Sunday, republican turmoil deepens and still no way out of a crisis that they caused. Sear searching for a House Speaker as congress enters the fourth week still unable to governor. Plus flash point. Aid trucks cross the border as an israeli air strike escalates alarm but a middle east war. And joe bidens allies see israel as a chance to remind the country why they believe he should have four more years. Inside politics and all of the best from inside of the corridors of power, starts now. Good morning, and welcome to Inside Politics sunday. Im manu raju. Republicans in house find them sfz in desperate times. It is day 19 without a speaker and some of the nations most Urgent Business has been put to a halt until republicans could resolve the Leadership Crisis started at the hands of one of their own members and after jim jordan became the second to drop his bid for the speaker ship in the wake of the mccarthy ouster, there is the current race to be the latest Campaign Mostly closed doors and it has been a free for all over the last few days. Gop sources tell me that seven new speaker hopefuls have been working the phones and having meetings and trying to convince colleagues that they could somehow get 217 votes on the floor. Sources tell me this morning that house gop whip tom emmer is locking in support across the republican conference but still uncertain if he could get the votes on the floor to be elected speaker. On friday afternoon, i found two other candidates in the hallway in the chaotic aftermath of jordan dropping his bid and they were already making their pitches. People want to be heard and valued and i think that is what were seeing right now. And there is a lot of historical relationships that some are not going to ever be able to work around and i dont have those negatives out there. It was a danger game that was being played. The consequences are real for the country. If men were angels, we wouldnt need the government but we need the United States house of representatives open. And this morning another candidate Byron Donalds making his case on fox. We cant have unity in our conference. It will start with a fresh voice in leadership working with all of our colleagues to accomplish the mission that our voters sent us here to do. Now the deadline to enter the race is in one hour. The gop Candidate Forum tomorrow night behind closed doors, a seek Ballot Election for republicans to nominate their new candidate on tuesday morning. And in a floor vote, well, well see when that happens but sometime after that. And all the while, the clock ticks as a massive aid package for israel and ukraine awaits congressional action and a potential shutdown less than one month away. And lets break it down with mj lee, paul kane, mario parger and Margaret Talev from axios. Thank you for being here. It is been an ugly, messy week on the hill. The moment there is seven possible candidates who have emerged as speaker. There is a list of the potential nominees here, people running to be the nominee. There could be others. Well see in the next hour or so if there is anyone else. Im hearing and im sure youre hearing, paul, youve worked the Capitol Hallways for many years and talking to sources, tom emmer is the clear frontrunner to win the republican nomination on tuesday. Given his support internally, and the infrastructure he has as republican whip and used to be chairman of the Campaign Committee and he deserved some credit for taking them back to majority but could he get the votes on the floor. That is a dilemma for him and other candidates as well. Yes. He has the most experience and the inside game, he ran their Campaign Committee, hes traveled to their districts. So on a secret ballot, that stacks up and he looks to be the frontrunner. Gosh, but to get 217 out of 221, you have to placate so many different wings and factions. What happened on friday afternoon, the very first person to come out of the gate to endorse emmer was Kevin Mccarthy. Everything he touches is falling apart. Why on earth did tom emmer want Kevin Mccarthy to endorse him. He just spent three rounds of voted sitting behind jim jordan. Because he was jim jordans guy and what happened to jim jordan. He wasnt down in flames. And now mccarthy is trying to say, tom emmer is my guy. That is not helping tom emmer get to 217. And it is especially among the members who pushed him out. There are eight republicans who voted to push him out. You could only lose four votes on the floor. Mccarthy has been saying to me and others, this past week, hes been calling the eight members the crazy eights who led to this crisis in the house. And this morning he was he also made that pitch on National Television about tom emmer taking to the airwaves and saying that emmer is the guy. This is not a Employmoment T around with learning the job. I believe tom emmer, our whip, in the room from our bills to secure the border, from parents bill of rights and getting work requirements, he knows how to do the job across the street helping us win the majority. He sets himself head and shoulders above all of those others that wan to run. The challenges that some of the folks in the far right, the House Freedom caucus, some of them may be close to tom emmer, but some are skeptical of anybody in Republican Leadership and that is the challenge. If it is emmer or some of the other ones. There are proxies for jim jordan and donald trump and if you make a list of a handful of people that we know to be in this race right now, they are fro from the southeastern United States and mid western states and i think all but one initially moved to block to certify the election. So there are all kinds of Cross