Transcripts For MSNBCW Jose 20240703

Of air strikes as we have new reporting about what the u. S. Is telling israel about a potential Ground Invasion. It comes as trucks full of aid and supplies finally roll into gaza. Relief workers there are begging for more. Well talk to a spokesperson for a u. N. Refugee agency whos on the ground in gaza. Back at home, House Republicans will meet yet again tonight to consider their next House Speaker, nine congressmen are now throwing their hats in a ring. At this point can any of them get the votes they need . It could be an intense week at former President Trumps civil fraud trial, as he comes facetoface with a man who used to fix his legal problems. How key state witness Michael Cohen could deal a major blow to the trump business empire. And we begin this hour with the very latest from the israelhamas war. Israel has launched new intense air strikes in gaza attacking hundreds of targets. This morning four u. S. Officials tell nbc news the Biden Administration is advising israel to delay a Ground Invasion to allow more time for Hostage Negotiations, and humanitarian aid to reach gaza. The Israeli Defense forces now say 222 hostages are being held in gaza. Separately, several u. S. Officials tell the New York Times the u. S. Is also seeking time to prepare for attacks on u. S. Interests in the middle east from iranbacked groups, which Officials Say will intensify once israel fully moves into the gaza strip. All of this coming days after hamas freed an American Mother and daughter. They are relatives of former nbc News Tel Aviv Bureau chief martin fletcher. Do you have any insight into why it was they were the two that were selected . I dont. I dont. Everybodys asking whether it was the publicity, those two, you know, maybe they were the closest to the boarder and it was simply the easiest to free them when the time came. We dont know what it was yet. Two convoys carrying water, food, and medical supplies made their way into gaza over the weekend. President biden and Benjamin Netanyahu promised a continued flow of aid after a phone call on sunday night. Nbc news chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel joins us now from jerusalem. Thank you. Is there any sense of how long israel would be willing to hotel out before launching this invasion . Reporter no clarity of that, no details at all. In fact, the Israeli Government is not commenting on the timing of its potential Ground Invasion, whether it will take place, how it might take place, all that we know whats coming out of u. S. Sources with u. S. Sources confirming the Biden Administration has been advising for a pause before going in force to allow for Hostage Negotiations to continue to allow u. S. Troops to become more prepared should this become a regional war and to allow time for more diplomacy. Over the weekend, there was a flurry of diplomatic activities and there continues to be so in cairo with many world leaders, heads of international organizations, including the u. N. Meeting in cairo calling for peace, calling for some sort of deescalation of this conflict. The israelis themselves are at odds over this pressure that they seem to be feeling from the United States, some suggesting that the United States should not tell israel what to do, that this is a strictly israeli affair, that they will go in at a time and place of their choosing. Others say that this is the prudent course of action that israel needs more time to carry out its air campaign, an air campaign that is still very intense and over the last 24 hours according to people in gaza our own crew in gaza, it was the most intense night of Aerial Bombardments since this conflict began, but no, the israelis are not saying we will hold off for two days or four days or a week, nothing like that, just these media reports, some of them very close to the Israeli Government suggesting that because of international pressure, because of pressure from the Biden Administration or advice from the Biden Administration, they are they are now at least pausing temporarily this potential full ground assault into gaza, but limited ground incursions, however, are going on with small Commando Raids going into the gaza strip. And richard, so its now according to the israelis 222 people that are hostage in gaza, this number fluctuates. Its been going up, however. Do we know anything about that and how many of those are nonisraelis . Reporter we dont know, and the numbers have been, as you said, continuing to change, and that in itself is a sign of progress. It means that the israelis are learning more about the hostages. Just a few days ago the Israeli Military said that it believes that most of the hostages are still alive, so that indicates that through mediators they are getting some sort of proof of life. Theyre getting numbers. Theyre getting information about the condition. Theyve talked about a rough breakdown of the ages talking about how 20 of them are under 18, 10 to 20 of them over 60. The negotiations underway. They already produced some results, which we saw on friday with the release of those that Israeli American couple related to our martin fletcher. But the fact that the numbers keep changing in a way is a positive sign because it means that theyre learning more, and when this happened, when this Hostage Taking happened and this hamas attack happened inside israel, what hamas militants did