jim jimenez. sara and john are off. the israeli war cabinet is announcing that they will be gathering this morning, and voting on a deal to get the israeli hostages released by hamas in exchange for palestinian prisoners in israel. an announcement could come as soon as today about the culmination of this. and the number of hostages could be significant. a u.s. official says this is the closest they have been to a deal since the terror group kidnapped the innocent civilians in the october 7th attack. two israeli sources tell cnn is the names of who would be released, but regardless, it does appear that it will be a significant number, and potentially 50 women and children currently held in gaza in exchange, three palestinian prisoners could be released for every one hostage set free. on top of that, the swaps would be coming in a four to five-day pause in fighting. that is just some of the details of what this potential deal is starting to look like. we will get over to the white house, and mj lee is looking at the details. what is the sense this morning? >> kate, what the sources are telling us this morning is that israel, the u.s. and hamas are on the cusp of reaching a deal, and that deal could be announced as early as today. hamas would release 50 women and children hostages in exchange for four to five days of pause in fighting, and also in exchange for three palestinian prisoners that israel is holding for exchange for every one hostage. in the pause, israel would stop flying the surveillance drones over northern gaza for six hours a day, and what we are told about the identity of the hostages is that they are a various nationalities, and u.s. officials are hoping that one of the hostages that is released in initial tranche is 3-year-old abigail adan who is the youngest known american hostage and her parents were killed by hamas, and there is hope that she is one of the initial 50 released if this deal were to come to fruition. among the other hostages, the thought is that the hamas would use this pause in fighting to gather up, to see if there are any more hostages that they can gather and then if that were to be successful, then that pause in fighting could potentially be extended for extra days so that more hostages could come out. now, of course, we have seen u.s. officials here working around the clock to try to get this across the finish line. everyone from the president on down traveling to the region making phone calls, having meetings, and the caveat here still is that at any moment the deal could breakdown. it is incredibly tenuous in the past, but more optimism than ever before this morning, kate, that a deal could be announced and come as early as today. kate. >> thank you, m.j. omar? >> in about an hour, israeli's war cabinet is to meet at benjamin netanyahu's request to begin a multi step approval process for this process. and what are you learning about what is happening at this cabinet meeting? >> well, it is fascinatinging, isn't it? if this comes off, it is the biggest diplomatic breakthrough since october 7th and those massacres of the israelis on the kibbutzes and at tha this point we heard earlier from officials who have been mediating these negotiations, israel and hamas are not in direct contact, and hamas' political office is here in doha and been an agreement that doha has had with an agreement and so they have been negotiating to describe it as a truce agreement in the gaza strip, and they say they have been closer than they have ever been to an agreement, and that is saying something, because i have been talking about diplomatic sources for weeks. there have been times when it is, you know, been explained that we are close, but at this point, the diplomatic source is telling me that qatar is hoping that there is an announcement on a truce agreement in the gaza strip later today and as m.j. reported the truce agreement is for 50 hostages over a four-day pause, of pausing the ground hostilities, and periods of pauses for the israelis who are flying drones over the gaza strip and to allow and up to 300 trucks of aid a day into gaza. that would be an agreement on behalf of the israelis, of course, which is a real bone of contention, and real issue for humanitarian agencies to get this aid in. but as things stand, 50 hostages in the first stage, women, children, possibly foreigners in the first stage, and we can't stand that up. the second phase if it is successful in the days to come should allow for as we understand it, up to another 50, and that would be looking for all of the civilian hostages and women, children and foreigners released from captivity in gaza in exchange as we have been reporting for palestinian prisoners, women and teenagers held in palestinian prisoners, and there are 380 teenagers under a age of 18 in israeli prisoners and some 80 women as we understand it from the palestinian prisoner groups, so you can see where the prisoner numbers are stacking up, three to one deal. this is important the point out. it is described as a truce both by hamas and by the mediators here, which is suggesting that it is no means a cease-fire, and hamas has said it will not release all of the hostages, all 240 hostages including soldiers, and individuals of military age until there is a cease-fire. on the flipside, the israelis have said they will not go close to the cease-fire until all of the hostages are released. there is a standoff there. that is certainly not part of this agreement, because this is a truce, a pause in hostilities on the ground and some air activities until at least in principle the first of the civilian hostages will be released. look, it is not perfect, and nobody is saying it is, and it is certainly not including the soldiers or the military personnel or the people of military age, but it is a start at this point, and certainly as i said, the biggest diplomatic breakthrough since the conflict started, and it is not a done deal, omar, until it is a done deal. >> and that is the significance here that over weeks we have been looking for threads to see what could break through, and what is still in the initial phases, and what could be the significant breakthrough. we have to leave it there, becky anderson, and we will come back to you. joining us with more on this is senior international analyst peter bergen. what do you see in the contours of the deal that is coming together, and what do you think of it? well, set showing the central ti of qatar to it. and the fact that the hamas leadership is in qatar, and the leadership in qatar and they are acting like in the cold war where