2023, urgent message. Fresh off his trip to war torn israel, President Biden takes his plea straight to americans in a primetime address tonight. What he says Congress Needs to do now. Whos the boss . After 16 days, republicans have yet to fill the vacant speaker seat. Why a plan to temporarily solve the problem is suddenly in doubt. Taking the deal. Sidney powell accepts a plea agreement over her role in the Georgia Election interference case. What that could mean for former President Trumps upcoming trial. And grounds for concern. Why hawaiians still struggling to recover after the maui wildfires are now facing a new potentially toxic threat. That will be really important. Its important to stay focused on communities even after the news crews leave. Welcome to nbc news daily. Were wearing purple by the way to show our support for the lgbtq plus community. Thats right. Were really glad to be with you and we have a lot of stories to get to. So lets start this hour with President Biden. Hes set to make his case about the israel hamas war to all americans tonight. The president will address the nation from the oval office. The primetime speech comes after his visit to israel yesterday. Today the state Department Also issued a worldwide caution advisory overseas. Theyre telling americans in lebanon to leave as soon as possible because of the unpredictable security administration. The Homeland Security is warning of possible violence here in the United States. Theyre urging those across the country to be on heightened alert. We begin with alli raffa. This will be the second Oval Office Address of joe bidens presidency. The first was during debt ceiling negotiations back in june. What are we expecting to hear from the president tonight . Reporter yeah, zinhle. Well, a senior white house official tells us that the president has been working closely with top aides on this speech for the last week. They say he was also working on it during the flight back to washington after that trip to israel yesterday, and hes making some finishing touches to it this afternoon. Zinhle, they say this past almost two weeks now since hamas invasion of israel really, thats been a test for the president in how hes handled really his Foreign Policy chops and his ability to unite foreign leaders among around the u. S. Support for israel. This speech tonight is going to test his ability to unite the American People around not just u. S. Support for israel as it continues its war against hamas, but as ukraine as it continues its war with russia, and thats a tall order when you think of all of the division and frustration that weve seen erupt not just in the middle east, but also here in the United States since october 7th. So we expect the president according to a senior white house official to really make this direct appeal to the American People to talk to them directly and remind them of what he says are the stakes of this war, both of these wars going on half a world away, zinhle. Allie, thank you so much. You can watch the report on President Bidens Oval Office Address. Thats tonight on our nbc stations and well be streaming it live on nbc news now. Israels defense minister told soldiers they will soon see, gaza, quote, from the inside. This points to israels anticipated ground assault of the gaza strip as it gets ready to target the territory with strikes. Lets bring in josh letterman. Hes in tel aviv, israel. Josh, what more are we learning . Is there some kind of timeline . Reporter well, kate. There probably is a timeline, but israel isnt sharing it with us or with the enemy, hamas. We have been getting these indications in the last 24 hours that there could be a buildup under way towards something sooner than later. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu today visiting israeli troops right near the gaza border, asking them if they were ready to fight. They of course, replied that they are. He promised them that they will have a decisive victory, and as you mentioned, they have that ominous message from israels defense minister saying those who are currently seeing gaza from afar will soon see it from the inside. And we have the israeli Prime Minister saying this will come in the next few days. While we dont have a definitive timeline, now that some of the highlevel visits to the region are over from President Biden, secretary blinken, and the british Prime Minister, that removes some of the complications to launch a Ground Invasion and could free up israel to move quickly on what it has been promising for more than a week, kate. I know strikes hit Southern Gaza yesterday after israel told people in gaza days ago to head south to get to safety. Has the idf, the Israel Defense forces said anything about this, and what do we know about the humanitarian situation right now in Southern Gaza . Reporter well, the humanitarian situation certainly hasnt gotten any better. Theres been some hope in the last day or so that it will start to improve due to an apparent agreement that President Biden struck with egyptian president sisi to provide 20 humanitarian aid trucks into the gaza strip. Were