Votes cast by surname, the speaker has not been elected. Wahwah, jim jordans maga dreams of holding the speakers gavel come up short. Tonight, the house is still without a speaker. This kind of incompetence would never have happened in Nancy Pelosis democratic caucus, and tonight, the speaker emaitous joins me live, plus, horrific bloodshed in Gaza Ozhundreds of people are killed in a powerful explosion at a gaza city hospital. But we begin tonight with an unprecedented juxtaposition of crises. An intensifying Israel Hamas War with President Biden en route to the region, and with the House Of Representatives trying to elect a speaker after two weeks without one. Were also one month from a potential Government Shutdown. The chaos on capitol hill has stalled any attempt at congressional funding for the middle east or ukraine or anything else the federal government might want to deal with, while republicans try to get their act together. Earlier today, jim jordan fell short of the 217 votes he needed on his first vote. Getting just 200. Which is pretty remarkable, considering that while republicans are still struggling to get the Maga Insurrectionist Jordan installed as speaker, the Justice Department is appealing the sentences of some of the violent rightwing maga Militia Members who planned and carried out the attack on our capitol On January 6th, 2021. Including former proud boys chairman enrique tarrio, who received the longest sentence for his role, 22 years. Prosecutors had requested a 33year sentence for tarrio. More than 1100 people have faced criminal charges for the attack on the capitol or efforts to overthrow the election leading up to january 6th. Including donald trump himself. So there is every reason that congressman jim jordan should receive the same amount of scrutiny. The final report from the January 6th Committee states unequivocally, representative jordan was a significant player in President Trumps efforts, the list of his transgressions is exhaustive. He led a Conference Call with donald trump and other members of congress about delaying the electoral vote proceedings. And the day before the attack, jordan texted white house chief of staff mark meadows about how Vice President mike pence could reject electoral votes. Jordan also spoke with trump by phone at least twice On January 6th but has never given a straight answer about it. Did you talk to the former president that day . I talked to the former president umpteen times, countless times. I continue to talk to the president. I mean On January 6th, congressman. Yes. On january 6th, did you speak with him before, during, or after the capitol was attacked . I would have to go i spoke with him that day after. I think after. I dont know if i spoke with him in the morning or not. I just dont know. I talked to him that day. My understanding is, from my memory, i talked to him after the attack happened and we were moved to the chamber. I may have talked to him before. I dont know. After, something. Since then, hes also refused to say whether during any of those conversations he bothered to ask for help for the capitol despite the threats to members of congress, the staff, including his, the Vice President , and one of the mobs deliberately sought targets, then House Speaker, nancy pelosi. Where are you nancy . Were looking for you. Nancy oh, nancy. Nancy. Where are you, nancy . And as the mob laid siege to the capitol, footage shows frantic staffers fleeing republican leader Kevin Mccarthys office. It wasnt just leadership who were fearful that day, apparently, jim jordan was too. Congresswoman liz cheney confirms reports she smacked down his offer for help during the attack and told him, quote, get away from me. You blanking did this. In the days following january 6th, jim jordan spoke with white house staff about president ial pardons for members of congress, and later refused to comply with subpoenas from the houses January 6th Committee. Republicans have dismissed questions over his very well documented role On January 6th, as they march straight ahead, trying to elect him Speaker Of The House. And i would like you to answer that, whatever happens going forward, 200 republicans chose to vote for somebody who was at some level involved in orchestrating a coup. A coup that involved attacking the very chamber they sit in, with the goal of harming them and their fellow members of congress. It is historically notable that republicans are choosing to even try to make that person speaker of the House Of Representatives and to put him second in line to the presidency. I would say its almost hard to believe, except this is the maga Republican Party. The house will pick up again tomorrow morning at 11 00 a. M. With another effort to pick a speaker. Joining me now is sahil kapur, nbc News Senior National political recorder and denver riggleman, a former republican congressman from virginia who is now an independent. Sahil, i want to start with you first. First of all, what is the status of the attempts to corral votes for jim jordan . Lets start there. Reporter its a bit of a mess right now, joy. Jim jordans team did not expect there to be 20 defections. They certainly did not expect to be dealing with 20 defections from such a Cross Section of their republican