Capital. Steve scalise, the man elected by the Republican Caucus to be the next speaker but was short of the votes to do so as just announced, apparently, inside the republican conference, that he is withdrawing his name from the speakership. We dont know why, other than the whip count a vote against him within the Republican Caucus today and ballooned to 16 or 17 votes. People were saying he could not get to 217 either to be elected Speaker Of The House. This comes a week and a half after mccarthy was deposed, successful with eight members voting i along with all the democrats. Theres been a speaker pro tem, Patrick Mchenry since then, serving in a custodial fashion. This is all totally unprecedented in american history. We havent had this before. Its 100 years since we had a motion to vacate the chair. Amidst an unfolding global crisis, the second in line to the president and Constitutional Office of Speaker Of The House remains vacant, with no clear path for this house Republican Caucus to rally behind anyone for an election. I believe we have ali but hallie joining us. Hallie, i just learned about this before i went to air. What is going on . I literally just learned about it before you went to air. This is all happening in real time here. We were confused when republicans said theyre gonna notice a 7 30 meeting. There was no real reason why they would do that. It wasnt clear that scalise had moved any of the members. They said they would never vote for him. It turns out that on his way into the meetings that he was going to have more conversations. We will hear what those conversations were. But it turns out that in the room he said he was dropping his bid for speaker, aware of the fact that he was going to be shy of the 217 votes that he needed. What is important here, on the one hand, its back to the Drawing Board board for the rest of the Republican Congress now because they have to go back, likely Behind Closed Doors, do another secret speaker election, see if they can get consensus at that point, and then try to bring it back to a more public for vote. We never even hit that phase with scalise. But there are still going to be people who are jockeying for this, including the man who was scalises official challenger in this round of the speakers race, congressman jim jordan. He is someone who had thrown his support behind scalise, but he never lost support from some die hards within this conference. I do have to say, though, i dont think it matters who the person is. They are all going to have an immensely difficult road getting into the magic number that they need to actually become speaker. And my conversations with members earlier today, when they did about three hours of basically an airing of grievances Behind Closed Doors, some of them apparently in that meeting even joked they dont even think jesus could get 217 votes in this conference. As much as that is hyperbole in a punchline, im not sure theyre wrong. It is an immensely difficult conference to herd these cats within every single vote, counts every individuals concern or question counts and thats what makes it so difficult and its why Kevin Mccarthy had such a hard time back in january. We should note, again, when you have four votes to spare in the caucus, and youre expecting a Party Line Vote because youre elected by the entire house, you may get six or seven people who are knows, who have mutually exclusive asks. Its one thing if theres a block that says we are a hard no and we want these three things. If theyre all over the map, its not even like theres a negotiation you can do. Exactly. Its not like youre going conference by conference, caucus by caucus and saying okay moderates want x, the Freedom Caucus want why. How do we put those two things together . No, scalise and whatever comes after have gone literally individual member by individual member. Its not only inefficient but it also means that some of these asks are going to come in conflict with each other you cant please everyone. Then you have to figure out, are you appeasing enough people to lose the people that cant get on board . Its a balancing act. Its one that most members that ive been in touch with for the last two weeks or so, up through the motion to vacate and even now as they try to pick who comes next, there is not a clear consensus within this conference. Even when matt gaetz was threatening, im gonna do a motion to vacate, the open question we had was, okay, if not mccarthy, then who . There was no clean answer then and theres no clean answer now. For some americans this might seem inside baseball are not important to their life, but when you look at the larger geopolitical landscape right now, this is at the core of the way the house functions. Yes, its in the line of succession for the presidency. You mentioned that. But its also the way they can do as little as condemn hamas for what happened in israel and that most of sending military and humanitarian aid israel. Those are key priorities here. But they are effectively unable to do any governing whatsoever because they cannot decide who the Speaker Of The House is going to be. Important point there. I will note that Speaker Elections happen in the entire house. In other state houses there have been deals cut to get