Reports, escalation in the Middle East. A new bombardment of israeli strikes against hezbollah targets in lebanon and an unprecedented warning to civilians. The fears its stoking of a larger regional war. Plus disturbing new evidence tied to the suspect in that apparent second Assassination Attempt of Donald Trump, including a letter where he appears to confess to the plot. What it means for his case when he face has judge next hour. And new Nbc Polling on the 2024 race showing a historic surge in favorability for Vice President harris. We will look at whats driving that and why this contest is still neck and neck. Good morning and thanks for joining us, it is 10 00 a. M. Eastern, 7 00 a. M. Pacific, im Ana Cabrera reporting from New York. We begin with the Breaking News in the Middle East. Lebanese officials say more than 180 people have been killed after intensifying israeli strikes there overnight. The idf Issuing A first of its kind Evacuation Warning to civilians in Southern Leban
Mitchell reports, House Republican leader Kevin Mccarthy 24 hours from the biggest moment of his political career and still no closer to securing the votes he needs to become the next speaker of the house. Also this hour, i will speak to dr. Zeke emanuel about a tough holiday flu season along with new concerns about a new strain of covid19 in the u. S. And we will have a live report from rome as catholics travel to the vatican to Pope Emeritus Benedict during the three days he will lie in state ahead of thursdays funeral mass. Good day, im andrea in mitchell. Happy new year, everyone. Well, the pressure is on republican leader in this in you year, Kevin Mccarthy has to win over the hard line House Conservatives that he needs to become the next speaker of the house. Tomorrow the new Congress Returns to washington with the speaker vote as the top item on the agenda. But at this hour no one knows how long its going to take for republicans to secure the Majority Vote needed to appoint a le
no path to becoming speaker of the house because a bunch of conservative members of the republican conference have dug in against him. what has changed this morning? why should today be any different after the three failed votes yesterday? a couple things mccarthy is doing like send his allies fanning out across the conference, trying to get some members voting present instead of no. we ll talk about that in a second. keep in mind, the numbers here. mccarthy can only atord four defectors to become speaker. if everybody votes for a earn. he started with 19 tuesday. he finished off with 20. steve kornacki is going to join us to break down the math and tell us what to expect. another thing that s new today, former president trump getting off the fence to push fellow republicans to, i m quoting here, vote for kevin. close the deal. how much will that matter? we ll get into it because right now it is parls in the building behind me. nobody in charge. no end in sight. no work getti
needed to be the speaker for a fourth consecutive time. florida republican byron donalds appear to have received just enough support to prevent kevin mccarthy from getting to 218. so what happens now? the house remaining paralyzed this hour. no committees, no legislation, elected members can t even be sworn in. they don t even know if they are getting paid at this point after they have tried and failed again four times to elect a speaker. it s a level of dysfunction unseen in modern political history. so let s bring in an incredible panel. senior capitol hill correspondent garrett haake. yamiche alcindor is our washington correspondent. doug high is a republican strategist for the rnc. peter baker is chief white house correspondent for the new york times and an msnbc political analyst. steve kornacki is at the big board. garrett, tell us what s happening this second and what should we make of it? we re watching kevin mccarthy on his way going 0 for 4. byron donalds, the l
hah keep jeffries. cleaver? jeffries. cline? kevin mccarthy. cloud? jim jordan. clyburn? jeffries. clyde? biggs. cohen? hakeem jeffries. cole? mccarthy. collins? as we listen to the roll being called by my count, five republicans have voted against mccarthy for speaker. two voted for jim jordan, one included boebert. and two for andy biggs. garrett haake, by my count that s five and he could only lose four. on this first role call, he said he will keep this going vote after vote until they get worn down or something breaks. is that your take? we never call votes until they are over, but in this case, i now count six, one more since we came on the air. clyde voting for andy biggs, one of the leaders of this rebel group. six republicans so far voting against kevin mccarthy. if the math holds through the remainder of the alphabet, as we have every reason to expect it will, with all democrats voing for hakeem jeffries, we do appear to be in a s