targeting a safe house and training facilities used by iranian affiliated groups. that's according to the pentagon. we've got the latest on the significant escalation in the middle east amid rising tensions. plus, on defense, donald trump jr. back on the stand, the first witness for the defense in the new york civil fraud trial calling his dad today a visionary. what impact will his testimony have. and could the qanon shamon go back to washington, after serving 27 months behind bars, he's filing paperwork to run for congress. our nbc news reporters are following all of the latest developments. i want to begin in gaza with one doctor in al-shifa hospital saying 600 patients need care, there isn't food and water among other things needed. erin mclaughlin is in tel aviv. you talked to a doctor inside al-shifa this morning. what did he tell you. >> reporter: that's right, chris. as the israeli military has pushed further and further into gaza city, there's desperation at a number of hospitals including the main hospital al-shifa hospital. i was speaking to the head of neurosurgery inside the hospital earlier today, and he was just describing complete desperation. he said he was talking to me on his phone with what little battery power he had left. for four days now, no one has been allowed to leave the hospital, and no one can get in, and that includes critical aid, food, water, medicine, and critically, fuel. he said the patients are dying at a much higher rate, including at least three prematurely born babies. three dozen more babies that had to be taken from an incubator, he said, could die in just a matter of days. and he's appealing to the international community for help. take a listen. >> the concentration is extremely difficult and dangerous. you cannot even imagine. now without water, without communication. >> reporter: how are you personally coping with this? >> collapsing, you know. i'm not sure how much -- how many days more we will be able to survive, you know. >> reporter: and i was just on the phone with a spokesperson for the icrc about that plea for evacuation, and she told me given the intense fighting that is surrounding any number of these hospitals. there's very little the icrc can do except to remind the israeli military and all parties involved of their obligation under international law. she said that it was heartbreaking to get these calls from doctors, from civilians, pleading to be evacuated. and again, just very little that they can do. now, in terms of the israeli military, they say they dropped off 300 liters of fuel outside the main entrance of al-shifa hospital yesterday. they say that hamas is preventing the hospital from picking up that fuel. hospital officials tell us that that fuel is simply a drop in the bucket. that they need 10,000 liters a day just to run the hospital for one day, chris. >> erin mclaughlin, thank you for that. the pentagon is announcing it's carried out two air strikes in syria. this marks the third retaliatory strike in recent weeks. nbc's courtney kube has more for us. what's the latest? >> reporter: the u.s. military carried out another set of air strikes in northeastern syria. this is the third recent set of air strikes the u.s. has taken there, all with the goal of deterring these attacks against bases with americans in iraq and syria. in fact, today wknow there have been at least 52 attacks against bases. that includes four since the u.s. carried out these air strikes just last night. now, the target is a little bit different this time from the two previous strikes. those were weans and ammunition facilities. now, in this case, there were two locations, one was a training facility and the other was a safe house. because of that, there is a possibility that some of these iranian-backed militia members may have been present at either site at the time of the strike according to u.s. officials. now, it's very different than the previous two. the u.s. generally takes these kinds of strikes in the middle of the night to minimize the chance of people being present, but just given the nature of these locations, it is possible we will hear about potential casualties on site. now, again, this is all to try to deter against these attacks against bases in iraq and syria. more than 50 of them now at least 56 u.s. personnel have suffered minor injuries because of these attacks, and the u.s. is extremely concerned that if these sorts of attacks with one-way drones and rockets and indirect fire, if they continue that we could see u.s. casualties and that that could spread to a larger conflict in the region. the u.s. is very clearly saying that these strikes are to call on these militia groups to stop attacking their bases, but even beyond that, u.s. officials here in the pentagon, calling on iran to direct those militia groups to stop carrying out these attacks. of course, iran funds, trains, and equips many of the groups that carry out these sorts of attacks, chris. >> courtney kube, thank you for that. now to trump's civil fraud trial in new york where donald trump jr. is set to get back on the stand at any moment now, following an hour-long lunch break. nbc's vaughn hillyard is outside the courthouse for us. what are we expecting from the defense as it resumes its questioning? >> reporter: chris, courtroom staff is currently reentering this courtroom after this lunch break. we expect don jr. to go back and take the stand again just before the break began. letitia james, the new york attorney general who sat there for nearly three hours of testimony from donald trump's son picked up her jacket and walked out. for donald trump jr., he is the first witness brought forward by the defense. of course, he has already testified in this case, under a line of questioning from the prosecutors for the new york attorney general's office. over the course of his three-hour testimony, he has run through the litany of properties that he and his family hailed success stories, making the case to the judge who is the one determining the penalties incurred by don jr. as well as the trump organization making case that this is an international corporation that has run successful businesses and to the extent that he was signing off on financial records, he relied on the word of not only the trump organization's own accountants but also outside firms. for don jr., this is the beginning of the defense's building of his case that is expected