to some consensus, trying to party lines. I dont think anyone wants to do that now. One imagines of might be some conversations along those lines are longer this goes. There does have to be a speaker soon, because the business of governing has to happen. Thank you very much for doing that. Yes, of course. Were gonna have more on that a little bit, but i speak with senator cory booker, but first of all Antony Blinken was in tel aviv. He spoke in a joint Press Conference with israeli Prime Minister benjamin netanyahu. In his speech, blinken, who stepfather survived the holocaust, evoked his jewish heritage and a message of solidarity with the jewish people. I come before you not only is the United States secretary of state but also as a jew. I understand, on a personal level, the harrowing echoes of hamass massacres carry for israeli jews. Indeed, for jews everywhere. Hamas has only one agenda. To destroy israel and to murder jews. Secretary blinken also toured a Donation Center for victims of this weekends hamas attack. He had an emotional meeting with one of the survivors of the Music Festival in Southern Israel that was the target. First priority, our friends and family that are now in gaza. We were strong here. We are powerful here, in this place, in tel aviv, and everywhere. What [applause]. Think you very much. Were thinking of villain doing everything we can. They believe hamas has taken over more than 100 hostages and the white house confirmed there are americans among them. Today the state Department Said that at least 14 americans are unaccounted for after saturdays attack. That is in addition to at least 27 who were murdered. United nations also says that 12 of Asylum Workers in gaza have been killed off since saturday, under the intense israeli bombardment. Steve galen, a Top State Department hostage negotiator, traveled to israel with Secretary Blinken. He will stay behind when the rest of the u. S. Envoy returns home so that it can keep working to free the hostages in what is certain to be incredibly fraught and dangerous difficult process. All that is happening, the Israeli Military called up 360,000 reservists for duty in anticipation of a potential ground defensive. The countries ll will bring additional reservists on saturday in spite of being the sabbath. Told reuters, quote, everyone is coming. You know what to say no. This is different. This is unprecedented. Also in preparation for a Ground Invasion of gaza, the u. S. Has been attempting to broker talks between egypt and israel to establish a corridor to provide safe passage for Palestinian Civilians fleeing gaza. Egypt has rejected those proposals, according to senior egyptian official speaking to the associated press. Talks are still ongoing to establish Crossing Point to bring aid and fuel into gaza. Today leadership at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee announced intentions to introduce a bipartisan resolution affirming u. S. Support for israel when the Senate Reconvenes next week. That he is in addition to plans for a supplemental funding bill to send additional military aid to the country. Any such bill would likely originate in the house of representatives. As ally noted in the top of the show, thats not possible right now. The house cannot pass an israeli aid package. It cant pass any bill for that matter because right now there is no Speaker Of The House, nor are there any serious prospects for one. As republicans fire the last cry more than a week ago, and have since descended into total nonfunctional chaos. Republican chair of the House Foreign Affairs committee speaking even before scalise withdrew, just moments ago. This is starting to get impatient what we need to fill the chair with a speaker. Every day that goes by a gets more dangerous. I was on the phone for with our friends from israel. Theyre going to get supplemental in aid to replenish the iron dome. They cant do that if we dont have a speaker. I see a lot of threats out there, but the biggest one i see in the room. Its very dangerous what were doing. And i just wanted them to know that. Were playing with fire. House republican dysfunction almost pales in dysfunction in comparison to an ultimate crisis and leadership put forward in the next president of United States last night. If the election wasnt rigged, there would be nobody even thinking about going into israel. Then there was the inevitable attack, four days later, which i predicted. And then two nights ago i read all of bidens security people. Can you imagine National Defense people, and they said gee, i hope hezbollah doesnt attack from the north, because thats the most vulnerable spot. I said wait a minute. Hezbollah is very smart. Theyre all very smart. Ill never forget that [applause] Bibi Netanyahu let us down. That was a terrible thing. I will say that. So when i see sometimes the intelligence, you talk about the intelligence or you talk about some of the things that went wrong over the last week, they have got to straighten it out because they are fighting potentially a very big force. Theyre fighting potentially iran. Worth keeping in mind how close we came to that man who praised hezbollah militant on Live Television Live Television, want to credit for the attack. Its worth keeping in mind