is they broke through the border fence. They grabbed hostages. They killed many people, around 1,400, and other people from inside gaza, other militant groups took hostages as well. So some of this ambiguity has come from the fact that the israelis had to figure out who was missing, who was dead, whos held by hamas, and who might be held by other individuals or other militants in gaza. And richard i just have to, you know, note that jerusalem being the city that it is were hearing call to prayers at 6 06 p. M. Your time . Reporter we certainly are. This is the in many ways the center of this entire conflict, at the center of the conflict in the middle east for decades, for centuries really. Right behind me is the old city. You can see the old city walls, sites that are holy to jews, muslims, christians. It was tensions here inside the old city on the what muslims call the noble sanctuary, the alaqsa mosque compound and the temple mount that triggered, according to hamas its assault. It launched it In The Name Of defending this old city, and yes, you can hear this the call to prayer quite spiritual, quite a beautiful thing that is characteristic of this city five times a day. Richard engel in jerusalem, i thank you so much for being with us. Really appreciate your time. With us now to talk more about the situation on the ground in gaza is julia tu ma, Director Of Communications for the United Nations relief and work agency which provides assistance and protection for palestinian refugees. Thank you so much for your time. Convoys of food, water, Medical Equipment arrived in gaza over the weekend. Is that enough . Its only two convoys, and its only 34 trucks and one it is very it is a little, little tiny way of life or hope for the people in gaza. It did not have fuel and what we really need right now is fuel to come into the gaza strip because no fuel has come into the gaza strip since the seventh of october, and weve issued a warning yesterday that if we do not get fuel very, very soon by wednesday night, in fact, so in a couple of days, we will have to stop our the gaza strip. Talk to us a little bit about the fundamental aspect of fuel into gaza. What is it that fuel provides, and why is it so critical . Youre talking 48 hours. Yeah, thats right. We are running out of time. I think gaza is running out of time. The people of gaza who depend on organizations are also running out of time. We need fuel for simple reasons. To start our cars and deliver assistance to people. We need fuel for the trucks. We have been given wheat flour to bakeries in the gaza strip so that theyre able to bake bread and give to People In Need. They will also stop working. Medical facilities and hospitals, the water sanitation plant, the other pumps of water. I mean, fuel is very, very fundamental, and its very much linked to the survival, the survival of people, of civilians in the gaza strip. Youre talking basic were talking here basic necessities to survive, and how, juliette is the aid . You talk about that small sliver of hope that came in over the weekend. How is that sliver getting to the people who need it the most . And how is the need going to be satisfied when you have so much need . I doubt it will. I doubt it will because lets think about this together. Half a million people, in fact, more, now its 600,000 people, right, are taking shelter in 150 facilities that belong to whether its schools, shelters, small clinics, warehouses of ours that we have to turn into shelters because theres no other place, right . I mean, theres just this one story that someone was telling us now that in one of these shelters 400 people have to share one toilet, right . The needs are huge. Theyre overwhelming, and theyre growing by the hour at the worlds watch, as this world continues. There needs to be many, many, many more supplies. There needs to be fuel. The war has got to come to an end. And juliette, how is it that one is able to as an organization have control over the process, the communications, the actual infrastructure of getting all of this aid in and is there a possibility to avoid, for example, if hamas wants to come in and take the fuel that is not there but if theres food and water, other things, what is the system that is in place in gaza, which has seen so much destruction, to avoid things like hamas coming in and taking some of that . Well, been working on the ground in gaza for more than 70 years now. We are the largest humanitarian actor on the ground in the gaza strip. We have 13,000 staff who have been doing this for many, many years, so theyre experts like that. That they themselves go through a strict screening process. We have our own scrutiny systems. We deliver the aid ourselves. The u. N. Delivers the aid itself to People In Need. Weve been doing this for years, and we have specialized people who know exactly where to go and what to do and who to give it to, and its people who need it most wherever they are in the gaza strip. Weve been doing it for years. Were going to continue to do this. For that we need many things including funding. Including more personnel on the ground that we need to deploy to gaza, because it is probably going to be one of the largest humanitarian operations that we have undertaken since the early 50s probably. And is there a way that people around the world can assist and help knowing that that help will reach the vulnerable . I mean, people