>> jennifer brown hyde and paul solet, looks like we lost the connection at the end, thank you both. be sure to tune into the cnn film "chowchilla" that premieres this sunday 9:00 p.m. eastern only right here on cnn. thank you for being with us, have a great weekend, we will see you back here monday. "cnn news central" is now. ♪ history unfolding before our eyes this morning. congress poised to do something it almost never does, kick out one of its own members. possibly. this could be the last hour or two in congress for new york republican george santos, a man who faces a 23-count federal indictment for alleged fraud, money laundering and more. a scathing house ethics committee report on his use of campaign funds for spa visits, botox and only fans and more in a mountain of reporting that exposed lies about where he went to college, if his mother was at the world trade center on 9/11, whether he is jewish and much, much more. at this moment house republicans are meeting behind closed doors, an expulsion vote is expected on the floor shortly. now, george santos yesterday declared that if he is kicked out, what it means is the bullies win, accusing fellow members of denying him due process. and then this morning santos took to television to offer what is likely his closing argument. >> i want people to vote their conscience and i don't want to make anybody feel uncomfortable. if it's their choice to change precedent and loop me in with three confederate turncoats who were expelled for treason and two convicted members convicted in a court of law, so i will be the first person to get expelled from congress without a conviction or committing tre treason. >> all right. you heard his words there, we will hear much more from him i am sure. expulsion requires, however, a two-thirds super majority. only five house lawmakers have ever been removed this way. for santos today's vote to be the culmination of a political career filled with lies, scandal and drama. we have team coverage of this historic vote this morning. cnn's manu raju and melanie zanona joins us from capitol hill. manu, what are you hearing this morning about this vote and the potential that he may be expelled? >> reporter: look, i'm asking dozens of republicans walking into this conference meeting behind me how they will vote. many simply say they don't know, others won't say at all which shows you how uncertain it is about whether there are the two-thirds majority to expel george santos from the house of representatives. it would require 77 republicans assuming all members are here and voting, to get there. we don't have 77 republicans who have publicly announced where they will go and the republican leadership is expected to oppose it but they are not whipping their members. they say you can vote your conscience which is making it uncertain whether george santos will become the first member ever to be expelled who has not been convicted of a crime and who is not part of the confederacy. in talking to those members it is clear that opinions about santos and his conduct span the ga gamut. >> we have a member of congress that has admitted to a lot of things that i think fall woefully short of the standards that are expected of a member of congress and, you know, setting aside the criminal implications and the fact that he will go through a trial next year, the fact is that the constitution provides that members of the house can discipline their members. >> it's the precedent thing that i'm having to consider, do we want to set a precedent that is not there now? the evidence looks pretty damning, but, again, it's more about the institution and the precedent than about him. >> i have to answer a specific question about whether taxpayer dollars should be paying a guy who has no intention of running again and the facts are the facts from the ethics committee. >> reporter: so that's what you're hearing from republicans. some of them concerned about the precedent that this would set. this he don't want to go down that route. but then there is the shear political calculation here. this is a narrow republican house majority, if george santos becomes a sixth member ever to be expelled from the house, this could put a -- swing a district that joe biden carried in 2020 in play, potentially narrowing that already very, very tight republican majority and that is not lost on these members, which is why some people believe george santos may survive this vote in the next hour, given all those factors at play, but, again, we just don't know the outcome of this vote. m a lot of people simply are not saying how they will vote yet. i spoke to him yesterday and he said he was torn. he waved me off on that question. there are questions about whether there are the votes to expel george santos. members are filing into this meeting and we will see how they ultimately -- >> go get them. go get them. stop talking to us g get them. find out what they're going to do, report back to us as soon as they tell you, manu. the fact of the matter is we don't know. we do not know where this is headed, it hangs in the balance. let's go to nell knee zanona now. if santos is expelled today and we don't know if that's going to happen, what's next for him? >> reporter: this would be a very dramatic and unprecedented step as manu was saying, there are more than five members that have only been expelled and they were already convicted of a crime or already part of the confederacy and convicted for