waiting to see if that rafah Border Crossing with egypt will ever open, but when it comes to those israeli strikes in gaza, were hearing from the Israeli Military that notwithstanding the fact that israel has told people north to south for their safety, israel has never declared a ceasefire in the south in particular, and they will strike any target. Each one of its air strikes has an address and that address is hamas, wherever it is in the gaza strip. Zinhle . Okay, josh lederman. Thank you so much. Anger is leading the war across the middle east and around the world. Thousands of people took to the streets in jordan today as well as tunisia. We also saw demonstrations in turkey and lebanon as outrage grows over the hospital explosion that Palestinian HealthOfficials Say killed hundreds of people in gaza city. Were also seeing protests in the u. S. Hundreds of demonstrators with a group called jewish voices for peace descended on capitol hill wednesday. This is significant since protests are not allowed in the halls of congress. The group says about 300 of its members were arrested by capitol police. Nbc news Foreign Correspondent matt bradley is in lebanon tracking all of this for us. It seems like were seeing new protests every single day and were headed into a friday which is sometimes a time of protest. Whats the core message coming out of these global protests . Reporter well, its a great question because, you know, we were talking about how this is a reaction to that hospital explosion that happened two nights ago, and yes, it was. Thats what called out the entire arab and muslim world onto the streets of capitals from baghdad to beirut where i was yesterday. The message i got is this is not just about that hospital explosion and its also not just about joe bidens visit to the middle east which is another topic we heard speakers discussing in those rallies. This is about decades, generations of what palestinians and arabs throughout the area in the muslim world consider to be oppression colonization, and this was that. Not just israel. They spoke about the United States and israel with the same terms and condemnation and they see themselves as being victimized historically, not just over the past ten days, not just since the blockade began on gaza, and for those who are not palestinians, and again, the people we were speaking to in lebanon, theyre lebanese, but still arab. Heres one woman i spoke to yesterday. But we know as people of hezbollah, as people who support hezbollah, that if we dont support the palestinian people, if we dont support the Palestinian Resistance today, the next day we will be the next in the row. If we dont stand with our people, if we dont stand with our brothers in gaza, the next day it would be our turn as well. Reporter so again, shes describing her brothers in gaza. Shes not palestinian. Shes lebanese, and so for them, this is an ethical fight. This is something that would need to continue and not just in terms of protest. She was not excluding the idea of going to arms, and thats one of the Big Questions here. Will hezbollah, this group she was supporting, be called to arms, and will it come from hezbollah itself or will it come from places further afield, namely, iran . Youre in lebanon right now, and thats where the state department issued warnings of americans to get out. What is the significance of that move and what are you seeing on the ground . Reporter yeah, and im not just in lebanon. Im where the talk was the idf said there was outgoing missiles coming out of here. We have not seen that, but we have seen projectiles. It wasnt clear whether they were incoming or outgoing, but there has been some very frothy fighting all along this border, and more casualties today yesterday excuse me. I think it was the day before that was the most vicious day and deadly day for fighting along the border. Again, this is a region that is on the precipice of dragging itself or being dragged into war and International Conflict thats ended up in the middle east. Guys . Matt bradley with the latest in lebanon. Thank you. Time for cnbcs money minute. Delta is responding to frequent flier backlash. And universal music is taking on artificial intelligence. Julia borsen joins us. Delta airlines is making changes after backlash from customers. They shifted to reward the biggest spenders and not the most frequent fliers, but now it will make it less expensive for passengers to achieve elite status and will ease limits on visiting airport lounges for certain credit card holders. The Biden Administration is temporarily lifting some sanctions on venezuela in a sign of support for democracy in the country. The suspended sanctions on the oil, gas, and gold sectors were in response to venezuelas Opposition Group agreeing on conditions for the next president ial election. And universal music is going after an ai chat bot for copyright infringement. A lawsuit filed in federal court accuses this bot of ripping off popular tunes when its prompted to write lyrics. Anthropic is yet to comment on this suit. It will be interesting to see how these ai lawsuits play out. Truly fascinating. I think something similar happened with the artist drake, right . They remade one of his songs that was similar, too . He wasnt happy about it. I think a lot of artists have serious questions, hence a lot of the strikes we have been seeing. Julie boorstin, thank you so much. Coming up, why republicans are back to square one in their search for a House Speaker and what it means for congress grow agenda. Plus, the new potentially toxic threat facing people on maui my name is caron and im from brooklyn. I work for the city of new york as a police administrator. I oversee approximately 20 people and my memory just has to be sharp. 