequent vote, jim jordan finally today officially acknowledged that he lost the room. this afternoon, in secret ballot, house republicans officially decided he is no longer their choice to become speaker. cnn reporting that jordan lost by a rather sizable margin. so what is next? republicans say they're going to meet for a candidate forum on monday. seven republicans are throwing their hats into the ring and kevin mccarthy is giving an endorsement saying he's back tom emmer of minnesota. just hours before he had delivered a ringing endorsement of jordan in a speech nominating him on the floor. with me now is republican congressman steve womack from arkansas who had voted against jordan three times. congressman, your conference voted by secret ballot and determined that jordan should not remain the speaker candidate. so i have to ask. in the midst of foreign policy crisis and the pending government shutdown, what was this week about. why did jim jordan force three votes and waste this entire week? >> well, jake, your right. sometimes we could be slow learners. it is kind of ironic that we're doing this interview in the shadows of the will rodgers' statue from oak right behind me. and you remember what will said about this whole business of learning, you could learn people -- people learn by reading, people could learn by observation, and sometimes people learn by just peeing on the electric fence for themselves. so that is a situation that is reminiscent of house republicans right now, that it has taken us. now 17 days since the removal of kevin mccarthy, for us to be in a situation where we can, at least see some clarity, some light at the end of the tunnel, but right now it is another weekend, a quiet day at the capitol after all of the activities here and members are going home and we'll be back monday night at 6:30 and we'll start this process all over again. >> i also know will rodgers said that i'm not a member of an organized political party, i'm a democrat and maybe that was true of the democratic party at time. but it sure describes your party right now, which is at least on the house side just a god awful mess. do you think you'll get it together, your party? could you all rally against -- around someone like -- are you -- is there somebody you like, tom emmer seems like a womack republican, maybe. >> i like anybody that we could muster 217 votes for. but that is certainly an illusive target right now. because of the fractures in the conference. we have a lot of different groups that have certain ideology and learn leanings and favorites. how freedom caucus being one of those. and they were ptrying to prop u the candidacy of jordan. but there was something telling today in my strong opinion and i tried to communicate this to our leadership and when i met with mr. jordan on monday at noon, i tried to communicate that to him. he got 194 republican votes in the open on the house floor, about five hours ago. and then we went -- went down to hc-5 in the privacy of our conference in a secret ballot he got 86. now, that tells me that he was not nearly as popular among our colleagues as he was among a lot of people that have given me a lot of advice on the phone here over the last several days. so, we -- we voted tuesday. he was down 20 of our members. he's not going to get a democrat vote. and then 22 on wednesday. and then we wasted thursday. and came back on friday. and then it went to 25. and it was about to be a lot worse if we had gone to a fourth vote. but we're going to try to come back monday and restart and see where it takes us. >> so, may i humbly offer you some advice. have you considered ranked choice voting. where you do your first, second and third votes and maybe come up with top three and maybe that would help you achieve some sort of compromise candidate. because that might not be a horrible idea and really we need a speaker. like the country needs a speaker. >> we do. >> this isn't about, prom king. like, we need a functioning legislative branch. >> yeah, well, that is the obvious. and we'd like to be able to deliver on that. but, we seem to have a hard time understanding that in a narrow majority, where you could only lose four votes and it may be less than that if your members aren't here, so you're at 217. we have 430 -- i think 431, 432 members in the entire house and you have to get 217. and there is a litmus test, democrats will not vote for a republican nominee. that is the way this process works. but you know, if that is going to be the case, then you have to get 217 in your own conference and as fractured as it is. and let me tell you, there is some deep wounds right now. there are some hurt feelings and some angry people. and -- >> but known of us out here care. really. >> i know. well -- >> it is just like get over it. we see nancy -- one of your members blocked nancy mace and then nancy mace made a kitty cat, pussy cat emoji at him. it is like, seriously, this is like high school. but there is legislation and -- there are literally americans being killed abroad and we need this to work. >> that is kind of offensive to high school people. because it is really junior high stuff. >> that is a good point. >> this is junior high stuff. we get wrapped around the axle of nonsensical things. but the world is burning around us and we're fiddling and we don't have a strategy. our rules direc us to do this a certain way and i don't like relate gating the fast that the fact that steve scalise never got a chance to get his candidacy to the floor of the house and test that vote was disappointing to me. and it formed the basis for where i went the way i did in every vote i took this week. but we'll hear from the candidates. there will be a bunch of them. only one of them will survive. and i don't know who that will be. i haven't looked at the field. we'll hear from them on monday night and then vote perhaps on tuesday. and it will probably be like what we call queen of the hill, you know. the last one will be out and then we'll go back and do it again. so, look, this is not over. but jake, i'm going to also told you this, that even when we do get a speaker, the hard left is still out there and that is how do you get a rule passed on the floor, and push legislation if you carry the fractures of your conference into the legislative body. so, this is going to test leadership. leadership has to be equal to the challenge that we could get all of our members on the rope pulling in the same direction, not caring about who going to get the credit if we succeed or the blame should we fail. >> yeah. >> that is the bottom line. and that is the ultimate test of leadership. >> well you have my vote. congressman steve womack, appreciate you. thank you so much. >> always good to be with you, jake. >> i hope your party gets it together. >> thank you. coming up, the latest on the hostages by hamas that have been released. we'll go live to their home town. stay with us.