bob casey, but he has joined us to explain pennsylvania in a way that no one else can. >> can i tell you, lawrence, that was camped out in pennsylvania the week at the 2020 election. bob casey arrived to the interview that i had with him, spreadsheets, he is a walking encyclopedia on all things elections in pennsylvania. he'll be exactly like i need tonight. >> he's the guy. >> he is the man. >> after a day of meeting with china's president xi jinping in california today, president biden held a press conference. president biden said the number one issue indeed discussions today was fentanyl. >> first, i am pleased to announce after many years of it being on hold, we are restarting cooperation between the united states, prc encountering narcotics. in 2019, you may remember, china took action to greatly reduce the amount of fentanyl shipped directly from china to the united states. in the years since that time, the challenge has evolved, from finished a fentanyl to fentanyl chemical ingredients and pill prices, which are being shipped without control. by the way, some of these bills are being inserted and other drugs like cocaine. a lot of people are dying. more people in the united states between the ages of 18 to 49 died from fentanyl tended from guns, car accidents or any other cause, period. so today, with the new understanding, we're taking action to significantly reduce the flow of precursor chemicals and pro presses, from china to the western hemisphere. it's going to save lives, and i appreciate president xi's commitment on this issue. >> a president announced a major breakthrough in military relations with china. >> we're reassume-ing military to military contact, there are contact, as a lot of you press follow this, that's been cut off, and it's been worrisome. that's what actions -- accidents happen, misunderstandings. we're back to direct, open clear, direct communication, on a direct basis. a vital miscalculation on either side can cause real, real trouble with a country like china or any other major country, and so, i think we will progress there as well. >> the president took questions on a range of issues, including the israel-hamas war, and we'll get to those in a moment. leading off our discussion tonight is ben rhodes, former deputy national security adviser to president obama. also with us, richard stengel, a former undersecretary of state during the obama administration. they are both msnbc political analysts, and i want to share one more thing that the president had to say the day before we get to the discussion, about the relationship with china, and this is his ability now, to pick up the phone, as he put it. >> so, i think i know the man, i know the modus operandi. we have had disagreements, don't shed the views on a lot of things, but he's been straight. i don't mean good, bad or indifferent. he's just been straight, so, we, as i have said, they think that i find most assuring is he raised, and i agree that neither one of us had any concern, any concern about anything between our nations or what's happening in our region. we should come forward and call one another, and i'll take the call. that's an important progress. >> this is one of the demonstrations of the dynamic nature of these relationships because, i'm not sure that we could have predicted a couple of years ago, that the number one agenda item in a summit like this would be fentanyl. >> well, i think that's probably because they cannot get much agreement on bigger issues. i know it sounds a little boring, but the biggest deliverable, as you say in the state department, the biggest achievement at the meeting was the meeting itself. for the last year, year and a half, china has been trending away from the u.s., criticizing the u.s., talking about how relationships with the u.s. is impossible, america's encircling them. the fact that xi jinping came here to have this meeting is a gigantic achievement in and of itself. it makes the world safer. you talk about the military to military agreement, that makes the world safer. that is a big deal. it's great what they did about this precursor chemical to fentanyl, but the biggest achievement was the meeting itself. >> ben, your assessment of what the vote today in the indicted states china relationship. >> the relationship has been in a freefall. united states imposing increasing sanctions on china, preventing the inputs of certain technology to the chinese economy, obviously, odds on key political issues, a lot of tension on taiwan, and it's pretty unusual for a year to go by without the u.s. and chinese president meeting. what i think away from this, lawrence, is that you have a war in ukraine that is in a very different circumstance, and a bit of a stalemate right now, and we're going into a third year. if you have a war in the middle east that risk further escalation, and i think the administration felt that it was very important to indicate that this one really big relationship, the u.s. and china, probably the most important relationship in the world between two countries, that feels like it's headed towards a cold war, and, frankly, could be haunted towards a more direct competition between taiwan, that were at least putting a floor underneath, detentions between the two countries and tried to reestablish lines of dialogue. the military to military contacts, and that is really about preventing an escalation that can lead to war in the taiwan strait or the south china sea. fentanyl is something that americans care a lot about. china do a little bit more to help americans deal with what is a real crisis in our communities. there are a lot of other issues where we continue to have disagreements, including russia, including ukraine, including human rights, but i do think it's in sending the signal to the world and the american and chinese people, at least we tried to talk these things out. when the president talk like this, a sense a message down into their systems, let's