can donate on ondra. Org and the funding we will hopefully get from the american people, the viewers of your channel will go to help us buy assistance and send it to People In Need on the ground in gaza. The needs are immense. Sadly, the longer this war goes the deeper the humanitarian needs are going to be, and we will need more funding for sure. We will also need all Hands On Deck in solidarity with families, with children, with women in gaza to lend them a hand until this nightmare comes to an end. Juliette touma, i thank you so much for being with us. Appreciate your time. Thank you. Joining us now is the Senior Adviser with International Security program at the center for strategic and international studies. Thank you for being with us. Four u. S. Officials tell nbc news that the Biden Administration is advising israel to delay its Ground Invasion to give more time for Hostage Negotiations and for humanitarian aid that we just heard fromjuliette is so fundamentally needed right now in gaza. What impact do you think this delay could have on israels ability to go after its targets . I dont think its going to hurt israeli ability to strike. Theyre using air strikes very extensively. Theyre using special operations forces. The extra time also gives them what they need to get all of these reservists up to speed. Theyve taken 300,000 reservists. They need to be equipped. They need to be trained. They need to be moved, and then they need to be briefed on what it is theyre expected to do. So israel can use this extra time to enhance its military preparations. And Defense Secretary austin, Secretary Austin shared a warning this weekend over a wider conflict in the region. Heres part of what he had to say. Take a listen. Were concerned about potential escalation. In fact, what were seeing is a is the prospect of a significant escalation of attacks on our troops and our people throughout the region. How dangerous is this moment right now, do you think . Well, its quite dangerous because of the many actors and the uncertain situation. Iran, of course, has many capabilities. Their proxies have been striking American Forces in iraq, the houthis, another proxy for iran fired some missiles that the United States shot down. It will defend itself and iran has a habit of stepping back, of igniting the fire, and then watching others burn, but they might intervene directly. Its a very unstable situation. The United States is trying to keep the conflict contained to the gaza strip. When it comes to israels expected Ground Invasion, theyre going to be facing hamass elaborate tunnel. Its like being under water. Other experts said soldiers who enter tunnels can quickly lose their bearings and some fl victim to vertigo and passages can become so narrow that its almost impossible to turn around. How challenging will this type of operation be underground . Its usually challenging. This kind of warfare has been going on for hundreds of years, even millennia, and it hasnt changed a whole lot. Its dark. Its claustrophobic, its hand to hand. The israelis will probably go down maybe with uzis or handguns. The big problem they face is that they cant use fire power. Normally they would probably set explosives, maybe use a Ground Penetrating aerial munitions with the hostages, they just cant do that. Theyre going to have to clear it yard by yard. Thats going to be very difficult, very expensive. I thank you so much for being with us this morning. Still ahead, police in detroit investigate the deadly stabbing of a wellknown synagogue president. What police are saying about whether this could be a hate crime. Plus, its shaping up to be the toughest job to get on capitol hill. Whats happening Behind Closed Doors tonight to elect a House Speaker . Were back in 60 seconds. Youre watching jose diazbalart reports on msnbc. N. Woman why did we choose safelite . We were loading our suv when. Crack safelite came right to us, and we could see exactly when theyd arrive with a replacement we could trust. Thats service the way we want it. Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. This is american infrastructure, a prime target for cyberattacks. But the same aipowered security that protects all of google also defends these services for everyone who lives here. 19 past the hour. Today marks day 20 without a House Speaker and House Republicans are back to square one. The conference will meet Behind Closed Doors to figure out a path forward with nine contenders throwing their hats in the ring. This after jim jordan dropped out of the race after failing to get enough support in three rounds of voting last week. Joining us nous nbc news capitol hill correspondent ali vitali, who i think has actually moved to the capitol like permanently and msnbc contributor victoria defrancesco soto, dean of the Clinton School of Public Service at the university of arkansas. So ali, whats going on this week . I do feel like one of those lawmakers who sleeps in my office, although mine is just a tiny house booth upstairs. Thanks for pointing that out. I did take the weekend away, though as i was gone, lawmakers, all nine of them who want to be speaker were working the phones, trying to call their colleagues and trying to do their own unofficial whip operations before tonight and tomorrow. Tonight were going to see all nine of these folks make their pitches in a Candidate Forum with their colleagues Behind