and right now on andrea mitchell reports, outrage in israel after three of their hostages are killed by israel s own troops even though the hostages had made white flags, had sos messages with leftover food on the walls and the troops have been told to withhold fire. large crowds in israel this weekend protesting outside the military compound demanding that hostage talks resume. the cia director in europe with israeli and qatari officials for secret talks to get those negotiations going while defense secretary austin arrived in israel today as the administration is increasingly frustrated with prime minister netanyahu including failure to stop violence against palestinians in the west bank. attacks by extremist settlers against palestinians in the west bank must stop and those committing the violence must be held accountable. plus, congressional overtime. senate immigration talks to unlock millions in aid to israel and ukraine running out of time to get a bill passe
good morning. welcome to morning joe. it is tuesday, may 16th. ahead this hour, the latest developments from ukraine following new russian missile attacks overnight. the strikes come as the ukrainian president is touring europe, looking to restock his army s arsenal. plus, the durham report was supposed to vindicate donald trump of his alleged ties to russia, but now that it s finally out after four years, there s not much in it that we didn t already know. we re going to go through the findings just ahead. we ll also have an update on the debt ceiling talks ahead of a high-stakes meeting at the white house. also today, just ahead now, arnold schwarzenegger joins us live from austria, where some of the world s top climate activists and leaders are meeting right now. along with joe, willie and me, we have the host of way too early, white house bureau chief at politico, jonathan lemire. special correspondent for bbc news, katty kay is with us. and columnist and asso
of us at fox happy easter from all of us at fox news. pope appealed for dialogue between israelis and palestinians as violence in the holy land has flared up yet again. trey yingst is live in jerusalem where holy week ceremonies are taking place right now. ray? reporter: arthel, here in the holy land and around the world, people are marking easter sunday. in vatican city the, pope francis delivered concern delivered his traditional easter message while sitting in a chair overlooking st. peter s square. it was unclear if the pope would appear. the pontiff spoke about conflict around the world with, specifically mentioning the war in usain and the increasing violence across the middle east the pope edgerred resumed dialogue to end rising edgeses. translator: let us rejoice at the concrete signs of hope that bridge us with so many countries beginning with those that offer assistance and welcome the all fleeing from world and further challenge. reporter: in jerusalem
top of the hour here in the cnn newsroom. thanks for joining us. i m erica hill. i m jim sciutto. happening now, attorney general merrick garland on capitol hill to testify before the jen at judiciary committee for the first time here. you see senators cruz and holly. he is expected to be hit with a wide range of questions including allegations from republicans as they said that the justice department is being weaponized against conservatives as well as updates into investigations into trump and biden and we ll take you there live as it happens. the annual cpac conference happens today as we get new cnn reporting about what trump s allies are doing to get house republicans in his corner. for 2024, not all of them are there. sdwloo also ahead, closing arguments are expected to begin today in the double murder trial of disgraced former lawyer alex murdaugh. jurors in that case at the crime scene at this hour. we will take you live to south carolina. let s begin this hour with
little to anything against churches and pro life centers. they will get in a lot. senator ted cruz asking garland during his last appearance before the committee about promise he made to keep politics out of the d.o.j. it went like this. i asked you quote, will you commit to this committee that under your leadership the department of justice will not target the political opponents of this administration? your answer, quote, absolutely. it is totally inappropriate for the department to target any individual because of their politics or their position in a campaign. that was your promise just a few months ago. i m sorry to say you have broken that promise. dana: that was more than a year ago. the committee will have plenty of ground to cover today. jason chaffetz ahead with reaction. david spunt starting us off on capitol hill. attorney general taking a seat behind me ready to answer those questions. he said multiple times he wants to keep politics out of the d.o.j. he wi