fight directly to donald trump. >> he doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. >> trump looks to cement his hold on the gop. >> no, i'm not a threat. ly save democracy. >> what would a secondary trump term look like. j.d. vance of ohio is ahead. plus on the line. a split over foreign aid divided congress as world pressure grows over the civilian death toll in gaza. >> there is more that has to happen. >> does the united states have any requirements. and anthonyony blinken is next. and will they go far enough. >> if there is an agreement to phase out fossil fuels, it is a success. if it is not, it is a failure, former vice president al gore joins me exclusively. hello, i'm jake tapper in washington where the state of the union is preparing for what it looks to be a ugly 2024. we're closing in on a presidential year and america already feeled divided of the last night we saw donald trump leaning in his new argument that despite the allies to overturn the 2020 election it is he who will save democracy and days after he told sean hannitiy he would be a dictator on day one that was laughed off. the president of the university of pennsylvania resigned after ham handed comments at a hearing on anti-semitism in which she called any genocide on jews would depend on the context. and with congress stalled over foreign aid to ukraine and israel, the pressure on the biden administration over the israel policy is only growing this weekend after the u.s. vetoes a u.n. security council cease-fire resolution backed by allies and the state department said it would bypass congress to send more ammunition for tanks as they have an offensive that have killed thousands of innocent palestinians. hamas hides among the civilian population but the u.s. wants israel to do more to stop the blood shed of innocents. the scale of the humanitarian scale is only growing and the president's support for israel is continuing to divide the democratic party. joining me now is secretary of state antony blinken. mr. secretary, thank you for joining us. the u.s. stood alone at the u.n. security council to block the cease-fire. and you said this week there is, quote, a gap, between the intent to protect palestinians an the actual results that we're seeing on the ground in gaza. you could describe that gap? what is israel doing right now that you think does not demonstrate enough care or protection of palestinian civilians? >> jake, we think there needs to be a premium put on protecting civilians and making sure that humanitarian assistance could get to everyone who needs it. as i said, i think the intent is there but the results are not manifesting themselves and we see that in humanitarian and assistance. and we want to make sure that as israel continues this campaign, because, remember, they are dealing with a terrorist organization that engaged in the most vicious possibility brutality and would do it again if begin the opportunity. so israel needs to protect itself and to protect october 7th from had aping again. but it is imperative that civilians be protected and it is critical to make sure that the military operations are designed around civilian protection and to focus on that. when it comes to humanitarian assistance, we, as you know, made the argument many weeks ago to get humanitarian assistance in and it started to flow, wep got it doubled during the humanitarian pause that we helped to negotiate, but now what is critical is this -- even aziz rael has taken addition steps to designate safe areas in the south to focus on neighborhoods, not entire cities in terms of evacuating them. what we're not seeing sufficiently is a couple of things. one, making sure that the humanitarian operators who are there, starting with the united i nations, that there are deconfliction times and places and routes so the humanitarians could bring the assistance getting into gaza to people who need it. similarly, we need to see the same kind of deconfliction, time and pauses and designated routes, plural, not just one. and clarity of communication, so that people know when it is safe and where it is safe to move to get out of harm's way before they go back home. these are the kinds of things we're working on every single day. again to make sure that that gap between intent and result is as narrow as possible. >> the idf told cnn, i believe alex marquardt, they believe they've killed 7,000 hamas fighters. when do you anticipate this phase of israel's military campaign is going to end? they can't kill every member of hamas and even if they did, 150 to you new ones would show up the next day. are the israelis telling you anything about when this phase will wrap up? because the civilian death toll is mounting, and it is unmanageable. secretary austin suggested that they may be facing a strategic defeat by chasing so many palestinians into the arms of hamas. >> jake, we have these discussions with israel including about the duration as well as how it is prosecuting this campaign against hamas. these are decisions for israel to make. but hamas has decisions to make too. it could get out from hiding behind civilians and put down arms tomorrow and surrender tomorrow and this would be over. >> obviously. but will the u.s. continue to back israel the way it is backing israel right now if this continues for months and months? as opposed to days or weeks? >> again, israel has to make these decisions. of course, everyone wants to see this campaign come to a close as quickly as possible. but any country faced with what israel is facing, a terrorist organization that attacked in the most horrific way possible on october 7th and has said repeatedly it could do it again and again. it has to get to the point where it is confident that that can't be repeated. but you make another point that is very important. when the major military operation is over, this is not over. because we have to have a durable and sustainable peace. and we have to make sure that we're on the path to a durable and sustainable peace. from our perspective and from the perspective of many around the world, that has to lead to a palestinian state. this is -- we're not going to have durable peace or durable security for israel until palestinian political aspirations are met. and what happens the day after in gaza once major military operations are over, that is also usually hugely important and to make sure that governance and reconstruction is in place so there is no vacuum. >> members of the journalism, 56 has been killed in this war, mostly if not entirely by idf strikes. is that acceptable to you? you've made a press