it's good to be back with you for the second hour of "chris jansing reports." at this hour, police say they have the prime suspect in custody believed to be behind a violent spree in texas that left six dead and three injured. where that investigation goes from here. in washington, president biden responds to republicans storming out of his cabinet secretaries who were briefing on ukraine. why he says their outrage over the border is completely misplaced. plus, a soft landing? is the fed close to pulling off what a lot of folks thought was impossible, cooling inflation without triggering a recession. some new labor department data that points to that possibility. and overseas, the devastating evidence coming out of the brutal sexual attacks against women on october 7th by hamas. the stories that their bodies tell, that their voices no longer can. our nbc news reporters are following all of the latest developments. we begin with guad venegas on that string of violent incidents in texas that left six dead and three injured. so what evidence are police looking at to determine whether the same suspect is, in fact, behind all of this? >> reporter: police have not released details as to the evidence they have. we know at some point, two different agencies communicated. the austin police department spoke to the baird county police department. let's go over the time line. this is what we know. they shared plinary information. in the last hour, they released the identity of the man, sha james. this started yes bore 11:00 a.m. when austin police says austin independent sool district police officer was shot just before 11:00 a.m. and injured, then about an hour later, police rd 911 calls for an address where gunshs were heard. when officers arrived, they found a double cideand then about five hours later, a cyclist reported being shot and injured. two hours after that, there was another 911 call and police reported a burglary in place at a separate address. the officer that arrived found the suspect in the backyard, and says the suspect shot at him. the officer did return fire, but the suspect was able to flea. other officers then chased him as he got in a car and drove away, and eventually crashed where officers detained him. now, the officer that arrived at that second home, he was injured and taken to a hospital. now, as all of this happened, other officers went inside of that second home, and found two more people dead inside. now, at some point after all of these shootings took place, austin police contacted the sheriff's department and asked them to check on an address south of the austin area. this in the san antonio area. sheriffs deputies went to check on that address because austin police believed it was connected to the suspect, and they found two more people dead inside of that home. that's what we have. six people dead, and authorities say are connected to the suspect, and three people injured. as of now, what we know is the identity, again, 34-year-old shane james, but that's the information we have as of now, chris. >> guad venegas, thank you. just an hour ago, president biden urged congress to pass a multibillion dollar aid package to ukraine after republican senators walked out of a briefing on tuesday. nbc white house correspondent monica alba has more on this. monica, from what i have seen, the president isn't very happy about this. >> no, he's not, chris. and just to speak to the urgency of this issue, this was an event, these remarks from president biden. this wasn't on the schedule until very late in the day today, and this really just shows you why he wanted to come out and speak to this himself after coming out and talking to leaders of the g7 this morning, virtually, which included remarks from ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy who is continuing his global call for more support, but of course, u.s. military aid would be critical in this, and the president really continued to talk about today why this moment is so important and why this funding needs to be secured, talking specifically that if this isn't something that is able to be approved by congress, by the end of the year, it really could be beneficial to russia's continued invasion of ukraine. listen to how the president put it from earlier this afternoon? >> this has to be a negotiation. republicans think they can get everything they want without bipartisan compromise. that's not the answer. that's not the answer. and now they're willing to literally kneecap ukraine on the battlefield and damage our national security in the process. >> reporter: what the president is referring to there is this continued conversation about what republicans in the senate and in the house are trying to ask for here in exchange for getting some of this military aid to ukraine, and that is for some commitment on border security. it's notable, chris, that in these remarks earlier from the president, he said he was willing to compromise on that. he acknowledged that is a pressing issue as well, and he wanted to get something done, and there's room for both of these things to occur, but that in his words, republicans shouldn't be playing politics with this and holding up and he argued, jamming up this process by trying to exact things that neither chamber could possibly approve when it comes to the u.s./mexico border. the president really appealing to lawmakers here. he has said that he has personally called some of them. he's been in touch with them. the white house has been saying these conversations are ongoing, but the timing here is essential, and he is urging congress to do something before they leave for the holiday recess, chris. >> monica alba, thank you. now to some arguably unexpected thinking that the federal reserve may have successfully tamed inflation without triggering a recession. cnbc's steve liesman joins me for cnbc on msnbc. some economists say the u.s. economy is moving closer to a soft landing. explain what that means and what data backs them up? >> a little bit of background, when the fed raises interest rates it causes the economy to go into a recession. that's been the basic story over the last, most of the post war period, these efforts to fight inflation, they have to cool the economy, they end up cooling it too much, we go into a recession. a soft landing, the concept, can the fed cool the economy, and that seems to be the trajectory we're on. we have had relatively strong growth while the inflation rate has come down, from near double digits to around 3% now. and now we get new data that shows the economy continues to cool, but not cooling