>> all right. andy scholes, thank you very much. great to see you. thanks for joining us. i'm kasie e hunt. don't go a anywhere. "cnn this s morning" s starts r now. good morning, everyone. we're glad you're starting your day with us. here are five things to know. president biden and xi jinping easing tensions a bit after their high-stakes face to face summit. the leaders both greeting to reopening some military communications. and president biden signaling new hope for what could be an eminent hostage deal at a news conference last night. he's been deeply involved in the negotiations and is mildly hopeful. also a pro palestinian protest turns violent in washington, d.c. we're told six capitol police officers were injured and several arrests were made. congress has averted a government shutdown. the senate passing a short-term fund ing bill last night. president biden expected to sign it before friday's headline. and thousands of workers set to walk off the job today. the strike part of their effort to unionize and comes one of the busiest days of the year. "cnn this morning" starts right now. here's where we begin. president biden meeting face to face with the leader of china at a time of global turmoil with warsing in ukraine and between israel and hamas. the most powerful rivals, at their summit near san francisco, the two leaders agreed to restore crucial military to military communications that china cut off last year. >> despite the progress, biden still considers xi a dictator. he said his approach to xi was trust but verify. the president also made several headlines regarding the war with hamas. he said he's mildly hopeful a about a deal to release the hostages. he also voiced support for the controversial military operation inside gaza's largest hospital, while also cautioning that occupying gaza would be a big mistake. back in washington, d.c., tension boiling over as protesters demanding a cease-fire in gaza clashed with pris. this happened outside of the dnc's headquarters. six of their officers were hurt and cnn is learning top house democrats were inside the building and had to be evacuated. we have team coverage this morning from san francisco to tel aviv. let's start with mj lee. good morning to you. you also asked the crucial question of the president yesterday in all of this. but they sat down person to person. did they accomplish enough? >>. >> reporter: since the two presidents last met a year ago, tensions had really flared between the two countries on issues like taiwan, the chinese surveillance balloon, prompting beijing to cut off military communications with the u.s. and restoring that had been one of the few deliverables that u.s. officials said they hoped to get out of last night's tsummit. an historic summit between president biden and xi jinping, marking a new chapter in u.s.-china relations. the leaders meeting in person for the first time in a year at a sprawling estate south of san francisco. the high-stakes summit a aimed at deescalating tensions between the two countries. >> it is paramount that you and i understand each other clearly, leader to leader, with no misconceptions or miscommunication. >> two large countries turning their back on each other is not an option. it is unrealistic for one side to remod model the other and confrontation has unbearable consequences for both sides. >> reporter: biden and xi meeting were four hours behind closed doors. before walking around the grounds of the estate. >> how did it go, mr. president? >> reporter: afterwards biden announce ing the reestablishmen of military communications that china had severed. >> it's been worrisome. that's how accidents happen. >> reporter: as well as a commitment from beijing to crack down on fentanyl production. >> it's going to save lives. i appreciate president xi's commitment on this issue. >> reporter: but at a press conference after the summit, the president saying this about his chinese counterpart. >> would you still refer to xi as a dictator? >> he is. he's a dictator in the sense that he's a guy who runs a country that is different than ours. >> reporter: the president confronting pneunumerous questi about the israel-hamas war, including on the raid on the hospital in gaza. biden defending the operation when asked whether it was justified. >> it's not like they are are rushing into the hospital and knocking down doors and pulling people aside and shooting people. >> reporter: declining to elaborate on how the u.s. is certain that hamas, in fact, has a command center under the building. >> can you detail what kind of evidence that you have sustained that hamas has a command center under the hospital? >> i won't tell you. >> reporter: the president weighed in on the ongoing hostage negotiations saying he was mildly hopeful, but he really couldn't get into the details. and also on just the question of how long the israel-hamas war might last, he said he couldn't say, but that it really had to end in a two-state solution and he told the israelis that occupying gaza was not a good idea. >> you weren't on the list of reporters that were supposed to get a question. you got two questions. i think they were the two most critical questions of the night, including what we saw about you asking if president biden still thinks xi jinping is a dictator. there's been fierce blowback this morning. what were u.s. officials saying after that comment? >> reporter: i know you know this better than anybody. sometimes sort of these off the cuff remarks from the presiden and opportunities to ask questions when he's already sort of going, those are critical moments. we took the opportunity to ask him about basically comments he had made last year when he referred to president xi as a dictateor. given that things had basically went pretty well as far as the u.s. officials yesterday at the summit were concerned, i asked him after all of that, would he still consider him a dictator, and he said, yes. that's basically what we're dealing with when we're dealing with this government in beijing. i think it's just really interesting because u.s. officials had noted heading into the summit that there was so much riding on chinese counterparts that they were dealing with in terms of the optics and how sensitive they were to how the summit would be perceived by the rest of the world. we know for sure this is a label that chinese officials are incredibly sensitive to. >> mj lee, great work. thank you. president biden also weighed in on israel's military operation inside the largest hospital in