conference. You have appropriators in there, Swing District members, conservatives who are generally known as team players with the Republican Party who oppose him. So jordan had some meetings with leadership allies. He said hes going to continue working members, talking to them. They are expected to have another vote tomorrow at 11 00 a. M. On a second ballot. And thats going to be a crucial inflection point. Hes going to have to show he can make progress here, that he can improve his vote count rather than potentially lose more votes, which is also a possibility that some members think is in the cards or his Speakership Bid could collapse quickly. Its not over yet. There is no backup plan if jim jordan doesnt get it and the House Republicans are in a very perilous situation at this time. And your reporting, sahil, is democrats are actually setting up and poised to take full advantage if somehow jim jordan gets the votes. Tell us about that. Reporter yeah, they absolutely are. Democrats are already crafting a message and a strategy to tie the entire Republican Party to jim jordan, to argue that there are no moderates left in the House Republican conference, that theyre all beholden to an extremist, to radicals. Theyre going to tie republicans to jordan, to trump. Theyre bringing up the january 6th insurrection. Which is not jordan was one of more than 140 republicans who voted to block the certification of some of joe bidens electors but it was more than that. He was involved in some of the conversations with former President Trump at the time. He kind of spoke out at rallies and took that message that the election was stolen out on the road, which of course, we know to be a lie. So democrats do see a political opportunity there if jordan is speaker to try to tie every republican to his brand of politics. Its unclear at this moment whether he will get there. And if he doesnt, then there are already conversations happening including among democrats as to whether there should be some kind of caretaker speaker, someone like Patrick Mchenry is a person who democrats respect. The minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said all options are on the table when it comes to temporarily or permanently finding a bipartisan path to a speaker. Unlikely at the moment, but that option could come into play as things get desperate. The government shuts down in one month from today if theres no action, and theres a ground swell of support for some action to help israel as it deals with that hohisk attack from hamas. Denver, i want to play jim jordan. And not from, like, months ago or a year ago when maybe he still had hurt feelings about the results of the election, but literally, this morning. Here he is. Not willing to say the election wasnt stolen. What would you say that the election was stolen . Denver, you were an investigator on the January 6th Committee. That man, liz cheney blames in large part for what happened. She said he knew what was coming, didnt warn his colleagues or even his own staff, presumably, and yet he had run with everyone else. What do you make of the fact that this man, who is an insurrectionist or at least insurrection curious, is the person 200 republicans think should be speaker. He still wont say the election was legitimate. No, i think watching that, joy, sometimes i get pretty blunt. But it almost seems like hes a fish that doesnt want to piss off his Great White Shark which is trump. The fact is i saw the evidence. Liz is correct. I was the first one to see the text message. If you think about it, joy, i was the first one to see it beside jim and besides mark meadows. When i saw that text message, i realized pretty quickly where it came from. A lot of people need to realize the fact jim jordan was getting his message from Qanon Believers and some of the craziest individuals. Do we want somebody leading a conference that believes in the craziest things that weaponizes insanity or monetized insanity or protects somebody like donald trump who was well behind, we know who was behind instigating this ridiculousness On January 6th. I know its unprecedented what happened with the speaker vote and what happened to mccarthy, but i dont think its a shock or a surprise. You talked about maga republicans, trying to keep away from saying that at times but now were looking at 200 of some of my former colleagues, some who voted to actually not object to the electors voting for jim jordan because theyre afraid. I think we have a cowards caucus now. I dont think theres anybody there who can rise up against their base and actually push back on how Bad January 6th was and the fact is i saw the data. I do have an inside track on what happened and i think its egregious. Its something we have to address now. We cant have the unserious and those who think what happened On January 6th which was some kind of Tourist Visit Voting in our country. Denver, let me ask you this. One of the roles that Speaker Pelosi played On January 6th, she was frantically calling the Vice President , checking as to his safety. She had to scramble to shore up security in the capitol and do what she could. The president wasnt helping. You as somebody who investigated this crime against our country, what do you make of the idea that jim jordan could be