jansing. israeli soldiers conducting a targeted raid searching the medical complex for hamas, something the idf calls an operational necessity, but it's one that sparked massive pushback from the u.n. and perhaps the strongest statement yesterday from the biden white house. how might what happened inside the hospital today change the face of this war? >> the victory in the house, a bipartisan group of lawmakers passing a stopgap bill and kicking it to the senate with just days to go before a possible government shutdown, but it is also just a band-aid on a gaping wound. so what will happen after the holidays? and throwing elbows, inside the nasty battles on the hill. with no one backing down, no one apologizing, and other members taking sides. plus, they haven't been face to face in a year, but that's going to change in just about an hour. the eyes of the world now on president biden and president xi jinping today. can anything be done to turn down the heat and find some light between the world's two richest countries? it's a very busy day here, but we begin inside gaza with this major escalation by the israeli military where soldiers carried out a, quote, precise and targeted operation against hamas inside al-shifa hospital. the raid escalating fears and increasing peril for hundreds of patients who were stranded there right now. the world health organization said earlier today, they lost contact with hospital staff, while posting on social media that the w.h.o. is extremely worried for their and their patients' safety. al-shifa was already collapsing. just yesterday nearly 200 people bury instead a mass grave inside because they couldn't move the bodies outside. and it's not just al-shifa. the health care system all across gaza is crumbling by the minute. just one example, the u.n. agency for women's health now estimates about 50,000 women are currently pregnant in gaza, about one in ten is due in the coming month, with little or no access to health care. nbc news talked to a 32-year-old mother who says she almost gave birth in the rubble after the home she was sheltering in was t by an air strike. her baby was born with a broken leg because of the attack, and she id quote, thank god we made it peacefully, but my girl came into this world broken. nbc's keir simmons is in tel aviv for us. what more do we know about what's happening at al-shifa. >> reporter: the former israeli ambassador said the operation is continuing, and so bits of information are coming out kind of intermittently i would say. it is incredibly difficult to reach doctors at al-shifa hospital. we have been trying, haven't been able to get through to someone that we've spoken almost every day. others have managed to reach some in there. the bbc is reporting that men aged from 16 to 40 were asked to come out into the courtyard, that 200 were taken away, some made to strip. the israeli operation began at 2:00 a.m. this morning here, and it is now just after 8:00 p.m. so you can see it is a substantial operation, and on both sides, there are videos being -- i mentioned that communication is difficult. on both sides where possible, video is being kind of pumped out if you like. the palestinian health authority, which is run by hamas is sending out video from inside the halls of al-shifa it says, and that video shows patients being wheeled away from rooms where there is smoke and what looks like another female patient manually being given oxygen, and there is debris strewn around. on the other hand, the israeli defense force releasing video showing soldiers carrying boxes with large labels onhem saying medical supplies, and also video of an operation that says it's around al-shifa looking in particular for it says a terrorist installations. that's the way they describe it. and we are now beginning to see some video from the israeli defense force around al-shifa. we're just looking at that right now. we don't know what they're claiming to say, but certainly we do know of course that they are looking for potential hamas headquarters, islamic jihad headquarters somewhere around the hospital, and then at the same time, all of the families that are worrying about people inside gaza and in area are watching, including, of course, some of those almost 240 hostages, their families. we managed to speak to one man. he has seven members of his family held hostage. he lost his dad in the october 7th terror attack, and i asked him what it was like to see what's happening now on the television screens. >> it terrifies me that they're holding hot tajs, you know. i'm not a military man. i don't know the details. i trust what the military is saying, but i mean, if they're there, i hope they're getting medical treatment, they're probably not there for their benefit, but i'm scared for them. i'm scared for the palestinian people that they don't have hospital. >> reporter: and you know, we're waiting really just to hear the results of this operation. the world is watching. first, of course, how this goes in materials of the humanitarian side and how the israeli defense force behave, and then of course whether they find any evidence of hamas there. >> nbc's keir simmons in tel aviv, thank you for that update. i want to bring in "politico" white house bureau chief and host of msnbc way too early, jon that la mere. also with us, collin clark, director of research at the sufan group. thank you for being here. the palestinian health minister is calling the move on al-shifa a crime against humanity. how might this raid, how might this move impact the war and potentially increase pressure on bibi netanyahu? >> well, this is a pivotal moment in what's been a very intense conflict for the past several weeks. if the israelis attack the hospital and something goes wrong, you know, what's