Good morning to our viewer in the United States and Around The World. Im kasie hunt. It is wednesday, october 25th. 5 00 a. M. Here in washington where we begin another day without a speaker of the house. About seven hours from now the house is scheduled to vote again to try to fix that. So who might the next speaker of the house be . Well, you would be forgiven to not recognizing this man, that is 51yearold mike johnson of louisiana whose relative complete lack of public profile might be exactly why he could become the last man standing. He was picked late last night after a tumultuous day on capitol hill. Republicans spent most of the day voting to pick tom emmer as their nominee. And he is not exactly a house house name either, but he served in house leadership before. And that seems to be exactly the problem. Emmer was selected as next pick for speaker yesterday around lunchtime, but he was out before dinner. And that was mostly because donald trump knew too much about him. After emmer was sleelected, tru knocked him as a globalist r. I. N. O. And emmers sin of course voting to certify the 2020 election that joe biden won. So what is johnsons track record on that issue . Johnson was a member of trumps Impeachment Defense Team first time around and then he helped lead critical legal challenges to the 2020 election results. Still after stating the obvious republicans are under intense pressure to pick somebody, anybody, to get the house open. It has been three weeks since they deposed Kevin Mccarthy. There have been three failed candidates for speaker for now. Three on the floor. And zero could marshal the 217 votes necessary to actually win the gavel. This time it does seem like everyone is just so over it that it might work. This is the closest that we have come to being able to cross that finish line. So i think that mikes got the ability to do that. Mike is the right guy, he is an inspirational leader. Im excited to elect him. I did not assid not support l of Kevin Mccarthy. I think that it was, you know, arguably stupidest move ever made in politics, but we have to move forward. So well rally around mike johnson. The republicans are back with a, our agenda will be back on track. Were unified and we are i think were happy to be where we are. Still johnson was elected speaker nominee with just 128 votes far short of the 217 he will need on the floor under that dome later today. Lets bring in cnn political commentator Scott Jennings to talk more about this. Very grateful to have you here this morning. Lets talk a little bit about who is mike johnson and, you know, i really do gets sense that listening to the members talk, that they really are just over it that they might aceadyo. What is your sense . A lot of optimism from all corners of the party. In the clips there, you heard everybody from matt gaetz to mike lawler. When you have gaetz and lawler, those are the two extreme ends of this fight saying this is the right guy, that is reason for optimism. Johnson is not a bomb tloer. He thrower. He doesnt chase fox news the way jim jordan did. You get a lot of comments about him that he is a good listener, that he is someone that people generally get along with. I watched a lot of clips of johnson the last several hours and he does sort of have a moderate tone. You know, he is not stridently bombastic or confrontational. There is even a video of him talking about how he thinks that it is his relationship to have a relationship with democrats and try to convince him that conservative ideas are better. So i think when you look at disposition, he might be what the doctor ordered. I know democrats will be against him on the january of stuff and on the biden election stuff. But the speaker has to run the house and try to Work Together to do big things, the disposition of someone like johnson could be what we need here. Because the reality here, he led this amicus brief in texas that if successful would have overturned the president ial election in several critical Battle Ground states. His positions are not all that different from, say, where jim jordan was, although obviously jordan had a unique role on january 6. But the word i think that often enkcapsulates jordan as a publi personality is aggressive. And that is kind of the on that set of where johnson is even though they may share some of the same ideas. Yeah, johnson comes across as more studious. You know, more thoughtful, less bombastic, less confrontational. More interested in maybe convincing you on the strength of his ideas than shouting you down. And honestly, i think a lot of americans will appreciate that kind of disposition. And as he goes into what he has to do the next few weeks which is essentially make a deal with democrats in the senate and white house on keeping the government funded, that sort of disposition will be required. You know, republicans only have one of the three legs of the stool here when it comes to keeping the government open. So he will have to work with the other party. And as i mentioned, i think that he has shown some willingness in his career to that. He probably will be on a different planet when it comes to democrats on most issues. But that interest in talking to the other side and saying that they are not the enemy, we have to work with them, that will help him in the room as we approach the critical Government Funding deadline. Yeah, i mean, it is remarkable that that is a characteristic that is so rare but i think that you are right to point it out. Very briefly, scott, Kevin Mccarthy got i think it was 43 or so votes in the Late Night