he will likely be the republican nominee for president , and we may come to that possibility again. Cory booker is a democrat of new jersey, serves on the Foreign Relations committee. Last saturday he was in israel when the hamas attacks began. This is his first interview since returning to the United States. Good to have you here. Good to be with you in person again. Let me just start because you just learned, as i, did that Stephen Steve scalise has withdrawn. Its not your house, but its the United States house of representatives. To the point that michael mccaul, the statement made this is a problem. We are in crisis right now in the country. If important issues we should be dealing with, resolutely, supporting the effort of ukraine, resolutely standing with israel. Helping to aid in their defense protection citizens and evacuation of americans from gaza israel. There are many important issues, not to mention funding the government. So to have this level of dysfunction amongst House Republicans and especially a number of small group of rightwing folks who are undermining the functioning of government, this is very problematic at a terrible time going on in our world right now. You were in israel on that saturday when the hamas massacre happened in the south. You are also in the region, i believe, after that, if im not mistaken. What is your take away back here, having been in the region at a moment of such an awful crisis. I was going there on a mission, because there is a Pathway To Peace and it opened up to the abraham accords. I went there to be with palestine palestinian, leaders israeli leaders, and to continue in the region with people who believe. As mbs said in a interview on fox, there is a Pathway To Peace with the palestinian pillar being a key. Palestinian leaders for the first time were having, and came in 1967 for the first time to the west bank to begin with palestinian leaders on the Pathway To Peace. So here you have this Terrorist Organization who is whose very charter doesnt say the destruction of israel. The charter of hamas. They want to destroy jews. Launching missiles. Before this i got here early. Its a very important holiday for me personally. Its been about 30 years since the christian ive been studying torah and really engaging in a faith that me so much to me. I danced with the torah the night before these attacks, sat and had shabbat dinner with friends, two of them who have lost family members. Family members are slaughtered in the kibbutz. The other, i had a nephew who is called up to defend folks. And he was killed in defending lives, innocent lives. This is an isis like Terrorist Organization. Whats worse for the palestinians to hamas has murdered and kidnapped palestinians, has brutalized its own people, and what is interesting about their pattern right now, known throughout everybody i talked about, talked with in The Middle East, from journalists to Business People to members of government, they all know hamass mission is to stop peace. And at the very moment that a Pathway To Peace open up that you heard from the saudis, from the emeratis, from folks in bahrain who understood that we had an opportunity here for a two state solution. Hamas, terrorists, isis like, hitler like folks who hate jews and want to kill them, opened once one of the worst Terrorist Attacks over the last 50 years. In terms of the peace process, there was lots of weird being sent that there was a move towards saudi and israeli normalization, which of course would be an enormous change. One of the criticisms ive heard, and this is independent of hamass motives, which i cant really divine, is that it was an attempt to bypass the peace with palestinians. This idea that you would lock in normalization without resolving the enormous problem of 2 Million People living in a penal colony and the occupation of the west bank. Thats completely wrong. Im one of the founding members of the abraham accords. Ive been very involved in a lot of these diplomatic work. I should be on a plane and about a week with republicans, a small group of us, going to saudi arabia to continue these talks because we cannot let these terrorists, this isis like, not to like people when, and were going to i stayed in the region. I just came back today because i didnt want to derail it. From americans to arabs in the region, everybody wants to continue this pathway. And centered in it, as the leader of saudi arabia said on fox news, centered in this has to be a pathway back to the two state solution. An irrevocable pathway back to the two state solution. My conversations with Senate Democrats and senate republicans, before this, the State Department agreed this had to be about peace. At the very moment when you hear arab leaders openly discussing an opportunity for peace, an organization founded to kill jews, who, after the also accords, 2014, when arafat and robbyn get the nobel peace prize, and theres a Pathway To Peace, what does hamas do . They go after israelis. They bomb buses. They target civilians. And then they use their own people as Human Shields, as israel exercises its right to self defense, hoping that the sympathy that they could maybe bring about by the people they are endangering could somehow undermine support for a peace