resume dialogue and see what we can get done diplomatically, even as you know, what disagree about a lot of things. >> when it came to the questions, or as many questions asked about israel or gaza as there were about china, let's go to the presidents response to a question about is zero and what is happening in gaza, especially at the hospital, where the israeli troops have now entered the hospital. let's listen to the presidents description of what he understands about that. >> here is a situation. you have a circumstance where the first war crime is being committed by hamas by having their headquarters, their military hidden under a hospital, and that is a fact. that is what happened. israel did not go in with large numbers of troops, did not raid, did not rush everything down. they've gone in and gone and what their soldiers carrying weapons or guns. they were told, pulled, let me be precise. we discussed the need for them to be incredibly careful. you have a circumstance where, you know that there is a fair number of hamas terrorists. hamas has already said publicly, that they plan on attacking israel again, like they did before, cutting babies heads off, burning women and children alive. so the idea that they are just going to stop and not doing everything is not realistic. it's not the carpet bombing, this is a different thing. we're going through these tunnels, going into the hospital, and if you notice, i was mildly preoccupied today, i apologize, i did not see everything, but what i did see, whether i have not had it confirmed in, i asked my team to answer the question, what happened is, they're also bringing in incubators, bring in other means to help the people in the hospital, and they've given the doctors, and i am told, the doctors and nurses and personal an opportunity to get out of harm's way, so this is a different story than i believe was occurring before it indiscriminate bombing. >> ben rhodes, there is the president taking a chance to put his framing on what is happening at the hospital. >> it's a big choice, lawrence. i think what joe biden is indicating with that answer is that, and there is a lot of criticism of the nature of the israeli military oppression. a lot of criticism obviously around military operations of any sort. in a hospital, they have hundreds of thousands of civilians as well as potentially hamas, in the tunnel network underneath. the administration, biden administration has been calibrating a bit in recent days to emphasize more the need for humanitarian assistance to get in, calling for humanitarian pauses. i think for the presidents day, you saw him kind of really take a strong line defending israel and saying, i'm actually going to go out and be the spokesperson on behalf of what israel is doing with the military operation. and that carries some risk, because, obviously, this is generating a lot of international blowback, a lot of concern about the scale at the humanitarian crisis in gaza. but i think joe biden has indicated with his statements today, that that is not affecting's support for the israeli military operation. i think the challenge going forward though is that there are these clear divides between the u.s. and israel on things like, how is gaza going to be administered in the long run. what is the ultimate objective of the operation? isn't it all to open and it is really control of gaza? or is it that the palestinian authority rattles returns gaza to its control. i think he did signal today, in ways that will make some people happy, and so people not happy, like everything in this conflict, he signaled that he is kind of doubling down on his support for countries -- netanyahu's military operation in gaza. >> he did say that it would be a big mistake for israel think that they are going to occupy gaza and maintain gaza. let's listen to this, because this is also where president biden once again, talks about the two state solution. >> i made it clear to the israelis, the, to be and as we're cabinet, that the only relevant answer here is a two state solution with israel. we got to get to the point where there is an ability to be able to talk without worrying about whether or not we're just dealing with -- they're dealing with hamas. hamas is going to engage in the same activities that it did over the past on the seventh. but i can tell, i am not a fortune teller. i can't tell you how long it will last, but i can tell you, i don't think it ends until there is a two state solution. i made it clear to the israelis, i think it's a big mistake for them to think that the occupy gaza and maintain gaza. i don't think that works. so, i think you're going to see efforts to bring along -- i should not go into any more, because this is what i have been negotiating with, with arab states and others about what the next steps are. >> i don't think it hansen thought there is a two state solution. >> you know, president biden has almost singlehandedly substituted discussion of a two state solution. he's dedicated -- >> he did it in the very first speech in israel. >> yes, and by the way, as you know, lawrence, he's been a 45-year supporter of zero. it's been a supporter of the two state solution for the beginning, and, of course, as you know, prime minister netanyahu has tried to unravel the two state solution over the last ten years, putting the gaza strip against the west bank. as president biden saying, no, you guys had to figure this out. this is the only way you can get to a new instance where you're not threatening war with each other every two or three years. i've always been a supporter of a two-state solution. let's hope that we can put it back on the table. >> ben rhodes, in that statement, to very loud and clear messages to the israeli government, which i am sure have been delivered privately to, big mistake for them to think we are going to occupy gaza and maintain gaza, and it does not end until there is a two state solution. >> it feels to