Tonight, we are learning more about how the planning for that deadly october 7th attack by hamas on israel went undetected, for two years. Sources tell cnn tonight, that hamas operatives were actually communicating through a network of land lines that were built into those tunnels that we have discussed, that are underneath gaza. Well have more on that tomorrow night. Thank you so much for joining us. Cnn news night with abby philips, starts right now. Three major stories tonight. The war in israel has taken a new turn. Donald trumps former Chief Of Staff reportedly flips on him. And the house is still without a speaker, as the Republican Party implodes. Thats tonight, on. And good, evening im abby phillips. It has been an extraordinarily bad day for republicans and their leader. In perhaps the Biggest Development in the serial indictments against donald trump, mark meadows has reportedly been given immunity to testify in the federal election interference case. That, according to abc news. And on top of, this just hours before, a another of his codefendants in the georgia case pleaded guilty. That now makes for. In a civil case against his empire, his former fixer directly implicated him for fraud. Trump, and michael cohen, came face to face in the courtroom, for the first time in five years today. But even as trump faced some of its most significant legal setbacks, he appeared bent to influence his over on capitol hill. Just hours after republicans chose their third candidate for the speakership, his candidacy ended abruptly, with a truth social post. We need to get our act together, as we say in the, army to get our head all of our. Here we would like to see congress standup, and act like. Adults right my fear, is that if we keep doing, this somebody is going to end up siding with the democrats. With congress paralyzed, the American People are the ones losing. But trumps sway on the hill maybe masking his weakness in the courtroom. And joining me now our cnn political commentator alyssa farah griffin, the former Trump White House communications director, and meanie rocha, the District Attorney of westchester county, in new york, who is also the former chief of the Southern District of new york. Alyssa, i want to start with you on all of this, with meadows. Are you surprised, to hear that he may very well have been, at least for sometime, now cooperating with jack smith . Well it has kind of been the Million Dollar question in washington d. C. , where has mark meadows been . Even when the doj indictment came out, there were fingerprints of meadows, but you didnt see the, you didnt see the specific mentions of him throughout. Now, i have known mark meadows for many, many years. If there is one thing people who know him consistently say, it is that he says Different Things to different people. So i am cautious about this reporting, in the sense that i do think that he is cooperating, to some degree. But i think he is trying to pull off this balancing, act where he can give the doj just enough, but then try to keep this public image of somebody was aligned with trump, and aligned with the Republican Party. I will be curious to see how this plays, not in the coming days, because his team is pushing back and saying he didnt flip, he didnt turn on from. I dont know if that is in fact the. Case i mean, they have not been specific, just to be clear, about what they are pushing back on in the first place. But i mean, alyssa brings up an important point. I mean first of all i should say, cnn has not individually confirmed this reporting, it is coming from abc news. But this idea of immunity, what would jack smith give to mark meadows, in exchange for the testimony that we appeared to see outlined here, which is that trump knew, and was told, that the election was not stolen . Right. So again, there are so many different forms of immunity, and cooperation. And i think we are all struggling a little bit, because it is based on one report. We dont know exactly what it looks like yet. And so, we have to be a little bit careful of, did he get just immunity from going into the grand jury, and testifying . That is a very formal, but narrow, type of immunity. It is not a full on, as we usually talk about cooperation agreements, people really flipping. That doesnt mean that it is not valuable to prosecutors, it absolutely would be, if the substance is what we are hearing that it is. Because, in whatever form, it turns on its head, trumps what is likely to be his central defense of, i believe that i really won the election. No you didnt, even your Chief Of Staff was telling you that there was no real fraud. So, that is one form. There could be a fuller, cooperation agreement. That seems a little unlikely to me, given that he was charged in georgia. Not impossible, but unlikely, that a federal cooperator, as we think of, it would have been charged by a state prosecutor. I want to come back to that in just a second. But, alyssa, one of the interesting things about this reporting, if it turns out to be as it is described, is that mark meadows is telling on himself. He wrote this whole book, in which he set out to defend trump. The people who were only reacting to what they were seeing, right there in plain sight, for anyone to access when. I cannot believe that more news outlets were that he didnt believe. It and this is what is and regardless of what this potential deal looks, like is on the one hand, it is huge if he is cooperating. Because this is someone who knows more than anyone other than donald, trump what was going on in the final days. The stop the steal, efforts the lead up to mark meadows was in the room, in many cases he was pulling the strings, he was organizing the meeting. But on the other side, mark meadows is a known liar. Not just as someone who knows him, but what he wrote in his book. And then, there was an example of one anecdote not related to the election, where he walked back and said his own writing, what he