us from california. are you hearing anything about how this meeting went, the meeting started obviously with reasonably optimistic statements and smiles by both leaders. >> reporter: it did. it felt like it started on a positive tone, jack. i'm a bit surprised that it went just a little over two hours as i look at the clock, wrapped up around 1:35 local time. we all saw that long list of issues between the two countries, and you expected it to go over the four hours allotted. they are still together. it's moved on now to a second portion of this, and that's essentially a working lunch. so they will dine together and continue discussions. you mentioned that optimistic tone starting things off. we expected that from joe biden. there's a bit more transparency on the u.s. side going into this. they wanted to cool those tensions. it's another issue off his plate. if he can stabilize things between the u.s. and china. but what surprised me is president xi in his opening remarks, he spoke a little bit longer than joe biden. here's a little of what they had to say. >> we have to ensure that competition does not veer into conflict. and we also have to manage competition responsibly. >> translator: it is an objective fact that china and the united states are different in history, culture, social system, and development power. however, as long as they respect each other, co-exist in peace and pursue cooperation, we will be fully capable of rising above differencing. >> reporter: president xi went on to say that the u.s. and china have a 50-year plus relationship. it's not always been smooth sailing. there have been twist and turns and the key is it has continued to move forward. kind words but we'll see if substance follows. >> how is president xi's viz it to the u.s. playing in china? >> reporter: this has really surprised me, jake. the three years that i lived there, of course, it was around the time of the pandemic, as well. but the portrayal of the u.s. from state media in china was rarely positive. what we have seen in the past 24 hours are glowing headlines and remarks cherishing people to people exchanges between the u.s. and china, revisiting president xi's past trips in an almost romanticizing way and seemingly hopeful. we know it's heavy controlled by the krvsccp, so it's an indicat of the sentiment of the leadership, but the one headline says that flying across the pacific and feeling the warm exchange between china and the united states, those are not words that you see very often in what is normally a very combative tone for the state media there. what is is ahead for president biden after this meeting? >> reporter: so the other main event is the venue where i'm standing at. you have 21 asian pacific economies coming together to discuss many regional issues. u.s./china is huge in all of that. those economies are looking at this relationship and trying to figure out how that will shake out and trickle down to impact them. so they're very much clued in as to what's happening at this summit. and then the president will meet with the president of mexico. and that's expected on friday. topics there, jake, immigration and fentanyl. >> david, thanks so much. joe biden is scheduled to answer reporters questions about today's meeting at 7:30 p.m. eastern. cnn will, of course, provide live coverage. with us now to discuss the chairman and ranking democrat of the house select committee, republican congressman mike gallagher of wisconsin and congressman from illinois. i'm curious as to what both of you want or are looking for out of today's meeting between presidents biden and xi. if you could respond. >> i think the best thing that's correct come out of this is potentially the reestablishment of a crisis communication channel. think a military-to-military phone that exists to minimize a mess communication or to deal with an accident al collision. that by itself would not be sufficient to avoid a war. but it could be constructive. the worst case scenario is if we relieved sanctions in return for a promise of future cooperation. time and again we have seen what the ccp, we pay cash up front and their check is in the mail. >> i think that i would echo the sentiment about reopening a military-to-military communications channel and i would like to see progress with regard to reducing fentanyl precursors coming out of china, going into mexico and flooding or country through the cartel. i think that the ccp could control that a lot better and reduce that flow of fentanyl ultimately reaching our country. >> so you're also here to release details of an investigation by your committee in brief last december, a local official in the small town of reedly in central california warning some of this is graphic, that officials stumbled on a clandestine lab in what was supposed to be a vacant warehouse, konltscontaining tho of vials. labels were said in mandarin and in code that they contain infectious pathogens, including the aids virus, covid, and the deadliest form of malaria. one freezer was labeled ebola. the lack of response from the u.s. government seems alarming. chairman gallagher, what's going on? >> well, were it not for the work of local officials who saw essentially a pipe coming out of the building that didn't belong, we may not have discovered this. when they tried to contact the cdc and in some cases they were hung up on. so i think what this investigation has revealed is that we don't have