treason. now, if it does happen what would happen is it would be handled like a vacancy in the house, the clerk would assume control of the congressman's office, would make decisions on that office's behalf. his district office would remain for constituent needs. george santos said that he would go gracefully and peacefully, that he would leave willingly, he would pack up his office and leave and go back to new york tomorrow, but then within ten days the governor would have to call a special election. they would have to set is that election within the next 70 to 80 days. remember, this is a biden won district in a very blue district, so there's a strong chance that democrats could really flip this seat. there would be a lot of money, resources, attention on that potential special election and that is certainly weighing heavily on the minds of republicans as they decide whether to take this dramatic step of expelling one of their own colleagues. >> melanie zanona on the steps of the capitol for us, thank you so much. let's try to get more answers about where members of congress are right now. joining us is republican congresswoman from indiana victoria sparks. thank you for being here. have you decided how you are going to vote this morning on this expulsion? >> i looked through all of the evidence and reports and there are very serious allegations, but i think there was an old saying, you know, if any da can indict a ham sandwich if you wanted them to. i think if we are going to be expelling people and overrule the will of the people based on indictments and allegations without going through proper due process and convictions, we're going to set very dangerous precedents. the ethics committee didn't even go through the trial process. i am not going to be voting to expel representative santos and i hope my colleagues are going to think seriously because we already turned into circus, we already turned into dang radio court and i don't think we are doing our job and doing a lot of distraction. i think it's going to be very split republicans on this issue and i hope democrats will stop being political and also start thinking about this institution. >> so to be clear, as of wednesday, which was the last time i had heard commentary from you, you had said that you were not sure yet on how you were going to vote, you were still going through the report. what you're saying is you are going to vote against expulsion? >> i will, because i look -- and i was very surprised that the ethics committee in such a serious decision didn't even bother to go through the trial process. they decided for political expediency, we don't want to deal with that, we go pretty much from investigation to conviction. that is not the rule of law. that is not how things should happen. i was very surprised to see that they acknowledged that. they are just going to not even go through the whole trial process. that is unfortunate, but ultimately this is going to be very dangerous precedent and we will have so many now resolutions because, you know, as my good friend klay higgins said, listen, we are dealing with a place like a brothel here, there are a lot of bad things happening here. so by doing this we will be -- instead of doing governing, just going after each other and having this resolution day and night, which is really unhealthy because we have, we have big problems to deal with. >> you are not actually doing this day and night and this isn't about the rule of law necessarily because the house ethics committee it's not -- it's not a legal proceeding. what expulsion is about is about the behavior of members of congress, giving a two-thirds majority the power to expel if they do not think that members should be a part of it. it's not about rule of law. >> of course, but it is. you know, we have duly elected people. we are overruling the will of the people. we have elections every two years for a reason that people can get rid of representatives they don't like and we do have a process set up, for example, if somebody got convicted of a crime and doesn't want to leave congress. so they were set up. this has to be taken very serious. even censoring we don't take seriously. we do a lot of presentation and people vote for things for employed cal expediency but we're setting up precedents where now instead of doing the work we have privilege resolutions. democrats had it, they started t now republicans are doing it where we're harassing members we don't like and appease the voters instead of governing and delivering on real issues and it's very unfortunate. >> so when a fellow republican dusty johnson put it this way to manu raju, if republicans aren't willing to police our own, how can we possibly look at the american people in the eye and tell them that we're able to police folks on the other side of the aisle as well? you do not see that -- you do not see that as a good point? >> we are not a police. i understand, you know, we are -- everyone is innocent until proven guilty. whether it's president trump, we have a very serious allegation against president biden right now, we are actually going to have a hearing on this issue. >> but this is about -- here is what it says in the constitution with regard to expulsion, each house may determine the rules of its proceedings. punish its members for disorderly behavior and with the concurrence of two-thirds expel a member. disorderly behavior. the ethics committee the way they concluded it was that santos sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his house candidacy for his own personal financial profit. why do you want someone like that to be one of your colleagues in voting with you in the house? >> this is a serious allegations but we have to have a level of proceedings before we go to conviction to expel. this should be a last resort. it's only been done when people were convicted in the court of law in crimes or treason. so we cannot just set a precedent. one thing when we go and actually do censure some of the members which we don't take lightly, this is very different, but we are overruling the will of the american people and we are going to go to that, we really better have very clear evidence and convictions not just sitting here and having kangaroo courts. everyone should go through the process. the committee, ethics committee, didn't even bother to go through the trial. they have a process. they decided not to do it. this is not fair to anybody and what the problem s you know, listen, i'm not defending, the allegations are pretty serious and it's unfortunate that we have people getting into congress and a lot of people with very shady reputations not just him, but let's not go there, but i think they don't even bother to actually go through investigation and trial process, they just pretty much sat down, look at some things and decided they are already judges to expel someone. this is a very last resort tool and should be used very rarely or we will set a precedent in this institution, change of power like a mob rule, we will turn into a mob rule. we have power, let's do t other side will expect doing the same things and i think it's going to be destructive for this institution. senator mendez, you don't see him getting expelled. i think this is something you have to have really, you know, proven evidence and the judgments done in the courts before you decided to go to overrule the rule of the people. >> real quick, how much did the calculation -- did it factor into your calculation on how you wanted to vote the fact that if he is expelled the republican majority is even more slim? >> i honestly like tight majorities because now our leadership is willing to govern for the people so i don't mind tight majorities. i'm not one of those people that wants to actually have, you know, people go and be -- to leadership and not challenge my own party because we have a lot of challenges to deliver for the people and don't have a lobby for the people. i think of it politically and think of things that may not be convenient. i'm looking at the precedents and institution and what things need to happen. that is the most important thing because ultimately we are here temporarily and, you know, what we've done here has implications for the future and we need to be careful and not take this decision lightly. that doesn't bother me, i actually -- i will be honest with you, i enjoy having a tight majority because conservatives like me have a voice now for the american people to get some things done. >> congresswoman victoria spartz from the great state of indiana, always fascinating to have you on and have a great conversation with you. >> thank you for having me. now to the middle east. the truce is over. fighting has now started again in gaza. the idf accusing hamas of violating the truce first by firing rockets towards israeli territory and now saying they are once again out to destroy hamas. israeli troops moved through the north, air strikes hit in the south. already more than 100 people have been killed in the strikes according to the hamas-controlled ministry of health. inside one of gaza's last functioning hospitals a spokesperson for unicef said a bomb landed very close by. >> children are sleeping, there was a bomb literally 50 meters from here. i cannot overstate how the capacity has been reduced of hospitals in our seven weeks. we cannot see more children with the wounds of war, with the burns, with the shrapnel littering their body, with the broken bones in action by those with influence is allowing the killing of children. >> the hospital system there, too, is completely overwhelmed as you saw in the largest city in the south, that's khan yunis, leaflets dropped from the sky warning residents in the city that it is a fighting zone now and to evacuate immediately. you will remember that was the city that was the safe zone when there was fighting in the north. now people are being told to evacuate. and in israel citizens woke up to air ride sirens warning of incoming rocket fire there. the idf intercepted several rockets which they say were fired from the gaza border. despite the truce expiring, qatari officials claim negotiations to free the remaining hostages have not completely broken down. israel believes there are still 137 hostages being held captive in gaza, 20 are women and two are children under the age of 18. let's get to oren liebermann who is in israel for us. what do you know at this point from your standpoint in tel aviv about the idf's military operations in this last couple of hours? >> reporter: sara, israel had said over the course of the past several days that its operation when the war resumed and senior israeli officials including prime minister benjamin netanyahu made it very clear that it would resume, they said it would be stronger than the campaign to this point and that certainly appears to be what we're seeing play out in gaza with our teams down there hearing artillery