Transcripts For CNNW Inside 20240703

Terror in israel. A scramble to respond to a brutal attack by Hamas Terrorists against innocent civilians. We will win this war. But the price is unbearable. Could it tip the middle east into chaos. Isr isr israeli minister ron dermer is next. And the american president pledged support for israel. We will not ever fail to have their back. But how will it change this plans for a path forward in the middle east . And impasse . Chaos over the speakers gavel paralyzed a u. S. Congress ready and willing to aid israeli. Mike lawler is coming up. Announcer this is cnn breaking news. Hello, im dana bash In Washington where state of our yunon is praying for a quick end to a new car. We begin with breaking news. Israels ambassador to United States said dozens of americans are among the hamas hostages taken since the explosion of war in israel. The State Department is closely tracking those reports. Here is what the Secretary Of State Antony Blinken told me. We have reports that several americans were killed, were working overtime to verify that. At the same time, there are reports of Missing Americans and there again were working to verify those reports. Coming up, were going to ask a top israeli official about those reports and of course the broader reality on the ground there with hundreds of israelis killed and many, many israelis taken hostages. Were talking about more than 500 innocent men, women, children, grandmothers, sisters and husbands and brothers. It is left desperate families seeking information on their missing relatives. Stolen from their homes. And from their streets. By Hamas Terrorists. Today israels cabinet formally declared a state of war. Were going to start here with General Spider Marks who is at the magic call to give us a sense of where things are geographically and where the fighting not only is, but may end up, general . I think it is important as this has resooflevolved, the fi taking place in the areas identified. Realize that there have been a number of evacuations, israelis have demanded that there be an evacuation of homes, clearly theyre other taking that taking place based on their own decisions or based on the level of fighting and where the israelis plan on conducting operations and they want to minimize casualties on thei israeli side. But what were seeing is this c conflict has completely grown and what were going to see over the course of time will be an incursion into gaza and different locations. Bear in mind, gaza is about 2 plus million people, about 130 square miles, Densely Populated and what hamas does is they colocate, and they connect their command and control structure with the civilian population. Sow buy a Cup Of Coffee here in the booth next year you have a command and control location. So targeting becomes very important. Israel knows how to target very precisely. I simply dont know how this escalated and i dont know the extent of the Restraint Israelis will have after going after these hamas targets. General, thank you very much for that. It is important to see the picture there of this very volatile and very small geographical region that were talking about. Lets go to that region. Cnns Nic Robertson is in sderot, israel and talking to israeli officials searching for civilian hostages. Reporter and theyre also searching around here for infiltrators as well. There was one man from gaza picked up in this town this morning. Others, a group of four hamas militants picked up in another town not far from here and in a couple of minutes here, as the show was coming on the air, there were incoming missiles from gaza. The iron dome system, Defense System kicked off. There were intercepts in the sky above us there and the thing about sderot, and this is something that everyone who lives here knows, when the siren goes off and the missiles are coming at sderot, it is a couple of seconds to take cover because the distance is so short. If that happens, well move. Lets hope were okay here for right now. But to the point of the hostages, one of the ideas Defense Spokesperson was here in sderot talking with me earlier today. He told me about the carnage in the town and told me about how just yesterday afternoon people were being pulled out of their town and taken across border there by hamas. And i said to him, how are you going to get these people back . He said, well do anything, this is how he explained it. What i could tell you is that were not going to stop until we exhaust every means possible of doing so. We will not leave any person behind. And we will do anything to make that happen. That is what has changed, nic, over the last 24 hours. Reporter so, right now i could hear a jet in the sky, ive seen a helicopter over here in the last 30 seconds or so. And were looking at a drone, that could still see up in the sky above me there. All of that military efforts is focused on making sure that that border fence is secure, that no one else from hamas is being in. Any across the border fence in israel proper are found and neutralized. Captured or killed. That is the operation here at the moment. And th and the dusk is falling and this is the time when wee see more Military Activity picking up and im hearing explosions in the background as well right now, dana. We could hear that jet flying overhead. I want to underscore one of the key poins that youre making here, which is, nic, that there is a belief that there are still Hamas Terrorists Inside Israel looking to harm or capture additional civilians as we speak. Reporter that is what the Israeli Defense force believes it is up against at the moment. Are they those who came across and laid low after yesterday morning, or are there others still trying to get through the fence in other places where israel isnt expecting