in place adequate trip wires to detect and prevent biolabs like this from being established. in many cases, you're able to buy these pathogens and some of this material online. that's unacceptable. the individual in question was a criminal with a long criminal record with dubious ties to the prc. this was a massive problem, and we're hope thing will spur productive legislative action to prevent this from happening again. >> the lab was owned by a chinese fugitive from canada. he entered the u.s. illegally. he was getting payments from chinese banks. he was arrested last month for reselling counterfeit medical testing kits. congressman, do we think -- do you think that the chinese government knew what he was doing? do we have any idea what exactly he was doing? >> no, we haven't seen evidence of that. however, i would go back to two things that mike pointed out. one is, anybody, whether it's a fugitive or a fraudster, whether it's a domestic terrorist can purchase dangerous pathogens online without little vetting, if any vetting at all. you need an identification, a driver's lie sense to get sudafed in a pharmacy, but you don't need that to get ebola online. we need to equip the cdc and other agencies with the tools to proactively prevent this type of situation from arising in the first place. >> so what should happen now, do you think? >> right now, we're holding a quasi-hearing on the event. we're hoping out of this conversation comes an agenda for bipartisan steps that we can take in congress to prevent this. the committee will be turning to this issue of synthetic biotechnology in general and the competition and that cutting edge technology with the ccp. i think our intelligence community needs to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the connections between prc nationals, businesses, united front work department organizations. it can be very complicated to unpack that at times. i'm not convinced we have the expertise to understand what's happening right here in america. >> one thing i'm really glad about is we were able to establish facts in this report, and dispel some of the really horrible conspiracy theorys that are out there, that this was some kind of asian virus lab. we've got to stop that kind of talk and rhetoric and just talk about the facts. >> it's great to see bipartisanship, and evidence-based work. so kudos to both of you, and thanks for coming on and for the work you do. coming up, the decision today that defies joe biden's wish. new hampshire bucking biden, keeping him off the state's primary ballot. what could this mean for the 2024 race? biden needs to win new hampshire to become the president again. stay with us. our 2024 lead, cue the music. ♪ ♪ yes! seriously, other than dave matthews, the best sounds i've ever heard. new hampshire announced the state will hold its primary january 23rd, one week after the iowa republican caucuses on january 15 thd, and a week before the south carolina democratic primary on february 3rd. under state law, new hampshire must hold its primary at least one week before any other state primary. however, this puts the state at odds with the new plan proposed by the democratic party, and backed by joe biden who loves south carolina. they called for south carolina to hold the party's first primary. the move from new hampshire today will likely cost the state of new hampshire delegates at the democratic convention next summer. with us now to discuss, congressman joe walsh from illinois, and kate benningfield. kate, i know it's only four electoral votes. but, you know, it often is very close, and often the democrats are relying on those four electoral votes. biden won them, hillary won them, obama won them. are you ready to just like toss aside those four electoral votes because joe biden just decided to change it all because he likes south carolina better? >> well, let's be clear. what biden's team was doing is trying to lift diversity in the primary process. >> he lost new hampshire and he won south carolina. that's what happened. >> but new hampshire is a very very diverse state. so this is about trying to bring in voters of color into the process earlier, who ultimately wind up deciding who the nominee is. look, i think at the end of the day, i'm not sure if this will have an impact. you saw the chair of the democratic party in new hampshire come out and say biden will still win new hampshire, likely through a write-in campaign. at the end of the day, again, what the biden team has done is just further embolden diverse voters in the process. that's a good thing. the general election, to your point, is it going to be close? yes, it is. the biden campaign is going to be in every state. but i don't think that these moves are going to ultimately be the thing that determines who wins the presidency next november. >> i want to get your reaction, but the biden campaign is not going to be fighting every state. one state you're not going to win -- south carolina. go ahead. >> turn it into an opportunity. the biden campaign needs a shot in the arm, an active write-in campaign. i agree with kate. i think it would be fun and a story if he won new hampshire via the write-in. do it! >> absolutely. i think it's possible. i think at the end of the day, voters in new hampshire are broadly supportive of the biden agenda. leadership in new hampshire is frustrated about the movement of the primary. that's a different beast than voters