said, it was fake news, once donald trump criticize. Did well, we know he didnt actually right at. But even still, he put his name on it. And, i think that will make it a bit hard for the department of justice, to kind of flash out how credible he actually is. Of course he was privy to a tremendous amount, but he is also someone who is just not trustworthy. And meaning, you made a really interesting point. This is a question that i have had. Mark meadows tried to move his georgia case into federal court, and failed. But if he is a cooperator, in some degree, on very similar charges at the federal level, what would that require . I mean, what it means that georgia prosecutors would have to know about that cooperation . Would they still charge, and even if they knew about it . Could this complicate their case, Going Forward . I mean in an ideal world, and feel like everyone who has been asked, either the doj or georgia, oh no no, we are not talking to each other. I mean, prosecutors at the state or federal level are working on some more cases, that overlap, and they should be talking to each other. Understand why it may sound problematic, to the outside world. But actually, they should be. And you know, i dont know if they are or not, but in an ideal world, they are, and theyre communicating about this. I mean, it may be that meadows couldnt get a cooperation agreement, if he is cooperating federally, in georgia. You know, they are doing things in a different way, in georgia than the department of justice does normally. And, maybe he is just hoping if he cooperates in the federal, case he will get some credit eventually in georgia. He is also trying very hard, still, to move his case to federal court, right. And he would far prefer to have everything there. But you know, here are the things that alyssa is saying, about him. And as a prosecutor, i am having seizures right, because you are hearing someone not credible, who changes what he says. And i think as a witness though, they can still deal with that, because he is not going to be an island, he is going to be with lots of other people who are saying lots of similar things, about what they told donald trump, about the election not being fraudulent. And, about who really won. It and i guess if you are jacks mitt, it is better to have mark meadows speaking to trumps state of mind, in a way that helps your case than not, even if he is not the sole, or even the most important witness at the end of the day. Illicit mimi, thank you both very much. Four and, we have some Breaking News from capitol hill. Republicans have just chosen, yet another nominee for speaker of the house, after a couple of failed attempts. I want to bring in now manu raju, who is over on capitol. Manu, fourth time is the charm, what is going on right now on the hill . Actually, a real warning sign, yet again for republicans, as they name their fourth nominee, in just three weeks. Mike johnson was now the republican from louisiana, named won a Majority Vote in this conference, with 128 votes, just moments ago. But there is a real warning for him, and concerns about his ability to get to 217 votes he will need to be elected speaker of the house. That is because there are 44 votes who are voting for other candidates. Voting republicans voting for other candidates. 43 of those voted for former speaker Kevin Mccarthy. And that is causing enormous tension, in the room next to me. Some members believe that mccarthy is intentionally undercutting Mike Johnsons ascent to the speakership of the house. And others, including mark greene who was a candidate in this race, once he learned that some of those candidates were voting for said that people were playing games, and he decided instead to endorse mike johnson. All raising more concerns about whether republicans, after three weeks of gridlock, of infighting, of dealing with a Leadership Crisis that has left the house completely paralyzed, can actually get out of the price that a, they themselves caused here, because of the fact that even though they have another nominee, who has the majority of the support within the republican conference, this person at the, moment mike johnson, does not have the 217 votes he needs, to be elected speaker, raising even more questions, abby, about how they will resolve, this who will come, next and what the next plan might be, if nothing changes in the next 24 hours or so. And all of these huge issues wait for them, for the house to act, whether it is ukraine, aid israel or taking steps to avoid a government shutdown. None of that can happen, with this infighting that is happening, in the Republican Party. The inability to get behind a candidate, and an aftermath of the ouster of the speakership, just three weeks ago, something that they have yet to resolve, as they remain battling behind the scenes, but how they should resolve this, abby. It is really incredible, that this is still going on. And as you point, out the chaos isnt over. Their nominee still doesnt have the votes to become speaker, as of right now. Manu, thank you, were gonna stay close, as this develops tonight. We are also to be talking to one of the republican lawmakers, who was just inside of that room, voting and deliberating on speaker candidates. He will be up in just a few minutes. But first, i just want to bring in Now Cnn Senior Political Commentator adam kinzinger. He is a former republican congressman, himself. He was also on the house january 6th committee, to react adam, to everything that you just heard manu say. They cannot come up with a speaker, and i want to just add one more factor in here too. All of the last few candidates who were just up tonight, they all voted to not certify the last election. And, this is where things stand right now. What do you make of it all . Well, let me first off say, it is a good night to be a former republican member of congress, because otherwise, you are going to be up till 10 00 and battle each other. Heres the