to last all the way up to december 15th. ultimately we could see other witnesses like eric trump return to the stand, even donald trump himself, chris. >> vaughn hillyard, thank you. the january 6th attacker known as the qanon shamon is trying to take the notoriety of his conviction all the way into the halls of congress. he's running for office in arizona. ryan reilly has latest reporting on this. tell us what's on with this. >> reporter: qanon shamon is a failed actor, big on media attention. he's trying to pivot into running for congress, returning to the place where he committed his crime on january 6th. he ultimate was in the senate chamber and now looking to go to the house, apparently. so it's remarkable to look at these videos of what happened on january 6th, and of course you saw some of this afterwards get sucked into a conspiracy theory about what qanon shaman did, and what jacob did. from the beginning, you can see on the videos him entering the building right behind this initial breach of the mob, and then taking the dais that belonged to former vice president pence and leaving a threatening note for him. so he was one of the first people to go to trial or rather to take a plea deal and be sentenced and ultimately got a sentence that has let him out to run again in 2024. a remarkable turn of events. it remains to be seen whether he's going to pick up traction or if this is a media stunt that he has done throughout the years. >> it is where we are in this world, ryan reilly, thank you. a major escalation today in the 2024 race for the white house with the two front runners running on totally different tracks. we're back in 60 seconds. blanco there are some things that go better... together. hey! like your workplace benefits... and retirement savings. with voya, considering all your financial choices together... can help you be better prepared for unexpected events. for a brighter financial future. thanks. ahh, pretzel and mustard... another great combo. voya. well planned. well invested. well protected. . the 2024 race for president is escalating as the front runners, president biden and former president trump's campaigns, though, could not be more different. here's the message from donald trump over veterans day weekend. >> in honor of our great veterans on veterans day, we pledge to you that we will root out the communist, marxist, radicalist left thugs that live like verman in our country. >> used by hitler and mussolini to dehumanize peoplend encourage followers to engage in violence. for trump's spokesperson who make that ridiculous exertion, their sad miserable existence will be crushed when trump returns to the white house. meantime, president biden visited arlington national cemetery to mark veterans day and his campaign put out a more traditional political ad. >> he's a war hero. he's a war hero because he was captured. i like people that weren't captured, okay, i hate to tell you. >> joining us now, sam stein, "politico" white house editor and msnbc contributor. tim miller is former communications director for jeb bush's campaign. writer at the bulwark and msnbc political analyst. sa ben's calai is hitting trump over his vermin remark. on weekend when most americans were honoring our nation's heroes, donald trumparted the language of adolf tl, and benito mussolini, in order to defeat exactly the kind of un-american ideas trump champions. the candidates are dug in. we know where their sides are, but will something like this resonate with that small number of voters who will decide this election? does team biden think it will? >> i think ultimately, yes, but we're a year out from the election, and so this will probably be memory hold, like many of trump's remarks in a similar vein. look, does this help trump? no. i think if he were to stop with this rhetoric, i don't know if he can stop with the rhetoric, but certainly it would do more to endear him to those republican voters, those independent-minded voters that fundamentally have real problems with him and probably won't vote for him because of comments like these and his record in office. does biden do enough to win them over is the real question, right? biden has a lot of ground to make up in terms of getting voters back into his camp. most of the meetings happening among younger, progressive minded voters, but certainly some independent, moderate lane who gave him a chance, may not do it again. to your point, chris, yeah, these don't help trump. i think they're going to matter more if he continues doing them closer to voting day. >> our good friend kristen welker asked on "meet the press," rnc chair ronna mcdaniels, what she thought about the comments. >> are you comfortable with the language from the gop front runner? >> again i'm not going to comment on candidates and their campaign messaging. >> i mean, look, the lack of a rebuke from ron na mcdaniel is no shock. there's an ongoing rolling narrative. "axios" reporting today, trump's allies are prescreening thousands of potential foot soldiers as part of an operation to expand his power at every level of the government, if he wins in 2024. is there a cumulative effect that the biden camp can use or is this just more reason for his supporters to love donald trump? >> yeah, well, first on the vermin thing, i mean, what ronna mcdaniel said is not true. she was making fun of vivek's poll numbers two minutes earlier. what she meant to say is i can't criticize what donald trump says because he's my boss. i agree with sam. people know what they're getting from donald trump with these kinds of remarks. they should be covered. there should be outrage. the republicans intended like they were offended by the deplorables comment that hillary clinton made. obviously we can see now that was crocodile tears. they should be treated the same. i think that "axios" report you're discussing is more important, both electorally, and substantively, though, than trump's gaffes, and some of this is new information for voters, right, like trump being a clown who says crazy things is not new information. trump planning, you know, to target political foes, deportation camps, you know, some of the stuff people think about but have it be explicit in writing. he's planning camps for immigrants. >> that reporting from the "new york times" was very detailed and eye opening. >> yes, i think that information is new information for voters that might affect his