Closed Doors, weve been here before. We have seen what this yields. It yields them going into the next day, tomorrow at 9 00 a. M. And actually beginning the balloting process. Weve also seen them be able to do that before. There have been two prior Speaker Designates, Steve Scalise and jim jordan. Both of them met the same fate which is falling short of the 217 votes that they needed on the floor. Steve scalise even knew he didnt have them. He didnt even try to get there once. What theyre trying to do this time, though, is its going to be eight balloting rounds at most before they figure out who the Speaker Designate is actually going to be. With each round, a new member drops off, whoever gets the least number of votes, and the Speaker Designate is reached by simply getting a simple majority of folks in the room. Once they do, that they could go to the floor as early as tomorrow, jose. What members are trying to do in the meantime to make this time different than all the other times that we went through last week and the week before is theyre trying to get people to commit to voting on the floor the way they do Behind Closed Doors. Thats a way and theres a pledge going around that some members want to sign and others have already told me they will not be signing that pledges to support the Speaker Designate on the floor, has for however long that person carries the title of speaker dedesignee. Tbd on if that actually happens. Thats one of the ways theyre trying to make this time not a failure like its been all the other times. So victoria, nine people seems like a lot of people. Does having so many options help or hurt the republicans as theyre trying to solve this . So jose, think beyond the numbers. It is the candidates themselves or rather what their platform is. In looking at these candidates, yes, they all have different backgrounds where they come from regionally, professionally, but really there is no brand that is different. It all seems jordanesque or jim jordan like. Is there something that a candidate can say this is what i stand for. This is why you should support me, and to me, because of the lack of difference that i see, at least from the outside in, i just dont see how this ends. And im usually an optimist, but im not feeling very optimistic about the unity pledge. I just dont think it has any teeth, and if anything, sometimes going against the pledge might be even more attractive for different members of the house to burnish their bone fee days in terms of rejecting the establishment. Im at a loss here. I really dont know how this is going to end given the candidates that have come forward thus far. Maybe nobody knows including those nine candidates how its going to end yet. Ali vitali, victoria defrancesco soto, thank you so much for being with us this morning. Turning to Breaking News on the investigation into hunter biden. Tomorrow u. S. Attorney Martin Estrada will appear before the House Judiciary Committee according to a source familiar with the committees schedule. Two irs whistleblowers say estrada stood in the way of u. S. Attorney david weiss bringing charges against hunter biden in california. Nbc news capitol hill correspondent ryan nobles joins us with the very latest on this. Good morning. What is it that we can expect . This is going to be a closed door transcribed interview thatd the purpose of this is to try and clear up discrepancies between the department of justices account about the time line and the effort that went into the Hunter Biden Investigation and those two irs whistleblowers who did testify under oath and publicly that they felt the investigation was stymied by officials higher up in the doj. The department of justices main person responsible for this investigation is david weiss, the u. S. Attorney in delaware whos now been given Special Counsel status. Two whistleblowers suggested that weiss told them that estrada told weiss that he was unable to bring charges in california because it was not his jurisdiction. Weiss himself is in two separate letters to Congress Said that wasnt true, that he was able to bring charges as he saw fit. This is going to be an opportunity for them to ask estrada about his side of this conversation, what he was involved in and what he did or did not do to prevent the Hunter Biden Case moving forward. Now, keep in mind, jose, this comes against the backdrop of an Impeachment Inquiry that is continuing in congress and of course the fact that hunter biden is now under criminal indictment by the Special Counsel and theres also the distinct possibility he could face charges in california on tax charges in the near future. Jose. Ryan nobles, thank you very much. Up next, one of the people who was closest to former President Trump for years will testify against him this week in his civil fraud trial. Youre watching jose diazbalart reports on msnbc. This is Spring Semester at fairfieldsuisun unified. They switched to google tools for education because theres never been a reported Ransomware Attack on a chromebook. 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Now you can stay reliably connected through Power Outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery backup to keep you online. Only from xfinity. Home of the xfinity 10g network. Heres why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your Devie Duckduckgo comes with a built n engine like google, but its pi and doesnt spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. And theres no catch, its fre. We make money from ads, but they dont follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. 