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It comes after hardline republican congressman jim jordan failed twice to reach the failed number of votes to be elected speaker. He canceled a third vote set today. The house has been without a speaker for two weeks now after mccarthy was ousted from his position. Ryan nobles is following this. Why has this plan suddenly lost republican support and is there any chance democrats may go for it . Reporter the short answer is no, zinhle. It seems once this was floated, many of them didnt like the idea. They didnt think this was going to solve the problem. They were concerned about granting these temporary powers to the speaker protell, Patrick Mchenry, and as a result of that, jim jordan emerged from that meeting and made it clear that option was off the table, but he was still running for speaker and he was going to try and meet with the holdouts to try to convince them to come to his side, and jordan even went as far as to suggest that we could see another vote on the house floor, even today. Now even though he is asking for that, zinhle, theres not a lot of evidence that the outcome is going to change all that much. The 22 republicans who did not vet for him the last time, not one of them has publicly changed their position, and theres no indication they will if another vote goes to the floor, inhle. What happens if he doesnt have the votes and they have the agenda to get through . Reporter i wish i knew the answer to that, zinhle. Nobody knows whats next. Dave joyce from ohio who is the originator of this resolution for the shortterm pick to Patrick Mchenry told our colleagues just a few minutes ago that the republican conference couldnt vote to agree on the time of day. Theyre that divided right now, and so when you have a conference that is fractured as this one where you have so many different competing agendas, the likelihood of settling on someone who could give 217 votes seemed incredibly elusive. So at this point, its anybodys best guess as to what comes next, but the only thing we know for sure is theres no speaker and that Means Congress is par paralyzed and all these big, important issues will not be allowed. Thanks so much. People in maui are on high alert about a potential toxic threat. Tests show ash from the fires shows high levels of arsenic and dangerous metals. People there are concerned since three lahaina schools are opening this week. Darryl huff from our affiliate in honolulu reports. Reporter aided by wellequipped volunteers, ash has been sifted at many homes like these, but the Health Department is now discouraging sifting after tests of ash found higher levels of toxins than expected. The arsenic which is the greatest is 140 times higher than the action level. Reporter this was likely due to termitetreated wood. Lead was twice the safe level and cobalt, 20 times above it. Some levels even higher can be expected in lahaina with three schools opening this week. The superintendent reassured families that air is being monitored and there are air filters in every classroom and office. So in the event that we do need to uilize them, those filters filter air, and in particular its within the classrooms. Reporter but the reassurances werent enough for even some elected officials, especially after lauren pang said children should be asked about scratchy throats. I would like to ask that of the School Children if i dont cross political boundaries. Im not sending my kids back. Im not going to do it. Reporter while monitors have shown the air to be consistently safe around schools, he also cast doubt about whether more testing should be done on dust that may have traveled from the burn zone. The other kind of sample you can do is pull it out from the air, catch everything onto a filter paper. Its called a snipper. Test that. Okay. Thats from the air. I asked for that. So were waiting for ash, and yet our kids are going to school. Thats concerning. Reporter it also didnt seem clear to pang whether ash samples from lahaina were being tested. I kind of dont know what meetings to attend. Its unclear whos doing what. Reporter a chilling reminder about proper ppe. Its basically when i see, you know, politicians in the area and theyre not wearing ppe, not a good example. That was darryl huff reporting, but sobering and it shows you even after the news crews leave like we said, there are still so many repercussions. Youve got kids going to school and it sounds like they dont know exact