coming out to say i would rather joe biden be president than donald trump. >> what are you going to do if congressman dean phillips wins the primary in new hampshire? >> we move on to the next primary where joe biden will win. at the end of the day, if dean phillips wins, as you laid out at the top, he's not going to get delegates out of this, even if he does win in new hampshire. but i think the biden campaign feels good about the write-in. you saw the chair of the democratic party in new hampshire today say joe biden will still win new hampshire via write-in. >> listen to what joe manchin said if he would consider a third party run. >> are you considering running for president? >> i will do anything i can to help my country. >> is that a yes? >> does that mean you would consider it? absolutely. >>absolutely, he says. >> it makes no sense. he said absolutely donald trump getting re-elected scares him to death. so that makes no sense. if you are scared to death of a trump presidency, you have to do whatever you can to support the democratic nominee. i'm so tired of this cutesy game joe manchin is playing, and i wish the media would call him on it. >> i haven't interviewed him lately. >> i can't wait till you do. >> katelyn collins is interviewing him tonight. >> joe manchin is in the wooing phase, the phase of this where he's being told by people that maybe there's a space for him. >> maybe there is. >> maybe he can -- >> maybe there is. both biden and trump are unpopular. most people in the country don't want easter one. >> fine. but let's look at the gop primary as a test case here. across the board, donald trump is running away with the republican primary. so the idea that there is an appetite amongst republicans for a more moderate voice that joe manchin is going to be able to provide that nikki haley, a registered republican, isn't providing doesn't make a lot of sense. we're not seeing that. >> look, in 2024, the next president is going to be the democratic nominee or the republican nominee, that's it. joe manchin knows that. so if he really is that scared of donald trump, he's got to quit play thing game. >> why is it that so many voters complained about the choices, but then there has never been a successful third party run, ever? even like teddy roosevelt, one of the greatest presidents we ever had, didn't have a successful third party run. >> because both political parties have made it damn impossible almost to do it, state by state. >> and it's expensive to run for president. for the major parties, they're building that infrastructure and raising that monmoney. it is difficult to build that infrastructure without the money. >> ross perot. >> the rock could win as an independent. it would have to be somebody huge like that. >> speaking of the rock, there was some really ugly fighting going on, and threats of fighting. kevin mccarthy denies it, but kevin mccarthy doesn't always tell the truth, as i think is a fair statement. you can start with the 2020 election and it's only a two-hour show, so i can't go into every lie kevin mccarthy has told. but apparently he hit congressman burchett in the kidneys. and senator mullen called out and wanted to fight a union president. here's what senator mullen had to say about it today. >> the first thing i thought of, i'm going to break my hand on his face. when you're fighting, you learn how to punch correctly, you shouldn't break your hand. >> you thought you were going to come to blows? >> i had full intentions of doing that. >> we should know he's an mvshgs -- mma fighter. what is going on with your party? they're hitting each other or threatening to hit each other. and he's fund-raising off of it. i enjoy watching a fight in a ring, you know. but what is this? >> jake, they promised us if they took over the house they would give us two years of chaos and dysfunction and they're doing it. it's not a surprise they're filgtdi fighting with each other now. this is trump's party and they try to emulate them. it's ugly. >> my first question is, are men too emotional to lead? look, i agree completely with joe. this is trump's party. this is -- if you're the average voter and looking to what you have seen in washington over the last few weeks, you have seen chaos in the speaker's race and threats of a shutdown, you have seen inability to work together. now you're seeing members of congress threatening to come to blows on the floor. kidney punches in the hallway. >> jake, we laugh. i think it will get worse, i really do. i think publicly we'll see them go at each other. >> the normalization of violence has been going on and it's happening. really ugly. thanks both of you. thank you for not elbowing me in the kidneys. i know you wanted to. >> the show is not over yet. coming up, the war with israel-hamas and ugly speech from the netanyahu government that is not helping matt ergs. stay with us. nice footwork. man, you're lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. now you can stream all your games like it's nothing. yes! [ cheers ] yeah! woho! running up and down that field looks tough. it's a pitch. get way more into what you're into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. new video today appear toss show israel's targeted raid inside gaza's largest hospital. you can see medics still inside al-shifa hospital evacuating patients as dusk surrounds them. israel calls this a precise and targeted operation looking