freedom a hallmark of your term. how do you explain all of these deaths of journalists, how did the israelis explain it? >> jake, as i see journalists including some of your colleagues but also from many other news organizations, putting their lives on the line to just bring the news and bring the facts and bring information to the world, i have extraordinary admiration for what they do, for the courage that they show, and for the vital importance of their mission. and we want to make sure that just as every civilian is proteched to the greatest extent possible, of course, journalists are too. and when it comes to instances where journalists have been killed, we want to make sure that that is investigated and we understand what happened and there is accountability. >> congress is scrambling to reach a deal and republicans are insisting on more border restrictions be added to the bill. what would it mean for ukraine and israel if congress does not pass any additional support by the end of the year and why not agree to tougher border protections which is an issue of national security as well? >> well, jake, the border piece as you know is out of my purview. but i could say this. i know on day one of this administration, or at least day two, the president put before congress the first bill on immigration reform, unfortunately congress hasn't acted on that. in this request for additional funds, there is $6 billion to enhance border security including having more people and more agents on the border. so i know that is very much part of the discussion and something that the president is prepared engage on. what it would mean for israel and ukraine and to be competitive in the indo pacific, i think the only people who are happy if this budget is not approved are sitting in moscow, sitting in tehran, sitting in beijing. for ukraine, this is vital. they've made remarkable progress over the last year and pushing back russian aggression, taking back more than 15% of the territory that was seized since february of 2022. but their in a ferocious battle now in the south and the east. we're running out of funding for them. by the way, 90% of the assistance, the security assistance we provided ukraine is in vested right here in the united states to our companies to our manufactures. we've had burden sharing with our allies and partners. we provided significant assistance, about $70 billion over the last two years, our european friends and partners beyond europe, more than $110 for ukraine. so we have the burden sharing that we need. this is a time to really step up because if we don't, we know what happens. putin will be able to move forward with impunity. and we know he won't stop in ukraine. and he may well end up going after a nato country. that would bring us in given our obligations to our nato allies. so a ounce of prevention is worth ten pounds of cure. >> and cnn has led the coverage when it comes to the evidence mounting in israel of rapes and sex crimes committed by hamas against women and girls, maybe even against men on october 7th. why do you think the united nations an the international community has been so slow to condemn these atrocities? i can't think of a real reason -- well let me put it this way. i've heard anti-semitism high podge sized by they might be so slow to acknowledge this. what do you think? >> jake, first, i really applaud the extraordinary work of cnn in bringing this to light and bringing this before the world. you've performed a remarkable service in doing that. as to a question. i don't have an answer. i don't know why countries and leaders and international organizations were so slow to focus on this. to bring it to people's attention. i'm glad it is finally happening. the atrocities that we saw on october 7th are almost beyond human description or beyond our capacity to digest. but the sexual violence that we saw on october 7th, is beyond anything that i've seen either. so, thank you for doing that and look, i don't have a good answer to that question. i think it is a question that these organizations, these countries need to ask themselves. >> secretary of state antony blinken, thanks for joining us today. >> thanks, jake. republicans who oppose more aid to ukraine already won the fight in congress. senator j.d. vance of ohio joins me next on that. and a report he's on former president trump's short list. and al gore will join me ahead. stay with us. welcome back to "state of the union," i'm jake tapper. we're five weeks out from the iowa caucus, but much of the dialogue focused on what a second term might look like particularly after comments by trump, after he called concerns about what he might do in office, the threat to democracy hoax. for more on that and a debate that is dividing the senate, j.d. vance joins me live in studio. thank you for being here. so you just heard secretary blinken try to make the aid to ukraine and israel and you blocked a package among and the reasons more support for a border package to protect the southern border. mitch mcconnell, however, talking about the aid for israel and ukraine, said that threats from russia and china and hamas are all interconnected. take a listen to what he had to say. >> sure. >> challenges facing america and our allies today, are not on a la carte menu of projects. we could address at our leisure. america couldn't have the luxury of facing these threats individually. our ability to contend with complex simultaneous threats is exactly what our adversaries are testing. >> now you disagree with that and you oppose aid to ukraine, explain your position. >> well so first of all, i think it is possible to have separate debates. congressional republicans tried to force a israel alone aid that democrats blocked in the senate. i think we need to have separate debates. but on the ukraine question in particular, everybody knows, with a brain in their head, knows this is always going to head in negotiation. the idea that ukraine was going to throw russia back to the 1991 border was preposterous. nobody believed it. so what we're saying to the president and really to the entire world is, you need to articulate what the ambition is. what is $61 billion going to accomplish that $100 billion hasn't. and ukraine is structured by a country. the average age is 43. that is older than me. i'm 39. if this goes ong longer, the average will be older than you and a year later it could by wolf blitzer. that is a tragedy. what does it look like -- >> i don't like this age thing. i'm 54 for those wondering. >> we're in a place to be on the hook to pay for ukraine pensioners