Currents and cross winds going on here. And if you want to get super ma macaw vellan, if you run through this whole list and nobody could get to 217 and there is a shut down looming, where is the country going to be. And it is actually in the to play a game, this is a possibility. They just have not done anything. Everything has been stalled. Typically theyve been making progress toward a shutdown or getting an agenda passed, anything, absolutely nothing has happened because of this fight. We did look at past records and some of the key issues. We pulled out two of them to make clear to the viewers on where the seven candidates stand. One was on the Spending Bill to avoid a government shutdown. Kevin mccarthy allowed that Spending Bill to go forward. And that led to the ouster of his speakership and then certifying the 2020 election, and kevin hearne voted for both. Tom emmer voted for both. Byron donalds didnt vote for the Spending Bill and against certifying the elections and jack burgman from michigan voted for the Spending Bill against certifying the election and mike johnson from louisiana, someone seen as a serious candidate in this race, voted against both. So, that is the issue of certifying the election is something that some of the trump allies have already been seizing upon. Because emmers and some others voted to certify the 2020 election. Absolutely. And while Donald Trump Endorsed jim jordan for the gavel, and republicans didnt follow through, were going to see the next test here. Because from what we understand from sources, trump is actively lobbying against emmer right now. Right. So part of it is because of that vindictive nature of him voting to certify the 2020 election. Maybe someone like Pete Sessions emerges, if emmer doesnt. Pete sessions was at the helm the last time that republicans had this red wave. And this moment, we have to remember, republicans are haunted by that spector of what didnt happen in 2022. That is what were all dealing with. That narrow majority. It is a secret Ballot Election and so chaotic. There is still the talk of an interim speaker, Patrick Mchenry and republicans selfed that under just a furious backlash. I could tell you, just in talking to republicans in the last several weeks, weve they are just so much butting heads with each other and taking personal direct aim at each other. And something that i have simply never seen before. Weve done this week after week because it is so the tension is so palpable and these members are really going after members of their own party. Listen. It is the biggest f you to republicans voters ever seen. The americans are sick of it and most members house are sick of it. It is time for big boys an big girls to stop. And it is as swampy as swampy gets. We cant have a branch of government offline. We have to get our act together because im getting calls from saying what is going on with your republicans. The challenges that they all say we need to move forward. But they cant the candidate is unable to bridge that divide and convince those members that they are the ones that could get the house back open. I mean, there is real exasperation. There is real exhaustion. And i think for these members, yeah, theyre also thinking about their political futures, too. Right. If the House Republican caucus continues to be an absolute clown show, heading into 2024 it just makes it easier and easier for President Biden, the democrats to campaign against a party that is the the party of insurrection, of chaos, of doing nothing. And that is something that democrats have shown that they are eager to do already. I also just have to say, this isnt just about political chaos, right. You know this better than anyone else. This is about their personal lives being thrown into chaos as well. These members take on these jobs and design their entire personal lives so they could be members of congress. They have often families that are waiting for them back home. They have these Grueling Travel schedules an now the question is why. For what . What are we doing this for . Were not doing anything in our day job. It is such a good point. Because ive heard from members that they could see potentially more retirements in the aftermath of this and that could change the whole political dynamic in the talk of keeping them in this past weekend. There was so much backlash to that idea but keeping people in of over the weekend. Personal schedules to matter in the capitol. That is true. But you have to raise an interesting point about the politics of this. This is not just a hugely significant president ial election, this is a narrow Republican House majority. There are 18 republicans who are in biden districts. Who are concerned about their seats, concerned about the chaos. Ive talked to so many of the members about all of this. Those are the 18 on your screen. Nine of them voted for jim jordan all three times. Six of them voted against jim jordan all three times. Three of them flipped against jordan on the third ballot that would include tom kim jr. And Brian Fitzpatrick of pennsylvania and Mark Mollinaro of new york. How concerns are the members that this chaos could cost them their seats in the republican majority . Their very concerned. But the reason a lot of them voted for jordan was because they had a built in belief that, while jordan is probably going to win this, we think, and they want to stay loyal to the guy who is going to be speaker. Theyre from districts that are around new york city, los angeles, philadelphia, these are really expensive media markets. And they dont know what to do. Theyre afraid, because there are five of them up in the new york media market