gaza. >> here's the situation. you have a circumstances where the first war crime is being committed by hamas by having their headquarters, their military hidden under a hospital. that's a fact. >> let's go to ed lavandera in tel aviv for us. the idf to this point shown some weapons of this ongoing operation. what are they saying today? >> reporter: a senior adviser to benjamin netanyahu is saying that as the military operation in and around the hospital there in the heart of gaza city continues, that in the hours and days ahead, they will be able to provide and will continue to provide more evidence, they say, backs up the claims that the military has made for years that this area in gaza is one of the central areas for which military fighters operate. so far in the initial hours that this operation has gone on, the israeli military has released video was from an area where mris are conducted in the hospital where they found small amounts of firearms and military equipment. but clearly, not the extensive kind of evidence that is so crucially needed at this moment that would back up the claims that the areas underneath this hospital is this crucial command and control center. so really, this is a crucial moment for the israeli military, as its credibility is quite l little rattle ily on the line here. >> president biden seemed the most optic we heard him in this press conference talking about any potential deal to free the hostages. here's what he said. >> i have been deeply involved in moving on the hostage negotiation. we have gotten great cooperation, but i'm mildly hopeful. >> i wonder what the government's reaction to that is this morning if and if you have learned anything else a about this potential deal? >> i thus over the last few days what we have heard from israeli government officials is perhaps a little more skepticism. these are very delicate and cumbersome negotiations. it's handled through the qatar government with officials from the top intelligence agencies of israel and the united states passing message ace long to hamas leaders. so all of this is very time consuming. it comes at a time when the families are growing more and more desperate for news as they watch the military operations, the dangerous military operations ongoing inside of gaza. the israeli defense force has confirmed that one of the hostages, a woman was killed. hamas has claimed she was killed in an airstrike, but all of this points to the anxiety, the tension and the desperation this morning of these families are feeling to have the hostage issue resolved as quickly as possible. >> no question. ed lavandera, thank you for your reporting from tel aviv. new overnight, police clashing with protesters outside the dnc headquarters in washington, d.c. look a at this. after a demonstration against the conflict erupted into chaos last night, police say six officers were hurt. one person has been arrested for assault. said 150 people were illegally protesting in that area. activist groups disputed that claim. police and protesters accusing each other of violence and using pepper spray. officers evacuated several members of congress after activists tried to block the entrances and the exits to the building. among them hakeem jeffries, katherine clark and pete aguilar. fresh off his summit, new polling is out on president biden's handling of foreign affairs. what it could signal for his campaign. could this summit mean a return? after three of the pandas in the united states were sent back to china. what did president xi say about that, nenext. president biden emerged from four hours of talks with the chinese leader projecting a sense of confidence and a sense of optimism. had he seemed eager to make two points. one with the dprooufing relationship with china and the other its unchange steadfast support of israel. joining us is joyce ko and john avlon. thank you for joining us this morning. shelby, i want to start with you. the geopolitical imcomplications of that meeting were noenormous. china is a huge political issue. xi jinping actually raised concerns about perceptions and media coverage related to it. how do you think people looking towards 2024 will view what happened last night? >> i'm actually kind of surprised there hasn't been more chater from 2024 republicans yet on the meeting. i do anticipate that that's going to change probably this morning or this afternoon. because particularly with republicans, china has been a huge topic on the campaign trail that's playing really well in early states like iowa. people really care about it. overall, i think the sense of optimism that biden portrayed is not necessarily the same that we're hearing here in the u.s. i think maybe he was a little overopts mystic and just historically, you look at he called xi a dictator again. that last time around really didn't bode well for the relationship. so i would say it remains extremely tense, and i would expect 2024 the republicans to continue to harp on biden's relationship with china. >> mitch mcconnell certainly did in his remarks. >> china has been a sconstant source republicans. the difference is that dth sdth is praising dictators. even if you're saying we're engaged in a tough competition with china n in the 2020 election, there was all this talk about beijing and biden was going to sell out. the biden administration has been tough on china. this meeting was about issueses voters care about. say ing we're going to call hima dictator, but who in the realm of responsible is going to oppose that. i don't want to set is the bar too high, but i think this was the substance of the policy. >> it's also important context that the trade agreement were never fulfilled. and agriculture in particular, farmers in iowa were hindered by trump's tariffs on china. switching over to the middle east, the president was steadfast. has not shift ed spite politica pressure. we're getting this poll that says the response between israel and hamas, 37% approve of how the president hassled. we saw the protests last night outside the dnc. how long do you think president biden can maintain pos chert he's held from the the beginning? >> tensions on this have in increased and continued to flare up. we have heard him yesterday saying that he thinks this will stop when hamas no longer maintains capacity to attack israelis. he made that point say ing that idf needs to use caution going into gaza, but at one point, he contrasted idf with russia and he said something along the lines of that idf is not going in and shooting people indiscriminately. people