for hamas, possibly hiding in tunnels under the hospital complex. the idf claims to show where hamas terrorists hid and stashed weapons. this is video released by the israeli military. we can't verify the contempcont. al-shifa officials have not commented. conditions in this hospital are horrendous. they are running out of fuel and supplies, not to mention there are reports of being interrogated by the idf. given the risk to civilian safety, israel is under pressure to show proof whether there has been indication of terrorists or hostages held there. earlier this week, i asked the former deputy director of national intelligence in the u.s., beth saner, what she thought joe biden could be doing differently regarding israel. >> i think that one of the things we can certainly do is lay down very, very firmly what israel cannot do in the west bank, because that is the thing that's going to blow up in our faces. that makes a two-state solution impossible. >> her point is important. because with the world focused on gaza, key members of the netanyahu cabinet, the coalition government that he formed, key members of that cabinet are throwing fire on the flames in the west bank. and in israel. in the israeli newspaper on monday of this week, two of the members of the netanyahu cabinet were called out for taking advantage of the hamas attacks. taking advantage and using the attacks to advance their racist, anti-arab agenda. let's start in the west bank, as she suggested we should, with israeli finance minister. he is a hateful anti-arab bigot. a far-right politician in the netanyahu coalition with broad powers over civilian issues in the west bank. they report since october 7th, more than 170 palestinians have been killed in clashes with israelis across the west bank. now, way back in 2005, when israel was withdrawing from gaza, he was arrested by the israeli security services. he was arrested under suspicion of planning trierrorist attacks. he was held for three weeking. he was suspected of planning to block major public roads and damage infrastructure according to a major israeli newspaper. in 2019, the former deputy head called him a "jewish terrorist." that's according to israel's channel 13. he denies those claims and stated he was proud of his role in opposing israel's expulsion from gaza, noting that he was freed without any charges being filed against him according to a report from the "times of israel." monday of this week, he "seized the disaster that has befallen the country as an opportunity to plunder the west bank. the settlers, who share his mess janik ideology, have begun to carry out their planning the purge the area of its palestinian population. " as with this seencene you see extremists harassing palestinians, wreaking havoc in the west bank. and then there is the minister of national security. "immediately upon hearing of the criminal hamas attacks, he was calling for a sequel to the 2021 arab riots to devour what is left of israeli democracy. this includes armed militias wandering the streets of tel aviv, and the thought police, hard at work, arresting civics teacher for posts on facebook opposing the israeli's army operations in gaza and for showing compassion for palestinian suffering. of course, his first targets, he writes, israel's arab citizens who have been harassed, indicted, and arrested. "not only is the blood of humans being spilled, so is the blood of israeli democracy or what is left of it. around it, a crazed band is dancing joyfully. he has declared war on the arab community and not a single word of criticism has been uttered by the israeli main stream against this shameful spectacle. ". >> yesterday, he posted this video how hamas trift terrorist receiving the most stringent conditioning, toilets in a hole in the floor, iron beds. to which an israeli citizen tweeted to the minister, "i'm begging, my cousin is now in the hands of hamas. your words about the dark dun dungeon, humiliation, put her in real danger. your every tweet is a match that burns the heards of our families. i'm begging you, there are israelis there are whose life and death are in the hands of your tongue. please stop." but thinking about such things does not really seem to be his way. he is an openly racist, anti-arab member of a far, far, far-right party that netanyahu joined with to form his coalition. his views, we should note, are no surprise. until 2020, he had a portrait in his home of baruch goldstein. baruch goldstein is a jewish terrorist who murdered 29 palestinian worshipes in the 1994 cave of the patriarchs massacre. in 2015. he attended a "wedding of hate" in the west bank. at this wedding, the murder of palestinians was celebrated, including the murder of a palestinian infant. it's sick. now, in january, it seems like 100 years ago, but only ten months ago, i asked prime minister netanyahu about these two anti-arab racists, these extremists in his government. you have appointed some individuals, controversial figures, not part of your party, including ultranationalists. >> they joined the likud, i didn't join them. i have a direct policy, i have my two handing on the wheel. and believe me, it's going to be a good direction. >> he just called himself a fascist hohomephobe. he tried to stage an event when the gaza pullout was going on. and the other day he was saying that he was putting out these horrible conspiracy theories about the assassination of rabin. these seem