process. What we are seeing is this again. And thats why the debate in america should not be a debate. We should have Crystal Clarity to support israel and to call out these nazi, isis like folks who are Targeting Civilians with an attempt not just here and murdered jews, not just to kill and hes palestinians as Human Shields, not just to target, remember, there are also nepalese, argentinians, americans, killed and held hostage through this. We have to continue the pathway towards peace and human rights for israelis and palestinians. We could talk about the sort of Human Shields and attempting to curry favor and public opinion, again, the moral responsibility for what happens in gaza, i cant even begin to debate whose fault it will be. All i know is that there are 6000 bombs that have been drops, according to Israeli Defense forces. Thats more than a amounts on raqqa and mosul, when we were a bombing isis at the highest we ever did. What do you say to people who say there are millions of civilians there, what are we doing as the u. S. . First of all, im in talks today about creating a humanitarian corridor. There are americans in gaza right now, there are children and innocent suffering. Were going to continue as americans to do everything we can to create a humanitarian corridor. These are, again, terrorists. Targeting civilians. Israel is a democracy, and democracies are stronger when they abide by the rule of law. President biden said that publicly, we try to minimize casualties, and that is something that we all can call on israel as they exercise the right to self defense, to do Everything Possible to minimize loss as these cowards and terrorists are using Palestinian People as Human Shields. It is awful. We need to do Everything Possible to help them minimize that damage. To me there should be no confusion about this for americans. And ill say this not just as a United States senator. Not just as a patriot who die for my own country. I would say this is blackmail. When youre Black In America you understand your vulnerability within the country you love, i saw it as an adult, on january 6th, the people that stormed the capitol talked to Capitol Police for african americans. They had signs of hatred. Confederate flags. The vicious racist things they were saying to Capitol Police officers. But side by side the symbols of hate towards Black Americans were shirts like camp auschwitz shirts. Hate has an indiscriminate infection. This is why as an american, as a black american, i will always stand against hate and stand with the people who are targets of hate. Just like the nazis, who didnt just destroyed tuesday, destroyed gay people, gypsies. I will stand with people who are targets of hate. Hamas, like the nazis and isis, are people who live in hate. I stand with jews, with muslims, with gay folks, with people right now who all have a common cause, to stand against hamas because hamas isnt indiscriminately hateful people who do not want peace. They want to destroy others and stop us from having. This is not complicated, america. It is not complicated. We all must denounce hate and those people who use hate to destroy. That is hamas. I am worried right now. Im worried about rising antisemitism in the United States. I lead with three other senators, bipartisan, to call for more resources, because hate is indiscriminate, in its efforts. The same hate killed blacks in a church in South Carolina where, the same people wielding the same hate that killed in the synagogue. So we all need to take an understanding. Everyone has a responsibility to condemn the hatred of this isis nazi like hamas, and do everything we can to try to get us back to fees, to affirming if youve been rights for all people in that region, and again, the protection of this country and this countrys targets of hate. I think, again, if you could wave a magic wand to get rid of hamas, i think people would take that. I want folks to know, when i travel to these other countries, they all know what kind of Organization Hamas is. I was almost lectured to by leaders in other arab countries, just over the last few days, about how horrific hamas is, the awful things they have done to palestinians. Arab countries know how dangerous and vicious this organization is. This is my frame of reference, so its an american context. After 9 11 the u. S. Had justification to go after the taliban. They were holding out they just murdered 3000 of our fellow citizens. We did. 20 years later, the taliban, which i think is a hateful organization, it stands for hateful things, is in power in afghanistan. 