the narrative going to be? is it going to be that israel took an unnecessary risk, or is it going to be that hamas was using the hospital for militant activities, which is a violation of international law. it's likely going to reinforce pre-existing views of which side you view to blame already, but really, it's a very, very complex issue with a lot of nuance. >> without a doubt, jonathan, and i want to read for our audience what the whi house response quote, we do not ort sl the air, and we don't want to see a firefight in a hospital wher people, helpless people, sick people trying to get medical care they deserve are caught in the cross fire. that might be the administration's strongest statement yet, but what do we know about non-public messaing conversations and whether they believe any other country can influence strategy here? >> well, i mean, from the early days of this war, the u.s. has publicly been very supportive of israel, but privately and at times in public has also warned israel to proceed cautiously, to be careful, to keep humanitarian aims in mind, and that's been the case in recent days as well. president biden spoke with netanyahu yesterday. there's constant communication between u.s. officials and their counterparts. there are messages asking them to be careful with palestinian civilians. but it's not clear at all times if israel is going to listen, and we heard from national security council spokesperson john kirby a short time ago in san francisco where he is with president biden, ahead of his summit with xi jinping of china, and kirby made clear, he's like we don't weigh in on specific israeli tactics. they're going to make their own decisions and the hospital is no exception. but they have made clear they've warned israel that if things were to go badly in gaza and in particular a facility like a hospital where there are innocent civilians and patients that it could really turn public sentiment further against israel particularly in the arab world. at this point, you know, israel, though, they say they have shown some restraint. they have shown some caution. you know, the procedure, the operation at the hospital goes forward, and it's hard to really know what's going on there since there's largely a communications blackout in the region. >> there's been a consistency to what we've heard from the prime minister, what we've heard from members of his administration who have come on this program and that is very simply they say israel is not responsible for this. this is hamas using palestinians as human shields. what else can joe biden -- what else can the u.s. do that is already not being done here? >> i think to keep up the diplomatic pressure on both sides to the extent that that's possible, on the israelis directly and on hamas through interloek tours through the region. the human element, look, at the end of the day, this is a war, but these are the most vulnerable of any society. these are pregnant women. these are children, sick and elderly. and i think if we could just take a step back and think about that aspect of it, cooler heads may prevail. i realize this the essence of asymmetric warfare, these types of situations, but in a social media age, everything is elevated and amplified, and if this goes wrong, this is going to be a complete disaster and likely nullify any tactical gains the israelis get. >> jonathan, there is also the question of hostages including americans. one of the things that we've heard from a number of the families is that when they've spoken to the president, when they've spoken to members of the administration, they believe he gets it. they believe he is trying to do everything he can do, he understands their pain, and my colleague, lester holt, spoke to families of some of those hostages being held captive in gaza, and i want to play what one father told him. >> there's a huge amount of pressure on israel to supply humanitarian support to the gaza strip. we understand. where is the pressure to get our kids back home? where is the pressure to get the red cross in? we don't feel that pressure. >> i know president biden and the prime minister just spoke about the hostage, the white house put out one of its brief fairly vague statements, but again, netanyahu has been clear israel's strategy to amp up the military pressure is the way to get the hostages released. do u.s. officials you speak to, jonathan, believe that pressure is working? and what else can you tell us is being done to bring the hostages home? and in the interim, get them the help they need. >> yeah, we'll know more i think in the coming days, chris, whether the strategy is working. the prime minister has been very consistent in his public statements. we heard from president biden yesterday while still in washington sort of sitting -- trying to reassure the families of hostages that we're coming. help is on the way. and there has been some reporting that a deal may be close to allow some, again, some, a couple dozen, perhaps, 75 or 80 hostages, women and children to be set free in exchange for a number of palestinians who are being held in israeli prisons. that would require likely a lengthy pause in the hostilities, maybe three days, some chatter even could be five. israel has been reluctant to do that thinking hamas would take advantage. so the deal though close not done yet. u.s. officials warned me it still could fall apart. that would be a concrete step to get those hostages home. in terms of aid, there has been exceeding pressure on israel to allow more humanitarian aid into gaza, but of course the question is who's getting that aid? is hamas, are the hamas terrorists hijacking it? or is it getting to the people who so desperately need it, whether it be hostages or those at say that hospital, and we simply do not know at this point and u.s. officials, as you might imagine, are being very cage ji as to what they say say about the location and, frankly, health of the hostages not wanting to endanger any hostages. >> jonathan lemire, collin clark, thank you, guys, appreciate it nch the senate expected to reset the countdown clock to the government shutting down in january, but can both houses cool off enough to pull off that lasting compromise in 2024? we'll have that in 60 seconds. we'll have that in 60 seconds. he hits his mark —center stage—and is crushed by a baby grand piano. lasting compromise in 2024? we'll have that in 60 seconds. at lasting compromise in 2024 we'll have that in 60 seconds. e with liberty bibberty. he doesn't even have a mustache. only pay for what yone. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ right now get a free footlong at subway. like the new deli heroes. buy one footlong in the app, get one free. it's a pretty big deal. kinda like me. order in the subway app today. a government shutdown is two days and ten hours away and now it's up to the senate to avoid it. house speaker mike johnson's two-tier plan was approved on a bipartisan vote of 336 to 95 with more democrats voting in favor of it than republicans. you'll remember a similar scenario is what triggered kevin mccarthy's removal as speaker, but the victory barely registering a blip compared to the personal animosity on the hill and new details about the alleged altercation between mccarthy and one of the members who voted to oust him, tim burchett. here's new audio of that moment burchett was allegedly eowed as captured by an npr congressional reporter. >> i think it went all right. is. >> yeah. >> sorry, kevin, didn't mean to elbow -- why'd you elbow m in the back, zmechb hey, kevin, you got any guts? jerk. >> has he done that before? >> no. >> huh, that's a new move. me and elbow me in the ck?alk by >> i didn't. >> you goto guts. you did so, the reporter said it right there, what kind of chicken move is that? >> you're pathetic, man, you are so pathetic. >> nbc's julie tsirkin is reporting for us on capitol hill. so look, tensions, julie, seem to just keep escalating. some say it's because they've been working for ten straight weeks or just the pressure of the budget and funding two wars. so first of all, how are things looking for the senate for this funding bill? will the government stay open, and is the belief that lawmakers will be able to go home, cool off, and get this done in january and february? >> reporter: chris, i think lawmakers are already smelling the turkey in their ovens. they're ready to get out of here. in the senate particularly, there are jet fumes to try and get this continuing resolution done, even perhaps tonight, so they can get home and, in your words, perhaps cool off a little bit. i want you to take a listen to what senator john kennedy told us about all of this this morning, watch. >> how confident are you we're going to get this cr finished today or tomorrow and on to thanksgiving? >> well, i wouldn't bet my house on it. i'd probably bet your house on it, though. that's one way of saying i think we're going to -- we're not going to have a shutdown, nor should we. >> we've got a lot to do. and this congress needs to get up off of its butt and get it done. >> reporter: two days ahead of a deadline is certainly a record i haven't seen in the last few years covering this place, but it does seem like they're going to be able to get this done. what's not going to be in this clean continuing resn with those staggered deadlines, is talked to members of the house freedom caucus who tell me maybe speaker john season is still in his honeymoon period. they had the new speaker tap in as a quarterback in overtime. this is not really his fault just yet, but i think this is going to be a bigger issue come january when they have all of those funding deadlines staring down into the pike. the other thing too israel aid, ukraine aid, border proposals not a part of this continued resolution. there is a fear, some concern among members that they're leaving town, particularly without aid to israel, so that could potentially drag out the process to tomorrow rather than today. but all in all, they're just punting their work until later. but i think for the sake of all of us, including the lawmakers who are getting into near brawls here, that they want to get home and get a little bit of break with family and friends before they come back to another full plate. >> julie tsirkin, thank you for that. i want to bring in republican congressman ken buck of colorado. good to have you back on the show, congressman. i know you voted against speaker johnson's funding bill, and keeping the government open with the help of democrats, as we all know, is what sparked the effort to remove kevin mccarthy as speaker. why is it different this time around? some people have suggested, well, the caucus just likes speaker johnson more than they did mccarthy. what's your take on what happened here? >> that's one of the reasons, obviously, but there are other reasons. kevin mccarthy wanted an omnibus, and you know he wanted an omnibus because he didn't bring any appropriations bills to the floor in may. he didn't bring them to the floor in june, in july. i think we got one done in july, we got three done in september, but there was no time to finish 12 appropriations bills, get them to the senate. have conferences, get them passed and signed by the president by the time september 30th rolled around. this is a mess that mike johnson inherited from kevin mccarthy. it's a mess that mike johnson is trying to work through and he still is in the honeymoon period right now, so really i don't anticipate any motion to vacate mike johns son. i