like rather extreme individuals. >> well, a lot of people say a l lot of things when they are not in power and temper themselves when they are in power. look, i'm controlling the government and i'm responsible for its policies and the policies are sensible and responsible and will continue to be that. >> they didn't temper themselves once they got into power. they didn't. and if netanyahu's hands are on the wheel, the question for netanyahu is, does he stand by the extremism of these two cabinet ministers? because it's not just the presence of these two in the israeli government, it is the policies that they are enforcing in the west bank and in israel that are clearly inconsistent with the image israel is portraying to the western world at this crucial moment in israel's existence that needs to be challenged. coming up next, i'm going talk with the parents of an american man kidnapped and being held prisoner and hostage by the teterrorists o of hamas. the grandson of holocaust survivor grew up on long island, he was in israel and joined the israel defense forces. he was serving as a tank commander when hamas attacked on october 7th. his parents were notified days later that their son had been taken hostage. yesterday, they spoke if front of thousands in front of the u.s. capitol 20 plead for his release. >> there is power in showing him the same love and compassion he has spent his young life showing everyone he meets. we just use the power we have to bring all of the hostages home now! [ cheers and applause ] >> bring them home! bring them home! >> and omar's parents join me now. thank you both for being here. i'm sorry it's under such horrible circumstances. first, i just want to note that the -- omar is the descendant of holocaust survivors and related to people who perished in the holocaust. >> uh-huh >> that's right. >> which i'm just wondering, that connective tissue between that horror and this horror, and thank god he's alive, but the deadliest day for jews since the holocaust. if you think about that at all? >> of course we do. i mean, omar's decision to be a protector of israel and join the idf stems a lot from his understanding of the -- that it's necessary to have a strong jewish state. his grandparents on both sides were survivors of the holocaust and luckily made their way to israel and were the founders of the country. >> omar was born in new york city, grew up on long island. but he always had the sense of this dual citizenship, belonging and the knowledge that a lot of his family are in israel, and they're all representing generations that have the independence of israel on their mind as a key factor for the jewish people. >> people think about this is ancient history. your grandmother, she lost nine of her brothers and cyssisters, killed in the holocaust. yesterday, joe biden was asked if he had a message for families. he said, hang on, we're coming. you've been waiting now for 40 days. anything you would say to joe biden if you could? >> we definitely see his leadership. we definitely see his commitment and this administration. we would like to see our kid and the rest of the hostages come back. we know that the u.s. government has an obligation to bring the american hostages back. we want to see it. >> for people who can't understand what you're going through, and i don't think anybody can except for people who have had loved ones as hostages, what is it like? especially not knowing? >> we're trying to be patient, but it's been excruciating and exhausting. we don't know anything. it's been 40 days. we don't know whether they're alive. we don't know if they're alive and what conditions they're being kept. if they're being tortured. it's hard to describe. >> and you last spoke to your son the night before october 7th. how did he sound that night? >> he sounded very relaxed. it was the end of a stretch of the jewish holidays, and they were working really hard to protect the border. there had been a lot of riots on the border, and things throughout the holidays. and in the two days preceding the events, it was kind of quiet. this was a friday night, so it was shabbat in israel, and we spoke to him seven hours behind, new york time. and he sounded pretty relaxed and said i'm looking forward to a quiet weekend. >> as we were going to sleep, we started to see missiles going by on red alert on our phones. >> you have the app? >> we were looking at the newspaper just before we go to sleep, and we see there is a ground invasion. that's not something that happens. we knew that our son is there. immediately i called him, hey, omar, are you okay? but we never heard back. >> he didn't answer. he didn't answer to our texts. of course, we didn't sleep that night. as the hours went by, we realized that something really bad was happening, because he's usually very responsive. >> what would you like people to know about omar? >> well, omar wash born in new york city. i was nine months pregnant with him on 9/11, so he just recently celebrated his 22nd birthday in captivity. he's a fit guy, always a big smile. you know, happy and with a good sense of humor. kind of naturally people attract to him. you know, they listen to him. he's always taking the extra step. he loves sports. so he not only is a good athlete, but he wants to be the captain of the sports team. he was very involved in his youth group, and grew to be the regional president of new york area. and, you know, we're getting a million messages from people that were -- that knew him, that were impacted by him and how inclusive he was, and he made sure that everyone felt they had a place and that they were seen in all the events and all that. he's a really good guy. >> like any american kid, he's interested in the nba, the nfl, hip-hop music. he knows all the stats. we would always say, why do you care so much? he would say, i love it. he needs to know the numbers. >> we're going to keep covering the hostages. we're going to keep covering it and making sure that the american people -- >> we have to tell their stories. 