strikes, air strikes reported in southern gaza. as you pointed out southern gaza is where israel told palestinians in the north to evacuate to. so now targeting areas there. the hamas-controlled ministry of health says more than 100 palestinians have been killed in the first hours of strikes here that campaign continuing there. the idf did drop leaflets with a qr code which leads to a map of gaza broken up into a lot of different parcels. it appears they may be preparing to tell gazans in specific areas to evacuate, maybe a response to secretary of state antony blinken demanding that before israel launches the next phase of its campaign it has more protocols in place and more concrete steps to prevent civilian casualties. crucially we are hours into the breakdown of the ceasefire so we will see how this holds, if it works, if there is a reduction in civilian casualties. right now the fighting there very intense. israel and hamas have both indicated they are ready for the resumption of hostilities and that's what we're seeing now. as for the hostages that remain in gaza, israel demanded more women and children be released, hamas had said they don't have enough for a continuation in the pause in the fighting, instead saying israel rejected their offers to move the negotiations to include elderly men and then men and women of soldiers' age. now, the negotiation right side ongoing, the first truce was reached through negotiations in the middle of war and that's the effort right now. a senior state department official, sara, saying it may be possible to get back to a truce but from where we stand right now the odds look slim at this point. >> oren, thank you so much for all of your reporting from tel aviv. manu raju is chasing people down on capitol hill. we are getting a fresh count on where the vote stands to possibly expel republican george santos from congress. we have new conversation coming in. also, new reports that israeli intelligence officials had access to a 40-page document a year ago detailing almost every aspect of the october 7th attacks. what we are learning about why they did not act. the clock is ticking, within the next hour or so the house will vote on whether to expel republican george santos from congress. how close are they to hitting the number they need to get to? with us now cnn's senior data reporter harry enten. what do they need to get to? how close are they? who needs to flip? >> yeah, okay. so this is all about math, it's a mathematics game. let's lay this out. house votes needed to expel george santos you need 290 total. you will probably need 77 republicans if every democrat votes to expel. so the question is will we get to 77? this is what we're trying to figure out. so the gop house votes needed to expel george santos 77 likely are needed. 24 have previously voted to expel him so you can count on those. 20 more say they will now. so this is the number, 33. 33 more are needed and that's what you see manu raju going down the hall trying to find whether or not these 33 actually exist. of course, there are many gop members not saying how they're going to vote. so this is really something going down to the wire. this is a mathematics game, a question of whether or not these 33 extra votes actually do exist. we don't know. one reason why they may not exist is because mike johnson wants to keep his narrow majority and it is very narrow. at this particular point there are 222 republicans to 213 democrats in the house, this is tied for the narrow west majority in the last 90 years. there is a real question do you really want to make that majority even narrower. if we do expel george santos it could go to a special election and new york's third district is very much a swing district. joe biden won in 2020, won it by eight points, but not only did george santos win in 2022 but joe pinion the republican candidate for senate won it by four points. if it went to a special election we don't know exactly what would happen and that's i think part of the reason why this vote today -- >> we also don't know what's going to happen today. >> yeah. bizarro land. >> no, it's not, it's exactly how it should be. thank you so much, harry. joining us now is republican strategist, former communications director for the rnc, years of experience on capitol hill and emily noh. since we don't know what's going to happen what do you think is going to happen? >> that is really an unfair question because of exactly what harry laid out. i worked in the house and the last time we expelled a member, jim traficant from ohio, that was a clear cut case of somebody convicted of a crime when you hear congresswoman spartz talk about precedents, there are two reasons for doing that. one it's a real thing and what the ramifications for that are is if this passes tomorrow or next week we get to see marjorie taylor greene file motions to expel any democrat she is mad at on any given day and democrats reta retaliate. when they lean on precedent they are not saying george santos is a good hard-working member of congress who should be here. it's an out for them. >> that surprises me on the precedent thing. i always thought the precedent thing was a thing they could hide mind because they don't want to lose another member. >> if they're waiting for conviction to be a bar george santos is not due in court on those i'm diemt and fraud charges, that 23-count indictment until next september. he will be in office until then. if republicans