29 past the hour, tomorrow in new york city former trump attorney High Cal Cohen is set to testify against his former boss in the 250 million civil case that threatens the former president s business empire. The lawsuit accuses trump and two of his sons about lying to banks and insurers about the value of various trump properties. Trump has denied any wrongdoing. Joining us now with more is christi greenberg, former federal prosecutor. Thank you for your time. While Michael Cohen has been one of trumps former fixers in the past for years, he did plead guilty to lying to congress in 2018. How consequential will his testimony be to this judge . Well, so the case right now is focused on certain conduct that requires a proof of donald trump and others, their specific intent, and the other crimes, The Business Fraud Crimes that the judge already decided on and took off the table in the summary judgment, those didnt require any intent. It was essentially here are the records, and they were false and they were used in business deals, but now the court is looking at intent, and Michael Cohen is going to be critical in being able to show that not only were these statements false in these valuations, but that donald trump and others at the Trump Organization actually intended for them to be false. You heard in the Opening Statement from the new york a. G. s office that Michael Cohen is expected to testify that donald trump gave explicit instructions. I want my net worth to keep going up. I want it to appear as though i am more wealthy than i am, and so those kinds of conversations, those directions straight from the top, thats going to be Critical Evidence to showing donald trump and other executives intent to commit the conduct thats being alleged here. Yeah, and kristy, the judge in trumps civil case in new york fined the former president 5,000 after his disparaging post about a Court Staffer was found on his campaign website. The judge avoided Holding Trump in contempt, at least for now. How does this play into how the judge considers the case overall . Well, it seems like i think its been pretty clear the judge hasnt been happy with Donald Trumps antics, whether its in court being loud and telling they have to pipe down to attacking his law clerk online. But look, i think the judge is also going to be fair and assess the evidence. Theres nothing to suggest that he would necessarily hold these outbursts and tactics against him in fairly judging the case. That gag order is significant, in particular because this was the first time explicitly in language in writing that a judge has said were past the warning stage, and yes, this one time it was inadvertent where there was something left up about the law clerk on your campaign website, so im only going to give you a nominal fee. But if this continues, whether its inadvertent or its intentional doesnt matter. There are going to be much more serious sanctions, and he actually said including potential imprisonment. So this judge is not fooling around. And kristy, lets go to another case, The Georgia Case where trump said on social media that Sidney Powell was not his attorney and never was meaning their conversations wouldnt be covered by Attorney Client privilege, right . How big a deal is this . Well, so theres a lot most of the headlines covering the pleas of both Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro are essentially saying this monumental and this is really bad news for donald trump. The assumptions being made there is because they got such light sentences, they both got probationary sentence and because they both agreed to testify truthfully, that must mean they have flipped, and that is not necessarily the case, right . Both of them pled to very narrow criminal conduct, Sidney Powell pleaded to just the Coffee County hacking scheme, which its not clear that donald trump really was all that involved in, and Kenneth Chesebro, his plea was also pretty narrow to conspiring to file a false document, so the larger schemes that wed be interested in, hearing Sidney Powell talk about whether or not donald trump was plotting with her to have these widespread false voter fraud claims and, you know, with this fake elector scheme, Kenneth Chesebro saying that trump and others knew that this was actually really a not a legal strategy, but a plot to, you know, to make sure that derail the certification of then president elect biden, like thats not necessarily reflected in these pleas. Its not anything theyre admitted to yet. We dont know what else they said, but the fact is if they admitted to any of those other things that i just said, they would be admitting to federal crimes, and under these state plea deals, they dont have immunity or any kind of protection for those federal crimes. These are both attorneys, any attorney worth their salt would not be going in and testifying to committing a federal crime themselves without some protection in place, and theres no indication that jack smith has given them any kind of a deal, nor would they get this kind of a deal from a federal prosecutor. Thats not the way the federal system works. You have to show actual results in terms of actually getting a conviction of someone else or