a new phase-in israel s ground offensive in gaza. the israeli military has plans to pull back some troops and shift to more localized operations. we ll go through that development and the escalating tensions in the red sea. also ahead, a look at the very long to-do list for congress in 2024 with several crucial items that were not addressed late last year. plus, the supreme court has a tight time line to rule on the most consequential case involving the presidency since the year 2000 decision that sent george w. bush to the white house. good morning and welcome to way too early on this tuesday, january 2, 2024. happy new year, everyone. i m jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day, week, and yes year with us. it is going to be an extraordinarily busy year. we re so grateful that you re with us. we begin this morning overseas where the israeli military is planning to withdraw some of its troops from gaza. reservists from at least two brigades will be sent home t
months of fighting in gaza. we break that down next. plus, a series of powerful earthquakes rocking japan, leading to reports of fires and landslides, and triggering a tsunami warning. what we know right now about the damage as officials warn the after shocks could continue for up to a week. and the new year means new raises for millions of americans. the minimum wage hike happening in nearly half the country. but it is not all good news. we ll explain. we begin this afternoon with the new developments in the israel-hamas war as israeli forces expand operations in gaza. tel aviv was hit with a barrage of rockets right as the new year began. hamas is claiming responsibility, and it comes as prime minister benjamin netanyahu faces a new challenge as he navigates through the growing offensive. israel s supreme court today overturning a key component of his controversial judicial overhaul. nbc s josh lederman is joining us from tel aviv. josh, let s talk about what this rul
we ve also got faa and farm bill funding. lawmakers pushed the re-authorization of the federal aviation administration until march 8th after failing to push an extension before the holidays. congress will also have to pass a new farm bill over the fall. congress temporarily extended warrantless surveillance powers until next april, but there s still a current dispute over the boundaries of the government s spying power. and finally, the looming battle over possible impeachment of president joe biden. house republicans ended 2023 by voting unanimously to formally open an impeachment inquire into the president. in 2024 they ll have to decide whether to impeach biden or to back up. joining us now to help us make sense of all this congressional
senate never debated it and never discussed what the parameters are. democrats warning trump is lawless tyrant endangering democracy. the republicans were saying the deep state is endangering democracy by abusing its power. the democrats, the leadership by the way not the majority got together with the republican majority including devin nunes who authored the memo today and not just more than two weeks ago voted to increase spying power and block all safeguards on how it s used. it s really incredible now to watch it debate unfold. tucker: actually almost nauseating and as i said totally ironic. so you know a lot about how this works. what is legal and what is not legal. what does need to show to judge or series of judges in order to legally spy on a u.s. citizen? so in order to target a u.s. citizen the way they targeted carter page, which means essentially that they are going to listen to all of his phone calls, read his
welcome back to the lead. now it s time for the buried lead. that s what we call stories we think should be getting more attention. workers at the nsa have access to the nation s biggest security secrets and they re tasked with keeping our country safe. it appears some of them have the self-control of a 15-year-old. the national security agency released details on a dozen incidents in which analysts used their spying power to snoop on a significant other or even just random people they just wanted to dig up dirt on. at least one case, an employee assigned overseas listened to phone conversations involving foreign women over a five-year span from 98 to 2003. in another instance, back in 2004, a civilian employee looked into a foreign number she found on her husband s cell phone because she suspected him of cheating. one guy even did a search of e-mail addresses belonging to his former girlfriend. but he says he didn t intend to read the e-mails, he was just practicing on the system.