and, well, whoever is speaker next, might only have money to finance three of the five campaigns. Yeah. And so they just sort of were just a lot of them were basically trying to hide as they were casting their votes for jordan. And you cant overstate the significance of mccarthys fundraising machine. He raised so much money for these members an now hes stepped aside, the next speaker will have to do what mccarthy did. Well see if they could do that. And there is so much finger pointing at the eight. The eight republicans who voted with democrats but it started by republicans but the democrats did vote with the eight republicans to oust mccarthy. I talked to some of them this past week about what they thought they got out of this. What did you get for leading this charge to push out mccarthy . Were shaking up washington, d. C. And breaking the fever. An it is messy, but the only reason people think there is chaos in this town is because the special interests arent in control any more. What did you get out of this . Were changing the direction of washington. Doing the same thing weve always done is not going to work. Did they get anything out of this . They got talking points to take back to their primary voters. That is if you were to go to some of the districts and say, what is important and you would hear things like drain the swamp or chanch the way things are done and they need some message to explain what is happening but i dont see any evidence that washington has changed for the good. One other point, in the realm of 2024, there are major Imp Implications for the senator as long as they dont get bogged down. Youre seeing Mitch Mcconnell and other republicans trying to distance themselves from this. And those donors, will they decide to give money to the senators because they think the senate is in play and not the house. That is a real impact down the line about how the money raised plays out and significant because the house cant act and that means no aid to israel and that is what were going to talk about next. More aid trucks entering gaza near lebanon. Well bring you the latest live from israel. Today relief crosses in a war zone. In israel, it issued a warning to a neighbor. You could see it here. Supply trucks finally rolling across the Rafah Crossing. But in israels north, netanyahu said stand down or face devastation. Now here to discuss all of the developments on the ground, Alex Marquardt and kim dozier, thank you for coming in. Alex, you have some new reporting about what is happening about this possible incursion in gaza, the hostage situation. What are you learning . Weve seen u. S. Expressing solidarity from israel and what they plan to do in the gaza but there are major humanitarian concerns so the Biden Administration is pressing the israelis to slow down, to delay their incursion into gaza to allow for more time to make progress on the humanitarian fron on both the hostages and the aid. Weve just seen this first batch of aid going into gaza. We know the u. S. Wants that aid to be sustained. Weve seen the first two american hostages coming out of gaza on friday. We know that the u. S. , of course, wants all of the hostages to be released. So what im hearing is that there has been some pressing by the administration on the israelis to allow for more time for progress on both of those fronts. I should know, manu, that the israelis are denying this. I heard from a senior official this morning who said that they have a close dialogue and consultation with the administration and the u. S. Is not pressing israel. Weve already heard publicly from the top officials in the Biden Administration, Secretary Blinken today when asked whether there was any pressure on the israelis, he said that Thei Israelis have to make their own decisions. And President Biden said were speaking with Thei Israelis. Theyre very weary about telling the israelis what to do and there are certain humanitarian concerns on this side. And we heard that the Ground Invasion might be imminent, before last weekend. Is that part are they listened to those concerns or are they still pressing ahead here . Look, every day that you make the opposition think that you might be invading the next day is a day you rob them of sleep, it is psychological operations in a sense. So it works to the israelis advantage. But one of the reasons they wouldnt want hamas to think they have this lever with the americans, that hey, we could get the americans to stop the israelis from going in on ground by releasing hostages in dribs and drabs. The israelis dont want that because that is what is going to happen. Were going to see ones and twos instead of a bill bulk release. So, that is why hamas is Still Holding on to the hostages and noe negotiating with the qataris and each day that they keep attacking from the air, it is more targets on the ground that are going into, they wouldnt have to deal with. They talked about that theyre taking out many of the highrises because those are potential sniper nests for the hamas militants as the israeli militants come in. And there is all of these concerns about real serious about this escalating into a broader regional conflict. Perhaps the u. S. Could get drawn into it as well. Lloyd austin, the Defense Secretary was asked about this, this morning. If any group or any country is looking to widen this conflict and take advantage of this very unfortunate situation that we see, our advice is dont. We maintain the right to defend ourselves and we wont hesitate to take the appropriate action. What do you make of that . It is a reflection of very significant concerns in the Biden Administration about what iranian proxies and perhaps ir