secretary blinken tries to find common ground but agrees to the pause for the first time. >> we have to ask. indeed, it must be asked. where is the outrage? where is the revulsion? where is the rejection? where is the explicit condemnation of these horrors? no member of this council, no nation in this entire body could or would tolerate the slaughter of its people. another trump co-defendant takes a plea deal, pleading guilty in the georgia election interference case. >> i believe in and i alue election integrity. i look back on this whole experience with deep remorse. >> the former president comes face to face with former fixer michael cohen in civil court in new york. house republicans narrow their speaker search with no guarantee the next frontrunner will come close to the 217 votes needed, but now it's head to head, just two men left standing. ♪♪ good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. let's get the latest on capitol hill where the house republican conference is in its fifth vote of the day to select a nominee for speaker. it's head to head. joining us now is senior capitol hill correspondent garrett haake. fast moving today. >> reporter: that's right. now there are two men left standing, tom emmer and mike johnson, members of the current leadership team. both slowly accumulating votes in round after round as other candidates have dropped out. this will be a fifth ballot today by the house republican conference rules. if somebody hits a majority, that's done. you will have a speaker designee. tom emmer has led the way today. his lead has been significant, but it's not close to the 217 votes he will ultimately need on the floor to win this. in the last ballot, he had 107 votes. the opposition to him has been fracture and divided now that it comes down to one man. we will see if it coalesces behind johnson or emmer can get over the hump. how quickly does he take the speaker designee status to the floor? jim jordan waited several days to his detriment as the opposition was able to coalesce around other people and identify themselves. does emmer try to strike while the iron is hot and move this today? he and his allies have suggested that's a possibility. we will see when the doors open here at the end of the fifth ballot. >> garrett, we will check in with you throughout the hour, of course. waiting to see if that white spoke is going up and we have a speaker. we are learning more about what israeli hostages were enduring. less than 24 hours after the release, along with another 79-year-old woman by terrorists in gaza. >> my mom is telling the horrific stories. she's saying that many, many people, a swarm of people came through the fence. she was taken on the back of a motorbike with her legs on one side and her head on another side. she was taken through the plowed fields with the men in front on one side and a man behind her. while she was being taken, she was hit by sticks, by shabob people. they arrive into a large hall. 25 hostages were gathered. after two or three hours, those hostages, five of them, she among them, were taken into a separate room. they were given medicine. they were treated. the people were friendly. they kept the place very clean. they were very concerned about them. >> joining us now is josh ledder man in israel and martin fletcher and jason zazizo with the red cross who has been escorting hostages to safety on the israeli side of the border, taking a dangerous mission. josh, what's the latest on the hostages? talk of more coming out perhaps. what richard engel described as a horrendous situation on the ground in gaza. >> reporter: that's right. there's hope that after now not one but two releases of hostages from the gaza strip that hamas might be willing to release more. we haven't heard any indication of that. it seems to be contingent on israel agreeing to a cease-fire, to at least stop the air strikes. we heard from the grandson of the woman we heard from, her grandson daniel telling "today" about the difficult emotions they are going through. so relieved to see their loved ones coming home safely and knowing there are still more than 200 hostages still in the gaza strip who have not come home, including her husband. as you mentioned, the gaza humanitarian situation is getting worse by the hour. today, we heard from gaza health ministry officials saying that the health care system there is now in a state of collapse. there are 12 hospitals that are completely out of service because they simply have no fuel. that's believed to be two-thirds of the health care system there. the u.n. agency that deals with palestinian refugee issues, they say if they don't get more fuel by tomorrow night, they will have to stop operations as well. the fuel is the critical factor here. everything is contingent on that. without the fuel, you don't have electricity to run the plants that help purify water. you can't run the bakeries. people don't have food that they need. obviously, you are not able to run health care facilities and hospitals with concerned that the hospitals, according to the gaza health officials, will turn into morgues when the icu and emergency rooms already are at capacity run out of electricity. >> thanks so much to josh lederman. jason, you have had the word from the inside. can you describe, what went into securing the freedom of the hostages? how the red cross escorted them out. we saw the extraordinary piece of video of her shaking the hand of one of her hostage takers because she said they treated them well. i think this goes to something we were discussing earlier with martin fletcher and others, that a lot