the united states can talk to people otherwise we might not be a ebble to talk to directly through the qataris, and that is an essential channel this we have seen it work before with two american women released earlier in the conflict, about two weeks into the conflict, and so the qataris are essential to this, and some people who said, well, why the mass political leadership in qatar, and suggesting they should be expelled, and i don't believe that is a good idea, because they would go to syria or iran, and at the end of the day, we need to be able to talk to them, and we need to continue to talk to them. clearly, if 50 hostages are released, that still leaves 190 still there, and amongst other issues that we want to talk to hamas about in the future, including what the day after gaza will look like and how that is going to be arranged. >> you said it perfectly, it is a tangled complicated nature of any hostage negotiation, and especially the one we are looking at knew. i asked the reporter from axios last hour who was on with us what he is hearing from the sources about what got them, the collective them to where we are in this moment, and especially when it is coming to hamas, and let me play for you what they said. if hamas agrees to the deal, how much pressure are they under from the idfn operation, or does it say something about how much hamas can benefit from the contours in the deal. >> i think that it is the former, and at the end of the day, when hamas gets out of the deal is a breather. that's it. they get four days, and maybe six days, and maybe if they manage to bring a lot of other hostages and release them to get eight days, but they are not going to stop the war. >> peter, what do you think they do or get in that breather? >> well, presumably a chance to regroup slightly, and wounded hamas fighters with medical treatment and as the war has gone on with the intense rate, and so, you know, clearly they do benefit, but, you know, when the hostage families met with netanyahu just yesterday there is so much anger directed at him and his government, and this is a big issue in israel for the israelis, this is not something that you have to do, but it is something that people in israel feel strongly about, and of course, the mass will benefit, but it is four days or eight days if it goes on. this is not, you know, this conflict clearly could carry on for months if indeed the aim of israel is to destroy hamas, it is a big aim. these kinds of urban wars that we saw in mosul that we saw against isis, it went on for nine months. i am not saying it is going on that long, but if the aim is clear to end the hamas military capability, that process could take many more weeks. >> it is great to see you, peter. thank you so much. >> thank you. we are following a lot of news here in the united states including will a federal appeals court restore the gag order in donald trump's case. we are also hearing that speaker of the house mike johnson stopped by for a meeting with donald trump at mar-a-lago, and why. and now, thanksgiving plans this year could be upended by some nasty storms. we'll explain. we are wait for a federal appeals court to decide whether or not a gag order is going back in place in the court case of donald trump, and this is in an often intense case of a three-panel judge hearing case. and how do you walk a fine line with a case involving him is unclear. now, elena, what did the judges say, and take us inside. >> well, kate, you are exactly right. it does look like the judges are poised to keep this a limited gag order in the federal elections subversion case, but they may loosen some of the restrictions so he can go after the special counsel jack smith more directly, and the distinction of political speech they said and speech designed to subvert the legal process. now, donald trump's lawyers have been arguing, and they argued this yesterday that gag order like this issued by dr. tanya chutkan is categorically un ununprecedented and that is what judge sauer said yesterday, and that is something that the judges did not entirely embrace. take a listen. >> the order is unprecedented and it is setting a terrible precedent for future restrictions on core political speech. >> it is only affecting speech temporarily for a criminal trial process for someone who has been indicted as a felon. no one here is threatening the first amendment broadly. >> now, kate, we are waiting to see how that three-judge panel is going to rule on this, but taking a step back and looking at the big picture, vi spoken to the trump team about this, and the reason they care so much is because donald trump and his team do not want to necessarily fight these legal battles in the court of law, but fight it in the court of public opinion and in order for him to do that, they want the speech not to be limit and have him say whatever he wants on social media. they look at his, his team is looking at the legal strategy the same as the campaign strategy, so having a gag order in place limits him from doing that. >> thank you, elena. and now, donald trump is getting a show of support from the top house republican. house speaker mike johnson went to mar-a-lago last night to meet with the former president according to a gop source. the sit-down is coming days after the trump re-election bid, and he says he wholeheartedly supports trump. david chalian is joining us now, and just start with how significant is this meeting between johnson and trump here? >> well, it is significant in showing a unified republican party around donald trump's dominance in it should not surprise anyone as you noted, because the speaker has made his endorsement of trump quite clear. he was one of donald trump's most vociferous supporters in the congress when donald trump was in office, including in his efforts to subvert the legitimate 2020 election results. and so, you know, the speaker is a trump ally, and he "fis as such, but it is worth noting here that since he has become speaker, he has passed a government funding bill without spending cuts, and sort of a clean continuing resolution, and did it with democratic help, and now he has gone to mar-a-lago to make sure that donald trump knows that he is indeed the leader of all of the republicans, and it is sounding like the old speaker kevin mccarthy. >> and at least his debut as speaker is a little different than mccarthy's was, but agreed, it is a situation where it is going about as smoothly as you could have hoped for the establish the lead as the republican leader. now, i want to jump to something elsewhere the presidential debate