Noem is not backing down, defending her decision to shoot her own dog. Now implying President Joe Bidens dog, commander, which no longer lifts in the white house after several biting incidents, should be put down. She reportedly writes the first thing shed do if she got to the white house is make sure joe bidens dog was nowhere on the grounds. Commander, say hello to cricket. Dear lord, this woman has a taste for dog blood. Its like she thought All Dogs Go To Heaven was a personal challenge. Good morning. Welcome to morning joe. She cant seem to kick it. She dries to blame it on us, but she wrote it, willie. It is tuesday, may 7th. We have a lot to get to this morning. Well go through yesterdays key moments in Donald TrumpsCriminal Trial, including the judges warning about potential jail time for the former president. Also ahead, georgias former Lieutenant Governor, a lifelong republican, says he will vote for President Biden. Well read from his oped, calling on other republicans to do the same. And well get the latest from capitol hill on the threat to Mike Johnsons speakership. Along with joe, willie, and me, we have columnist and Associate Editor for the Washington Post, David Ignatius. Hes out today with his new thriller entitled Phantom Orbit. And the host of Way Too Early, White House Bureau chief at politico, jonathan lemire. And his book, the big lie, election chaos, Political Opportunism, and the state of American Politics after 2020, is out today in paperback. It is book week. It is book week. It is amazing. Timely. We begin with the Israel Defense forces announcing theyve taken operational control of the gaza side of the rafah crossing. The military released this video overnight of troops entering the area and beginning a, quote, precise counterterrorism operation. Israeli Officials Say they seized the crossing after receiving intelligence it was being used for terrorist purposes. No evidence to support that claim was provided. The idf also conducted air strikes that targeted suspected hamas positions in rafah. The move comes just one day after israel ordered about 100,000 civilians to immediately evacuate parts of the Southern Gaza city. Officials say they will operate with extreme force in those areas. Willie. Shortly after israel ordered civilians to evacuate rafah, hamas announced it would accept its interpretation of a ceasefire proposal. Its interpretation is the operative part. Hours later, israeli Prime Minister netanyahu released a statement saying the proposal hamas agreed to does not meet israels demands. Nbc news obtained a copy of the draft. The first phase calls for a 42day ceasefire, as well as the release of 33 hostages. In exchange for a much larger number of Palestinian Prisoners. In the second phase, there would be the enactment of a, quote, Sustainable Calm. Two officials familiar with the revised proposal tell the New York Times there were minor wording changes that were signed off by the u. S. And israel. That includes the phase Sustainable Calm, but sources tell the times hamas viewed that term as an end to the war, which israel is expected to push back on, of course. Negotiations are set to resume today in cairo. Cia director bill burns is expected to take part in those. Joining us now live from jerusalem is nbc news chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel. Richard, we can talk about the ceasefire in a moment, that agreement and the dueling interpretations of it. First, rafah, what is happening in Southern Gaza this morning . Reporter so israeli troops overnight took over the palestinian side of the rafah Border Crossing. That gives israel effective control of this key entry point into gaza. It also gives them a foothold into the city. Israeli Officials Say that this is not the start of the widely anticipated, big rafah offensive, something that President Biden has opposed. They say that this is a tactical move. But its also something that strengthens their hand as they go back into negotiations. So theyre holding part of rafah. They did leaflet the area. Our crew in rafah started documenting the israeli Bombing Campaign really just hours after the leaflets were dropped, so they didnt give very much time for people to evacuate the area. We talked yesterday how they were using Text Messages and leaflets to tell people to get out of this part of rafah, but within hours, they were bombing. According to medical officials, in overnight attacks, including the incursion into the palestinian side of the rafah Border Crossing, at least 20 people were killed, including children. Obviously, a Perilous Mission and furthering, perhaps, the humanitarian crisis there. Richard, lets talk about this ceasefire and help us understand what were looking at here. You have one brokered by egypt and qatar. Hamas says, yes, we agree to the terms of the ceasefire. Israel say, wait a minute, thats not the ceasefire we agreed to. What are we talking about here . Reporter so, it is quite complex, but i think you have to understand this as a negotiating process. There was quite a bit of progress over the last week or so. Israel, backed by the United States, put