of the people were actually interested in peace, dealt with palestinians, were more interested in getting along with the people in gaza than in being adversaries. >> i find this to be a really extraordinary moment. war is filled with pain and horror and mystery. even among all that horror, you can have these moments of humanity. you are showing one on your screen just then. this woman turned to someone she might classify as her enemy and shook his hand. what we say here at the international community of the red cross is that all wars eventually end. in order for a war to end, one side can no longer see the other side as this inhumane, demonic adversary. instead, they have to see them as another human being. it's this handshake right here, i think -- it fills me with hope. clearly, peace is very difficult in this region. when one woman, who was held hostage, can turn to her captor and shake hands and say they treated me well, we view that as a sign that potentially there's space for a pathway to peace one day. one day this conflict will end. >> it's a balancing act. everyone's emotions. she criticized her government for being prepared to fight, for letting them be attacked the way they were attacked. jason, what are you hearing? in a way it's very sinister that hamas is not releasing all of them. they shouldn't hold hostages hostages. it's almost a tease. secretary blinken has called for a peace in the air strikes to get humanitarian aid in, if nothing else. what do you know about a larger group of hostages that could be released? what are the talks like? >> the talks from our side are still ongoing. i mean a direct approach to hamas saying -- insisting that more hostages be released, insisting they be allowed to communicate with their family. what i just said previously about this moment of humanity, i don't mean to sweep over the deep suffering and mystery, the situation of the more than 200 people being held, the pain their families are going through, as well as the pain being felt by gazan civilians forced from their home, forced into the street and the lack of fuel and food and water. a situation that grows more critical every day that your colleague has already reported on. the bottom line is, we continue to insist that more hostages be released. we are having those direct talks. these won't be the last. >> i know you are of the sensitivities on all sides, brutally aware from the front lines from your people, so courageous to go in and get the people out. we heard from one of the grandsons. >> i know my grandmother. my grandmother is a very, very, very strong woman. i don't know anyone stronger than her. i was so happy to see her and so happy that she can walk. i saw her and also i felt such a huge, huge, huge sting in my heart to see her in that situation knowing that she's been through so much. >> martin fletcher, your family, your wife's relatives living through the struggle until those two women from illinois got out on friday. what's your reaction to seeing these survivors and their families today? >> well, my reaction to the handshake that was -- this is a handshake reverberating across the world. i agree with josh, it's a wonderful moment of coming together of enemies and maybe it's an indication that peace is possible somewhere in the future. i tell you something, as happy as the family is, as remarkable as that image is, it's exactly what the israeli government does not want the world to see. for the israelis, they see this as a pr disaster. this was not the image they wanted the world to have of hamas. israel is trying to portray hamas as horrific murderers. the images that israel are putting out shows that in graphic detail. suddenly, to have one of the hostages -- the first hostage released to go on camera and say, they treated me pretty well, they gave me my medication, that is not good for israel's pr machine. we do have to bear one thing in mind. her husband is still a hostage in gaza. she's not going to say she was badly treated. she's going to be afraid for her husband. i think, is she speaking the truth? we say from the mouth of babes come the truth. maybe from the mouths of the elderly, too. i think she was speaking from her heart. at the same time, it's an image israel does not want to see. we have to remember that her husband is still a hostage in gaza and could be harmed if she says something against hamas. >> that's a good point. i was going to ask you about that. also, the fact that for the first time now, secretary blinken has in his speech today called for humanitarian aid -- a pause in the air strikes to get the aid in, something that just last tuesday the u.s. vetoed when it was proposed by russia. more on that coming up later. martin, thank you so much. jason, as always, we are grateful to you and josh. the house of cards. a fourth co-defendant in the georgia election interference case pleading guilty. what a deal with the prosecution could mean for donald trump. that's next when "andrea mitchell reports" is back in 60 seconds. you are watching msnbc. it nat, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. the secret is an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription. i'm adding downy unstopables to my wash now. i'll be smelling fresh all day long. [sniffs] still fresh. still fresh! get 6 times longer-lasting freshness, plus odor protection with downy unstopables. this is american infrastructure, a prime target for cyberattacks. but the same ai-powered security that protects all of google also defends these services for everyone who lives here. ♪ we have breaking news out of georgia in the election interference