20 years later. After trillions of dollars, after Tens Of Thousands if not hundreds of thousands of lives. I guess my caution is, to people are looking at this and saying, is there a solution on the other end of whats about to happen militarily here, who have watched that 20year trajectory . So this is why ill be back on a plane into The Middle East and hopefully saudi arabia very soon. Its because we believe in freedom and human rights cant let these hate mongers when, and the strength of that is when you create multi faith, multi religious, Multi National coalitions that can help usher folks to peace. The Palestinian People need their own state, their own human rights. Israeli people who have from the very second of their founding have been attacked, we cannot give up on the hope. I give people this sense of hope. When i go after, when i leave israel, over the l and the bridge, and i go from jordan to the uae, to bahrain, the growing commitment in that region to normalizing with israel, the commitment you see with a saudi leader on fox news saying, every day we get closer to normalizing israel, with the understanding that i have unequivocally that the palestinian rights and their own state should be a core principle to that, that is something we have not seen. Even after the oslo accords, we have not seen. For all these people who want to do this reductionist both sidesism, no, we need to join and focusing our attention on the people who to this day, there are still rocket alarms going off in israel who are trying to frustrate efforts to peace with a proven track record of killing palestinians, of violating the rights of palestinians, and killing citizens of multiple nations who right now are holding people. 100, maybe. For more. Multiple nations, multiple faiths, holding them captive. We know who the enemy is here. The people who believe in peace and human rights and security have to double down in their efforts to join in this condemnation of the isis like organization, but more importantly, its not about israels right to self defense to unequivocally which i unequivocally support, but its about pursuing viable pathways in partnership with others for peace. Israel has to stop what is going on right now with this hateful organization. Ill do everything i can for humanitarian corridors and more, but i will never give up on the ideas of peace, two state solution, and protecting of civilians against a specter of hate that we have seen for generations in this war. Youve been very generous. Senator cory booker, thank you for being here. Well be right back. According to israeli media, at least 14,000 israelis have been killed at more than 4300 entered. Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of health, more than 1500 people have been killed. Thousands more injured. Its really monitor and outs today its dropped as, omission before, 6000 bombs on gaza. To put that in context, according to former United Nations comes investigator israels dropping in less than a week what the u. S. Was dropping and afghanistan in a here, a much smaller and much potentially populated area where mistakes are going to be magnified. Gazas more than 2 million residents now have no elantra city. Theyre running out of food and water under a total blockade. All of this while it appears were about to enter even more dangerous stage of the war, with israeli tanks approaching the Gaza Border Today in anticipation of an anticipated current investigation. Elliott ville she has been reporting live all week and joins me now from the town of ashkelon. You have been doing amazing work every day there, who have you been talking to today . Where in ashkelon, which is south of ashdod. Im two and a half miles from the gaza border, right that way. We have been hearing, i was just saying one of our colleagues before i came on with you that its been quiet for the last half an hour, 40 minutes. But prior to that, we are hearing multiple missiles hitting gaza. It just feels like it has accelerated in the last few hours a great deal. As far as we, know that ground assault hasnt started. In part of the issue there is that i think israel may be developing a strategy, or is trying to figure out a strategy how best to get these hostages out. There are between 100 and 150 of them, you more than 100 families have been informed that their loved ones are confirmed been taken by hamas. They dont seem to know where they are or what shaped therein. There are some families who have loved ones who are missing where they believe to be hostages, and one of those is the family of a woman named vivian silver. Shes from winnipeg, canada. Shes lived for decades on a kibbutz right here by the gaza border. She was a piece activist, is a piece activist, and a reconciliation expert. She worked with girls and women, palestinian women to reconcile their differences. She held people get health care as they would come into israel to do so because against health care they dont have facilities for in gaza. Her son believed that she is a hostage. Theyre not 100 percent sore, but yes, they got a chance to look inside our home and take a look. And he was relieved to say or her body wasnt there. So he hopes shes a hostage, but he hasnt received a call from the idf to say that she is. However, this is how hes reconciling. This hes really struggling with what he supposed to think, given that his mother is a piece activist and wouldnt want violence. Heres what he told me when i asked him about her . My community is wiped out. Its in comprehensible. And it was very vicious. Viciously done. But thats the point. Thats the point. The only way to be safe is to have peace into. Its a cycle. Were going to wipe out gaza now. Kids would grow up. In 50 years, ituld ppen again. He was channel lane i was asking him what his mother white mightve said if i was interviewing her inside of him. Its complex here. From afar, it may feel that its simple, but here on the ground, even