Ballots Last night. Seemed like maybe there was a little balloon that maybe mccarthy would be back. Do you think that he has given up on that dream or is there still something there . Youre right about the murmurs. There were people at the begins of this whole thing thinking that it might come back to mccarthy. And i do think that there was a sense that late last night we had to do something. So had johnson somehow not taken control of it, i could have seen how it would have gone back to mccarthy. But yes, it seems that the Republican Party wants to go ahead and just do mike johnson like i said when you have gaetz and lawler both on the same page, that to me speaks volumes. I think what happened to mccarthy was a Traf Investig travesty, but i think that all the members are screaming at them saying you got to get back to work. All you do is sit ash and say each others names out loud. Just get somebody and move forward. And that somebody i think is most likely to be johnson. We havent heard anybody creep up today overnight and say, you know, hell no. All the other people that came forward, there was a hell no. And in this case youve not heard that yet on johnson. And so hopefully mccarthy will go along with that today and the Republican Party can function as a majority which it has ceased do for the last three week. Combination of disposition and also frankly lack of a public profile that i think helps avoid that hell no that you were mentioning. Scott, thank you very much. I appreciate you starting us off. And coming up, new details into cnn on how hamas militants managed to evade deattention while planning the attack. And the standoff over getting critical fuel to hospitals in the warzone. And who is flipping on the former president. Officials are engaged in intense talks over the release of the hostages. Only four released so far, but two sources say talks are under way to release a large number of the hostages. In addition to israel sources tell cnn it includes qatar, egypt and hamas. U. S. Is pressing israel to hold off on the Ground Incursion. Sources say timing of an invasion is a moving target. But Benjamin Netanyahu told a group of soldiers tuesday that it is coming. And you are part of the vanguard. Also tuesday the u. N. Says eight of 20 scheduled humanitarian aid trucks were able to enter through the rafah crossing. Egypt is reinstalling a cement wall at the crossing. About 500 to 600 remain trapped in gaza. And were told that is because hamas not egypt wont let them out. Hamas wont let them out. In many ways i think that hamas is also keeping them hostage. I remember secretary blinken raised that issue over a week ago before the president was here, before your secretary of defense. Wo one of the issues that we said from our point of view, well do everything we can to facilitate the immediate release. Humanitarian issue is growing more dire. Spokesman for the Israeli Military says no fuel would be allowed in because it would be stolen by hamas. Apparently Con Tro Difficulting contradicting an earlier statement. The Fuel Shortage means gazans are having to drink dirty salty water. And lets bring in rafael romo live in tel aviv. Bring us up to speed, what is the latest on the race to rescue the hostages . Reporter good morning. Efforts to secure the release of the hostages started the day after they were taken captive by hamas and there are talks currently under way, the United States, israel, qatar, egypt and hamas are engaged in the ongoing efforts. And as you may remember, the last two hostages were released thanks to negotiations between egypt and qatar and support of the International Committee of the red cross. Two sources familiar with these talks and one western diplomat with knowledge of the negotiations told cnn that the talks are being complicated by different factors, different reasons, without getting more specific. But let me tell you, the question is, many people are asking how many hostages does hamas still have. Israeli Officials Say there are 220 people in captivity. And this is after four of them, two americans and two israelis, were released, two on friday and two more on monday. On tuesday, the Israel Defense forces dropped flyers in gaza appealing to residents for any information whatsoever about the hostages being held by Hamas Offering Protection and compensation in return. And cnn has learned that the Biden Administration has pressed israel to delay the invasion of gaza in order to give negotiators more time to secure the release of a large group of hostages that would explain why the Ground Incursion into gaza hasnt happened just yet. Back to you. Rafael romo, thank you very much. Appreciate your time. And were getting new insights in to hamas Intelligence Infrastructure Ha ahead of the october 7 attack. Intelligence shared suggests a small cell of operatives planning the attack communicated via a network of hardwired phones in tunnels over a period of two years. The Offline System let them communicate in specific. Cnn spoke to sources familiar with the issue. Chairman and founders of the Israel Defense and security four rim is forum is joining us. This is a low tech system that could help explain why there was such an intelligence failure. Yes, you know i was Chief Officer in the gaza strip. And what ive seen for years the buildup of this infrastructure, underground infrastructure, a whole city underground and it is all connected with local communication. In a way that the technologically very difficult to really understand what is going on underneath the gaza city and whole region of gaza. What