case. former trump attorney jenna ellis becoming the fourth defendant to plead guilty today in the fulton county case, accepting the plea instead of going to trial. >> how do you plead to aiding and abetting false statements in writings under accusation 23190514? >> guilty. >> is this guilty plea freely and voluntarily given with full knowledge of the charges against you? >> it is. >> ellis apologized to georgia voters, at times crying saying she had deep remorse. >> in the pace of attempting to raise challenges to the election in several states, including georgia, i failed to do my due diligence. i believe in and i value election integrity. if i knew then what i know now, i would have declined to represent donald trump. >> joining me now is senior legal correspondent laura jarrett and chuck rosenberg, senior fbi official. laura, it's another development in the case. it reduces the number of the original number of 19 in fulton county. do we have any way of knowing how much she could in any one of her proffers, how much did she know about what president trump was doing? >> we certainly know what she's been accused of doing. we know now what she's admitted to as part of this deal. she was facing significant exposure and is now pleading guilty to a felony and receiving probation in return. remember, the central allegation as it relates to her is that she was going around to different state officials, along with rudy giuliani, another member of the legal team, trying to force state officials to turn their votes for trump, to try to -- essentially, part of ke elector scheme. but she's accused, namely here having stood in front of the georgia state senate, with giuliani, and making a number of false statements. today she's pled guilty to aiding and abetting the false statements, false statements about voters and dead voters, illegally voting in georgia, none of which is true, which she admitted was false. she's going to have to come clean and tell her story about how she came to understand that the things she was saying to those electors in georgia was false and what people were saying in return. she's going to have to come clean about the entire scheme. >> chuck, what does this mean -- have any implication, any connection to what jack smith is doing in the d.c. case? >> maybe. a number of people in either of those two cases in georgia and the federal case in washington, d.c. overlap. both are about efforts to overturn a fair and free election. possibly. we have to keep in mind that it may not be that jenna ellis or sidney powell or kenneth chesebro or any one person holds the keys to the kingdom. it may be, as often is the case, you build your evidence, your trial, your proof a document as a time, a witness as a time. for instance, miss ellis was charged with aiding and abetting, among other people, rudy giuliani. maybe her plea leads to another that leads to another. suddenly, you have several witnesses who might be able to testify against donald trump. no one case is built on any one individual. it's built on numerous documents and numerous people. >> chuck, laura, thank you very much. a very busy news day. now we have a speaker designate. tom emmer is now the republican nominee for speaker having gotten a majority of the votes when it got down to head to head. back with us, nbc news senior capitol hill correspondent garrett haake. garrett? >> reporter: it took five ballots, but tom emmer has secured the majority of the republican conference. he will be the next speaker designee, a position that hasn't meant much. he will be the third speaker after steve scalise and jim jordan. both won a majority in conference like emmer but failed to get the necessary support on the floor. that will be emmer's next task. he will finish in the 115 to 120 votes in the secret ballot process that's been going on in the room behind me all morning. of course, as we have learned, he has to get to 217 on the floor to get there. all of the candidates who had been running -- they started with nine yesterday evening -- have signed pledges indicating they will support the nominee on the floor. there has been a significant effort behind the scenes, among republican leaders and the rank and file, to push their membership into that posture, to say enough is enough and whatever your issues may be, it's time to come together and vote on the floor. as we have learned, it only takes a very small minority, a handful of votes, to doom the speaker bid of anyone who moves to the floor. that becomes the next big question. when does tom emmer try to move this to the floor? it's his call to make. does he believe he has the support? how will he test it? we have seen different theories on this. steve scalise tried to lock up support behind the scenes. seeing it wasn't there, he dropped out. jim jordan eventually came to the floor after a couple of days and tried to force the issue, pressure those who were opposing him. that only caused that opposition to grow. will emmer take a different tack? will it make up for some distrust of him among the most pro-trump elements of the conference? that will be what i'm watching. we hope to learn more about as soon as this meeting breaks up and we can talk to the folks involved. >> let's talk about that for a moment. there have been other crosscurrents. on "meet the press" kevin mccarthy saying enough already. this is embarrassing. acknowledging that. some people even suggesting behind the scenes that that could be a play to sort of wait until they are deadlocked and have them return to him as the choice. there's also, of course, patrick mchenry, the reluctant speaker