it. I think this is why were seeing so much Drone Activity to get that intense overview. Weve seen several drones operating in the same area. But the concern is that hamas is still trying to get across the border to either capture or kill Israeli Citizens and try to create havoc, create more havoc and create that sense of vulnerability because that is what hamas did yesterday. They created a sense of vulnerability, in communities here today, who were hiding, barricaded inside with hamas outside trying to get in yesterday. That is a sense of vulnerability. A type of vulnerability people here havent felt before. Theyve known about the missiles and the rockets and the bombshell just literally, i could see the next one down the street here. Theyre all around. People here know to run to their for shelter. What theyve not been had any experience or real training for is what to do when hamas is banging on your front door with a weapon. That is the new that is the new fear and hamas is trying to build on that by trying to penetrate more even today. Terrifying. Which is why they are called terrorists. Thank you so much for that reporting, i appreciate it. I want to talk to an Emergency Worker in israel, rafael posh, who volunteers with united hissala. And we know the job that you have because of the reality of Terror Attacks Inside Israel is more common than certainly than it should be. So you deal with horrors that happen to civilians a lot. But nothing on this scale, im guessing, that youve seen in the last 24, 48 hours . Thank you for having me. Yeah, the scale is really the equation here. Weve faced Rocket Attacks and conflicts with gaza before. But Something Like this, the scale of what were seeing right now is not something that weve seen in about 50 years since the Yom Kippur War where there is a physical threat of enemy forces entering israeli territory and that is something that is new to us. For the past few generations, and weve all of our responders go through a lot of training. Especially with Mass Casualty Incident training which weve conducted over many years. But smsing this that is definitely new. Weve had a number of our First Responders come under attack. Earlier today one of our ambulances sustained fire while it was treating various injured people. Yesterday, one of our First Responders a rabbi in his Every Day Life in the city of sderot, was trying to reach a Police Officer to try and save his life after the Police Officer had been injured and he was shot. So there is really no deterrence against Hamas Terrorists from taking hame at First Responders as well. As a matter of fact, they seem to be doing it purposely. And we have a number of First Responders injured. Unfortunately, it is something that is really horrific to see on any time. But specifically in this instance. Even more so added to the Human Tragedy taking place across the country. And you talked about that this is not the kind of thing tha that israel has seen in almost 50 years to day since the attack on yom kippur in 1973. The difference between then and now, one of the many differences, is that was a big army, against an army largely and now civilians are being sought out and targeted and killed and kidnapped. When it comes to the civilians you are treating, you could talk about the kinds of injuries that you are seeing . Anything to everything. From Gunshot Wounds to stabbing wounds. People getting injured running for shelter. People being attacked physically in either by hand, or by blunt objects. A lot of times gunshots to various different parts of the bodych it is to prevalent. Weve treated, yesterday alone we treated about a thousand people. Today weve treated several hundred more. And it was so intense in such a small area, we ran out of supplies and we had to resupply because we used most of our reserve medical equipment was sent to south, both for our teams weve also been supplying the idf to an extent. From their medical units. Who with working hand in hand together with. And Staging Areas as most civilians and Military Personnel are being brought out of the conflict regions, were treating them and then med evacing them to hospitals for further care, either getting them out by ambulance or by helicopters. And the volunteers are working nonstop. People are doing, 18, 20hour shifts in order to provide as much medical coverage as possible. We set up a Medical Clinic a number of Medical Clinics down in the gaza periphery. Which are treating both civilians and Military Personnel who were injured and weve we are getting to the point where we are quickly running out of supplies well have to restock and that is taxing on the whole organization as a whole. Obviously, were pulling equipment and Bandagesond Gauze and tourniquets from other places in the country as needed but we need to resupply these as well. Because there is a whole home front that still needs our services. We respond to over 2,000 medical emergencies on a regular day throughout israel. So this is just on top of all of that. Well, on behalf of the world, thank you so much for what you do and for what everybody would works with you does. And we wish you you luck and good health and safety, of course. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for taking the time. And the israeli minister ron dermer will join us ahead. Plus, a lawmaker who is furious at his own party. Congressman mike lawler on how his colleagues he said are hurting americas response to israels crisis and what he thinks they need to do to fix it coming up. Welcome back to state of the union. As isreal formally declared war, i wan to bring in israeli minnist her of Strategic Affairs ron dermer. Thank you so much for joining me. Condolences probably dont even go as far as they could or should. But i wan to start with what is currently happening on the ground and the ongoing vfightin in the south of israel. Were heard fire being ex kchand in the north with hezbollah there and there are terrorists in your country. Who could you tell us about the Current Situation . Well we still have to make sure that all of the terrorists as you say within our borders are taken care of. There were a number of fronts and that is ongoing. Since this morning we also have an attack from the north as you mentioned from hezbollah. And were in a very, very tense moment right now. We had a horrific attack, which i know that cnn and others stations have been reporting on for the last 24 hours yesterday. We have many, many hundreds and the numbers dana will keep going up. Just want to understand that the American People to understand what happened yesterday. Were well north of 600 people. Who have been killed, it will probably be more hundreds, several hundreds more. Put that in american terms. Israel has a population of about 9 million people. America has a population of about 350 million people. It is about 40 times bigger than the israeli population. So when you lose a thousand people in israel in one day, it is like 40,000 americans being killed in one day. That is about 10 9 11s. That is what happened in israel yesterday. And the remember the feeling that i had, as somebody born and raised in america on 9 11, that is the exact feeling i had yesterday as a minister in the israeli government. The sense of shock and outrage, of utter disgust. I think that is what you see across israel. There is a difference, dana. Then your enemy was thousands of miles away. Had you to send your Troops Thousands of miles away to deal with that. And you didnt know exactly where they were. You were looking for them in caves and mountains in tora bora and other places, and now we know exactly where our enemy is and we have to take action to exact such a massive price for them that they, every Terror Organization in gaza and frankly every Terror Organization in the middle east and Around The World knows that this action is totally unacceptable and that every civil society, every civil sized society, not just free societies should stand with israel, i very appreciate that the Prime Minister is very appreciative of president bidens clear statement yesterday. I just came from a conversation that they had just a few minutes ago. His unequivocal support and weve heard unequivocal support from many leaders Around The World, and United States and we hope that support will stay just as strong in the day as head whether we have to do what we have to do in order to restore security and also to exact such a price from this Terror Organization that this rue the day. And the darkest period in its history. Im going to follow up on that and try to get what you mean and what this will look like. You talked, sir, but what you say are 600, more than 600 dead. What about the hostages . Lets start with israeli hostages. Do you know how many there are at this point on the other side of the border in gaza . We dont have the exact number. Because we dont know exactly how many dead people who we are not in touch with. I think that will take several more hours to figure out the exact numbers. But i think it scores of hostages. I could tell you there is also american hostages as par of the number as well. I dont want to get into a specific number. But these are women and children, they are elderly, they are holocaust survivors. This is sick. It is a savage attack and i would hope, i know that i didnt hear that coming from the United States, but i heard it from other countries around the worl is calls for deescalation. Imagine that other countries would tell the American People after 9 11, after ten 9 11s that they want deescalation. Israel will have to do whatever it has to do to restore security and make sure that no one will even think about doing Something Like this, a savage brutal attack, against civilization, every single country should stand with israel in these critical days. Because i have told you, ive been through rounds of this before, and im not accusing cnn of anything, and certainly not you of anything. But there have been times where the terrorists have used the media, when you see pictures of even the most effective terror action that we could take, we could target the terrorists but there will be civilian casualties and the terrorists are celebrating. Dont let this happen this time. We have to all of us, all of the civilized nation have to send a message to hamas that what they did yesterday is not going to pay. Theyre going to lose from what they did yesterday. And most important thing and i would ask for a call, i would ask for a call for every leader in the United States and elsewhere a clear and unequ unequivocal call to free the hostages. Free the hostages, full stop. Assuming that doesnt happen, my understanding and please correct me if im wrong is that israel has never attempted a Hostage Rescue Operation as complicated as this one would be. With untold number of israelis being held in gaza. Is a Military Operation to free them a realistic possibility . Well first of all, just you know, history and you know it very well, in july 4th, 1997, israel flew thousands of miles away and its soldiers, the Prime Minister lost his own brother who was leading that operation. In frame all of the terrorists in tenny. So i think the world knows and i think theyre going to know more about it in the day as head. I dont want to get into tactical decisions right now, were very aware of what were facing. I just will call on the world to make a clear and unequivocal statement to free the hostages. I just free the hostagesp we cannot allow this to happen. I was going to ask what you about what happened in 1976 because the