forward a document. It was presented to hamas. It was presented to the egyptians and the qatari negotiators. Youll remember Secretary Of State blinken praised that offer, saying it was very generous. Hamas took it, said they were reading it positively, but then the Israeli Government, Prime Minister netanyahu, didnt send a negotiator to follow up on the conversation, didnt send anyone to attend the final talks, because, from israels point of view, the document was done. It was as good as it was going to get. Even Secretary Of State blinken said it was very generous. So why go to the meeting . Showing up at a meeting, like in any negotiation, implies that youre going to have to negotiate a little bit more. Israel didnt go. Hamas and the negotiators working off that document that was there, without the presence of the israeli delegation, said, yes, we agree to the terms. Here it is. But the terms that they presented were not exactly the same terms that israel had presented. Now, israel says, fine, we will go back. Theyre sending a, quote, workinglevel delegation to cairo today to see if they can find some Common Ground based on this on these two interpretations of the document that was sent. What it does do is it puts quite a bit of pressure on israeli Prime Minister netanyahu. In this document, hamas openly says, we are willing to release all of the hostages. All of the women in phase one. Three phases, each 42 days. Were willing to release all of the rest of the hostages in phase two. So the israeli hostage families are hearing that. Opponents of Prime Minister netanyahu are accusing him of not taking the Hostage Release seriously, are hearing that. Itll be very difficult at this stage for the Israeli Government, Prime Minister netanyahu, in particular, to walk away from this deal entirely without at least sending in a negotiating team. Members of his rightWing Coalition praised him for not sending a negotiating team. So were seeing this Process Play Out, and hamas sort of outed the israelis by coming public yesterday with its own agreement, saying, dont paint us as the people who are rejecting everything. Were willing to negotiate. Were willing to release the hostages. You just need to show up and finish this deal. Nbcs Richard Engel explaining a complicated situation well to us. Live in jerusalem, richard, we appreciate it. Joe and mika, also reporting that israel wanted 40 hostages back in the deal. Hamas was offering 18. They landed on 33, but hamas says it may include the remains of hostages who died. Israel said, no, no, thats not what were talking about here. Were still a long way from anything that can be considered workable at this point. Yeah. David ignatius, get us up to date based on your reporting about where we are. Obviously, the hostage negotiations go on. This is a step, obviously a positive step, as far as the families of the hostages are concerned, the promise of ultimately releasing all of the hostages at the same time. As weve said here, the prospect of hamas staying in power indefinitely in gaza just not a possibility for the overwhelming majority of israelis. Where do the negotiations go from here . Joe, my sense is that, like so many negotiations in the middle east, as this one gets closer to achieving its goal of a final deal, differences between the sides, recourse to fighting, as israels attacks on parts of rafah over the last 24 hours become part of the negotiating process. Im struck by the absolute commitment that President Biden has shown to getting this deal done. He has kept working at it. He keeps sending his cia director, bill burns, back. I think from what i hear, bill burns is really acting as the guarantor of this deal, saying to all sides, the United States undertakes to guarantee the basics, the framework that is being negotiated here. The most difficult language, obviously, is about how long this period of ceasefire lasts. Is it a permanent end to the war as hamas wants . Is it a lull of some weeks, months, as israel has been willing to concede . The phrase theyve come up with, Sustainable Calm, is an attempt to satisfy both sides. It is classic diplomatic language. It allows both to claim victory in a sense. Hamas can say, we got a permanent truce. Israel says, no, no, it is Sustainable Calm, thats different. My feeling, joe and mika, is that the one thing that we need to bear in mind is after everything thats happened, israel is not going to settle for a hamas win. Anything that really looks like theyve capitulated to hamas demands isnt going to fly. They want the hostages back. Its a demand of the israeli public thats deep, that netanyahu cant ignore. But perhaps that phrase, Sustainable Calm, will be sufficiently vague, that israelis can sell it to the public. But i dont think anyone should assume that Israeli Operations to destroy what remains of hamas Military Power are not going to continue over the next months. Not necessarily over the next weeks, but, you know, that part of the war isnt over. It wont be. I dont think israel is prepared to see hamas come back as the dominant governing force in gaza. Jonathan lemire, we know President Biden