and we need to bring the killing to a stop and that is what american leadership should be doing not writing blank checks to the war. >> and what do you make if the u.s. and nato and they cede part of ukraine or all of ukraine to putin, that all we're doing is putting out the welcome mat to invade a country in the nato alliance such as poland. >> putin has showed he's much weaker than they've feared and they're stalling him relative to the entire country. the idea that he could march to poland or berlin is preposterous. and what this misses here is we have to remember our nato allies with a exception of a few eastern europeans, most don't spend 2% of gdp on defense. if putin is a threat to berlin, that means the germans should be changing something about their defense policy. it doesn't mean we could write indefinite checks to ukraine. >> but russia is a paper tiger because the u.s. has been helping ukraine. that is the reason. >> well it is also because the ukrainians have fought very bravely and look, you cannot occupy an entire territory the size of ukraine with the amount of troops that russia has. the idea that you could go even further and control multiple european nations is i think a scare tactic to get people distracted from the fact that our ukraine policy just doesn't make a ton of sense. i listen to secretary blinken, what are we trying to do, jake? what is the end goal here. how long does this go until the president could articulate the answer to those questions, i don't know why we would write another blank check. >> the argument might be and i'm certainly not secretary blinken. but the argument might be that russia invaded a sovereign nation that is a ally and what russia is doing is evil and putin's goals are, as he has stated them time and time again, to rebuild the former ussr. >> it is a stark morality but we can't make strategic decisions based on stark morality. we have a food crisis that is getting worse because of the prolonged war in eastern europe. we have an energy crisis that is threatening to swamp multiple allied governments and we must accept that ukraine will have to cede some territory to russians and we need to bring this war to a close. and when i think about the great human tragedy, hundreds of thousands have been killed in this conflict and what is in our interest is to stop the killing. and to your doorstep. ohio new constitutional amendment went into effect thursday. you said after it passed, we have to recognize how much voters mistrust us on this issue, us meaning republicans. this week, the texas supreme court is blocking a woman in texas from obtaining an abortion even though her fetus has a rare genetic condition that is almost always fatal and her doctors want her to be able to get this so she's able to have babies in the future and for her health. isn't that situation an example of why many voters might not trust republicans? >> well, i don't know the details of that story, jake. but i will say that we have to accept that people do not want blanket abortion bans. they don't. i say this as a person who wants to protect as many unborn baby as possible. and that is a basic necessity. and when people don't trust us, what i'm getting at, i've been shocked by you go to the hospital and you have a baby and you get a $24,000 unexpected bill. what does this look like for a middle class family. we've made it hard to have children and families in this country in that environment if people see republicans not as the party that is trying to make it easier to have babies but trying to take people's rights away then we'll loose. i think we have to win the trust back of the american people and one of the ways to do that is to be the pro-family party and i think we have but we have to enact some public policy to that effect. >> is birth control part of that policy, empowering women to make those decisions before they get pregnant. >> people need to make those decisions. i don't think i know any republican or at least not a republican with a brain trying to take those rights away from people. did you i think it could -- it could go deeper than that. >> i could provide a list for you. >> but not anybody that i talk to. i talk to a lot of people and a lot of young families that want to have babies and they can't afford mortgages and terrified about health care and not much enough americans are not able to do it. that is how you destroy a nation. let's turn to trump because there are conservatives that have deep concerns about trump and a secondary term. take a listen to what liz cheney told me this week. >> he already tried to seize power once. so it shouldn't be hard for anyone to imagine he will do it again. once a president decides that he's above the law as donald trump has, everything unravels nearly immediately. >> do you have any concerns that donald trump might try to abuse his power if re-elected. >> no. the guy was president for four years. we had peace and prosperity and wages rising faster than inflation. and president biden has been perfectez for three years and the average ohio pays $10,000 more to afford the same standard of living. the idea that trump will be radically than he was four years ago is preposterous. i think he'll be a successful president again and i that is why i've endorsed him and this to make it about the past that makes it indicative that democrats don't have much to run on and the republicans do. >> and donald trump is out there talking about how the 2024 election was stolen from him and using bogus evidence and lies and assertions that were disputed and overruled by court after court, judge after judge, election board after election board and judges that were apointed by him. he's the one focused on 2020. >> you just showed me a clip of liz cheney and who talks nothing of january 6, 2021. the president is campaigning an redelivering peace and prosperity for the american people. if you want to talk about the 2020 election, but i want to talk about and i think president trump wants to talk about the future, that is what this election is going to be decided on. >> i think the concern is he wouldn't stock his administration where the j.d. vance of the world, would be with individuals that would not be able to tell him no. one voice that i'm heard about is kash patel, he served as chief of staff to the pentagon. here is what he said to say on steve bannon's podcast this week. >> we will find the conspirators in the government and the media. yes, we're coming after the people in media who lies about -- we're going to come after you. >> look, i know kash patel very well. i didn't see