think he is acting in good faith and trying to do the best he can to get these appropriations bills passed. >> one of the things that congress is consistently good at -- i think you would agree with me about this one congressman -- they're good at kicking the can down the road. what does this mean for january and february when this cr comes up? >> here's the problem, not only are we kicking the can down the road, but we're kicking the can down the road into a year where we need to be working on the next year's appropriations bills. when i think of kicking the can down the road, i think of the big spending items like medicare, social security, that we need to figure out how to deal with. we haven't dealt with those for a couple of decades now. certainly keeping the government open and funding in a responsible way, i don't anticipate we'll have 12 bills done by the end of february, and that's a real shame. >> even by current standards, yesterday was not a good one for tolerance or understanding or respect on the hill. we played that audio from the alleged incident between kevin mccarthy and tim burchett, mccarthy denies elbowing his colleague. burchett hasn't backed down from his claim. there was name calling by another house member, threats of violence in the senate. this is really personal stuff, and some would say really juvenile stuff. what is going on, congressman? and can it be fixed? >> i think we've had a fundamental breakdown in civil any politics in america in the last six, seven, eight years. i think we've had a breakdown in civility in the house and senate. the senate less so. they are -- they sort of have this country club mind-set a lot better than the house does in terms of civility and respect for each other, but we have some members in the house on both sides, republicans and democrats, who are just not -- i don't want to throw names around, but they bring motions to censure. they bring motions to impeach. they're constantly using language that inflames the public and unfairly, you know, negative towards other members of congress, making it very personal, and the tensions have escalated to the point where we need a good strong majority on one side or the other, and we need a leader who just starts to put this stuff to rest. people should not be on committees if they are going to use the kind of language and the kind of just negativity towards fellow members. you can disagree without being disagreeable and we've lost that. >> when you look at what happened yesterday and the physical confrontations, the name calling nothing new unfortunately. but when you look at the physical confrontations among republicans, do you think it risks costing republicans politically? can the average voter legitimately look at this and say that behavior would never be tolerated in my workplace. there would be consequences? >> yeah, i think that if you look at -- in my home state of colorado, the number one voting group are unaffiliated voters. voters who are sick of the republican party, sick of the democrat party and are registering unaffiliated. i think that movement is true around the country. i don't think this is where people look at republicans and say they shouldn't be in office. there are statements that are made by some democrats after the horrible events of october 7th in israel that paint the democrat party this a bad light. not all of them, just like some of these actions don't paint all republicans in a bad light. there are enough things happening on both sides that i think the american public is tired of politics and they want solutions. >> but do you separate, again, things that are said -- and ooip i'm not in any way diminishing that, things that are said that are anti-semitic, completely unacceptable. racist, completely unacceptable. but when it comes to either physical confrontation or threats of physical violence, is that in another category that the american people can look at and say, something should be done about that. it shouldn't just be accepted and say, okay, it happened. he said, he said. should leadership take some action? >> yes, i think leadership should take some action. in this case it was the former speaker who was the one who threw the elbow and i hadn't heard the audio until it was just played a moment ago on your show, but quite clearly the former speaker while he has a security detail with him did something that's absolutely unacceptable. my understanding is it's been referred to the ethics committee. it takes the ethics committee oftentimes six months to a year to be able to gather the information and make a recommendation. so there are a lot of broken pieces in this puzzle. it's absolutely unacceptable and we should get back to civility in the house. >> representative ken buck, i appreciate you coming on the program. i hope you and yours have a wonderful thanksgiving and have much to be thankful for. thanks for coming on. >> thank you very much. up next, courtroom drama. an emergency hearing is underway right now after those confidential videos of key witnesses in trump's georgia case were leaked. plus, we're waiting for the start of that key meeting between two of the most powerful people on the planet. president biden and china's president xi jinping. you're watching "chris jansing reports" only on msnbc. nly on mc t to the dealer. bring it to safelite. we do more replacements and recalibrations than anyone else. >> customer: thank you so much. >> tech vo: schedule now. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪ ( ♪♪ ) we're still going for that nice catch. we're still going for that sweet shot. and with higher stroke risk from afib not caused by a heart valve problem, we're going for a better treatment than warfarin. eliquis. eliquis reduces stroke risk. and has less major bleeding. over 97% of eliquis patients did not experience a stroke. don't stop taking eliquis without talking to your doctor as this may increase your risk of stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking, you may bruise more easily or take longer for bleeding to stop. get help right away for unexpected bleeding, or unusual bruising. it may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. the number one cardiologist-prescribed blood thinner. we're going for it. ask your doctor about eliquis. 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(vo) make the switch. it's your business. it's your verizon. ♪ my name is josh sanabria and i am the owner at isla veterinary boutique hospital. i was 5...6 years of age and i knew i was going to be a vet. once alexandra called me to let me know that bank of america had approved my loan... it was important to me. we not only just provide the financing piece, we do everything that we can to surround them with the right people. all you need is a perfect, amazing team that will guide you through the right steps to be successful. and that's what bank of america was for me. an emergency hearing is about to get underway in donald trump's georgia rico case, after a controversial video of some of the key witnesses leaked. fulton county d.a. fani willis said the release of those videos was clearly meant to intimidate trump's former co-defendants, jenna ellis, sidney powell, kenneth chesebro requesting plea deals. nbc's blayne alexander is reporting from atlanta, also with me former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst carol lam, welcome to you both. what do we expect to hear in this case today, blayne? >> reporter: well, chris, i think that we're going to hear from what i suspect will be a rather frustrated d.a.'s team as to why they need these sort of safeguards immediately to stop a leak like this from happening in the future. these videos are called part of what's discovery. now the d.a.'s office is saying they need a protective order to stop anything like this from being shared. they also say that they're going to make some changes going forward. they say that if there are future videos to be disseminated to defense attorneys, they're not going to hand out copies like they did before. instead the defense teams will have to come down here to her office in downtown atlanta and watch those videos in person. they can take notes, but they can't take copies with them. now, of course as you can expect, that means a very big disruption in work flow and, as you could also expect, there is some opposition to this. several of the defense attorneys have filed motions opposing it, but the d.a. spoke out yesterday and said, one, she was not happy that this leaked. and two, it was absolutely not her office that made these videos public. watch. >> so my team and the particular case that those got out, we had already filed to have a protective order where discovery in the case would not get out, so surprising, no, disappointing, yes. it was absolutely not my office. i just want to get that on the record. >> from us? >> yes, from you and every other outlet. >> reporter: so there you heard d.a. fani willis speaking at a "washington post" event yesterday, making it clear she's not happy about this. she doesn't want to see it happen again. essentially reading between the lines, if it wasn't her team, it had to be one of the defense attorneys who put it out. as for what else we're going to see today, chris. one thing we're also watching for is according to a motion filed by the attorney for harrison floyd, one of the 15 remaining co-defendants, the attorneyelieves that the person or persons responsible for actually leaking those videos will fess up to it today in court. it's still not determined whether or not we're going to see some sort of courtroom confession. we also don't know what floyd's attorney is basing that prediction on, but certainly that would be a major development. it will be very interesting to see if that does in fact take place when this hearing gets underway. >> we know it's expected to start anytime. so carol, what will the parameters be? what does a judge look at when deciding whether to grant a protective order in a case like this? >> right. in this case there was no existing signed order by the judge presenting the disclosure of discovery. i have to tell you it is so unusual in a criminal case for anybody to disclose any discovery because you -- first, you don't want to irritate the court, but also the discovery tends to be discovery that is not going to farewell for the defendant, and so the government knows it's not going to disclose discovery, and the defendant usually has no reason to do it, and we don't know here who or why this -- who disclosed this discovery or why, and it's only parts of these depositions. so we don't know whether it was somebody who thought that they were doing something helpful to donald trump or unhelpful to donald trump. a lot remains to be seen. >> we should say this we're starting to get pictures in from inside the courtroom. we don't have people in there yet. there it is in an almost empty courtroom. at least we see that they're ready for when the important party get in there. carol, i wonder if the circumstances surrounding these cases now changes the calculation, and by that i mean when you talk about the possibility of intimidation of witnesses and threats to current people who have made deals who are involved in this leaked material, the atmosphere surrounding these cases, and in the country, frankly, right now is different. very different than you might have in any number of other cases, if not almost every other case, right? >> right, chris, this is sort of a recurring theme here that the court system and politics