would say more than 11,000 people have been kill ed in gaza. and there's some level of it's not indiscriminate or that it is indiscriminate in terms of the killings in gaza. so i don't know. things continue to grow increasingly more tense on israel and his comments on israel and what's happening in gaza, not seemingly matching up with globally being criticized. >> i think one of the points of all the fact that there's now 17-point spread in his d disapproval. just last month it was. >> i don't think president biden is going to change his policy on the basis of polls on this. this is about principle and foreign policy. this is about terrorism. what's happening in gaza raises a lot of concerns. i wouldn't cite statistics because i don't think we know. but this is about something deeper. it's not just u.s. israel. the things that happen. >> they will do it again. >> it's 8 bedding its own forces in hospitals designed to maximize casualties. so that is important. and i just think that this is not -- this is not something you put your finger in the wind on. this is about deeper principles about war and peace and terrorism andization and i don't think president biden has given any indication that he's going to shift his position based on that. >> we appreciate it. thank you. the senate pulling an all nighter ending its session at 3:45 in the senator over tu tuberville's nine-month delay in confirming top military nominees. >> the policy is wrong, but holding these officers that had nothing to do with this is wrong. they deserve better. >> republican senator lindsey graham there. could the blocockade be on the cusp of f breaking?? that's a 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. that's how my son was able to find the hidden genius project. we wanted to give y'all the necessary skills to compete with the future. kevin's now part of this next generation of young people who feel they can thrive. ♪ ♪ just a couple hours ago, republican senators endeden all-nighter on capitol hill in an attempt to confirm top military norminees. they continue to delay the confirmations. . he started those delays nine months ago. this time he was backed by mike lee, who objected to every nominee who was brought up for consideration. >> if you do not believe these holds are having an affect on the military, i don't question your sincerity. i question nor judgment. this is like a car wreck on i-95. it keeps backing up. >> i stand for life. i will be a supporter of life and will continue combatting that, buff i will not do it at the expense of these individuals. >> why punish military members over a dispute they have no ability to fix? they didn't cause. >> kasie hunt joins us from washington. good morning. is this the beginning of the end or the end of the end? >> this pressure has been a long time in building. and this is the succeed time we have seen republicans make a public show against a member of their own party in tommy tuberville to do this. and part of it is that there is a rules change in the works to basically try to cut tuberville off here. in gentler times, it was supposed to operate on a principle of civilized politeness, and basically that means they were willing to give every single senator the prerogative to hold up any one of these nominations, breaking that tradition is a big deal. but they are about to do it. mitch mcconnell hz said he's not in favor of it at this time, but that caveat of saying right now i'm not in favor of this yet, it indicates the pressure people are under. i think it's important to think about what this means in the broad context beyond washington and people on the floor. i know phil has a the lot of military family ties. think about if you're getting a promotion from colonel to general or something similar to that. it means you're moving your family. you're taking up a new post. the children of these military officers, they can't switch schools. wives that quit jobs because they are preparing to move to the next post, they are stuck in lim bow. this is about the people who are sacrificing every day for the country itself, is and it's very clear that republicans are frustrated with that. and we haven't even gotten into the national security implications. >> you make a great point. the national security implications have been a focus here. the nine months compasses past the summer into a new school year. we also appreciate our colleague on the cnn team who stayed up all night and covered this and i'm sorry for you guys. >> those tens of tens people that todd young said to all the tens of people watching c-span 2. thanks for being here. >> he's reality. kasie hunt, we appreciate you. thank you. >> thanks, guys. president biden calling his meeting with xi jinping productive, but also calling him a dictator. how china is responding, next. how reporting on president trump's team see the e election lining up.p. we have e that straiaight ahead. president biden says the u.s. and china are moving back toward clear, direct communications a after his high-stakes meeting with xi jinping. itment comes after the leaders didn't speak for a year stoking fears their countries were on a path toward direct conflict. but after spending four hours together, the leaders agreed to start the process for restoring min mil tear communications and be able to call directly whenever needed. xi says the lines of communications have been reopened and will stay that pwa. >> translator: it is the reaching out to each other and our peoples that has time and again brought china-u.s. relations from a low bar back on the right track. i'm convinced that once open, the door of china-u.s. relations cannot be shut again. >> mark stewart is live for us in beijing with more. mark, i have been completely fascinated over the course of the last couple weeks and then since the summit about how state media has been covering it. how they have been covering it in the lead up and very positive tone talking about relations back to the flying tigers, to some degree. is this real? have things really moved in a positive direction here? >> reporter: keep in mind, staut media is really the government's messenger service. so we are seeing very positive response. the coverage in the last 24 hours or so has been very much focused on xi jinping, not so much joe biden. in fact, china calling these talks positive and comprehensive. also a lot of themes about xi jinping showing strength, tell ing joe biden what's not negotiable. that being taiwan. also a headline that caught our attention today, bringi