to the recessionary level. we had very good productivity numbers this morning, we had good unit labor costs this morning. the cost per widget so to speak, when those are made by workers. the inflation data has been coming down. the growth has remained pretty robust. we had 5% growth in the third quarter. the current estimates, 2% growth around this quarter. this was a year that many many economists were pretty darn sure we're going to be in a recession. it looks like certainly will escape this year without a recession. there's a 16% chance in a normal year we're going to have a recession regardless of what happens. so far so good, the fed seems to be done raising interest rates, and the good news may be that in inflation falls, the fed can start to lower interest rates. already, some interest rates in the economy are starting to come down. the ten-year, u.s. benchmark treasury had been as high as 5%. it's now going toward 4%, that could mean lower mortgage rates, interest rates on your credit cards than they have been steve liesman, great to have you on the show. thank you. the horror is almost too devastating to wrap your head around. israeli investigators revealing eyewitness and victim accounts describing women who were sexually assaulted and murdered by hamas on october 7th, evidence that president biden calls appalling. we want to warn you, some of the images and stories you're about to hear are graphic. nbc's hala gorani is reporting from tel aviv. i know you have seen some of this evidence yourself. what should we know? >> reporter: one of the police investigators in charge of trying to piece together exactly what happened on october 7th in terms of the sexual violence that investigator says was perpetrated against women and in some cases men on that horrific day, there's a clearer picture emerging, and some new disturbing details in the investigation. take a look. on october 7th, hamas attacked within israel's borders with a wave of terror. murdering over 1,200 people including entire families. and israeli investigators say there is growing evidence that hamas unleashed another kind of horror against women. >> something so horrific happened and the world should know. >> we spoke to miriam ben mayor, leading the investigations of repeated rape and sexual assault by hamas. where does your investigation stand? >> we have eyewitnesss that are slowly arriving and giving testimonies. >> reporter: disturbing accounts about october 7th. including this woman describing how a hamas terrorist, quote, laid a woman down. he is raping her, then they pass her on to another person. telling investigators the woman was alive and bleeding. another chilling eyewitness account from yona, telling the sunday times he was at the music festival where hamas slaughtered hundreds of israeli concert goers, he hid under dead bodies saying he saw a quote, beautiful woman with the face of an angel and eight or ten of the fighters beating and raping her. when they finished, they were laughing, and the last one shot her in the head, he said. hamas has denied committing sexual crimes against women. israeli officials say the investigation is challenging because most victims were killed. but among the evidence seen by nbc news, graphic photos of women's bodies with obvious sign of sexual assault including some naked from the waist down. >> some of the terrorists that are interrogating, they're saying that this was happening and this was done. >> reporter: first responders describing naked female bodies tied to beds. nbc news also reviewing this hamas document that israeli officials say was carried by hamas militants on october 7th with instructions on how to say take off your pants in hebrew. the u.n. facing backlash for its response, some deemed too slow, including this protest monday. critics blasting the secretary general for taking seven weeks to publicly call for an investigation of hamas and sexual violence. and the agency u.n. women for not putting out a statement until last friday. the agency telling us in part, within days of the horrific attacks, u.n. women began offering concrete support to the u.n. commission of inquiry which is investigating these matters. >> we feel like the world has turned their backs. >> reporter: miriam runs a rape crisis center in tel aviv and says israel's critics are down playing even dismissing alleged hamas sexual violence. >> you say that people can be opposed to what's happening to palestinians but at the same time they need to be sympathetic with what happened to the women. >> i feel for the suffering of palestinian women. it has nothing to do with the fact that there can never be an excuse for rape. >> reporter: as i mentioned there, one of the big challenges for investigators is most of the women and victims who they say were targeted with sexual violence or raped have passed away, and so what they're having to do is piece together the picture based on forensic examination and eyewitness testimony from people, as you heard in that piece, who were cowering, sometimes under piles of dead bodies and who are relaying with great difficulty still, because many are still traumatized, exactly what they saw. chris. >> hala gorani, an extraordinarily difficult but important story, and we thank you for bringing it to us. we'll be back in 60 seconds. 'll. the subway series is getting an upgrade. the new #33. the teriyaki blitz. with double cheese and teriyaki-marinated meat. it's like a perfect steak spiral in the double cheese coverage. if you say so, peyton. who knew the subway series could get even better? as chaos continues to rain on capitol hill, more and more members of congress are heading for the exits. former speaker kevin mccarthy says he will leave congress at the end of this year. the latest in a line of three dozens members who announced they will not run for reelection. including patrick menry who announced yesterday that he is also calling it quits. his democratic colleague, jared moskowitz called mchenry's departure a huge loss. mchenry says congressional dysfunction is not the reason for his retirement. he seems to be in the minority of people dropping out. retiring colorado republican ken buck has said too many republican leaders are lying to america. his arizona colleague, debbie lesko said right now washington, d.c. is broken. it is hard to get anything done. and senator joe manchin said every incentive in washington is designed to make our politics extreme. let's bring in john kasich, former republican governor of ohio, and he is also an msnbc political analyst. by our count, governor, 35 house members are not