do not mix well, and there have been -- there are some cases that taunt what to do when you have a very sensational or well-publicized trial and the kinds of protections that should take place there. we are going to see this happen over and over again, people testing the limits of what a court will tolerate. we've already seen that in pretty much all of donald trump's trials that are ongoing and upcoming, and so there is a lot that's going to have to happen here. look, litigators are used to dealing with the uncertain and the unknown and surprises coming up along the way, but unfortunately it does distract from the main goal here, which is for both parties to really try their case in front of a neutral jury. >> and we can see that judge mcafee is now on the bench. we're going to continue to watch that, and we have folks listening to it. but carol, i want to ask you about another trump legal case, special counsel jack smith is urging the d.c. circuit court of appeals to reinstate the gag order in the federal election interference case. his office argued this in a filing, quote, there has never been a criminal case in which a court has granted a defendant an unfettered right to try his case in the media. what's your reaction to that as an argument? >> well, that's right. the first amendment is very widely misunderstood. it does not stand for the proposition that somebody can say whatever he or she wants whenever, anytime, anywhere in any circumstance, and here there are cases that talk about what a court can do to ensure the fair administration of justice in a criminal case or a civil case. and from a strategic point of view, it's unclear to me why donald trump and his team would pursue this course of action. they have this case pending in front of the appellate court. to decide whether judge chutkan's limited gag order is appropriate or not in this case, and yet, he's taking advantage of the administrative stay of that order. in order, it's not in effect right now, but instead of behaving in a way that would perhaps persuade the appellate court that he's going to behave in a modified and appropriate manner, he's doubling down, and now he is attacking not only jack smith, the special prosecutor, but jack smith's family, but candidly, chris, that's a line that is just rarely, if ever crossed. i think donald trump is not going to get a lot of sympathy from the appellate court in this instance. >> blayne alexander, thank you. keep us posted if anything major happens. carol, you're going to stay with us because we have new in court from hunter biden today a request for the trump-appointed judge in his criminal case to subpoena former president trump and key players from the former administration's justice department. joining me now nbc's tom winter, carol's staying here. tom, what are the details of this subpoena request? >> right, so it's a limited request, but some pretty important names and some that you've been just speaking about there, chris. one is the former president of the united states, donald trump, the former attorney general, william barr, and then two former senior justice department official, richard donahue and jeffrey rosen. those two individuals, their notes as well as the president's notes as well as documents tied to former attorney general barr all being requested here, and the idea is not in the words of abby lowell to go -- who's representing hunter biden to go on a fishing expedition. the idea is to determine whether or not there was a selective or vindictive prosecution of hunter biden. and the focus on this stems from a number of things that have come out either in congressional testimony or have come out in the form of books, the former attorney general william barr recanting a conversation in his book about a time that donald trump called him and asked him about the investigation into hunter biden and what he wants to see is if hunter biden was targeted purely because he was former president trump's rival. that's something that is a no-no in this country. you can't just target an individual selectively and enforce the law selectively. and this is all tied to the criminal gun charge case that's been brought in delaware by special counsel david weiss. so that's what this is about. judge does need to grant this request, so it's not something that is automatic. i can imagine that in numerous instances, this will be fought by some of these officials and the former president himself so it's a situation where now former president trump is going to be inserted into the criminal prosecution of hunter biden. of course we should point out that hunter biden and the decision to charge him was made by special counsel weiss, after he asked of it from attorney general -- from the current attorney general, i should say, who was appointed by president biden, the father of hunter biden. >> so in this case, carol, what will the judge look at when he decides whether to grant this request? >> right, and to tom's point, the reason why the defense has to ask the judge for permission to issue these subpoenas is because this is an indicted case now. this is a request by the defense to subpoena third parties and in that context you do have to get permission from the judge. so what's happening here is essentially that hunter biden in his thinking that a good defense is a strong offense and he's saying if everybody is going to allege that i was given the benefit of having my father be the president in getting sort of a sweet deal that fell apart in court, i'm going to show or attempt to show that, actually, the entire investigation and the entire prosecution was politically motivated, and it started under the trump administration. you know, when you look at the gun charge, this was a gun charge that was brought -- he