political standing and obviously substantively, it's deeply alarming and important. >> there is one thing we know, sam, that voters on both sides have paid a lot of attention to, and that's something that neither of them can change, that is their age. forbes reports trump has confused biden and obama seven times in just recent months, including this weekend. >> the head of hungary, a very tough, strong guy, viktor orban, did anybody ever hear of him, they were interviewing him two weeks ago, and they said, what would you advise president obama, the whole world seems to be exploding and imploding, it's simple, he should immediately resign, and replace him with president obama. >> at a past rally, he called viktor orban, the leader of turkey. many democrats do see an opportunity here to challenge trump's mental acuity. could that work or does it just reinforce the whole narrative or reminding people that these guys are older? i'm not going to say old because i'm not exactly that far away from it, but older. >> chris, what are you talking about, you got to be, what, 35. >> i think that's what's happening here is, yes, they are older, and yes, they're both trying to figure out a way to cleverly use this against one another. and biden, for his part, has in recent days, and you've seen it here and there, leaned into it with more humor. he's joked about tripping. he made fun of the press for focusing on these issues. but his campaign apparatus has been really hard on trump for these moments as well. they have gone after trump for these -- for just misspeaking by saying it's president obama in office. they clearly want to neutralize the impact against joe biden. and trump, you know, it's been very interesting to watch him. if you watch his speech, usually he'll say something akin to, you know, 80 is not that old. i have plenty of friends and colleagues in the business community that are over 80 and they do just fine. they're wizards. what really matters, trump says, is your mental acuity, and biden doesn't have that. he's nuancing the age and stamina question too. it just really is like a deeply depressing insight or foreshadowing, i should say, into how this next year is going to go between these two men as each of them and their candidates try to frame the other one as the more elderly and feeble individual. >> sam stein, something for all of us to look forward to. tim miller, you're going to stick with me. breaking news, former president donald trump's older sister, mary anne trump barry has died. she served as a federal appellate judge in philadelphia, at a time when investigations into the trump family's tax practices began to heat up. former president trump has not yet commented on his sister's death. she was 86 years old. new developments, why the feds are now investigating new york city mayor's text messages. but first, they vowed to do it for the city, and they did. the lewiston, maine, boys high school soccer team just won the state title, near weeks after the deadliest mass shooting that state has ever seen, 18 people killed there. the blue devils beat the rtland rams 3-2 on saturday. lewiston's goalie said it feels great to win for the city and bring some good to the city. bravo to the team. we'll be right back. 'll be righ. type 2 diabetes? discover the ozempic® tri-zone. ♪ ♪ i got the power of 3. i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. i'm under 7. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease. i'm lowering my risk. adults lost up to 14 pounds. i lost some weight. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. test test test test test test test or if allergic to it. stop ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. gallbladder problems may occur. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. living with type 2 diabetes? ask about the power of 3 with ozempic®. just between us, you know what's better than mopping? anything! ugh. well, i switched to swiffer wetjet, and it's awesome. it's an all-in-one, that absorbs dirt and grime deep inside. and it helps prevent streaks and haze. wetjet is so worth it. love it, or your money back. (carolers) ♪ iphone 15 pro for your husband! iphone 15 pro — ♪ (wife) carolers! to tell me you want a new iphone? a better plan is verizon. (vo) this holiday turn any iphone, in any condition, into a new iphone 15 pro with titanium, apple tv 4k, and six months of apple one. all three on us. it's holiday everyday with verizon. (vo) red lobster's new lobster & shrimp celebration ♪ (vo) three lobster and shrimp entrees for a limited time. ♪ in order for small businesses to thrive, they need to be smart, efficient, savvy. making the most of every opportunity. that's why comcast business is introducing the small business bonus. for a limited time you can get up to a $1000 prepaid card with qualifying internet. yep, $1000. so switch to business internet from the company with the largest fastest reliable network and that powers more businesses than anyone else. learn how you can get $1000 back for your business today. comcast business. powering possibilities. . there is breaking news to tell you about, the supreme court is now adopting what it calls a brand new code of ethics after all the allegations of problems in that regard, nbc's lawrence hurley is following this for us. tim miller is back with me. this was just handed to me. i'm not going to pretend that i've read all 14 pages, so lawrence, walk us through what's in it. >> yeah, well, at this point, i can't pretend i have either, but i think what we can say is that the court, even itself, is saying that these are not really adopting in many cases.rt is their own statement announcing it says most of this is not new. there are standard things that judges do that they should uphold the integrity of the judiciary as one that they should avoid the appearance of impropriety as another. these are all pretty standard things that judges are supposed to do. so i think the question here, you know, is whether this statement, which as you said, is quite lengthy, and includes lots of commentary on what this means for the justices, is this going to be enough to kind of head off some of these calls from democrats in the senate who want to force the court to adopt a new code of conduct by legislation, which is a much more controversial issue, and so we're going to see now as we get some reaction to this whether this is going to be enough. >> lawrence