would it have taken to build this . How much time . We understand this was planned over the course of two years. But to give people a bit of a sense of what it would take to actually do this. It was the course of 20 years, not two years. And since hamas took over gaza, they started a huge project intended to deal with two main capabilities that the idf has, technological abilities talking about intelligence gathering and the airport. And by building their own infrastructure underground, they managed really to cope well with the two capabilities leaving us really no choice but a Ground Incursion. The only way to achieve the goals of war and Destroyi Ing Hamas and Islamic Jihad and dismantling all the structures. Something that might take months and maybe years. It can only be done by a Ground Incursion that will take quite a lot of time. The u. S. Has been warning about the plans for a Ground Invasion basically saying, hey, avoid the traps that we found ourselves in when we went into iraq. What is your take on the leadership of israel and the way that they are timing their decision for a potential Ground Incursion . In 2014 we launched a limited Ground Attack in order to destroy the [ inaudible ]. We seem to have lost our general there. Thank you very much for your time. We really appreciate it. Up next here, the tensions flare at the u. N. Security council meeting. Plus the audio tape played by israels Foreign Minister reportedly revealing a hamas Fighter Bragging about killing jewish people. That is ahead. You want to be able to provide your child with the tools or resources they need. With reliable internet at home, through the internet essentials program, the world opened up. Fellas, fellas. Thats how my son was able to find the hidden genius project. We wanted to give yall the necessary skills to compete with the future. Kevins now part of this next generation of young people who feel they can thrive. Welcome back. United nations section general sparking backlash after appealing for humanitarian ceasefire and saying attacks by hamas did not a happen in a vacuum. It is important to also recognize the attacks by hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian People have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. Israels Foreign Minister refusing to meet with guttierre and the ambassador to the up is calling on him to resign immediately. And lets bring in max foster for more on this. Good morning to you. Were also learning israel is blocking visas for u. N. Officials in the wake of those comments. Their take essentially you are basically justifying a massacre. How is this Comment RipplingAround The World . It is interesting, there is a history of tension between israel and the United Nations. We should point that out, the context. Israel particularly has an issue with the u. N. Human rights council. Isr israel would argue that there are countries on that panel which carry out human rights abuses. There is a lot of tension going back on that. It is a situation, a difficult situation, for the United Nations when the israeli ambassador has refused to talk to the head of the United Nations. To quote the ambassador, saying that they are not talking, there is no justification or point in talking to those who show compassion for the most terrible and you Trosatrocities Committe against the citizens of iz raeld and jewish people. So while guterres was probably talking about a wider context around Israeli Palestinian k carrd out. And i dont want to interpret how people are feeling, but this quote from the times of israel today saying that guterres comments suggest impetus for the hamas Terrorist Groups devastating attack on israel was jewish states continued control of palestinian territories. Yeah, such an emotional difficult reality here. Max foster, thank you very much for being with us this morning. Hope to see you tomorrow. And it has been 22 days without a speaker. Will the vote today finally bring the chaos to an end. And jack smith possibly securing his most v valuable wiwitness y. That is s next. Good morning. Thank you for being up early with us. Im kasie hunt. It is 5 30 here in washington. Big story at the bottom of the hour is at noon today the house will vote again to try to pick it next speaker. Late last night republicans chose 51yearold mike johnson to be their nominee. The day had began wi them selecting tom emmer to be speaker only to see him drop out hours later. One big factor was donald trump who knocked emmer as a globalist r. I. N. O. And then tried to whip votes against him. So can mike johnson gif win the gavel and get the house back to work finally . Lets bring in Scott Jennings. Great to see you. Im looking at some of the Morning Newsletters coming out because in the few hours of course everyone is scrambling to try to figure out who is mike johnson exactly. And so they write if you havent googled him yet, he is a 51yearold from louisiana, a staunch conservative, somebody who ran the Republican Study Committee which is kind of the older School Conservative conference caucus in the house of representatives. What do we know about this guy and i will say there are some insiders who thought that he may have an inside track on becoming speaker but he is pretty unknown to americans. Yeah, he is not somebody who has chased like a high profile outwardly. You see jim jordan on fox news almost every night. Byron donalds who was in the race has chased a lot of public fame. But mike johnson has been a very behind the scenes player. He is described as affable, a good listener. He has built relat