especially in leadership are worried about the balance of power in the house itself, those pushing most vocally for santos' ouster are those who are also in swing seats whose reelection campaigns are also at stake. so they would want those constituents to be appeased as well. >> kate brought up an important note and it is about the fact that this is an ethics committee, it is not a court of law. that's its job. it's job is to look at the ethics of its members and to see whether or not they should be representing their district. in his case, and he has admitted to so many of these lies, he lied his way into office and all of these other charges are something else, bigger and grander, but the lying is all part of this. so i will start with you, emily. why don't members know what they're going to do or they're just telling us that because they do know what they're going to do and don't want to tell anybody until they do it because it is embarrassing. >> they're waiting to see what everyone else does. no one is formally whipping these votes, not house speaker mike johnson. santos has said he is not trying to sway votes one way or the other. he has told me and other reporters that he's out today and my colleagues from "politico" on the hill have one whipping of the votes themselves, it seems that that two-thirds vote is there but there's a lot of discussion not just about ethical transgression but any sort of criminal laws that may be broken because whether he stays in office or not he is up in court in a couple months' time facing serious charges. >> in case people have been living in the forest for the last few years, forget the federal charges, the 23 federal charges, forget the ethics committee report which said, you know, that he misused campaign funds for vacation, meals, spa, botox and only fans which i only learned what it was last week. >> i don't believe you. >> but the reporting before that george santos lied about his high school and college resumé, that he worked at goldman sachs, that he lost employees at the pulse nightclub shooting, that he had a nonprofit charity, that his mother fled socialism in europe, i can't get through the list without it making me lose my voice. that's what's being faced here. you've been there. what's happening behind closed doors in congress right now? this vote is coming up. what are they all really doing? what are they all really saying to each other? >> think of the conversations we have had about donald trump over the past few years. republicans say one thing publicly, a different thing privately. we just heard that with what liz cheney has said about kevin mccarthy and donald trump not eating and all those bizarre things. that's true here. i know you are a fan of shakespeare let's going to lady macbeth. this is where republicans who either voted against santos first or are moved to do so now, they want to get rid of george santos because he is a blight on the house, two, the republican party has had a blight on itself that they would like to expel in some form, whether it's this one member or a larger issue that the republicans have, but also keep in mind there's been a lot of conversation of why has this taken so long. having worked on a house ethics issue out of the house an inside of the house this is moving fast for how the process works in the house and the speaker typically doesn't vote on your run-of-the-mill bills, appropriations bills. they are not whipping this but he's going to vote and vote no, that's sending a signal to his membership. >> let's go back to manu on the hill. he has new reporting coming out. what are you hearing? >> reporter: speaker mike johnson, in fact, will vote against this expulsion resolution. this is according to a source who told our colleague kaylee talbot. this is significant because the speaker typically as doug was saying doesn't typically vote on legislation unless he views it as significant. clearly views this as a significant moment. he fore shadowed earlier this week that that he had, quote, real reservations about the precedent that this would set when i asked him about this at a press conference but he had not formally takes an a position here. it is expected that the republican leadership is going to vote against this, the number two republican skeeve scalise has said that he is a no. the leadership says they are whipping t they are not urging their members to vote one way or the other but in talking to the members coming out many are skeptical will voting to expel george santos. one of them, darrell issa, i just caught up with, i asked him about this, he told me yesterday that he was torn about t he knew that george santos' conduct was wrong and inappropriate in his view he told me he's leaning against expulsion. he believes there's a more than 50/50 chance that george santos survives this vote. even the proponents pushing for his expulsion are not saying they are confident that the votes will be there in large part because of the reservations from the republican leadership and now the opposition from the speaker of the house, mike johnson. we will see what happens here because there are so many members i am talking to who are not saying where they will ultimately come down, 77 republicans, that is the magic number if all members are voting to get to this historic vote to oust george santos from his seat, but can they get there? at the moment there's questions about whether they can given the opposition from the leadership