pro tem as a possible compromise choice. the question of what the democrats are going to do. they were meeting today. there was one suggestion, i think on punchbowl, that there was a plan with some that the democrats might take a look at whoever came out of today -- out of this nomination from the republican conference and see if there could be some agreement behind the scenes on some of their key issues, like sticking to the budget deal rather than those deeper cuts that kevin mccarthy then went for and that democrats might stay out and not show up for the quorum call and that would lower the 217 threshold. >> reporter: the idea of kevin mccarthy coming back is fan fiction. part of that is indicated by the fact that even people who consider themselves only kevin in previous rounds, they were ready to back byron donalds yesterday. it was almost as if the only kevin thing wasn't true. it was only not just jordan. i don't think there's anything that kevin mccarthy has done to win back members. i find it hard to believe they would feel compelled to support him, especially when there's another nominee out here. as it relates to mchenry and emmer and democratic involvement, i think there's an element of possibility to that. emmer checks a lot of the boxes that democrats were looking at when they were debating whether to get involved. he voted in favor of the debt limit bill. i think he is perceived to be someone that democrats can do business with. that being said, i can't think of any better way to make sure that tom emmer loses republican votes on the floor than for democrats to come out right now and say, that's our guy. here are the steps we want to take to step him. he wants do this with republican votes. democrats would rather he do it with republican votes so if and when he does something they don't agree with, they don't have ownership. every day this drags on, and all the ways in which the house embarrasses itself on the world stage by remaining leaderless, i think it increases -- not pressure. democrats aren't under any pressure. but perhaps the incentive to find some way to get back to work, whatever that work looks like. i don't think we are there yet. it might take more political pain on the republican side before that ask is made. i think there's still perhaps a remote chance but a non-zero one that democrats are ultimately involved in getting somebody, make emmer, maybe something else a week from now, over the 217 vote threshold. >> when we talk about getting back to work, it's 24 days until the shutdown, until the money runs out. it usually takes a couple of days even when you are facing real deadlines and wanting to go home for holidays and things like that. thanksgiving is looming. it takes a few days to reach an agreement and get something passed. there could be a temporary continuing resolution to keep the status quo while they are working on it. you have real problems coming up. at some point the incentive -- the critical mass will happen. does the emmer vote in conference -- he had the majority when it came down to head to head, does that indicate anything about the strength or weakness of donald trump since he opposed him? >> reporter: well, it may. i'm looking to see if i have an emmer vote total. i do not yet. hang on a second. emmer does want to go to the floor this afternoon. that's interesting. i think it indicates something. i wouldn't take it in isolation. i would take it with the failure of the jim jordan speakership candidacy, which donald trump did support. that fell flat. donald trump's opposition to emmer, emmer still becoming the nominee, it does suggest a weakness of the trump endorsement in the republican conference. or a lack of willingness or focus by donald trump to use it to its fullest. there's no indication that donald trump was active behind the scenes to support jim jordan. there's not been much of an indication he's been active behind the scenes to take down tom emmer. his allies and staffers have been much more clear about their distaste for emmer, but not trump. that being said, the opportunity to take him down on the floor is an easier lift than in conference. it may still come. put a pin in that. it may come sooner rather than later. we are hearing from members going out some of the back doors -- they are not eager to talk about this on camera -- that emmer does want to move this to the floor as early as today. look, he is the whip. if anybody is going to have their finger on the pulse of the republican conference and how they will vote, it ought to be him. give him a benefit of the doubt here on the tactics. try to see if he can take some momentum to the floor and close the deal. >> garrett haake, i know you will stand by talking to all of your sources there as they come out. we will get right back to this in a few minutes. first, the crisis meeting at the u.n. secretary of state blinken at the u.n. and today as world leaders urge restraint from israel and the middle east is on edge. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. a mitchell reports" only on msnbc. you're probably not easily persuaded to switch mobile providers for your business. but what if we told you it's possible that comcast business mobile can save you up to 75% a year on your wireless bill versus the big three carriers? have we piqued your interest? you can get two unlimited lines for just $30 each a month. there are no term contracts or line activation fees. and you can bring your own device. oh, and all on the most reliable 5g mobile network nationwide. wireless that works for you. it's not just possible. you want to be able to provide your child it's happening. with the tools or resources they need. with reliable internet at home, through the internet essentials program, the world opened up. fellas, fellas. that's how my son was able to find the hidden genius project. we wanted to give y'all the necessary skills to compete with the future. kevin's now part of this next generation of young people who feel they can thrive. ♪ ♪ here's why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your devie duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. secretary of state tony blinken along with more than 20 ministers from the middle east, europe and other regions, are at the united nations today for a high level meeting, a summit on israel, the israel/hamas war. secretary blinken calling for a pause in the air strikes to let aid into gaza. >> israel must take all possible precautions to avoid harm to civilians. it means food, water, medicine and other essential assistance must be able to flow into gaza and to the people who need them. it means civilians must be able to get out of harm's way. it means humanitarian pauses must be considered for these purposes. >> the secretary of state appealing to the u.n. security council and saying that he will talk to his counterpart, the chinese foreign minister in washington tomorrow to get iran not to widen the war. >> to all of the members of the council, if you, like the united states, want to prevent this from spreading, tell iran, tell its proxies, in public, in private, through every means, do not open another front against israel and this conflict. do not attack israel's partners. we urge members to go a step further. make clear that if iran or its proxies widen this conflict and put more civilians at risk, you -- you will hold them accountable. act as if the security and stability of the entire region and beyond is on the line, because it is. >> joining me now is former ambassador elan pinkus, former advisor to prime minister perez. you heard secretary blinken trying to appeal to all sides. they are trying to minimize the disaster in gaza, the humanitarian -- try to stop alienating the arab leaders as well as european leaders against israel, but also passionately talking about what happened on october 7th and the horror of it. what do you think the reaction by the israeli war cabinet will be to, for the first time, him publically calling for a pause in the air strikes to get aid in? >> hi, andrea. here is the thing. there were two themes in secretary blinken's speech at the u.n. security council. one was as you point to, the humanitarian aid, that in order to facilitate it, israel needs to pause air strikes. i think that while secretary blinken made that unequivocal in his speech, he also made it unequivocal in his private meetings here in israel, the twice he has been here, once with president biden. the second, no less important, is the very clear warning that he delivered to iran. do not test us. do not expand or escalate or spread, to use his terminology, and do not hurt israel's allies. who? the u.s. i think the israeli war cabinet, going back to your question, andrea, is going to look at both and say, if they are smart, we will take it. we will do what he asks in terms of pausing the air strikes to allow for humanitarian aid. but we also feel strengthened and supported by what he said about iran expanding this or escalating this into a broad regional conflict. i think as a package deal, so to speak, that's an important message from blinken. >> implicit in that, tell me, does that also mean a delay or a halt, if you will, in any ground invasion, other than incursions which have been going on? >> yeah. that's the $64,000 question. not all viewers remember the $64,000. it looks meager now. that's the big question now. here is the thing. there's a thinking that vertical escalation, meaning a ground operation in gaza, an augmentation of forces, an increase in -- a significant increase in fire power may lead to a so-called horizontal escalation, spreading into lebanon. that's one thing inhibiting the ground operation. the second is warnings, very polite but very pointed, that president biden made. he said, i understand the rage. but do not be consumed by this rage. meaning, you need to have a political objective here. there needs to be an end game, an exit strategy, all these things. the third thing is the fate of the hostages. there are 220 or 218, rather, hostages held in gaza, including babies and toddlers and elderly and what have you. a ground operation is not the best of options in terms of ensuring their well-being and safety. here is the thing. if israel is intent on obliterating hamas, which is a legitimate goal, israel surely understands -- we surely understand, that this entails a ground operation. a ground operation that people like david etraeus or mark hurtley have warned against. something that both biden and -- president biden and secretary blinken have also cautioned against. i think the combination of this delayed this operation. on top of all this, i'm sorry, there seems to be a disagreement in the israeli war cabinet on when and how much to do so. >> it's very clear, as you have stated it, ambassador. thank you so much. i hope you will stay in touch as we navigate all of this. i appreciate it. >> my pleasure. donald trump and his former fixer michael cohen in the same courtroom for the former president's civil fraud trial in new york, face to face. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. this is msnbc. and we could see exactly when they'd arrive with a replacement we could trust. that's service the way we want it. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ this is spring semester at fairfield-suisun unified. they switched to google tools for education because there's never been a reported ransomware attack on a chromebook. now they're focused on learning knowing that their data is secure. ( ♪♪ ) here's why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your devie duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. right now, former president donald trump has come face to face with his former fixer, some would say tormenter for the first time in five years. cohen is on the stand right now. the two went after each other before going into court. >> this is not about donald trump versus michael cohen or michael cohen versus donald trump. this is about accountability, plain and simple. we leave it up to the judge in order to make all the determinations on that. >> he is a proven liar, as you know. he is a felon. served time for lying. we will go in and see. you will see that for yourself very easily. he is a liar trying to get a better deal for himself. it's not going to work. >> joining me now is dasha burns and chuck rosenberg, former u.s. attorney, senior fbi official. dasha, what are you hearing is going on inside the courtroom? >> reporter: our colleagues who are inside the courtroom right now are trying to get information to us as quickly as possible. what we know so far is cohen did take the stand a few minutes ago. he is being questioned by the attorney general's office about his history with the trump organization. a bio. he is talking about when he first came to work for mr. trump. andrea, this is the first time that these two men are in the same room since cohen turned on trump. this is five years of bad blood that had so far been relegated to social media posts, to news interviews, to books. now spilling out in person in this courtroom. this is by the far most anticipated day of this trial. let's remember that it is michael cohen is the reason why we are here today. it's his testimony before congress that sparked this investigation, that inspired letitia james, the attorney general, to look into trump's businesses. he is now the star witness here today, andrea. >> chuck rosenberg, what is the significance of cohen testifying? the judge has already ruled that there were fraudulent asset elevations. >> that's exactly right, andrea. the judge has already upheld the central part of the attorney general's case. he agreed that the trump organization had wildly and widely overvalued their assets to obtain favorable terms from banks and insurance companies. what they're trying to figure out now is the appropriate punishment. cohen is important to that. cohen said something at the microphones which you played earlier which i want to reiterate, because i think it's telling. this is not trump versus cohen. not cohen versus trump. this is the state of new york versus the trump organization. michael cohen is simply a witness. true, he is a convicted felon. true, one of the things he was convicted of is lying. true, he will be vigorously cross examined on the stand. that doesn't mean he can't tell the truth here. it will go to the judge's determination about appropriate sanctions. >> he has also served time. >> he has. he served a year in prison. he was released early because of the covid pandemic. i believe served the rest of the sentence in home confinement. when you get convicted of felonies in federal court, you expect to go to jail. >> dasha burns, chuck rosenberg, thanks to both of you. deja vu all over again? house republicans may have found someone to take the speaker's gavel, at least for a moment. may not have enough votes for a majority of the house, when it goes to the floor as scheduled this afternoon, as a government shutdown looms 24 days from now. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. mitchell reports" only on msnbc. lowering bad cholesterol can be hard, even with a statin. diets and exercise add to the struggle. today, it's possible to go from struggle to cholesterol success with leqvio. with a statin, leqvio is proven to lower bad cholesterol by 50% and keep it low with 2 doses a year. common side effects were injection site reaction, joint pain, and chest cold. ask your doctor about twice-yearly leqvio. lower. longer. leqvio® this is american infrastructure, a prime target for cyberattacks. but the same ai-powered security that protects all of google also defends these services for everyone who lives here. ♪ my frequent heartburn had me taking antacid after antacid all day long but with prilosec otc just one pill a day blocks heartburn for a full 24 hours. for one and done heartburn relief, prilosec otc. one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. let's go back now to capitol hill where a floor vote on the speaker designate, tom emmer, could come this afternoon. here with us again is correspondent garrett haake, and former republican strategist stewart stestephens, the author the new book "the conspiracy to end america, five ways my old party is driving our democracy to autocra." he is with the lincoln project. >> reporter: indication from members who have started to come out is that emmer wants a floor vote today. that's what several members have said. they have indicated that tom emmer, if he took the vote, would have too much opposition to be the next speaker of the house. there's some indication from a republican from pennsylvania who at this time yesterday was running for speaker himself, that there's between eight to ten anti-emmer holdouts. that's probably to be expected at this phase in the game. i'm