thing people need to be understand. What this division that you are seeing playing out in public right actually isnt new. The nine tire time in congress this was the dynamic that exists within the gop conference will call them the moderate for the sake of the argument people who are kind of like lets work together, as a team. They are actually standing up and fighting back for the first time ever. If you think about 12, years to anything that republican majority since 2010 tried to do, it was always a group of people that was taking it, look at the obama care repeal and replace, which accident when we created was good, until the farright came in and said no, we want to make sure there are no protection for preexisting conditions. There are always coming in, and it really bombs. And now, we are actually seeing the regular folks, actually fighting back against that. And right now, with mike johnson, i mean i will tell you, the guy started out fairly normally, and then went really deep into trump, when he realize thats what it took to get reelected. So, he may have the same issue that jim jordan does, as long as the socalled moderates continue to fight back. I think we are going to see a point, eventually, if i had to question where it is going to go, it is either going to go into people being elected like patrick mchenry, who frankly everyone likes, he is just reluctant to do, it doesnt want to be speaker, i dont blame him. Or ultimately, a deal is going to be cut with the democrats. But we will see, i think mike johnson will be a good test for everyone, to see if kind of a regular name, not really a controversial name, can win this. And if he cant, then i think were going have to start thinking outside the box. Hes also the deputy whip for the conference. Not really a household name, but also not somebody who got more votes from the last person that was the speaker. So its hard for me to see, the math is not nothing on any of this. Congressman adam kinzinger, thank you. You bet. We mentioned that chaotic speaker fight, and all speak live with one of the members of who is pretty frustrated and angry about how this is all gone on. As is the nation, frankly, right now. But right now we are also learning when it comes to that war between israel and hamas, that hamas planned their Surprise Attack over the course of two years. And that evading israeli intelligence, including some secret phone lines in their. Network of tunnels. More now on this Breaking News from capitol hill. Gop congressman mike johnson was just elected speaker by House Republicans. Louisiana lawmaker won the Secret Ballot with 128 votes, but he needs 217. Remember that number, to become the next speaker of the house. Republican Congressman Ken Buck of kelowna joins me now. He was in that room just a few minutes ago, and he was also with eight republican lawmakers who voted initially to oust Kevin Mccarthy three weeks ago now. Congressman, first of all, what on earth is going on with the Republican Party on capitol hill right now . Well, abby, we are finding a new speaker. We have a very good candidate right now. I am very confident, as i was three weeks ago, that we will find a good speaker. Its taking a little more time than we hoped, but were going to get to the floor tomorrow, were going to like mike johnson, were going to move forward and were going to solve the problems in this country. He is not even close to what you would need in order to actually become speaker. There were 44 holdouts, according to our reporting, its believed that about 43 of them were for Kevin Mccarthy. Thats a sign of serious trouble for him, as he goes to the hill. What happens now. What happens now is Kevin Mccarthy embraces him as our next speaker, as well as everyone who voted for him. Mike will take the floor tomorrow and hell get his 217 votes. I think its the closest of anybody weve had so far to becoming our speaker, and i think he gets it tomorrow. But you, it sounds like you are a supporter of Congressman Johnson some, right . I am, yes. What one of the things but the last week, you are not a fan of the fact that he did not vote to certify the election, he did not he bought into the sort of Election Denialism. I wonder, when it comes to mike johnson, he also didnt vote to certify the election. So how can you support him . Thats not what i said about jim jordan. Jim jordan did a number of things, if you look at the january 6th report. The commission report. That sort of were Election Denialism in their highest degree. He sent a text message to mark meadows on a legal theory of how people on the floor could vote not to certify the election. He was on the phone call, two phone calls with President Trump all the right was going on. Jim jordan was involved in all of the not all of the, but much of the postelection activity. Mike johnson was not. He voted to decertify, absolutely. That wasnt my vote, but we need to move forward, we have some important business you think its okay for him or any other speaker candidate to have voted to decertify the last election, which was free and fairly won by joe biden . I dont think its okay, abby. I think its a mistake. But i think people make mistakes and still can be very good speaker. Were at a point right now where we need to move forward and make sure the government stays open. We found israel, we fund ukraine, we fund the border efforts. Thats going to take a human being in that speaker position. Not a perfect human being, but unlike johnson who has done his very best to move issues forward and is a really good person. We dont know how this is going to go for mike johnson. I think this time yesterday people thought tom amr could do it. He wasnt able to. But just putting that aside for a moment, earlier, just this evening, just a few hours ago, there was a lot of talk about Kevin Mccarthy jim jordan unity tickets, and our sources say thats being actively discussed. Is that something that you would be open to win anyway . I dont