had a call with Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday. What do we know about what came out of that call . So the president , first of all, stressed the need to get humanitarian aid back into gaza and was able to push Prime Minister netanyahu to agree to reopen a crossing there that allowed that to resume. He also said that the u. S. Maintains its need, goal for these hostages to be released, and to support efforts to do so. He also issued yet another warning, another warning to netanyahu, against an allout invasion of rafah. Certainly, the president stressed, we understand the need to get hamas leaders. Weve been behind you on that since october 7th. But civilian casualties must be avoided. Israel hasnt presented a plan to do so. And that call happened in the hours before this confusion about what ceasefire agreement may or may not have agreed to. What hamas said, theyre taking one agreement. Israel says, thats not good enough. That was not part of the call yesterday. But u. S. And israeli officials have been in Constant Contact about whats next. Today, with this very fraught backdrop, the president is going to be on capitol hill for holocaust remembrance day, for the commemorations of the 6 million jews killed during world war ii. He will be speaking about that moment and also more broadly about antisemitism. What we saw on College Campuses in recent weeks, when some of those protests, proGaza Protests spiralled out of control. More broadly, just the surge in antisemitism weve seen across the country and globe in recent years, particularly since october 7th. There are certainly domestic Political Considerations for this president , as well. But, David Ignatius, lets talk more about what happens next. Theres some reportingthis morning in axios and other places, tension between israel and washington. Officials claiming washington knew about the hamas deal but didnt inform israel, and israel was, therefore, caught off guard. I think there is more pressure, to Richards Point earlier, on netanyahu to take some type of deal or at least hold off the invasion of rafah to let negotiations continue. What more, if anything, can this president do to get netanyahu to listen . Jonathan, i think the hardest part of this is that there are sharp divisios within israel now. Theres growing dissent, unhappiness from some of the senior people in the israeli Defense Forces who have been uncomfortable with netanyahu really for months, but thats, im told, come to a head in the last week. What they want, what theyre demanding, is a clearer plan for how israel gets from here to a stable gaza. They are not seeing that yet from the netanyahu government. The idf wants, as it pulls its troops back, to be confident it is not going to have to send them in again and have a repeat of this. For now, i think that is a key element. I do think President Bidens personal guarantees through Director Burns, shuttling back and forth between doha and cairo, have been a key element in this. When an american president sends his personal emissary and says, we guarantee that this outcome will be as we describe it, thats the most a president can do. He puts u. S. Credibility on the line. I think thats been important in speaking to the israelis. I think bidens call with netanyahu yesterday was a crucial one. He was putting it on the line. The United States needs this end to fighting. We need this ceasefire agreement to work. You have to help us get it. Similar things have been said, obviously, to the hamas side through qatar and egypt. I think were in this tense, final phase of a negotiation. It is one in which the president s credibility, his interests as president and the future of this region are totally engaged. Well see what he says publicly because thatll be a moment when he speaks to the country, not in private to his negotiators. Yeah. All right. The Washington Posts David Ignatius, thank you very, very much. Still ahead, in just one minute, Donald TrumpsCriminal Trial will pick up again just a short time from now back in New York City. Were going to go over what we learned yesterday as prosecutors focused on the Trump Organizations paper trail. And the judge holds the former president in contempt again. Youre watching morning joe. Were back in 60 seconds. [shaking] itchy pet . with chewy, save 20 on your first pharmacy order so you can put an end to the itch. Get flea and tick medication delivered right to your door. [panting] beautiful look at Lower Manhattan at 17 past the hour. It is day 13 of Donald TrumpsCriminal Trial which resumes later this morning, a day after the judge issued his sharpest warning yet of potential jail time for the former president for continuing to violate his gag order. At the start of court yesterday, judge juan merchan found trump in contempt for a tenth time, fining him an additional 1,000. But in his ruling, the judge stated, quote, it appears that the 1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent. Judge merchan also acknowledged the magnitude of potentially jailing trump and how disruptive to the proceedings it would be. Stating, quote, the last thing i want to do i