helping the prosecutor bring other charges, tangible results before a prosecutor in the federal system will recommend to a judge that they give you a lenient sentence. In the state its a little bit like putting the cart before the horse. You have the sentence but we dont know what the cooperation looks like. Thats now how it would work in the federal system, its not clear what their value will be. Up next, a search for a killer. What police are saying about the Stabbing Death of a detroit synagogue. Details about a man suspected of killing a maryland judge outside of his home. Youre watching jose diazbalart reports on msnbc. When i wanted to see results fast, rinvoq delivered rapid Symptom Relief and helped Leave Bathroom urgency behind. Check. When uc tried to slow me down. I got lasting, steroidfree remission with rinvoq. Check. And when uc caused Damage Rinvoq came through by visibly repairing my colon lining. Check. Rapid Symptom Relief. Lasting steroidfree remission. And the chance to visibly repair the colon lining. Check, check, and check. Rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. 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We make money from ads, but they dont follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. 39 past the hour, this Morning Police are looking for a motive after a synagogue president in detroit was found stabbed to Death Outside her home on saturday. The attacker still at large, police said yesterday that so far theres no evidence the crime was motivated by antisemitism, but it comes amid increased violence against jewish and muslim communities as the war between hamas and israel is now in its third week. Nbcs jesse kirsch is in detroit for us this morning. Jesse, what are we learning . Reporter yeah, jose, were learning more about the woman whose life was lost, what she was bringing to this community, and what Law Enforcement officials are starting to piece together. This is the synagogue where Samantha Woll was the board president of the congregation, right here in downtown detroit, and you talked about the divisive moment we are in, and it just makes her loss all the more heartbreaking because as we listen to how she was memorialized at her funeral yesterday as well as my conversation with a friend of hers, Samantha Woll was someone who, by all accounts, appears to have been someone who worked on Briding Divides between faith groups, someone who brought people together. This is one of those moments where this country and probably her community, you can imagine, really needs people more than ever who are like Samantha Woll. It just makes that loss so heartbreaking. Officials say she was found repeatedly stabbed and killed early saturday. We know from a friend of hers who is an elected official here in michigan that they were at a wedding together on friday night. As you mentioned, no suspect has been named and in this moment of intense emotions across the country, police making a point of saying they have not found evidence, have not found evidence pointing to this being motivated by antisemitism. Again, she was a wellknown Public Jewish leader in this community here, so questions unanswered, no suspect has been found. As far as weve been told by police, we are expecting an update at some point today. Jose. Jesse kirsch, thank you so very much. Turning now to another investigation, this one in maryland. A manhunt for the suspected gunman who killed a judge is growing more urgent. Authorities believe judge Andrew Wilkinson was gunned down in his driveway on thursday hours after ruling against the suspect in a divorce case. Police say they found the suspects suv about eight miles from where the judge was killed. Nbcs Stephanie Gosk joins us now. Good morning. What else are the Police Finding . Jose, they found that mercedes suv eight miles from the judges home, and it was a bit of a break in the case. They started searching the area. It was a woodland area, kind of remote, but now Law Enforcement has said they have stopped searching that area, and theyre asking for the publics help. Theres a 10,000 reward for any information leading to 49yearold pedro argote, who is the suspect in this case. To give people a little bit of background, judge Andrew Wilkinson was presiding over argotes divorce proceedings, and there was a hearing on thursday. Pedro argote was not present at this hearing. The judge decided in that case that argotes now exwife will have full custody of the children and the exhusband was not allowed any contact with them whatsoever. Later on in the day, police say they believe that argote shot and killed judge wilkinson on his driveway with his wife and child still inside the house. Again, police are look for argote, and theyre looking for the publics help with that 10,000 reward, jose. Stephanie gosk, thank you very much. Coming up, rising fears that israels war with hamas could plunge the region into a bigger war. Just yesterday the u. S. Embassy in beirut warned u. S. Citizens to, quote, leave now. Were live on the ground in lebanon next. Youre watching jose diazbalart reports. My frequent heartburn had me taking antacid after antacid all day long but with prilosec otc just one pill a day blocks heartburn for a full 24 hours. For one and done heartburn relief, prilosec otc. One pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. Im kareem abdul jabbar. I was diagnosed with afib. The first inkling that something was wrong was i started to notice that i couldnt do things without losing my breath. I couldnt make it through the airport, and every like 20 or 30 yards i had to sit down and get my breath. Every Physical Exertion seemed to exhaust me. 