the person responsible for the security of the capitol when, as you said, he gets his information from trump and qanon, and doesnt believe the election was legitimate . That person would then be in charge of the safety of all 435 members of congress . Is that something that you can even wrap your mind around . Its terrifying to the sane and terrifying to the rational. How could you have somebody as Speaker Of The House who voted to object to the electors . What does that vote mean . It means somebody believes italian satellites switched the vote or they were burning ballot in vans or nsa was involved or they rur routing into chinese servers or ginni thomas texted, you have to believe that tripe, that ridiculousness to go on the floor of congress and vote against the electors On January 6th, the night after that violence. And to me, its mind boggling. Its almost as if, you know, i dont want to get crazy, beutits almost as if ignorance has been weaponized on a level thats hard to stop. When you have 200 of my former colleagues voting for somebody like jim jordan who cant even say the election was stolen. You played that clip today because hes afraid to piss off the base or make trump mad over in maralago, i have a feeling theres got to be some kind of push towards rationality and sanity, and i think right now, somebody like a mchenry or somebody like that is sort of a Consensus Pick as a way to go. Let me put up a list of the last republican five speakers. Of course, Kevin Mccarthy lasted not too long. Paul ryan, john boehner, the last sort of normie republican speakers, and Newt Gingrich who blew up congress because that was his role. And then Denis Hastert sticks out. We know the scandal, Sex Abuse Crimes and hush money that took him down. And yet, here is elise stefanik, the conference chair of the Republican Party, talking about jim jordan today. Whether on the Wrestling Mat or in the committee room, jim jordan is strategic, scrappy, tough, and principled. Sahil, we know that jim jordans other scandal is the allegation that he turned a blind eye to sex abuse when he was an Assistant Coach in ohio. Is the republican conference are they having any conversations about even the way they publicly present his candidacy . If thats the sale pitch and she got laughs by saying that. Internally, is there anyone coordinating this effort other than sean hannity . Joy, i was in the chamber at the time, and i heard the shouts and oohs from the democratic side of the aisle when she brought up jim jordans wrestling past. This is an issue that jordans critics on the democratic side have pointed out, but its not registering on the republican side. Its not an issue for jordans opponents. None of them have really cited that as a basis for, you know, voting against him. Jordan has denied the allegations. I do want to mention, you guys were talking about the republicans and the divisions within the party. Theres all this talk about a republican civil war. The war is over. The maga forces have won. We have seen the critics of donald trump and the Maga Movement slowly banished from the party, slowly being excommunicated and leaving. Theyre right now negotiating the terms of the surrender. What we saw today is 20 members saying theyre not going to do an Unconditional Surrender after they feel their side was badly mistreated. Sahil kapur and denver riggleman, what a time to be alive. Thank you very much. Stay tuned to hear Nancy Pelosis thoughts on the republican speaker mess when she joins me here on set later in the show. But up first, as President Biden begins his trip to israel, a powerful explosion hits a gaza hospital today, Killing Hundreds of people. The reidout continues after this. Eidout continues after this with cirkul, your water is deliciously flavored at the turn of a dial, with zero sugar and zero calories. And cirkul has over 40 flavors, so your water can be as unique as you are. Try cirkul. Your water, your way. Now with even more flavors. Available at walmart or drinkcirkul. Com. Today, the death toll rose significantly in a horrific attack in gaza. The Palestinian HealthMinistry Said 200 to 300 people were killed in what it called a targeted bombing of the baptist hospital. Doctors without borders said the hospital was hosting Displaced Gazans and treating injured patients when the bombing occurred. The Israeli Military denied that the hospital was one of its targets. This comes as President Biden is heading to israel in a show of solidarity as its military prepares a Ground Offensive against hamas. The trip will put the president in the middle of an active war zone for the second time this year. Biden, however, is no longer scheduled to travel to jordan on wednesday. After he visits israel. After consulting with King Abdullah of jordan and in light of the days of mourning announced by president abbas of the palestinian authority, President Biden will postpone the summit with these two leaders and president cece of egypt. A jordanian official said all parties agreed to the cancellation, saying the summit would not achieve any goals under the current circumstances. Lets bring in chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engle near the israeli gaza border. Richard, thank you for being here. So we know that there is a sor