the overwhelming house vote to expel him, and the competitive special election to fill his barely cold seat, and the country now mourning the loss of the first female supreme court justice known as an undenial swing vote on the bench, sandra day o'connor, that's coming up. and overseas, fighting has resumed inside of gaza with israel launching terror strikes across the territory and dropping leaflets with a warning to civilians to move further south. one palestinian telling nbc news this, every ten to 15 minutes there have been strikes. it has been all around us. we begin with that historic breaking news on capitol hill, new york republican george santos now the sixth house member ever to be expelled from congress, the first in over 20 years. more than 2/3 majority, 311 of his colleagues voted to remove him from office following a scathing house ethic report and 23 count indictment on fraud charges. his seat is in the hands of new york governor kathy hochul. the governor gave her reaction to the expulsion earlier today. >> when you look at his lack of ethics, and the fact that he has not served the people of our state, particularly new york 3 where he resides, it's been abysmal run for him. and he has not done what he has to do for new yorkers, and i'm glad he's gone. i need people i can work with to fight for new york, to bring federal money to our state, to create jobs and opportunities and george santos just took up space. >> joining us now, nbc news national political correspondent steve kornacki, and carlos car bello of florida, what stood out to you? >> first of all, there's the fact that it happened. this was the third attempt this year to have an expulsion vote for santos. the first one got referred to the ethics committee in the spring. there was one a month ago that did get a vote. it failed at that time, as you can see here. what changed between then and today, it was that ethics report that came out in the middle of november. as you can see an overwhelming number. there had been talk before the vote that republican leadership was sending signals to members to vote against this, but that didn't really materialize on the floor. so clearly ahead of the 2/3 majority needed for expulsion. he is the sixth member of the house in the history of the country to be expelled. just to put this in perspective. these three in the top row here, oh, let me go back to that one here. these three in the top row. try this one more time. there it is. these three in the top row were expelled in the 1861 because they were fighting for the confederacy. they took up arms against the union. there was michael meyers from pennsylvania in 1980, undercover fbi agents, they offered him a $50,000 bribe. he was convicted of bribery charges. refused to leave the house, they expelled him, and in 2022, jim trifecant of ohio, refused to leave the house. they expelled him. george santos to join the list. he hinted at this, the third district of new york that santos won a seat in in 2022, this was that election, the third district of new york voted for joe biden in 2020 by eight points, so this special election that's going to play out sometime in the next three months, democrats are feeling very bullish about their chances. just think of the overall balance of power in the house. it started today at 222-213. if democrats win the special election, there's a distinct possibility, 221-214, and the other wrinkle is who was leading the expulsion push, who was introducing this expulsion motion, other republicans from this area of new york because right down here in this district, republican district, anthony d'esposito, this district voted for biden by double digits in 2020. biden district held by a republican. biden district held by a republican. you see how narrow that republican majority is. these republicans come from very similar districts in new york, and i think fear that this scandal is going to sort of spread beyond the boundaries of ny3, and potentially cost them what were very closely won seats by republicans in 2022, where they made the difference in getting them the house, could cost them the house in 2024. >> steve mentioning d'esposito, the first to speak when the debate began ahead of the vote that happened earlier today. how excited does it make our viewers to be seeing you doing math on the screen. looking forward acceptable to an election year, which is you around the corner. get those khakis ready, steve kornacki, thank you. carlos, let's talk about the numbers that steve laid out for us, and i want to ask you as to which number we should be focusing on here when it comes to looking at the state of the republican party. 112 voting to keep him and two democrats, which numbers are you focussing on and should we be focusing on as well? >> i do think it's pretty extraordinary that that many republicans voted to expel santos. this is remarkable. anytime a member of congress gets removed, it's rare, but he was removed despite the fact that he had not been convicted of any crime. that will probably happen in a few months, but that has been the standard in recent years, in recent decades. members of congress tend to be very generous with each other, very patient when they're embroiled in scandal, but the degree of embarrassment and the degree of revulsion that's a lot of members felt in reaction to santos' conduct really did convince them to take this step. so, look, i think everyone should have probably voted to remove him, given his record. but given the standards we're accustomed to seeing in the house and senate, this is extraordinary, and to have that many members from his own party reject them, that was also a big deal. >> so i asked mike murphy a similar question in our last hour about speaker mike johnson voting to keep george santos. he said it would set a precedent. he said vote with your conscience. he