for israelis who are grieving and fearful and very very worried, its a range of emotions and complexity. And i want to follow up on the hostage situation, which really does create very concrete and tangible ive read interviews with multiple family members. We played the tape at the top of a woman who was a survivor of that Music Festival who said bring our family and friends and loved ones back home from gaza. I wrote an oped in the New York Times today that was just utterly devastating about a mom talking about her 22 year old son who is there, saying at the end of that, if youre a mother there, please take care of my son, look after my son. But this is. There is a Policy Decision here, which is that a Ground Invasion, which we believe is coming, will likely spell their demise. I think they have to assume. There are negotiators working very hard at this. But that complexity is not an abstract one. Its a point of severe complexity. Youre a Hunter Percent right. The leverage that hamas has, if they have any after that massacre, is that they have hostages. And if that doesnt prevent israel from coming in, why keep those hostages . The other thing that hamas does is theyre likely to use them as Human Shields. And thats a complicated place for Israeli Soldiers to operate. So youre absolutely right, the families that most people are still being held would like the government to expand all efforts had to figure out how to get their loved ones out before that Ground Invasion starts. They understand that there may be a Ground Invasion. And in places like ashkelon, where people are very angry, they want that Ground Invasion. They wanted to be decisive. But for the families of the people are still being held, they would like a solution to the hostages before a ground war starts. Of course, israel is considering all of that right now, and were not sure what decisions are gonna come to. Ali, i couldnt thank you enough for your fantastic reporting. I think you from the bottom my heart for. It and stay safe. One of the main challenges and covering whats happening in israel and gaza right now is that gaza is one of the most inaccessible and dangerous places in the world at the moment. Even before saturdays massacre by hamas, gaza was largely closed off by the israeli blockade thats going on over a dozen years. Within it, hamas runs a one party state and where dissent is punished. This, among many other factors makes it very hard to give American Television audiences a vision of life there that doesnt feel alien and remote. Even the images that weve shown you, that we are showing you, of the rubble, they look like they come from a Disaster Movie or another planet. And ill just say, speaking for myself, and i think many of us feel this way. Personally, i can relate to the sheer anguish and terror that weve seen from the israeli survivors of the last terror attack. The images and words of the survivors on me. I can imagine a 24 year old version of myself out of Music Festival like the one that was cited that slaughter. And, like the story that we brought you last night, i can imagine hiding in my house with my little girls fearing for their lives as Armed Intruders came for us. But its kind of impossible for me to really imagine myself in a place like gaza city, fleeing from aerial bombardment. But there are millions of people in there who are living through a kind of hell right now. Earlier today, i spoke to somebody who fled gaza city. Hes the Outrage Coordinator for a News Organization covering israeli and palestinian stories. Hes also Executive Director of he wrote a harrowing oped for the New York Times today, describing the unsuccessful attempt to evacuate his family at the egypt. His family is now trapped at a refugee camp and gaza. Their home and gaza city is under bombardment. After i stick with my family in my parents home, i drive alone to my home and gaza city. And my way, in gaza city, the bone baratunde, and its still going to change. I couldnt recognize and realize, the building, like, its literally flattened. I couldnt remember where is this building and where is this building . All of it was flattened. I also spoke with somebody whos in gaza city right now, youssef hamas. He works for a norwegian ngo. He filed a report for uks channel 4. Hes lived in gazas whole life and describe what he has seen in the last few days. You said how much is an Advocacy Officer with the norwegian refugee council. Hes lived in gaza his whole life and he joins us now. Youssef, thank you so much for talking to us. Can you tell us where in gaza you are and what it is like there . You were there in 2014, the last time that there was a war between hamas and israel in gaza specifically. Is this more destruction . Are the airstrikes and the bombing a wider area than what happened in 2014 in these for six days . How you talked about the humanitarian basics, obviously, shelter being one of them. We have numbers that there are as many as 3000 people are homeless out of a population of 2 million. Water, electricity is running out. Water, food, just from how are people acquiring food and is there clean water still . Clean water still im wondering, obviously, the governing authority in gaza is hamas. What are they saying to the people of gaza about