including the new speaker mike johnson. if he loses george santos that would lose a key seat that he needs in his narrow majority. >> it is hugely significant, manu, thank you for that. you're seeing there speaker johnson will not vote to expel santos. they may not be whipping the votes, doug, but that right there tells the members what he would like them to do and this is the speaker of the house. what is going on here? >> well, typically the speaker doesn't vote. so by voting he's breaking some sort of precedent here even if the argument is one of precedent. it's not whipping but it's sending a message. >> i'm going to break precedent to hold precedent. >> what does it say about leadership because he is not whipping the votes but he is telling -- >> they've said in conference this is a vote of conscience, vote your conscience and this is my conscience is what the speaker and majority leader are happening. when a roll call vote comes up, all the names of the members of congress are on the panelling behind the press gallery, there is a red light if you vote no, green light if you vote yes, some people vote present it's a white light or something, that rarely happens. we will see a lot of members of congress looking to see who is green and red and waiting to see what side of the fence they are going to be on. >> emily, this is now a story perhaps about house leadership and the house speaker saving george santos. we came into this thinking this might be a story about a congressman getting booted. this might be a story about leadership saving a guy under indictment. >> as this uncertainty plays out what i call to mind is as much as george santos has been outed as a lawyer and defrauded the american public he seems to know politics. he has refused to resign. this crazy political climate we all live in. >> stick with us, let's see what's about to happen. we will be joined by a former republican member of the house to get their take on what is unfolding before us. and we're going to be track this very closely because this vote could happen within the next several hours. during the show we will bring it you will to you. the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. the truce between israel and hamas has expired, fighting has resumed. there is also, though, now new reporting this morning about the types of evidence that israel reportedly had in hand of hamas' plan for more than a year before the october 7th attack. according to the "new york times" and hot rex israeli military leaders and intelligence obtained hamas' blueprint more than a year before the massacre and the paper is citing emails, documents and interviews that it has reviewed showing the detail, but that officials considered when looking at the detail -- they considered that it would be impossible for hamas to pull off this level of an attack, but as we know -- now well know they could and did. cnn's scott mclean joining us now with more detail on this new reporting. scott, what more detail is coming out in this new report? >> reporter: hey, kate. yeah, so the primary document that this "new york times" reporting is based on is one that it says the israelis had code named jericho wall and it is essentially a 40-page blueprint of this attack that hamas wanted to carry out and it goes into some pretty striking detail. this is not the first time, though, that israel knew about this plan, "the new york times" reports that there were previous versions of a similar plan that go back as far as 2016. this latest one, though, was a point by point plan of what hamas planned, and this is what the newspaper reports. it says, quote, hamas followed the blueprint with shocking precision. the document called for a barrage of rockets at the outset of the attack, drones to knock out the security cameras and automated machine guns along the border and gunmen to pour into israel en masse in paragliders, motorcycles and on foot, all of which happened on october 7th. the plan also called for hamas fighters to overrun and attack the rheem military base, the one that houses the ids gaza division responsible for the security of the border all there and that happened on october 7th. the fundamental idea was to start with rockets, get everyone running into shelters thinking this was a regular rocket attack and use that time to get hamas fighters across the wall, across the border. and what's remarkable and also concerning is how much detail hamas seemed to have about locations of israeli military sites, communication sites, raising the possibility that some of this was leaked from inside of israel. so why was this not taken more seriously? well, in short "the new york times" says that they simply did not believe that israel did not believe that hamas was actually capable of this. here is one of the journalists from the "times" who broke the story. listen. >> israel didn't believe that hamas has the ability to send teams throughout the border. this is a detailed meticulous plan and one cannot be -- by the extent of knowledge of hamas about israel, all the preparations, all the surveillance devices on the border, the automatic submachine guns, they are all strictly mapped. >> reporter: so this plan, kate, was widely circulated according to the "times" in military and intelligence circles, what is not clear, though s whether it ever made it to the desk of israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. >> scott, thank you so much for that reporting. sara? all right. the