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Helping the small stand tall. 46 past the hour, this morning fears of a wider conflict are growing as clashes between israeli troops and hezbollah in lebanon escalated overnight. The idf saying it struck four terrorist cells. Yesterday israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a warning to hezbollah saying if it enters the war, quote, we will cripple it with a force it cannot imagine. This as the u. S. Embassy in beirut is warning u. S. Citizens who wish to leave lebanon should quote, leave now. And u. S. State department urging americans from traveling to iraq. Nbcs matt bradley joins us now from tyre, lebanon, whats the latest on the ground at this hour . Reporter the latest here is were hearing that at least one more hezbollah fighter has been killed in those Cross Border Attacks that youve been seeing, weve been seeing for the better part of the last two weeks, and now we also heard that two israeli civilians were injured on the israeli side. Now, that brings the number of hezbollah fighters dead in the skirmishes up to 28. I use the word skirmishes because they remain just that. Weve only been seeing limited fighting and a certain amount of restraint from both sides despite the casualty numbers increasing. Neither side seems to want to break out and launch a fullscale attack. It seems more like harassment on both sides than anything else, and thats because it seems as though neither side has the appetite, and were also seeing that iran weve heard this reporting from reuters the other day that iran wants to showt. The United States is dreading the notion that hezbollah might weigh in. That would bring in all sorts of other actors throughout the entire region. Remember that the United States navy has two Aircraft Carrier strike groups parked right in the Eastern Mediterranean right off my Left Shoulder here prepared as a deterrent to prevent this from internationalizing and bringing in other players, and this anxiety, youre hearing this from washington, from tel aviv, and here in lebanon. We just heard on our own Meet The Press Secretary Of State Antony Blinken expressing that anxiety. Heres what he said yesterday. We expect that theres a likelihood of escalation, escalation by iranian proxies directed against our forces, directed against our personnel. We dont want to see a second or third front develop, but if that happens, were ready for it. Reporter now, if that if those fronts were to develop, the one that hes referring to is specifically here in lebanon. Hezbollah, the dominant group here in southern lebanon, they are irans tip of the spear. Theyre even more powerful than hamas. Jose. Matt bradley, thank you so very much. Joining us now, former congresswoman jane harman, chair of the Freeman House board of trustees. She was a Ranking Member for four years, and former ceo of the Woodrow Wilson center. Its always a pleasure to see you. Were talking about all of the different folks in government here in the u. S. That have talked about the concern about escalation. How concerned are you right now that we may be seeing escalation of this conflict . Well, im less concerned because were very concerned. In other words, were paying extremely good attention and those two Aircraft Carriers with aircraft on them ready to roll are some indication of that. Just to quote our secretary of defense, he said we have a warning to those in the area who might try something. Dont. I think thats a very succinct u. S. Policy. Its fair to say we have u. S. Citizens all over the place. Theyre not all in our military, but lots of u. S. Citizens live in the middle east region, and work there and have dual citizenship all over, so we do have to pay attention. I think that hezbollah thing is a real possibility. They have precision guided on over 100,000 missiles pointed at israel, they have a range of hitting jerusalem when i was there during the 2006 war, i was literally on the border, they didnt have the Precision Guidance, they had far fewer missiles, and they were much less of a threat, although they caused some damage. So thats a real possibility, but as was just pointed out, what would irans motivation be at this point to step it up . I think iran would really be hurt by doing that. I think they just would rather keep trouble in the neighborhood and kind of prevent any settling out of israels agenda against hamas. Now, lets understand what that is. That is to eliminate hamas leadership. It is not Scorched Earth in gaza. I hope Scorched Earth in gaza is not israels agenda because i think that the arab street will go nuts if that happens, plus i dont think there is a day after scenario. So illuminating hamas leadership, trying to get the many people who live in gaza maybe to step up and be part of a moore constructive Palestinian Government there, maybe linked to the palestinian authority, which has recognized the existence of the state of israel, would be a good step there. Yeah, but, i mean, jane, you know, when you are in a small area that has 2 million plus civilians, whether the policy of israel is Scorched Earth or not, in fact, it is Scorched