whats happening and whats about to happen . That people in gaza are disconnected from the world in everything and cannot communicate with each other because all Signal Towers have been bombed. Trust me, theres people left in gaza living day by day, no sorry, theyre living second by second because no one can ensure that any second you will be alive. Well i can think about is secure our children, scar family. Every day, i have to go to wait in line for the bakery, for more than two hours just to pick up some bread. This is the situation in gaza. There is of course no way out because of the rafah crossing. Do you what you just said, i guess. Second by second. I hope that you can keep your family safe, and im so appreciative of your taking time to talk to us. Thank you so much. I have to flee from my house to one of my relatives house. I was lucky to have them hosting the, because i live in a poor area. Also, my mother had to find our other relatives house. Its really unacceptable. And also, we are afraid of the terror, whenever it is night, it is terror here. We are afraid, thats a horror movie every night here. And we are praying to see the daylight again. When we come back, Breaking News out of washington d. C. Need tonight is the brandnew republican take for speaker withdraws his candidacy. Thats dunnington, next. Used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. Shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. An increased risk of guillainbarre syndrome was observed after getting shingrix. Fainting can also happen. The most common side effects are pain, redness and swelling at the injection site, muscle pain, tiredness, headache, shivering, fever, and upset stomach. Ask your doctor or pharmacist about shingrix today. All right, so back here in the u. S. , and our nations capital. We continue to have a Chaos Reigning tonight. The house has now got nine days without a speaker and the republican conference nominee, Steve Scalise, just drop out of the race, surprising basically everyone. Minutes before he came on air, congressman Steve Scalise from louisiana emerged from a meeting with his colleagues and admitted that vote for his speakership were just not there. I just shared with my colleagues, im throwing my name is candidate for speaker designate. If you look at over the last few weeks, if you look at where our conference is, theres still work to be done. Our conference still has to come together and its not there. Thats more polite and euphemistic than i would have been. Steve scalise put on the site, members of his caucus have their ideas that need to put to the side, but the divide and fractious Republican Caucus does not appear to be any closer to doing that. Now republicans leadership to the extent except exists, they have been attempting to secure the speakership for scalise, who was their preferred candidate over jim jordan who donald trump endorsed. Yesterday they held a closeddoor meeting of the republican conference, where members voted by Secret Ballot for a nominee. The plan was for caucus to unite behind the winning candidate and then go to the floor for a full vote a few hours later. Thats not how it went. Scalise one of the internal conference vote by 14 votes. He got cape norman from jim jordan and matt gaetz. But within minutes, members turned and said they would know for scalise on the house floor. Soon that repellent became large enough it was clear scalise would not get the 217 votes he needed on the house floor. Today, things swiftly moved further away from a Steve Scalise speakership as the antics Scalise Caucus and the party ballooned to at least 16 members by nbc news count. This afternoon, there is no timeline, republicans were rejected. One republican source predicted the eventual outcome, telling punchbowl news, state is done. 100 done. We might never elect a speaker. Representative troy tells of texas questioned even the lord jesus could get the 217 votes. Not the best option, Steve Scalise is out. Jesus christ is not available. The office of Speaker Of The House remains empty. Republicans dont appear to have anyone else in the caucus who they can get behind, or even a roadmap to get there. And every time you think the republican dysfunction in the house cannot get more intense, somehow it does. Truly historic level chaos. All happening against the bigger drop of an International Crisis jen psaki served as a spokesperson for the department of state, is the host of inside with jen psaki, on msnbc. David jolly is a former Republican Congressman of florida. Both join me now. David, let me start with you. As a person whos been in the conference meetings. It does seem the person winds, gaetz and durban say were with state. Then we go to the floor and vote. Its like, no. And 24 hours, they move further from consensus. I dont even know what the roadmap is here anymore. A little bit of internal dynamics here, chris. Historically, any candidate for speaker, they got more than 50 of the vote, went to the floor with presumably all the votes of the conference. That ended in 2015 when Kevin Mccarthy got 80 of the votes but didnt succeed john boehner, and we know how that ended up going. Yesterday, bill scalise wanted to try to get over the 50 threshold. Didnt want to do it all Behind