running for reelection. mchenry says he's confident the house is in good hands, but is it? >> look, people that are leaving, you know, there's an awful lot of whining going on, i think, chris. in other words, they seem to say more when they leave than when they're there. i was always banking on the problem solvers caucus, and the no labels people that were going to stand up and do things, but their bark is lot bigger than their bite, and i think the seeds of this, i mean, it's been going on for a while, but the seeds of this started in the beginning when mccarthy had to go a hundred rounds, i'm exaggerating, to get to be speaker. i felt all along that the key to governing in the house was to really push aside the extremists on both sides so that you actually could run the house from the middle. when you stop and think about what's happening right now. it's amazing to me that they can't seem to come up with some reasonable plans on the border, so they can provide the aid to ukraine. and ultimately, a problem related to israel. that's just unbelievable. sometimes i think kids on a playground can work out their differences better than what they're doing in washington. and this puts us at risk in many ways. who's going to come and fill the seats of the people who leave. it's too hard to say. but what i will tell you, chris, is there have been too many members who have remained silent when they had an opportunity to take divisive action. you see the rise of third parties now in the presidential race. it's a reflection of the fact that people are dissatisfied. and when you think about the number of third parties that are rising up now, kennedy or stein or cornell west or maybe no labels, this could change the complexion of where we end in this election, and a reflection of the frustration of the people and the people need to speak louder to the members that represent them so they can get some degree of normalcy down there. >> i think a lot of people may agree with you on that, but as we look forward, i think this isn't even maybe about the difference between conservatives who are leading and moderates, and many are moderates who have been frustrated and feel they can't be hard, but just people who will listen. as i have been hearing the many interviews, for example, that liz cheney is doing, that she will sit down with folks on this network, with a more left leaning slant and have a reasonable conversation with them. understand that they disagree on a lot of the issues, but are willing to talk about it. if folks who are willing to do that, whatever, however far left, right, middle they lean. how do you get anything done? >> well, you can't, if the extremists are calling the tune, chris, and by the way, you and i have a lot of conversations, and they're very pleasant. i have a lot of great conversations with andrea mitchell. i feel as though i have been able to say exactly what i think, whether it's criticizing republicans or democrats. but at the end of the day, chris, this is sort of a subset of our overall problem in the country. where people are just not respecting somebody that has a different point of view. and when you can't even respect somebody that has a different point of view, how do you sit down and negotiate. look, throughout my career, whether as governor, back when i was in congress, i had a lot of very tough conversations, but at the end, we realized, you got to put the country first, and somehow they're losing sight of that. >> you know, tom cole, i think back on january 6th. he's a long-time member, as you know. chuck todd said of him in a new analysis, he has the reputation of being one of the grownups i congress, but then he released a carefully worded statement about his decision not to certify the presidential election, and it read in part, quote, the greatest function of representative is being elected to represent the views of one's constituency. i have been closely studying this issue and listening intently to what my constituents have to say. they have asked me to express their concerns with my vote on the floor today, and as their representative, i intend to do so. does that argument -- >> i don't agree with that philosophy. edmund burke said you owe people not only your energy and your toil, but also your judgment, and so if what we're going to do is send people to congress who are going to put their finger in the air to figure out which way the wind blows, particularly when the people who have the loudest voices on both sides are the most extreme. and we can think about it and make a case for it on both sides so some degree. when you go to congress, it's not your job to take a poll and vote that way. it's your job to use your judgment, take into account what your constituents want, but you're not there to just be sort of a robot to all of their wishes, and by the way, if you get so far out of touch with the people you represent, they'll vote you out, and another thing on that, chris, when they vote you out, you might actually find that you have life after congress, life after politics. i can tell you, it's pretty good. >> former governor john kasich says that with a smile. >> always fun, chris. thank you. >> appreciate it. tonight, just four of donald trump's 2024 gop rivals will face off in the fourth republican primary debate. ron desantis, nikki haley, chris christie, and vivek ramaswamy have qualified for that event in tuscaloosa, alabama. while the republican front runner is once again a no show. instead, donald trump will be hosting a private fundraiser tonight, one day after his fox news town hall, saying he would only be a dictator on day one. shaq brewster is at the debate site. what do we expect the candidates to do? are they going after trump for these new comments? >> reporter: it remains to be seen whether those comments from former president trump will make their way on to the debate stage tonight. the former president, again, skipping tonight's debate, and many of the candidates on stage with the exception of former governor chris christie usually shying away from many of those direct engagements, especially with former president trump's words. but look, when you look at the dynamics of this race. it's really about the positioning for second place. that is the open question right now. you have nikki haley really coming into tonight's debate with the wind at her back. she secured some big endorsements from the republican donor apparatus, polling is increasing, especially when you look at some of those early primary and caucus states in this race, and much of that rise, much of that momentum has come