vote to decide george santos' future in congress expected in the next hour, but we just heard big news, the speaker of the house, speaker johnson, says he will vote not to expel. it's unusual for him to vote in the first place and it could shift the balance. manu raju is talking to members on the hill. we are live with more details on that coming up next. we are following our breaking news. we have plenty more to tell you because of our manu raju getting more information now. what is next for santos today if he is expelled? but it doesn't at this point, manu, look like that's going to happen, correct, after you spoke with the speaker of the house who says he is not going to vote to expel santos? >> reporter: yeah, i would say that it's still a bit uncertain. just because of the fact that there is not a formal whip count, there is not what the leadership typically does on big votes is that they force and urge their members and twist arms to try to get them to vote one way or the other. they are not doing this. they are saying you can vote your conscience. they don't have a list of how members will come down which is why we expect the vote to be close. we don't know how it's going to go down but the momentum is with george santos because the speaker of the house mike johnson just told members behind closed doors that he will vote against expelling george santos. he had previously said when i asked him this week he had real reservations about the precedent that this would set. i talked to one of the proponents of the george santos ouster, mark molinaro about this and the impact that this could have on the vote. he indicated that johnson told members that they could vote their conscience. >> listen, again, we all have to go home to our districts and explain the voters who sent me here want me to be an independent voice on their behalf and i believe that his criminal behavior, his fraudulent activity has met the threshold for me to establish and uphold a conduct that requires expulsion. >> reporter: he said that according to molinaro he said that members should be able to vote the way their districts ultimately want. i just talked to a number of members who are walking out of this room, some of them who had previously suggested they might be open to expelling george santos are now saying that they are going to oppose expelling george santos. one of them is a rank and file member from illinois told me he is going to oppose it. earlier he said he was open to the expulsion. the numbers will tell the story. they need 77 votes in order to get the two-thirds majority to expel santos from the house. republican votes if all members are voting and present that's a big question right now. right now we have about -- i think probably about around 45, maybe close to 50 or so. where do those other 20 to 30 members come down? so many members still say they don't know. one of them, jodey arrington who is the chairman of the house budget committee i asked him how is he going to vote? he said he doesn't know. the vote is in an hour's time and he says he does not know. either they don't way to say where they will vote or an unprecedented vote taking out a member who has not been convicted and narrowing that tight republican majority. at this moment the -- george santos could potentially survive this in no small part because the speaker of the house's opposition to this measure. >> so, manu, on this point is this fair to read this as a last minute rescue effort from house speaker mike johnson? i know they are not formally whipping -- >> reporter: go ahead, john, i know you're asking the question. i want to ask mr. burchett, you are exposed to expelling george santos, is that right? and do you think that he's going to survive this vote? >> that's a great question. yesterday i would have said, no, he isn't but today the momentum seems to be changing a little bit. i hear more open talk about it. i think people are on the fence, they waited for folks like myself and others to see where we were going to land and there's security in numbers and i get that. >> reporter: you are going to oppose this expulsion, correct? >> that's correct. >> reporter: so you expect right now that he's going to survive this vote? >> no, i don't know which way it's going. i know yesterday he wouldn't have, but today it seems to be moving in the other direction of keeping him. >> reporter: of keeping him. and how much do you think the speaker's opposition has to do with that? >> i don't know. all of a sudden i put some tweets out to speaker and he has been clear on what he said and it is innocent until proven guilty and it is a legal-minded person and that is what the democrats were saying until they circled the wagons. >> aren't you concerned about the admitting to tlig and why should he be walking around going to classified briefings and the like. >> and well, to say anybody in congress can cast stone, and we are a bunch of sinners. that is what we basically all are. >> thank you, congressman. that is interest, because the congressman who is voting against expelling george santos believes that the momentum is against the opposition, and this is really the sense that i am, too, at this key moment, and everyone knows the key moment here because of the fact that there is no list of how the list comes down, and many are looking here, and you heard from con congressm man there. >> and the momentum may be to save him, but the momentum did not shift by itself, and