possessed the gun for a very short period of time, 11 days. he did not use the gun in any fashion. the allegation was he lied to get the gun in the sense that he was a drug user, and he possessed drugs at the time, and you're not supposed to buy a gun in those circumstances. that's a pretty light case. and it's not surprising that the department of justice was willing to resolve it in a way that did not involve jail time and involved the deferred prosecution. but here, it has now gone to a felony indictment because the plea agreement broke down in court, and now hunter biden is saying i have to defend myself in this case, and so i'm going to now prove that the entire investigation prosecution was, as tom said, a selective one and inappropriate. >> nbc's tom winter and carol lam, thank you both so much. from fentanyl to nukes to the military, the high staks and highly choreographed topics on the agenda, president biden and president xi set to speak any moment now. we've got the details next on "chris jansing reports," only on msnbc. sing reports," only on msnbc. shelves. shelves that know what taste buds want. shelves smart enough to see, sense, react, restock. ♪ so caramel swirl is always there for the taking. ♪♪ we're not writers, but we help you shape your financial story. ♪♪ we're not an airline, but our network connects global businesses across nearly 160 markets. ♪♪ we're not a startup, but our innovation labs use new technologies to help keep your information secure. ♪♪ we're not architects, but we help build stronger communities. ♪♪ we're not just any bank. we are citi. ♪♪ (carolers) ♪ iphone 15 pro for your husband! iphone 15 pro — ♪ (wife) carolers! to tell me you want a new iphone?e are citi. 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. two of the most powerful men in the world, president biden and chinese president xi jinping are set to meet any minute now at an historic country house in woodside, california. it's the first time they will have even spoken in more than a year. today's summit, which is expected to last several hours comes at a time when both leaders have multiple incentives to seek cooperation over conflict and to improve relations that haven't been this bad arguably in decades. but that won't make it easy. here's how president biden set the bar for a successful meeting. >> to get back on a normal course of corresponding, being able to pick up the phone and talk to one another. being able to make sure our militaries still have contact with one another. what we're trying to do is change the relationship for the better. >> i want to bring in nbc's monica alba live in san francisco. nbc chief foreign affairs correspondent, andrea mitchell joins me from washington, and former cia analyst sue mi terry joins me here in new york. monica, the white house certainly isn't over promising. so what exactly are we expecting? >> reporter: that's typical, chris, for these kinds of major meetings. they don't to want go in with any kind of high expectation and not be able to deliver on some of these outcomes. the basic thing to realize is the standard for this meeting is resuming something that would be normal between some of the world's largest super powers, which is reestablishing military to military communication, something that broke down completely last year and then was worsened after the u.s. shot down that chinese spy balloon in february. it took months of very intensive diplomatic talks with high level cabinet officials going to china to try to lay the groundwork for a meeting like this to try to be able to resume this and to have president biden and president xi come face to face to discuss areas they can hopefully work together on, but also to really talk about the low point of this relationship, the lowest it has really been in decades. and we know that the two leaders haven't even spoken since they last met a year ago in indonesia, so plenty has happened since, and obviously for president biden here, he is looking to secure china's commitment on a couple of fronts, but one of the main issues domestically that's a are priority is to get china to engage on helping to stem the flow of fentanyl, that are made in china and travel to mexico and becomes fentanyl and is smuggled into the u.s. and has led to these horrific opioid overdoses. that's one likely area in addition to the military-to-military communications. this is really about emphasizing strategic competition while trying to have the two countries just have a little bit more predictability in their relationship. the fact that they're coming face to face at this separate location site about 40 minutes south of where we are here in san francisco also gives you an idea of the importance that the u.s. is assigning to this meeting to this summit with the chinese leader and something that chinese officials wanted as well, so it would elevate its stature on the sidelines of this other major meeting that is happening with apec. and we know that really no detail is too small here, down to the camera angles, the flowers in the room, the seating arrangement, all of that has been a pain staking process to negotiate between the two sides as we're about to see take place here in northern california, chris. >> talk a little bit about the starting point. there are people who have said this is the worst our relations have been in 40 years. we know certainly what has happened over the course of the last year, but we also know the stakes. what's the starting point? what's the realistic ending point, at least at the end of the three or four hours they may spend together today, maybe more. who knows? >> so i mean, it's true, that since we, the united states normalized relations with since 1979, this period is particularly the lowest point of this relationship. in