Closed Doors because he couldnt. And he thought the pressure of going in The Public Eye would work. It didnt. There is a bright light for what happens now. It is that in the collapse of the republicans ability to govern, it shines a lot on the democrats ability to govern. Republicans have been 20 years making this movement. They went from the party of Less Government to note government to now government is the enemy. How could they ever elected somebody to govern. They cant. And i dont know where we go from here. To your point, and contrast to a world that is on fire, we look at domestic politics. The republican majority, they cant govern. It is a crisis, its an opportunity to Shine A Light On Republicans and say, they do not deserve to be in the majority tonight. You know, that white house today put out a statement about Donald Trumps actually, like, bizarre rant last night. To davids point, ive got to imagine, the politics of this are good for them. But at a deeper level, ive got to think theyre more focused on the substance right now. The house cant function. There is stuff cannot get. Passed there is a 45 statement taking. Done whatever shouting you can takes little recompense for the fact you actually need to do stuff. And for immediately on the topic with discussing all night tonight, chris. They cant pass additional assistance for israel without the Speaker Of The House. The house needs to be able to function in order to do that. So i think my former colleagues in the white house are looking at this and thinking, this is chaos, this is crazy. But also, they need them to be a partner in some capacity. And a functioning part of government. Do you think, i mean, i guess, david, how long, i just, again, usually i kind of know what the roadmap is, but i dont think anyone does right now. Let me throw this out to you. Nobody wants to go to the floor until somebody gets elected, because that looks terrible, and it looked horrible the first time. But i dont understand what is going to happen in the absence of. That what are you doing . Everyones trying to trade around, you get these different can someone explain to me the path from here to a speaker . I agree with you, chris. I dont think anybody can become Speaker Of The House in this environment. We are dealing with a bunch of kids and children, and frankly republicans have gone from pure ignorance to rock malfeasance at this point. Thats just what it is. They cannot govern. And the palace intrigue that did entry us two weeks ago now seems woefully in significant specifics of the crisis on the world stage where people are being beheaded and we see a war break out in The Middle East. We have a house without a speaker. We have Military Leadership that is also vacant. At the hands of republicans. They do not deserve to govern. That is the broader problem. To that point, you are a spokesperson for the State Department before he were at the white house. I want to ask you about blinkens trip today. This seems to be a key thing. What do you know about how this works, about the Behind The Scenes negotiations happening around getting the hostages free . The key thing in circumstances like this is all Behind The Scenes, chris. Theyre going to say very, very little publicly because everything they say could put at risk the possibility of negotiating hostages coming back and, you, know the u. S. Has lived through this through republican and democratic administrations. Its interesting, Secretary Blinken added qatar to his trip. Hes going to go. There thats been reporting. They dont just speak to hamas, they got members of hamas there. They could be a conduit, and oftentimes when theres a country you do not speak directly with as that the United States, you work through a third country. It doesnt mean its going to be successful. This is from a complicated and most of the situations. Because these individuals, some are american citizens, as we, know many are israelis, some are from around the world. But there could be spread out across gaza. Nobody exactly knows where they are. So it significantly more complicated. But its typically for a third party. We wont hear a lot about it at all, until in a magical development there is some success. The qataris have been the intermediary, like the swiss put in The Middle East. I know with the iranians, the qataris of the ones managing that money, they go between. There is no diplomatic collisions with hamas. The qatari essentially put that role. Yes. Often an in between country and in between party. And this is always complicated, as diplomatic motions are. Because some of these countries, you know, you may say how can we be talking to them . They have members of hamas there. We need them. At the u. S. For negotiations for support roles. And this is certainly an example. The israeli government, and previous prisoner swaps has found ways to do these. Jen psaki, david jolly, thank you both. That is it for us tonight. Our coverage continuesnight. Our coverag continue that is it for us tonight. Our coverage continues now with alex wagner. Good evening, alex. Good evening, chris. What a time. What an incredibly destabilizing time. Reel, really. They got to get something together in th
vimarsana.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.