Prime Minister brother was killed during that hostage mission, hostage rescue mission. You spent a lot of time with him. Im assuming that is going through his mind right now . Listen, the Prime Minister is our longest serving Prime Minister, about 16 years. Hes one of the longest Serving Prooims Prime Minister of the democratic world. And israel is in very good hands and very steady hands. Hes been very prudent throughout his history with the use of force. And he has to use the force that is necessary to achieve the objective. And the objective for us is we must cripple capacity of hamas and Terror Organizations in gaza, we also have to crush their spirit. They have to understand that this thing will not be accepted in the community of nations. We live in a very dangerous place. We are we could go from great strength to great vulnerability real quick. We have have to send a message to all of the Terror Organizations an the people thinking theyre going to destroy the state of israel that theyre not going to achieve their goal. And im plimploring the media t stand by israels side. When they are a victim, everybody could be unequivocal in their support and in a victor. We have to achieve victory. Minister, i want to ask a quick followup about something that you mentioned about americans. This is something that your ambassador to the u. N. Also said this morning. You could give any more information about not only american hostages, but americans killed . Unfortunately, i cant. We have a lot of dual citiszepp in israel. But were still trying to sort through all of this information after this hor rific surprise attack and well put that information out so that the loved ones of these people who were kill and who are held hostage, they know as quickly as possible. I want to ask you about something that im hearing from a fair number of people who are contacting me from Inside Israel. Friends and others. Who are asking why your government was not better prepared for this kind of attack . I mean, israelis, you pride yourselves on intelligence and the kind of preparations you need to be in such a dangerous neighborhood. Why didnt that happen in this case . Well, you know, there is going going to be a lot of questions that everybody will have to ask and their right to demand those answers. This is frankly is not the time. Were in a war. We have to fight it and we have to win it. And then there will be a time to go through all of these questions and to make sure that we learn the lessons of the past and we dont make those mistakes in the future. The other question is whether or not your government, the netanyahu government, was distracted because of the domestic fighting going on very, very public fights going on about the judiciary and others. No. I could tell you as a member of the security cabinet, we werent distracted. We have our eye on the ball. Our focus was mainly on iran and mind you hamass Military Budget, about 93 of it, those are the last numbers that i saw, came from iran. We are trying to achieve a historic breakthrough with saudi arabia, that you know about as well. That weve been actively engaged with the Biden Administration and trying to enact a deal with saudi arabia that will exchange the course of the is that still viable. I think it is viable. You know how it is viable, if israel wins. Because no one makes peace with the weak. They make peace with the strong. It is the strength that will bring our arab neighbors closer. Put aside everything they said in the initial statements that came out. Believe me these countries who are partners an who are forces for civilization would want to see israel win and defeat tease terrorists. I think it is a horrific day for us. A Strong Israel is gooder to them. A weak israel is bad for them. And i think one of the reasons that hamas does this action, not just in their just heinous effort to kill jews, there are a Terror Organization which is bad enough, it is committed toi israels destruction, they are committed to killing of jews and they would like to kill the saudi deal and their also trying to do everything they can to free all of the terrorists that israel holds in our prisons. That is what we would like to achieve and we have to ensure that they do not reach ore goals and i think that means to project jewish and to advance a historic peace with saudi arabia and to ensure that those terrorists rot in prib. While i have, i want to ask you a couple more questions. Frankly that im getting from citizens in israel. One is, where was the idf in these places in the south and one question was whether there were two concentrated in the west bank . Im not going to get into recriminations. I have faith and confidence in the people who are working day in and day out to defend israel. When a lot of stories are told, theyll see the bravery of many of the idf troops who rushed against hundreds of terrorists there and killed many of them and saved many lives. There were Police Officers who rushed in to this wave of terrorism, you probably saw the pikes of trucks, of these fighters that were going in and slaughtering whole communities. We have a dance, a festival where you had a thousand, 2,000 young people and a couple of hundred were murdered and were just mowed down. We have a scene where you have twothirds of the population, who were murdered. So our soldiers and our Police Officers and our citizens, many of them showed tremendous bravery and this is not the time to figurer point. This is the type to unite the country and to defeat our ene enemies, well have many, many opportunities to ask these questions. Understood. But right now i think the people of israel are united. There was another attack, a surprise attack on america. In pearl harbor. And you remember what fdr told the American People. That