voted essentially on his own along with the 111 other republicans that voted to keep him. that being said, what does that say about republican leadership in the house? >> i think it says that republican leadership continues to worry that they have such a narrow majority and it's so difficult to get anything done, and that a handful of members can topple a speaker of the house. so i think that on the one hand there's some principled arguments as to why, perhaps, members shouldn't been expelled until they're convicted of a crime. but on the other hand, there's a very practical consideration of this narrow margin that republicans have in the house, and speaker johnson and his leadership team certainly can't afford to lose any members. so i'm sure that was part of the calculation as well, but at the end of the day, if this had been a priority for leadership, speaker johnson would have whipped it. he decided to take a step back. i think that everyone, especially those members from the long island area that steve highlighted, everyone was done with george santos. >> if i'm hearing you clearly, much of it was about keeping a bigger majority, keeping more power. former congressman, carlos curbello, thank you. justice sandra day o'connor has passed at the age of 93. what a life and legacy. i want to bring in chief washington correspondent, host of "andrea mitchell reports," thank you for joining us on this. she was the first female supreme court justice. what message did her time on the bench send to women? it was extraordinary. i cannot overstate when he was appointed and confirmed she was the most powerful woman in america, clearly. she was a role model. she was very strong, you know, shy when she arrived. i was there when she arrived at the airport, assigned to cover her on the way in, surrounded by people, always very polite. she gradually became such a force for women in particular. she was a mentor for ruth bader ginsburg, helped her navigate her way when she was first on the court, and she was just very strong, very determined. she was a key vote on that court on major decisions, upholding race-based affirmative action, which has since been recently overturned. upholding roe v. wade, also overturned. campaign finance reform, in an earlier era was overturned. so all of these things that were key issues in states rights decision, she upheld. just trying to think of this last example. which -- oh, gender, i'm sorry, gay marriage, before it became a federal issue, it was a states rights issue, and she upheld that. she was very social, she was always entertaining, joining a previous all male club, the alfalfa club. she rose to be their president and gave a hilarious speech. i was there in attendance, after she left the court, probably too early, in her mid-70s but left to be the full-time care giver for her husband, john o'connor who was suffering from alzheimer's, which was what according to the family was the cause of her own death, related to dementia or alzheimer's. for many years, she had a full role as board member, as an activist, in favor of civic education, and she's established a foundation or her own work to educate kids. also memorably, her relationship with ruth bader ginsburg was so important to give ruth bader ginsburg the confidence, and i remember ginsberg, shortly, weeks after her beloved husband, marty, died at an aspen institute event for sandra day o'connor's 80th birthday, she applauded what senator day had done for her, giving her the confidence when she was first assigned by the chief justice to do the first majority opinion in her first year on the court, and she was so nervous and went to her mentor, you know, sandra day o'connor and said what should i do, how will i do this? and she then imitated sandra day o'connor said do it, put 1 foot in front of the other, and do it, get it done, and gave her the confidence to write that first majority opinion, and ruth bader ginsburg became such an important justice by creating coalitions, by influencing others. she became really a leader who could bridge divides and change votes in conference on the court. she was just -- sandra day o'connor, she grew up on the ranch that she wrote about lovingly in her memoir. she graduated first in her class at stanford, and eventual chief justice rehnquist was in the first class. she was first in her class, couldn't get a job as a lawyer in california, took a job as a law clerk at a receptionist table in a law firm, so she could be close to the law. >> i love the advice and that story, andrea, that you just retold. don't we all need that sometimes? that type of advice, just do it, and the advice that was given to rbg, i know was a close friend of yours, the late justice, the g.o.a.t., as many refer to her as well. and the courage it takes for sandra day o'connor to be the first, to be a first. >> absolutely. >> is unbelievable to even think about, and the path that she has paved for so many women behind her. andrea mitchell, as always, we are thankful for you. >> thank you. still to come, the cease fire is over, explosions in gaza and a call for another truce. we're live in tel aviv in just 60 seconds. we'll be right back. econds we'll be right back. 