again, is this a story about speaker mike johnson rescuing to the extent george santos. >> no question about it, and the speaker came out, because he said that george santos needs to go, and he should not be a member of the body, and george santos' days in congress are going to be very hard to save him, and that is the way that rank and file members are going to be listening to them, and not all of them do, and we have seen the republicans particularly in the house battling the leadership in time again and not take the marching orders, but on the votes like this, they do listen to leadership, and so, while many of the member on the fence, and wavering members, including speaker of the house is going to oppose, thisly, too. and so, john, the decision by the speaker, and one of the big decisions taking power to say that he is going to oppose george santos' expulsion could ensure that he is going to maintain the majority of where he is going to expose george santos, and that is three republican votes on any partyline measure making it that much harder to get it through the swing state and special election through, and those are some of the questions to get him through. >> it is this political calculation that it is getting down to, and it is coming down to the question of what are they getting in the end? when it comes to the vote, they are either stuck with george santos and they will have the vote or they are stuck with him. >> and mr. lantos, are you going to vote to expel george santos? >> george santos clearly broke the law. he clearly violated the ethics of the house. he defrauded the voters. he defrauded donors. the facts and the evidence are there. he has been afforded all due process with respect to serving in this body. the constitution clearly allows house to govern, itself, to create the rules by which the house is governed and to handle, you know, members' conduct. and in this instance, it is abundantly clear that george santos is unfit to serve in public office, period, from dog catcher to congress. so, from my perspective, i think that the chair of the ethics committee laid out a very compelling case yesterday on the house floor, and any member who watched it, listened to it, read the documents has more than enough information to act. >> are you disappointed that the speaker came out against? >> every member will have their perspective, and the constitutional attorney, and this is the perspective on it. >> it carries weight, does it is not? >> well, perspective, but ultimately, my hope is that there is enough votes to move forward. leaving this man in office for another year is absurd. it is unfair to the voters of the 3rd congressional district of new york, and it is clear that he is incapable of doing the job. listening to his remarks yesterday. he is totally unfit. >> what message is this sending to the voters if they save him here? >> last time he had 31 democrats voting to expel george santos. and 15 democrats voted present and 11 voted not at all, so one thing that i will say on all of this frankly, is that hakeem jeffries has been one of the most dishonest actors in this entire episode to call for people like me to have call for him to resign from the beginning and put the expulsion on the floor, and a lot of people on both sides who had questions and concerns from both sides. >> and republicans may save him. >> we will see what the democrat dos today and everybody. but i did not see you criticizing 31 -- >> we will break in, because we need to go to washington, d.c., now with different news. we have learned that justice sandra day o'connor, the first woman to sit on the supreme court has passed away. joan biskupic has more on. this and joan, such a trailblazer, and tell us more. >> she was. she was! she was the very first woman to sit on the nation's highest court. in 1981, ronald reagan made her the first choice for the high court. he had promised it when he was running for election in late 1980. sandra day o'connor, and what a trailblazer not only became the first woman on the court, but the key vote on the u.s. supreme court, and in case after case from the late '80s into be the '90s until the day she retired in late january 2006 succeeded by samuel alito and her legacy was so deep in those year, kate. her importance as a figure in america, and someone who is inspiring to all three of to, all four of the women justices who now sit on the supreme court, and it is hard to imagine what it is like back in the 1980s, and the country had gone in the late 17 -- from 1790 to 1981 with only men on the court. she came, and she had grown up on a ranch in arizona who had, i like to say she had come to the supreme court knowing how the count votes. i had written a biography on her, and relied on her record out of the arizona state senate, where she was a majority stlead, and she was one of the first women to uphold abortion rights up through the 1990s and critical on the racial remedies, and she wrote a very important decisions on women's rights, but also from the state experience, she really favored state authority in the face of what was seen in the 1990s as federal government encroachment. so, you know, quite a deep legacy, and quite the important figure off of the bench, too, and not just in terms of the inspiring men and women across the country, and very active after she stepped down. i should say interestingly enough, and she stepped down because her husband at the time had alzheimer's, and that is