Earth for the people, the civilians, that are being killed by different actions. I mean, im just thinking today is the 40th Anniversary of the bombing of the u. S. Barracks in beirut, 241 dead american servicemen. I remember. Yes. I know. That is when hezbollah didnt have the 100,000 High Precision missiles. It was a car bomb. It was a series of bombings. Im just wondering, you know, is it too late . No, it is not too late. There are over 200 hostages in the area, efforts are being made to release them using the good offices of qatar to remind the political head of hamas, lives in doha qatar, he doesnt live with his compatriots in what is essentially called by some a prison with so many people per square inch. He doesnt live there. And qatar has kept close ties with iran, they played a role in releasing two hostages, we still are working on that program. Thats not all american hostages, its a multiethnic, racial group from many countries and we have to keep our eye on that. So, no, i dont think its too late. I also while these pictures are devastating do think that israel has very Precision Guidance munitions, too, and is taking out places where it suspects hamas terror cells. Lets understand everybody in gaza is not complicit. In fact, most arent, but some may be and sort of sorting out The Good Guys from the bad guys is very hard. Israel has urged hamas residents to move south, getting that gateway to egypt open is happening, but way too slowly, getting supplies in is way too slow, but it is happening and negotiating for hostages is happening and reinforcing the Israeli Border which was sadly in very slack shape when this illegal, brutal assault happened on october 7th is also a priority. So i dont know how to assess this. The tv images are horrific, i completely agree with that, but i also think that there may be more less less horror, if thats possible, than we actually think there is. Former congresswoman jane harmen, always a pleasure to see you. I thank you for your time. Thank you. Up next, the new charge senator bob menendez will face when hes back in a new york courtroom this afternoon. Youre watching jose diazbalart reports. On youre watching jose diazbalart reports. Vere Crohns Disease or Ulcerative Colitis symptoms are stopping you in your tracks. Choose stelara® from the start. 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But good news, theres no itchiness, dryness or flakes down here i love tiny troy. And his tiny gorgeous hair. Hes the best. Make every wash count little help please. You want to be able to provide your child with the tools or resources they need. With reliable internet at home, through the internet essentials program, the world opened up. Fellas, fellas. Thats how my son was able to find the hidden genius project. We wanted to give yall the necessary skills to compete with the future. Kevins now part of this next generation of young people who feel they can thrive. You want to be able to provide your child with the tools or resources they need. With reliable internet at home, through the internet essentials program, the world opened up. Fellas, fellas. Thats how my son was able to find the hidden genius project. We wanted to give yall the necessary skills to compete with the future. Kevins now part of this next generation of young people who feel they can thrive. 58 past the hour. This afternoon in new york city senator bob menendez will be arraigned on new charges alleging he took bribes from the Egyptian Government and conspired to act as a Foreign Agent while serving as a member of congress. New charges come after menendez and his wife pleaded not guilty last month to corruption charges. Joining us now nbc news correspondent Antonia Hylton in new york. Good morning. What are you watching for today . Reporter jose, we are waiting for senator bob menendez to get here to court in manhattan around 3 00 p. M. Where we expect him to plead not guilty to these additional charges. Prosecutors allege that he sent sensitive u. S. Government secrets and information to egyptian actors and he also essentially acted as a Foreign Agent on their behalf, which of course would be illegal. Not only is he a sitting senator but he was also the chair of the Senate Foreign relations committee. So thats caused outrage not just among his colleagues, but also among his constituents in new jersey, many who have been calling for him to resign. He has been defiant in the midst of those calls and has insisted that he is innocent and going to prove so when trial comes later this spring. But as you mentioned it piles on top of these other charges where essentially prosecutors had argued and laid out photographs of cash and gold bars and alleged expensive exercise equipment, mor payments that they say he traded in favors for, not just with Egyptian Government officials but also with powerful business men in new jersey. So what we expect to see here is for him to plead not guilty and essentially asserting his innocence here but the question is a political one as we await for the trial in the spring. Do new jersey Residents Push for him to step down and what do his colleagues in the senate do next . Antonia hylton, thank you so much. That wraps up the hour for me, im jose diazbalart, you can always reach me on social media dj balart. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Andrea mitchell picks up the news right now. And right now on and