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(vo) make the switch. it's your business. it's your verizon. ♪ shelves. shelves smart enough to see, sense, react, restock. so caramel swirl is always there for the taking. the white house is working hour by hour right now to try and secure a new cease fire in gaza in response to the resumption of fighting. unicef says this, quote, the war on children resumes. hospitals, they're crumbling under the pressure, the gaza health ministry and agency run by hamas saying that major hospitals are out of service and the wounded are lying on the floor of emergency departments. nbc's aaron mclaughlin, as always, it's good to talk to you, seeing more images, destruction, fighting, reemerging in gaza after the pause was ended. what more can you tell us? >> reporter: well, yasmin, today there was an intense bombardment, not only in the northern part of gaza where most of the fighting had been concentrated in the first phase of this war, but also in southern gaza where neurosurgeon a million gazans have been told to evacuate. a resident on the ground telling nbc news that the bombs were dropping every 10 to 15 minutes. our crews on the ground reported seeing the wounded and the dead being brought to hospitals both in central gaza and southern gaza. the israeli military dropping leaflets over the city of hahn unis, warning residents to evacuate further south. i was on the phone with a spokesperson from the united nations telling us not a single truck of aid entered gaza today, fuel or otherwise, and it's not just gazans who are suffering. there are also the families of 136 hostages that remain in hamas captivity. i was speaking to the uncle of 38-year-old etay. he was kidnapped, visiting his parents. his parents were killed, he was kidnapped. his uncle calling on the israeli government to do more to secure his freedom. take a listen. >> we expect the government, the israeli government to do whatever it can to save more and more lives, with all costs. we believe that, you know, the israeli nation, the jewish nation was built after the articles, under the main purpose is to save jews' lives, israeli lives, and that's our expectation from the government, to do whatever it can to save lives. >> reporter: and he said that there is one ray of hope for the family. he told me that some of the hostages that came out of gaza reported seeing etay in captivity. it's the first proof of life that family has had in more than 50 days. hamas has refused to allow the red cross to visit any hostages in captivity. yasmin. >> erin mclaughlin, thank you. i want to bring in the former director of the hostage recovery for the united states government, christopher o'leary to talk more about what is happening on the ground in gaza and this continuing israel-hamas conflict. thank you for joining us on this. the last hour i spoke with udi goran. i want to play what he said about the resumption of the war and the worries he has for his cousin's safety. >> today we've heard because of the people that got back, we've heard that at least four more people that were taken to gaza alive are confirmed dead, and that means that every day, including today, including right now when we're talking, my cousin's life is in danger. >> christopher, what do you make of what this resumption of war means for the 100 plus hostages that are still being held in gaza, for their safety? >> i have real concerns on a number of levels. yes, for their safety, you know, this unbridled urban assault that the u.s. has been trying to sway israel away from, they have gone back to t and frankly it could potentially put the hostages in danger, but also more importantly or as importantly, you know, the two stated goals that israel has to dismantle hamas, and to rescue the hostages, this approach is ineffective at either of those. it's frankly not the approach the united states would take at all. and, you know, i can point back to when general glenn was sent over there early on in the conflict, and people are highlighting the fact that he had experience in fallujah as a marine leader, and he is a terrific marine leader and good combat leader. more importantly, he's a special operations leader, former head of marine special operations command and the deputy commanding general in iraq during the dismantling of isis. he knows how to do special operations, counter terrorism, and hostage recovery. it's that kind of mentorship that the israelis need to listen to, additionally, the sent com commander has a history of this worked. i worked with him in afghanistan a decade ago. we have the right kind of leaders to help them do this right. the united states has 20 plus years of experience doing this well. unfortunately for the global war on terrorism, and i would hope the israelis would rely on us for mentorship. >> i want to dig in on that a little bit. you're talking about essentially from what i can understand and correct me if i'm wrong, if they want to bring home more hostages safely, aamid the resumption of this war, they should look at the possibility of targeted strikes, and special ops getting involved and extracting the hostages without additional pause. are you not necessarily confident an additional pause could be negotiated? >> i'm not sure that an additional pause could be negotiated at this point. perhaps it can. but you're negotiating with yahya sinwar, who is the head of hamas and the military wing. he approved the attack on a bus stop yesterday, you know, so part of this negotiating, you know, process is you're dealing with a terrorist organization who has a stated goal of destroying israel, so it's going to be day by day. i would hope we could have another negotiated truce to get the remaining women and children out, and the wounded and, you know, sickly or people who don't have their medication because there are categories like that. and i do know the administration is pushing towards that, and i know the qataris are, but, you know, the other side has got to be willing to do that, and israel has to exercise some tactical patience and maturity as well. >> christopher o'leary, thank you, appreciate it. we're looking at live pictures, folks, inside the fulton county courthouse where there are new efforts today by former president donald trump's lawyers to quash election charges. what they're now arguing and is the judge going to buy it? that's coming up next. oming up . d it's just walking, right? 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