me, lawrence, what the approach from president biden is on the back of the israeli military operation, even at the risk of taking some flak, a lot of flak, frankly, international li and domestically. but what i have a main difference here is with the long term disposition of gaza. who will be administering gaza, who will be governing gaza, essentially, which will have a lot of challenges, including a lot of displaced, almost people on the back of a military operation. and the long term solution is that the state solution with a palestinian sovereign state in the west bank and gaza, or is it not? is it de facto israeli control over those territories. this is where the government under prime minister netanyahu has not accepted or rejected the two state solution at all, particularly not in the context of their ongoing military operation. this to me is an area where there is going to be some friction going forward. i think partly what the administration is doing is trying to line up our countries, european allies, the countries that want to see an entity conflict, behind the plan, they can build a different palestinian leadership, obviously from hamas, but even from the sporadic palestinian authority, that can be a potential palestinian state. however, at some point, that is going to have to involve a hard conversation with the israeli government, but that involves prime minister netanyahu, who is currently in political hot water there, what they're definitive is leadership open, he's open to a two state solution, that remains to be seen. for people watching this, that seems to be the area where there is the biggest gap between biden and netanyahu. this question of how does this and. they tried to make it and with a two state solution, or do we tried to make it and in some type of military defeat that is permit, essentially, with israeli control over gaza? that remains to be seen. >> this is one of the press conferences where the president stopped a couple of times after leaving the microphone on his way out of the room and turned and took some of the shouted questions, the microphone to them pick that stuff up as well, but one of the shouted questions was about the hostages that hamas has taken. listen to that. >> i am doing everything my power to get you out, coming to help you to get you out, not sending military or anything. is that when you thought i might? i was not talking about military. i was talking about, they are on my mind every single day, 5 to 6 times a day, i am working on how i can be helpful in getting the hostages released, and a half a period of time that is a pause long enough to let that happen. there are somewhere between 50 and 100 hostages there, we thank. >> and sir, once eight-year-old american child. >> you are darn right it is. that is why i'm not going to stop until we get him. >> rich single, he was very clear on how much attention the hostages had from him. >> it's getting a lot of attention from him, from the u.s. government, who are always focused on hostages, but i think a biden's theory at the case is, he wants to modulate the israelis. he wants to make sure that they operate with restraint. the only way you can do that as the u.s. president is to say, i have your back, i am with you. i have a traditional support for you. then, israelis will listen to him, and i think that behind the scenes, biden is being straight with them, that's how he describes xi jinping. he's being straight with them about the fact that they have to show some restraint, have to care about their humanitarian needs there, and i think you will be effective in that. >> ben rhodes, the president is always very careful when he talks about the hostages, and you can see him in realtime, trying to check his words to make sure that he does not say anything that might in any way get in the way of a deal on the hostages. >> well, yeah, from everything i understand about this, lawrence, and talking to people within multiple governments, it's pretty clear that, the u.s. is really trying to negotiate some pretty significant release of hostages, perhaps, particularly women and children, to qatar. qatar has a relationship with hamas, and egypt and obviously the israeli government. now, that will have to include a multidimensional agreement where israel will probably have to pause its military operations for some period of time, in part, just to allow for the transfer of these hostages out. at the same time, you need to make sure that, hamas is delivering on what they are committing to a third party, which is qatar. that's the u.s. contact. it's very complicated. it's three dimensional negotiations that require a lot of people, including people that are active combatants in a war zone, to keep commitments that are going to be difficult. so, i think he wants to not say anything that will upset that precarious balance of negotiation. nor is he going to want to over promise other than his commitment to getting these people out. i think what is clear is that the u.s. is trying to get them out in negotiation. it is easier, as someone who's been in government, trying to get hostages out of your sons, it is just a fact that it is easier to do that do negotiation then through military operation, in a chaotic area of gaza. it's very densely populated, we have a lot of people in close proximity. obviously, you have tunnel networks, so i think the thing to look for is whether or not there is some humanitarian pause that is accompanied by a deal to get a bunch of hostages out, as mediated by qatar, and israel asked to sign off on, obviously, they want to get people up to. but they also to stop the military option off to allow that to happen. >> ben rhodes and rich single, to give amateur joining us on this important day in american foreign policy, appreciate it. thank you. and when we come back, now we know who leaked the video evidence and the case of georgia versus 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