calendar was released and the debates ending earlier than they have before the election, and what do we know about this? >> this is the commission on presidential debates hosting them going back to 1988, omar, but debates don't happen unless both of the candidates aggree to debate, and so, we are far away from that. this is not set in stone, but they have revealed the dates and locations. and september 16th is in san marcos, texas, and that is the first presidential debate, juan of the first demands. the national republican national committee has been a feud with the presidential debates, and one of the sticking point is should the nominee agree is that the debates were too late and missing the early voters. a lot of the people are voting early now, and another note is that in the announcement, the first ever hbcu down in virginia is hosting a debate, and we have never seen that either. >> we don't know what the picture is that you point out aptly, we don't know what the picture is candidate wise when we come to november, and for one, white house is saying it will not govern by polls leading up to that as biden's approval ratings have not been great according polls, but what is the reality here for team biden? >> well, obviously when careen jean-pierre was asked about it, the stepped up effort of the campaign and the white house is this contrast campaign with donald trump. i thought that this nbc poll coming out this week explains perfectly why that is. they asked among biden voters, are you more casting your vote in support of for joe biden or against donald trump? 2/1 and 63% of the biden voters say they are voting for biden to be against trump, and 31% say they are voting for biden, and so trump is the motivation to vote for him. and if you flip it, trump is the motivating factor there, too. 56% of his supporters say they are voting for trump to be for him, and not opposed to biden and 37% say that. so while the biden campaign is keen on making donald trump the central factor in the race, because it is a motivating force for its supporters, the downside is donald trump being central in this campaign is a motivating fact for his supporters. >> we will see what happens, and david chalian, i know that you will be covering it all. >> thank you, omar. a potentially huge moment in the israel-hamas war, a deal to release some of the hostages could be released as early as today. we have new reporting from sources we will bring to you. and the supreme court is striking down a key tool to enforce the voting rights act, and in striking that down, it is striking a big blow to the voting rights act altogether, and the practical impact in this fight. and millions of americans are gearing up to head out for thanksgiving, and this weekend is a always a busy time to travel, but why officials believe this thanksgiving could be off of the charts. nice footwork. man, you're lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. now you can stream all your games like it's nothing. yes! [ cheers ] yeah! woho! running up and down that field looks tough. it's a pitch. get way more into what you're into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. we are now minutes away now from the israeli war cabinet gathering for a meeting. in the last hour prime minister benjamin netanyahu announced meeting and also in doing so said that the nation is quote making progress on the potential release of the innocent hostages held by hamas in gaza. sources do say that a deal could be approved as soon as today. oren liebermann is live in tel aviv with the latest on this. oren, what are you learning about this cabinet meeting, and what could be coming in the next hour for us? >> well, first, the war cabinet meeting itself which starts in half an hour, and likely the take place in the defense ministry behind me is the first in a series of steps to get a deal approved to allow for the release of the palestinian prisoners for the release of the hostages in gaza and israeli and other nationalities as well, and we know that there are nepally and thai prisoners as well. we know that then there is a security cabinet which is slightly larger, and then the full cabinet, and each gets a vote. there can be argument and discussion in each of those, but the crucial process is looking like it is moving and moving quite quickly. then there is a 24-hour period where there can be appeals to the supreme court to try to stop this process. and then after that maps, if we get to agreement, that can lead to the release of palestinian prisoners, and the freeing of the israeli hostages in gaza. we have heard that there is a critical indication that the entire process is moving forward and maybe expect an announcement soon is that the minister office from a short time ago says in light of the release of the issue of our hostages, the prime minister geoff shelley is releasing the forum of the government of the ministries to preparing and dealing with the civilian aspects. although it does not tell us exactly what is happening, but it is more statements and indications that the government is preparing to handle the release of hostages and everything that entails, kate. >> and there a lot that this deal entails, and we don't know the full contours of what is it going to be until it is announce and the hostages are freed, but one aspect that we have heard and learned about this morning is that it could and would include three palestinian prisoners in israel being released for every one hostage being released by hamas from gaza. what do you know about the prisoners in israel? >> there are obviously thousands of palestinian prisoners in israeli prison, and that the overarching goal of hamas, and they said, we will release our 240 in exchange for all of the palestinian prisoners held in israeli jails, but that not what is happening here. from our understanding of the framework, it is 50 women and children in exchange for 150 palestinian women and children, and if that works over the four or five-day pause in fighting, then it could be extend and more hostages for another 150 women and children that we believe at this point. how it works for israeli prisoners is 10 a day. we will see how it works on the palestinian side of prisoners and whether it is all at once or the same three to one. and ten israeli prisoners released from gaza, and 0 relees released -- and 30 released. it is worth noting that those from gaza, there will be no israeli soldiers released, because with the full release, hamas is going to have to release the israeli soldiers who were attacked on october 7th. but isrhamas b