theyre going to see the Ri Righteous Might of the america. One last forwardlooking question. You talk of course just as american officials do, about how much iran supports supplies and backs hamas, the Hamas Terrorists who did these heinous acts and are currently doing these heinous acts, are strikes, are israeli strikes against iran on the table . Listen, iran is a country that is, as you know, is commit openly to israels destruction. The Prime Minister has made clear on many occasions he will do whatever he has to do to prevent that from regime from developing nuclear weapons. But iran is also the supporters a of hamas and i said 93 of the Military Budget comes from iran and theyre supporting hooezbolh in north and the houthis in yemen. Theyve stirred the pot and theyre doing their best to also just like hamas, to kill jews. And there are forces of piece and war. Hamas and iran are forces of israel and israel and i hope saudi arabia and others will ralry together and become forces of peace and maybe after this horrific day we could look forward to many days not only right now which are difficulty days but restoring victory and ultimately that victory will lead to peace. You menged that the Prime Minister has said many times that going after iran for its Nuclear Capabilities are on the table. Are you saying now that is also true to retaliate against iran for supporting hamas in this attack . May maybe even to prevent further attacks inside of israel . Well im not going to get into any of these decisions. We have to be prepared at all times, to defend ourselves against the threats we face. We face threats in the south and threats in our northern border with hezbollah and at any moment you could see an escalation there. We face threats in the west bank and iran is doing everything can it can to fill the areas with weap weapons and money in order to attack israel and as you know, we have a history of dealing with those dealing with ourenies who try to harm us and were continue those policies in future. That is all im prepared to say. Understood. Thank you so much for spending time and we want to reiterate our not just thought and prayers but disgust with what has happened with all of these civilians killed, torn from their homes and from their streets and taken hostage as well and we really appreciate you shedding light on what is happening there and what might happen to come. Thank you. Thank you. And here in the u. S. , republicans in congress are pledging their support for israel. But with the house lacking a speaker, how long could it take to push that support forward . Ill ask two republican lawmakers next. Cmon, were right there. Cmon baby. Its the only we need. Go, go, go, go ah Touchdown Baby touchdown are your neighbors watching the same game . Yeah, my 5g Home Internet delays the game a bit. But you get used to it. Try these. Theyre noise cancelling earmuffs. I stole them from an airport. Its always something with you, man. Great solid greek salad . Exactly dont delay the game with verizon or tmobile 5g Home Internet. Catch it on the xfinity 10g network. Welcome back to state of the union. Lets talk to a republican on the Senate Armed Service commits. Senator mark mullin of oklahoma. Thank you so much for joining me. Thanks toer having me on. And you have been briefed, you could let us in on what you have been told about the situation on the ground in israel . Right. We do expect it to get worse as the israelis go in and take back territory that hamas has taken. And is urn cannily in control of in. We expect the numbers to rise. As you know, youve been told this, we know over 600 deaths. We expect that number to rise. We know there are over 2,000 wounded. We cant get an if accurate number on the am sets, the americans, how many are held hostage. We know there are over 100 confirmed hostages that hamas is currently holding. We do know there is going to be some americans that ahave been killed and we dont know what that number is yet. And were trying to work with the israeli army trying to figure out how we could assist to make sure we get our am sets out from the hostage situation. One thing i do wan to talk about is this is that we partnered with israel to make sure theyre protected from terrorist activities like this that hamas is sponsor by iran and we do that by having several Defense Systems put in, including davids sling and then the iron dome. We know that there was over 5,000 rockets that were fired and so far the report is that the iron dome intercepted 90 of them. So you could imagine the carnage that could have took place if we wouldnt partnered with the strong ally, with israel, this number would be even more catastrophic than what it really is. I want to clarify something that you just said. You said that your understanding based on the briefing that youve gotten, there are about 100 civilian hostages or just hostages in general . Yes. Youre talking about total . Not americans . Yes. No, yes, maam. Im talking about total. We cant get an accurate number on the am sets that are held hostage. We do believe there are some that are caught up in that. Just the same thing that we cant get the accurate number of how many have been killed by this terrorist activity. What are you hearing about any signs, signals, that maybe this was coming from intelligence in israel and in the u. S. . Well, as of right now, we havent really gotten briefed that this scale of an attack was happening. We knew that the alliance between russia and with iran an with north korea and with china was wanting to focus on our strong allies. And what i mean is that you have china that is taking a strong look at taiwan, where weve said multiple times that were going to stand with. You see north korea supplying weapons to iran that supply weapons to terrorist