40 days, it can take time, we understand. but we need them back. >> we're going to keep focusing on it and keep praying for omar. thank you for being here. appreciate it. >> thank you. we'll be right back. . . in order for small businesses to thrive, they need to be smart, efficient, savvy. making the most of every opportunity. that's why comcast business is introducing the small business bonus. for a limited time you can get up to a $1000 prepaid card with qualifying internet. yep, $1000. so switch to business internet from the company with the largest fastest reliable network and that powers more businesses than anyone else. learn how you can get $1000 back for your business today. comcast business. powering possibilities. . in our national lead, crossing illegally in texas from mexico could become a state crime. a bill that texas governor greg abbott, a republican, is expected to sipe would give law enforcement in texas the power to arrest and order migrants to leave the united states. a related bill devotes more than $1 billion to build a border law which according to state lawmakers would largely be paid for by the taxpayers of texas there. cnn's rosa flores is in houston. there are questions about the constitutionality of this ledgetation. is is it constitutional? >> 30 judges, 30 former immigration judges issued a statement saying that this bill is unconstitutional because immigration is a federal power, and these former judges point to a specific portion of this bill that gives the power to state judges to issue orders to remove individuals from the state of texas. that's a really fancy way of saying giving them the power of deportation, to deport individuals. now there's a real concern that this bill will lead to the racial profiling of latinos in the state of texas. latinos make up 40% of the population of this state, and there's a real concern because this bill gives all law enforcement, including local law enforcement, the ability, the power to enforce this bill which gives them the power to arrest. now, this was one of the issues that was discussed heavily during debate for this bill. i want to take you inside the texas house. take a listen. >> let's say mary and i are walking together near the border, are they going to look at her skin color versus mine and make a determination surely she needs to be investigated for potentially crossing? >> well, i think -- i think clearly the officers are going to make a -- >> this is not funny because my wife is hispanic, and there is a difference when i am driving a car, i see an officer and i wave. there is a difference for people. chairman wally said it. we don't live in their skin. >> and jake, the author of the bill maintains that this will not lead to racial profiling in the state of texas. as you know, governor abbott is expected to sign this bill. >> how much would this cost taxpayers in texas? >> that's a great question, jake, because i listened to hours of testimony, both on the house floor and the senate floor and the house and senate committees, and that question was asked over and over of the author of this bill and multiple version of this bill, and they couldn't answer the question because the state of texas right now, lawmakers, the author of this bill, doesn't know -- doesn't have an estimation of the number of individuals who would be arrested under this bill. now there are several layers to the cost here. counties, county governments are very concerned about the cost of this bill because, as you know, they ran jails, and they are worried about their already packed jails, and jake, you know that due process doesn't take just jails. they need judges. they need translators and other personnel within the justice system, and they are very worried, including counting governments, that this is going to be very expensive for the texas taxpayer. >> rosa flores in houston, thank you. coming up in 90 minutes, a news conference with president biden right after his meeting today with chinese president xi jinping where the white house said they discussed areas of difference. keep it here on cnn for coverage.. we'll bebe right bacack after t quicick break. . in hour money lead, attention shoppers. something to be thankful for this year, thanksgiving should be a bit cheaper, and you have the turkeys to thank for that. you could grab a whole bird for less than 30 bucks this year, down 5.6% from last year. unfortunately, things are still not as cheap as they were before the pandemic, but at least some repreefrks according to the usd a. thanksgiving discounts could make some prices even lower. our coverage continues now with one mr. wolf blitzer in "the situation room." i will see you tomorrow. have a good night. >> happening now, the israeli military says it uncovered hamas weapons and a command center inside gaza's largest hospital