thinking about some of the people who were opposed to kevin mccarthy or steve scalise on the grounds that they wanted to see a break from the status quo, they wanted to see a change in washington from the leadership that has led republicans for the last several cycles. tom emmer has been a part of the team. if you are scott perry or tom roy, who backed byron donalds, this may not be your guy. is it not your guy in an irrevocable way, you cannot be convinced? or is there work for the whip whose job this is in the republican conference to turn hard votes around? is there an opportunity for him to make those changes? we will see in the next couple of hours. a majority of the conference is behind us. they were doing a roll call vote to figure out where this opposition is so that emmer and his team can get to work. >> stewart, many of the candidates were looking for donald trump's endorsement, including tom emmer, who posted on twitter that he is looking forward to contining their strong working relationship. trump was against him. listen to what donald trump told dasha burns in new hampshire yesterday. >> there's only person that can do it all the way. jesus christ. jesus came down said, i want to be speaker. he would do it. other than that, i haven't seen anybody that can guarantee it. >> what role does donald trump have in terms of the matt gaetzs of the world? >> it's really impossible, i think, to separate donald trump and the republican party in any way whatsoever. the anti-trump movement inside the republican party is tiny. look at the people who voted not to certify. they have all been reduced to either being driven out of the party or had their roles reduced. everyone who voted not to certify has been elevated. this is trump's party. if you want to know what a healthy republican would look like, it would be someone standing up and saying, i want to be speaker of the house because we have a president who was legally elected, our party has to agree with that, we have to agree that we're part of a democracy, and we have to stop this insanity and start carrying about big issues. at the root of this, it's difficult to unify someone behind the speaker, because there's no argument other than sort of personalities. someone can't say, it's important for us to come together so we can accomplish x, we can save ukraine from being overrun by war, we can help israel, we can help do something on domestic front. they don't have any platform, they don't have any governing principals. that then makes it impossible to try to get people together for a higher purpose. what's the higher purpose? so we can have more investigation of hunter biden's laptop? it becomes life imitaing high school. >> in your new book you write the collapse of american democracy is like the pandemic. whatever you say at the beginning will sound alarmist, but likely prove inadequate at the end. we are seeing the results of the party's civil war. what happens next? >> yeah. i think the language here is something that we all struggle with. is something that we all struggle with. how do you talk about this? how do you say that if donald trump is elected president, it could very well be the last election that we can recognize as one we had in america, which i firmly believe. but how do you talk about that and not sound alarmist. the difficulty with the unimaginable is that it is difficult to imagine. and we're in a very different place than we have ever been in american politics. the majority of one party does not believe that president. which means we're an occupied country. the 24th election is not between two parties with different philosophical views, it is one party, democratic party, still believes in democracy, and a party that doesn't that has become an autocratic movement. and i sat with you here over the years and i don't know any intellectually honest answer but that the democratic party is the only pro democracy party in america now. >> well, it is an extraordinary outcome, especially having watched you in so many republican campaigns, but it isn't the republican party that we always knew. more to come. thanks so much, stewart. thanks to you, garrett. i know you're going to be out there in the corridor in that crowd, with any signs or whispers. so, please come back. and holding out hope, will we see more hostages released in the coming days and what is hamas' strategy? former cia director john brennan joining me next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. you're watching "l reports. this is msnbc. was i started to notice that i couldn't do things without losing my breath. i couldn't make it through the airport, and every like 20 or 30 yards i had to sit down and get my breath. every physical exertion seemed to exhaust me. and finally, i went to the hospital where i was diagnosed with afib. when i first noticed symptoms, which kept coming and going, i should have gone to the doctor and told them what was happening. instead, i tried to let it pass. if you experience irregular heartbeat, heart racing, chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, or light-headedness, you should talk to your doctor. afib increases the risk of stroke about 5 times i want my experience to help others understand the symptoms of atrial fibrillation. when it comes to your health, this is no time to wait. hamas released two more hostages, those two elderly israeli women yesterday. they're more than 200 people that israel says are still being held captive. as we have been reporting, the two released hostages, 79-year-old nurit cooper and 85-year-old yocheved lifshitz were freed yesterday. >> we