activityive groups just like hamas and to russia, which obviously is attacking our friend and our friends in ukraine. And theyre trying to figure out the resolve of the United States. Because of our disastrous withdrawal from afghanistan, theyre testing it. And reagan said peace through strength unfortunately through the Biden Administration we havent seen that. And so theyre wanting to see are we going to stand with our allies. You see in ukraine where we have the budapest memorandum from 1994 that said if ukraine were to give up their nuclear weapons, we could stand with them in case they were invaded by russia. And right now theyre seeing if we are going to stand with their allies. And you see them ak tha Attacg Israel and they are funding this through hamas and theyre wanting to say are we going to stand with our allies and were seeing some that are saying that we need to deescalate. None of us would be looking to deescalate if they were to attack l. A. , if we tor attack new york again, if they were to attack miami or washington, d. C. We would be doing the exact same thing that israel is doing right now so the last thing we should be saying is deescalate. So what were seeing is through the Intelligence Committee is we know theres would going to be a coordinated effort to test our resolve. We had no idea it would be to this magnitude. Understood. The u. S. Is currently without an ambassador to israel. President biden nominated jack lu to the role. That happened back in september. Considering what you are talking about, the crisis happening there, democrats want to move this nomination very quickly an confirm him. Will you support that . Well, i havent talked to him personally yet. I do feel like before im ever will nominate anybody, i wan to have a personal conversation. I was in israel a few weeks ago with my whole family. We sat down and spoke with the dcm and the team that is on on ground. They have a very good grasp on what going on. A very dedicated to the to the partnership we have this israel. And the United States. So i dont feel like having a political appointed ambassador is causing us any negative results or any slowdown on the response that we have here. This situation is unfolding as the House Of Representatives, where you served, before this the senate, is completely paralyzed. Right. And it is going to be that way until the House Selects A new speaker. How critical is it that that happens immediately . Well, dana, first of all, this should never have happened. We should never have allowed eight republicans to join 208 democrats to oust the republican speaker for no other reason than to just a vendetta toward him. Second of all, it has completely stopped the ability for the house to do their work. We could no longer continue the investigation into hunter biden or the Impeachment Inquiry or even get started with the funding until we get another speaker elected. That is the utmost important thing to take place right now. And i really do hope that the house could come together. I think it is going to be very difficult, even though we have two candidates out there, Steve Scalise and jim jordan who is who is running for the speakership. Well see if they could get the 218 on the floor. There is a lot hard feelings that took place with mccarthy and a lot of us feel like he should still be in place. Mccarthy is a very dear friend of mind and what happened shouldnt have taken place. But if it is, then lets move forward and get this country back on track so we could make sure that we could show a true bond between america and our allies. Republican senator Markwayne Mullin of oklahoma, thank you so much for joining me. Appreciate it. Dana, thank you for having me on. Much more on the terror on the ground in israel and the chaos here at home in the u. S. Congress when we come back. Welcome back to state of the union. Israel at war. My next guest is venting his frustration at hardliners saying theyre idiotic and telling them to stop screwing around. Here with me now is Congressman Mike Lawler of new york, he represents one of the heavily jewish districts in all of the United States. Let me start there, congressman. Are you in touch with your constituents . Obviously, youre hearing from them, but any that are specifically in israel who are in trouble . Well, we have been in touch with dozens of constituents who are in israel currently. You know, for their safety and security im not going to get too specific, but we are working with them as well as the consulate to try and get them out as quickly as possible given the situation on the ground. You know, we want to make sure that all of our resident here in the 17th District at home is as quickly as possible. Congressman, you tweeted that the fact that this is happening while the u. S. House is without a speaker is an unmitigated shit show and personal grievances and petty politics are destructive to our nation and the stability of our government. Is the paralysis in the house undercutting americas ability to respond to this crisis . Any time you have chaos and dysfunction its never good for the American People, but given the situation in the middle east with one of our closest allies in the world it is critical that we bring this to a close expeditiously. I believe very strongly that Kevin Mccarthy is the right person to lead the house and so i think it is imperative, frankly, that this nonsense stop, that Kevin Mccarthy be reinstate as speaker and that we get about the business of the American People. I think this has been a terrible episode in the history of our politics and our government. I think it is the single most destructive thing ive ever seen someone do and it needs to come to a close quickly. Is that realistic to get Kevin Mccarthy back in the speakers chair . I can tell