the last several years. and the past year, there's no communication between president biden and xi jinping, you know, whole host of issues we just talked about. the whole shooting down of the spy balloon to the trade issues, the intensifying sanctions, you know. so the relationship is very bad, and i think the realistic expectation is that we can expect there's going to be a reset in the relationship between u.s. and china. the whole host of really challenging issues that remain. and there's no incentive to really come off this kind of crisis because the one foreign policy issue that there's a bipartisan support in the united states is being tough on china, so that's not going to really change. however, there is also incentive, both by president xi jinping, and president biden to put some guardrails this this relationship so it doesn't get worse. right? china's economic situation, its economy has been -- it's not great, right, the last two years, it has gotten even worse. they have incentive to have foreign investors continually have confidence in xi jinping's leadership. they need multinational companies to not get out of china. we, the united states, doesn't want to have another conflict with china over taiwan when there is multiple wars going on with middle east going on and russia's invasion, or the war ukraine. we should be careful about having a high expectation about this meeting. >> let's me bring in janis mackey frayer, and i want to pick up on what sue had to say. if you look at who's traveling with the president, that gives you an indication of where the conversations are going to be at least in part, the commerce secretary, the treasury secretary, the head of the national economic council, all with president biden now. explain to us where china's priorities are, what they think they can accomplish, and frankly, what the advantages for them of ramping back some of these tensions. >> well, the secretary as you mentioned, raimondo, yellen, they visited china within the last six months. that's when we started to see a turning point or the potential for a turning point in the u.s.-china relationship with things so bad between the two sides. but it was secretary yellen in particular who the chinese side wanted to come and visit. the tech export controls that have been imposed by the biden administration are really nipping at china's economy. the economy is already slowing down. there are cracks in the property sector. there's local government debt. there's unemployment among young people at an historic high. so in coming here, xi jinping is wanting to address the economic issues that he is facing. the other thing that china wants from this is to send the right message back home. they want to ensure that on state media and in the newspapers that xi jinping, their president, their leader is being portrayed as a global statesman, that he has come here as a guest of the president of the united states and that they have rolled out this grand welcome for him. these are all of the images that are being beamed back to china. it's been all over the main cctv news and creating the impression that xi jinping, while his views may differ from president biden's that these two men are able to sit at the same table and may not deliver the big deals at the end of the summit. but that they are able to show the world that they are at least talking again. >> janice mackey frayer, thank you so much, we appreciate your expertise. the president's foreign policy play has been full. take the war in ukraine and gaza. why now? why this meeting? what are you being told about how the administration views the timing but also the importance of getting the things that the president has enumerated? >> well, for one thing, china's economy is faltering. america's economy is bouncing back. it may not feel that way. core inflation is high. the last quarter, 4.9 gdp growth, we're doing well. they're concerned about the chip bell, other economic factors and sanctions. they want to talk to us as much as we want to talk to them. they want reliability. they need predictability in the markets as well as in the geopolitical relationship, as much as joe biden has been talking about that since he first met with xi a year ago in bali, and actually, that meeting he had a couple of years ago with vladimir putin before the war in ukraine broke out. the predictability with the two world super powers is critical. he wants to talk to him about iran. iran is a huge supplier of oil to china, and china has influence over teheran and a lot of connections with teheran, and he xi jinping can get iran to not expand this middle east war, influencing hez, which is an offshoot of iran, influencing hamas. if there's any way to stop the war from spreading, it's in the hands of xi jinping and its influence over iran. that's a pathway he wants to pursue. plus, getting back on the basics of military-to-military communications, which we were told was one of the problems. the big problem in the balloon incident was not being able to pick up the phone and call the chinese military intelligence counter parts and say what's going on, what is that thing flying over the united states or we're going to shoot it down if you don't get back to us. none of that kind of communication existed since a year ago september, when nancy pelosi went to taiwan, and china cut off military-to-military communications. >> andrea mitchell, thank you for that. i want to thank my guests. we're going to take a quick break. i'm told there's breaking news out of the courthouse in georgia. we'll be back with that right after a quick break. . buy one footlong in the app, get one free. it's a pretty big deal. kinda like me. order in the subway app today. 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