need to speed up everything, to bring all those people back. this is very scary moment for me. i was really happy to see my grandmother. it was amazing. but seeing her was making me as well very scary for the rest of the people staying there. >> and joining us now is former cia director john brennan, the author of the book "undaunted: my fight against america's enemies at home and abroad." thank you for being here. do you think hamas is releasing these two women to just try to keep the halt in the air strikes or try to get the halt in the air strikes? what do they want in return? and are they dolling these out as kind of a, you know, a signal and a tease? >> yes, andrea. i think they are. they're trying to put additional pressure on israel, not just on the air strikes, but also to try to suspend, delay this pending ground offensive by israeli defense forces. and so by putting out two hostages here, and two hostages there, it is a trickle. i don't expect it is going to be any type of wholesale release of hostages because the hostages are very valuable to hamas. and what they're doing is trying to ensure that people believe that there is a hope to get these individuals out, that will be available if israel stops these air strikes as well as does not go forward with this ground offensive. so, i do think they have a public relations campaign going on right now. not only with the footage of these very punishing air strikes by israel, which are killing more palestinian civilians than they're killing terrorists, that's for sure, but also what the hostage releases, i think they're engaging in this public relations campaign again to try to gain some sympathy for the palestinian people and thereby for their situation in gaza. >> at this rate, if it is going to be two hostages every other day, it could take a year to get all of them out, right? and they probably would be very reluctant, they said so, to release the military, the israelis in the idf they're holding. >> yes. and we don't know how many of those hostages are still alive. because some of them could have been killed as hamas took them captive from the areas in israel. so, yes, if they released two last week and two this week, if it is two every week, if we take about two years in fact to go through 220 hostages that are there. i do know there is a lot of back channel discussions, negotiations going on, the egyptians seem to have been responsible for this most recent release and the qataris before them. so the united states, i'm sure, is also putting some pressure on the egyptians and the qataris to do whatever they can, given their relationship with hamas. but i think this is going to be drawn out in terms of hostage releases. but i also would be very surprised if israel does not launch this offensive, some type of offensive before the end of the month. it has been now two weeks since these horrific hamas terrorist attacks and they can't keep this very large force on the gaza border indefinitely. so i think what is going on right now is some discussion about the size, the scale, the scope of this operation going into gaza to see whether they can destroy hamas' terrorist making capabilities and kill the hamas leaders responsible for those atrocities. >> the israeli military dropped leaflets today in gaza according to our people on the ground, asking palestinians to reveal the whereabouts of the hostages taken by hamas in exchange the military is promising a reward and protection for the informant's name and home. what is your reaction to that, is that a good tactic? >> well, i think it is clear that israel is trying to do everything possible to get these hostages out. and not put their safety and security in any greater danger than it already is. and so by dropping these leaflets, maybe there are some palestinians out there and i know there are a lot of palestinians who do not agree at all with hamas' terrorist agenda. they might be willing to reach out to the israelis and provide some information that would give israel some insight into where these hostages are kept, where they're being moved to, and that will aid in some type of rescue operation that they might carry out coincident with an offensive. so, i do think that they should take any opportunity whatsoever to get information about the hostages. and it is clear that i think the biden administration is putting some pressure on israel to do everything they can given we have a number of american citizens among those hostages. >> and the pentagon has sent military advisers, including a marine corps lieutenant general james glen to try to help israel tailor whatever it is doing. >> general glen is the ideal person to provide them some advice about how difficult and challenging it is to engage in such close quarter urban warfare. we had many experiences in iraq, mostly also in afghanistan. this is tough. and there is no way they're going to go in there and be able to save those hostages and kill hamas terrorists and not encounter a lot of ambushes, return fire, as well as just surprises that hamas i think has in store. so i think general glen is going to provide the israelis with whatever insight and experience he can share with them that will help them in this very impossible, impossible challenge of trying to carry out their objectives and not kill or injure any more civilians. >> john brennan, former cia director, thanks as always. that does it for us, for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow us on social media at mitchell reports. "chris jansing reports" starts right now. good day. i'm chris jansing live at our headquarters in new york city.