you in my conversations with many of my colleagues that sentiment is growing. People are extremely angry and frustrated by what happened, and i think its incumbent upon everybody in the House Of Representatives, republicans and democrats to understand that events can change at a moments notice, and we cannot be paralyzed as a house. We need to act swiftly including increasing funding for the iron dome to help our strongest ally in the middle east. This is this is a critical juncture and much like the Yom Kippur War of 50 years ago, we need to make sure that all of the resources and equipment necessary to defend themselves, to protect themselves and protect the israeli people. I can just follow up . Because the majority of House Republicans didnt want to get rid of Kevin Mccarthy in the first place and i dont need to tell you that. You need to convince half of the eight republicans who voted last week to oust mccarthy are those really convincing . I dont know where they stand at this point. Theyve proven themselves to be unwilling to work as a team. Lets remind everybody. It took 208 democrats to join with those eight republicans to remove a duly elected speaker. I think it is incumbent upon everybody given the circumstances, given the circumstances that its not time to play games and its not time to seek political advantage. Its time to do right by the American People and by our allies Around The World. Yeah. Any time you have chaos and dysfunction it is destructive and destabilizing. The situation in the middle east right now, given the situation in ukraine and challenges around the globe and not having a House Speaker is a major crisis. No question about that, but lets be clear, democrats didnt make the move to oust him and it was fellow democrats. No question, matt gaetz led that effort. Matt gaetz led that effort, but lets be clear, you needed to get Tote Requisite number and 208 democrats voted to do that. They cant wash their hands of this and say they had no role in it. Would you have voted to keep a democratic speaker in . If there was a situation parallel to this where you had 4 of the Republican Caucus seeking to remove a duly elected speaker with no basis in reality or grounds for doing so, then i would have done what was right by the country. Absolutely. I want to ask, assuming that your call for Kevin Mccarthy to be reinstate as speaker does not happen. I want you to listen to what your former fellow congressman liz cheney has said about the possibility of republicans making jim jordan the Speaker Of The House. Jim jordan knew more about what donald trump had planned for january 6th than any other member of the House Of Representatives. If the republicans decide that jim jordan should be the Speaker Of The House there would no longer be any possible way to argue that a group of elected republicans could be counted on to defend the constitution. What do you say to that and is there any world in which you can support jim jordan for speaker . Look, as i just said, i think Kevin Mccarthy should be reinstated as speaker. Obviously, this is something thats going to have to be discussed within the conference. Were coming back tomorrow for these conversations to begin about what happened last week as well as the path forward. I have made it abundantly clear to any of the prospective candidates that what is imperative to me is that we have an open and honest discussion about what happened, what the consequences of that are, what Accountability Looks like for those eight individuals that torpedoed the House Republican majority and undermined the conference and frankly, the country, and the institution of the House Of Representatives and how they intend to govern with a 221seat majority. You are open to jim jordan . Thats not what i said. Any of these prospective candidates will have to answer questions and theyll have to explain how they are going to govern in a 221seat majority. Ultimately, its going to take 218 republicans to support whoever the next speaker candidate is, and to me and a growing sentiment within the conference the only person capable of doing that is Kevin Mccarthy, and so that is where i am and obviously, you know, any of these folks seeking this spot are going to have to explain how they are going to govern and do so expeditiously. Before i let you go, i want to ask you about a conversation i had earlier in the day on this program with the democratic leader Hakeem Jefferies about what youre discussing. Democrats and republicans working together to elect a speaker and Work Together following that in a bipartisan way. Is that something that you can see yourself doing . Listen, ive been one of the most bipartisan members of congress. If anybody looks at my Voting Record it puts me squarely in the middle. I have worked tirelessly with my colleagues, folks like Josh Gottheimer on Critical Issues including on the state of israel. I think leader jefferies, frankly, its a little hypocritical for him to be out there talking about bipartisanship. He has proven himself not to be interested in that. He and the democrats have funded Million Dollar ad campaigns attacking folks like me in the leadup to any potential shutdown knowing full well and it is a record very clearly opposing the record and working tirelessly to avoid one. The reality is the American People elected a House Republican majority to govern as a check and balance on the biden agenda. The reckless spending, 5 trillion in new spending in two years. Our porous southern border have you have millions of migrants crossing over in just two and a half years, 6 million, in fact. The democratic policies have failed and voters do not want oneparty rule. Yes, we need to vote in a bipartisan way, but if any of my colleagues think this will end with Hakeem Jefferies bein